Leamington and District Table Tennis Association
Rules 2002/2003
1. Name
The Association shall be called "The Leamington and District Table Tennis Association".
2. Objects
Its objects shall be:
a. To foster and promote organised table tennis.
b. To use its influence towards obtaining better facilities for the game.
3. Government
a. The Association shall be governed by an Executive Committee comprising of the Officers, namely Chairman, Vice Chairman, General Secretary, Treasurer, League Secretary, Press Officer, Representative Match Secretary, Tournament Secretary, Competitions Secretary, Coaching Officer, County Representative, Headquarters Officer and Social Secretary, and up to six other members elected by the Annual General Meeting. The Executive Committee shall have the power to fill any vacancy which may arise.
b. The President and Vice Presidents shall be invited annually to serve and all other Officers of the Association and the Auditor shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting.
c. The Executive Committee shall meet at least once every six weeks during the playing season. An extraordinary meeting shall be held if called for by of the Chairman or six members of the Executive Committee. The General Secretary shall give every member of the Executive Committee reasonable notice of meetings.
d. The quorum of the Executive Committee shall be six.
e. The Executive Committee shall appoint the following sub committees each comprising a minimum of three members with power to coopt: League Management, Selection, Coaching, Competition and such other sub committees as it deems necessary. The League Management Sub Committee shall deal with any important business which cannot be held over to the next Executive Committee meeting but shall not overturn any decisions of the Executive Committee.
f. Any member of the Executive Committee who fails to attend two consecutive meetings without good and sufficient reason shall be deemed to have resigned.
4. Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings
a. The Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held in June or July of each year. The Executive Committee may call an Extraordinary General Meeting at any time and shall do so within 42 days of a request by 25 members in writing. The date, time and place of a General Meeting shall be decided by the Executive Committee.
b. All members of the Association are welcome and shall have power to vote.
c. At least 21 days notice of the meeting shall be given to each member through their club secretary together with the agenda and proposed alterations to the rules.
d. Any proposed addition to, alteration or rescission of the rules must be submitted in writing and received by the General Secretary by 30 April.
e. The financial year shall end on 31 May each year. An audited statement of accounts shall be submitted to the Annual General Meeting.
5. Registration of teams
a. The annual registration fee for each team shall be £4 for a senior team and £2 for a junior team. In addition the appropriate English and Warwickshire TTA Affiliation fees shall be payable.
b. The Executive Committee shall have the power to refuse the registration of or disqualify any team where they consider this to be in the best interests of the Association.
c. In the event of a team being disqualified or resigning from the league without completing its fixtures its playing record shall be disregarded.
d. No team shall be allowed to play a league match until its registration fee has been paid.
e. All teams must state their home venue on their registration forms. Normal registration is open to teams with a home venue within a 12 mile radius of the Town Hall, Leamington Spa. Teams outside this limit may apply for special registration which shall be at the absolute discretion of the Executive Committee.
6. Registration of players
a. The members of the Association shall be:-
(i) all registered players
(ii) Life Members elected by the Executive Committee in recognition of service to the Association
(iii) any other person the Executive Committee admits to membership on such terms as it decides.
b. Players individual registration fees shall be £3.50 for seniors and £2.50 for juniors. The fee is additional to team fees and shall be inclusive of one copy of the Association Handbook.
c. A minimum of four players shall be registered for each team. Alternatively a team can register three players providing a reserve is available from a lower division in accordance with rule 6(g).
d. The Executive Committee shall have the power to refuse the registration of any player or to refuse to register any player for a particular team if such registration is considered to be contrary to the best interests of the Association.
e. No player shall take part in a league match until their registration has been accepted by the League Secretary. Should non registered players take part in a league match their individual matches shall be awarded to the opposing team.
f. Where a club has two teams in the same division a player registered for one team shall not play for the other unless officially transferred.
g. Where a club has teams in different divisions or under the provisions of rule 6(h) a player registered in a lower division may play in a higher division up to a maximum of four times in each division but may not play for more than one team in any division.
h. A junior player from a lower division may with the permission of his own club nominate any senior team in a higher division for which he is prepared to act as reserve.
7. Transfer of players
a. The closing date for the transfer of players shall be 31 December. Players may only transfer by mutual consent of the two clubs or teams concerned or with the approval of exceptional circumstances by the Executive Committee.
b. No person may play more than twice in the league against any one team in any division.
8. League championships
a. All matches shall be played in accordance with the laws of table tennis.
b. The league shall commence on or after the second Monday of September.
c. The number of divisions and the number of teams in each division shall be decided by the Executive Committee before the commencement of the season.
d. The top two teams in each division shall be promoted to the next higher division and the bottom two teams relegated to the next lower division. The Executive Committee shall however have the power to depart from this rule in exceptional circumstances when they consider it to be in the best interests of the league.
e. In the event of teams tieing with equal points their positions shall be decided by a deciding match which shall be played at a venue chosen by the Executive Committee. The deciding match shall be the best of the nine singles matches only.
9. Match arrangements
a. All teams must state their home match night on their registration forms. Except where these rules provide otherwise matches must be played on the date specified in the fixture list printed in the handbook and notification by home or visiting team is not necessary.
b. All teams shall comprise three singles players who shall each play each of their opponents and one doubles pair who may be chosen from the singles players. The order of play shall be decided by the team captains who will alternate in nominating their players first before the commencement of each individual match. All individual matches shall be the best of three games.
c. A total of 10 points shall be awarded for a match, each individual match won counting as one point. Unless these rules expressly provide otherwise points shall only be awarded for individual matches actually played.
d. All matches shall commence not later than 7.15pm.
e. Where there is no sign of a team or explanation as to its absence by 8pm the opposing team is entitled to leave and report the position to the League Secretary.
f. If a player (as opposed to an entire team) is not present either:-
(i) by 8pm (with the exception of further education students) except by prior agreement with the opposing team; or
(ii) by the time all the possible individual matches between the players who are present are completed;
his individual matches shall be considered lost unless a registered reserve is in attendance. Should a reserve be called upon to play he shall then be required to play throughout the match.
g. A team only partially represented shall have the unplayed individual matches awarded to their opponents. No point shall be awarded for an individual match where neither side is represented.
h. All matches shall be played on one table unless the teams agree otherwise.
10. Other Association leagues
a. When entries permit the Association shall organise other leagues (for example a junior league and a two aside league). These shall be run in accordance with the rules of the Association subject to any changes determined by the Executive Committee.
b. A player may register for teams in any or all of the Association’s leagues for which he is eligible.
c. Separate team registration fees shall be paid for each team in each league but a player shall only be liable for one player registration fee.
11. Match cards
a. One result card shall be forwarded by the home team to reach the Press Officer within ten days following the match.
b. No penalty shall be imposed on a team for the first infringement of this rule. Thereafter a penalty of one point will be imposed on each occasion.
12. Postponed and unplayed matches
a. Postponement of a match will be allowed only if:
(i) the opposition agrees; and
(ii) the league secretary is immediately informed by the postponing side
b. In the event of a dispute arising in relation to a postponement the match shall be deemed to be unplayed.
c. A penalty of two points or disqualification from the league may be imposed if the above is not strictly adhered to.
d. Matches may be brought forward from the date specified in the fixture list by mutual consent of the teams concerned.
e. Postponed matches must be played within 21 days of the commencement of the final weeks fixtures.
f. No points shall normally be awarded for an unplayed match. Where exceptionally the Executive Committee is satisfied that a team has made repeated efforts to play and is in no way responsible for the match being unplayed it shall award that team alone the most points it could reasonably have expected to have won had the match been played. In addition the Executive Committee may impose a fine of 5 points where a team without prior notice fails to field any players for a match.
g. Every match shall be played to completion. If a match is interrupted for reasons beyond the control of the teams (for example lighting failure) they shall make arrangements for its continuation to completion as soon as possible thereafter.
13. Leamington Closed Championships
a. The Leamington Closed Championships will be held annually during the latter half of the season.
b. Entries will be restricted to registered players who have either played three matches prior to 31 December of that season or who have registered only in the Leamington and District League during the current season.
c. Registered players not meeting these requirements may be considered for entry by the Executive Committee in exceptional circumstances.
14. Association competitions
a. Coronation trophy (3 aside team competition with individual handicap).
b Southwell trophy (3 aside team competition with team handicap)
The above competitions will be competed for annually by registered players. Rules closing dates and control of all competitions shall be in the hands of the Competition Committee whose decision on any point shall be final and binding.
15. Trophies
a. All trophies are the property of the Association. Clubs and players holding trophies will be held responsible for their safe custody and cleanliness and must return them to the Association in good clean condition by the date of the closed tournament.
b. The Association shall provide three individual trophies or four when required for both winners and runners up of each division.
16. Representative matches
a. The Association’s colours shall be royal blue.
b. An Association badge shall be awarded to a player after 5 appearances in representative matches (excluding friendlies).
17. Match balls
The home team shall provide the match balls which shall be of a type approved by the ETTA. A list of the ETTA approved balls shall be printed in the handbook.
18. Conduct of players
a. Should a club, team or member either:-
(i) be in breach of these rules; or
(ii) while playing in any event organised by the Association bring the body into disrepute by word or action;
they may be asked to appear before the Executive Committee and be liable to such penalty as the Executive Committee decide.
b. Where such disciplinary action is deemed to be necessary all club secretaries will be notified of the Executive Committee’s decision.
19. League averages
A trophy shall be awarded to the player with the highest percentage of singles wins in each division. Individual matches not actually played (for example because of the absence of an opponent) shall be ignored. In the event of a tie it shall be resolved in favour of the player with the greater number of singles wins. If the number of singles wins is also equal the prize shall be shared. To qualify for the average prize a player must take part in not less than 65% of the total individual matches.
20. Alterations to the handbook
In the event of any alteration to the handbook the club concerned shall furnish the league secretary and secretaries of all teams concerned with the relevant alterations.
21. General
In the event of any question not provided for in the foregoing rules such question shall be referred to the Executive Committee whose decision shall be final.
22. Definitions
a. Season; The period commencing the day after the Annual General Meeting is held.
b. Junior Player: Under 18 years of age on the 2nd January 2003.
23. Dissolution
The Association may only be dissolved by a motion carried by a three quarters majority at a general meeting, such motion having been included on the agenda given to members through their club secretaries at least 21 days before the meeting under rule 4c. On dissolution all assets of the Association shall become the property of the English Table Tennis Association.
Appendix A - Changes to rules for any division playing twice a season
5e. Teams joining the Association for the spring competition in small divisions shall pay one half of the fees paid for the whole season by clubs joining for the autumn competition
6j. When a player from a lower division plays for a team in a higher division which is participating in separate autumn and spring competitions the maximum number of times that player may play in the higher division is restricted to 2 times in each competition.
7c. Transfers affecting divisions playing a separate autumn and spring competition must be completed prior to the sixth week of each competition to apply to that competition.
12h. Postponed matches from the autumn competition must be played within 14 days of the end of that competition to allow the formation of the spring competition to be distributed.
Appendix B - Changes to rules for 2 aside divisions
5a. The annual registration fee for each team shall be £3 for a senior team and £1.50 for a junior team.
6c. A minimum of 3 players shall be registered for each team or 2 if a reserve is available from a lower division.
8e. A deciding match shall consist of the same 5 individual matches as other 2 aside matches.
9b. All teams shall comprise 2 singles players who shall each play each of their opponents and one doubles pair who may be chosen from the singles players.
9c. A total of 5 points shall be awarded for each match.
15b. The Association will provide 2 trophies or 3 if necessary.
Appendix C - Changes to rules for divisions where teams play each other 3 times in a season.
7b. No person may play more than 3 times against any one team in any division.