Rules

1. DESIGNATION AND OBJECTS
The League shall be called the “Hereford Table Tennis League” and shall not be conducted for profit. The League shall be affiliated to the English Table Tennis Association. The objects of the League are as follows:

  1. To foster and promote organised Table Tennis.
  2. To use its influence towards obtaining better facilities for the game.

Upon dissolution of the League any income or property remaining shall not be distributed among the members but be devoted to a Society with similar aims, or to a philanthropic or charitable purpose.

2. CONSTITUTION
The League shall have a President and Vice-presidents and shall be governed by an Executive Committee which shall consist of a Chairman, Hon. General Secretary, Hon Treasurer, Hon Match Secretary and at least 6 other members. On any matter of policy the committee co-opt additional members if necessary to ensure that all Divisions of the League are represented. All officers shall retire annually but shall be eligible for re-election. The committee shall, whenever possible, co-opt members to fill interim Committee vacancies due to resignations during the season until the following AGM. Any member of the Committee who fails to attend three consecutive meetings without just cause shall automatically be regarded as having resigned. The business of the Executive Committee may be transacted by not less than five members.

3. SUBSCRIPTIONS
The annual team subscription and league player registration fees shall be proposed and set at the AGM. In addition, the ETTA Individual Registration Fee will be set at the ETTA AGM and shall be paid by all Senior and Junior players through their nominated primary league. Junior players registered for the Senior League will pay 60% of the player registration fee for that season. A guarantee fee of £5.00 shall be lodged with the Treasurer by ach team against fulfilment of its obligations to the League of which the whole (or balance for teams in default) shall be refunded , expect for teams renewing membership for the following season, when the amount shall be credited against the Guarantee Fee for that season. Players registered after 31st December shall pay half the league player registration fee for that season. No team shall be accepted into membership whose fees, etc., have not been paid in full. Each team shall pay £3.00 towards providing personal accident coverage for its members.

3.1 A junior team shall be any number of junior players and, for the explicit purpose of promoting the participation of young players, may include a senior player for League fixtures but not Handicap competitions. The total League subscription, junior League registration and insurance shall be £35.00 plus 50% of the League registration fee for a senior player where applicable. The ETTA Individual Registration Fee must be paid in full for all Junior and Senior players before they play in the League. Once a player has played for a team he may not play for another team (Rule 15) unless transferred (Rule 17). The senior player may register for a senior team in a higher division at the senior registration fee rate.

4. GENERAL MEETING
The Officers shall be elected annually at a General Meeting which shall ordinarily be held at the close of the season. The Hon. General Secretary shall give at least 14 days’ notice of the Meeting to the President, Vice-Presidents, Officers, Committee Members and Club and Team Co-ordinators, together with an agenda and itemised proposals. At an Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting during his team, an officer shall have voting power, except in the matter of his own election, and each team which has completed its fixtures during the previous season shall be entitled to send one delegate with voting power, but delegates cannot represent more than one team. Teams failing to secure representation at any General Meeting shall be fined £5.00. At the Annual General Meeting the Hon. Treasurer shall present accounts for a period of 12 months ending 30th April in the current season. An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called by the Executive Committee or at the written request of one third of the affiliated Clubs.

5. EQUIPMENT, DRESS AND MATCH PLAY REGULATIONS
The rules governing equipment, dress, and match play shall be those currently published by the English Table Tennis Association as applicable to Leagues, Clubs, etc., including permitted local variations as decided by the Executive Committee.

6. FIXTURE FULFILMENT
The Executive Committee shall determine the number and composition of Divisions in the League for the season, and shall draw up and publish, in the League Handbook, a Fixture List for all Divisions.
The Fixture List shall determine the number of occasions each team shall play every other team in the same Division, alternating either home or away in sequence whenever two teams meet each other.
Matches will take place as programmed in the Fixture List, on the match day of the home team.
6.1 Permitted rearrangement of matches:- By mutual agreement between the teams involved a match may be

  1. Brought forward
  2. Played at the away team’s venue
  3. Played at a neutral venue
  4. or deferred to a date agreed by both teams

The League Match Secretary must be informed of any such change.

6.2 Match deferment:- No match may be deferred without the informing of the Divisional Match Secretary or, in his absence, an officer of League Executive Committee. A team deferring a match without doing so will forfeit that match. A team forfeiting more than 2 matches in a season will be subject to Rule 11. Deferred matches are to be played at the earliest opportunity using seasonal breaks, bye weeks or cup weeks when available.

Rule 15 provides for the ‘borrowing’ of players of the same Club but in a lower Division. This rule should be applied in the first instance.

6.3 Unplayed matches:- The team Secretaries of both teams shall notify the Divisional Match Secretary of any match unplayed. No team is allowed to have more than one match outstanding that has been postponed by its own instigation. If the outstanding postponed match has not been played by the time that the same team has the need to postpone a further fixture then this second postponed fixture will be automatically awarded to the opposing team with 10 points and a 10:0 score. This system will continue until the outstanding match has been played or the final date for League Matches has been reached. After this final date has been reached ALL outstanding League games will have points awarded in line with the above. The date by which every team’s programme is to be completed to be published in that part of the Handbook containing the fixture lists.

7. TEAM CONSTITUTION
In all Divisions matches shall consist of 9 singles played by 3 single players, and one set of doubles to be played by any two members registered for the team.

8. ORDER OF PLAY
In all divisions games must be played in accordance with the sequence on the score card in which the doubles shall be last in sequence. If a player is not available to play in the correct sequence the game will be awarded to the opponent. The Home Team Captain shall first nominate the order of play of his team and the Visiting Captain shall the number off his team accordingly.

9. AWARD OF POINTS
Sets shall be won by the player winning three out of five games to 11 points, and matches by the team winning the majority of sets. Total points awarded will be 10 points with each team receiving 1 point for each set won. The position of teams in the division tables shall be governed by the number of points won. Where two or more teams in the same division have the same number of points, their position shall be determined by the number of matches won. In the event of teams winning the same number of matches their positions shall be determined by the number of matches lost. In the event of a tie on the number of matches won, drawn and lost, the teams shall play a deciding match.

10 MATCH COMMENCEMENT TIME
Matches normally start at 7.30 p.m., but may start later if indicated in the Handbook or by mutual agreement. Premises are to be opened for pre-match practice at least 20 minutes before the normal or agreed starting time. Any player who arrives after 8.30pm or half an hour after the start time of the match (whichever is the later), unless previously agreed, forfeits his/her games. (See also Rule 12.). Matches not started on time may be reported to the Executive Committee and persistent offenders penalised match points.

11. FORFEITED MATCHES
Any team forfeiting a match will be fined £2.00. The committee will consider all the circumstances of teams forfeiting more than two matches in a season. The Committee shall have discretion on deciding:

  1. Whether such teams shall be considered as withdrawn from the League and all competitions and
  2. Whether their results should be deleted from League Tables. Subsequent action will be taken in accordance with Rule 3.

12. NOTIFICATION OF RESULT
The Captain of the home team shall post the fully completed match card to the Divisional Match Secretary within 24 hours of match completion. Cards received with a postmark date later than 2 days after the match will incur a £2.00 fine.

13. UMPIRES
The Umpire for each set shall be agreed upon mutually. In the event of a dispute as to whom shall score, the Visiting Captain shall name the scorer. THE UMPIRE’S DECISION IS FINAL.

14. LEAGUE CONSTITUTION
At the beginning of the playing season, and in any case not later than 1st August of each year, the Hon. General Secretary will issue invitations to former and new clubs and teams to compete in the ensuing season, and will stipulate the latest date by which applications must be returned. The invitations will specify that “home nights” for teams entering the League shall not be Saturday or Sunday, and, further, no match shall be played on these days except by mutual agreement by the teams involved. Such applications are to be issued at least three weeks before the closing date. The Executive Committee will meet within three days of the closing date, and draw up the divisions of the League only from those applications which were received by the closing date and were accompanied by the appropriate fees. Where possible, the top two teams in each division in the previous season will be promoted, and similarly, the bottom two teams relegated. Exceptionally, other teams may be considered for inclusion in the League, but may be subject to a levy not exceeding £10 to cover additional administrative costs.

15. INTER-AVAILABILITY OF PLAYERS
Clubs with more than one team in the same division of the League may not inter-change players except as in Rule 17 below. A player may, however, play in a higher division team of the same club on three occasions each season, and still remain eligible to play for the lower team for which he originally registered. On the fourth occasion such player becomes ineligible to play for the lower team, and any flouting of this rule will incur a suspension of the player for the remainder of the season and a fine against the club of £5.00.

16. HANDICAP COMPETITIONS
The Executive Committee shall decide the format for Handicap Competitions for each season, and appoint a subcommittee of not less than three members, to include the Divisional Match Secretary, to administer the competitions, and decide handicaps for each match. A draw shall take place for each round, and the first team drawn for each match shall be the home team, whose Co-ordinator will be provided with an unstamped match card and a sealed handicap. All teams eliminated in their first matches shall be placed collectively in a “plate” competition to be similarly administered. Dates for round shall be published in the League programme, and teams involved notified at least seven days before each round. A team which fails to play its first match will not be ineligible for entry into the Plate Competitions. Teams failing to complete their matches by the final date specified for a round shall be considered to have withdrawn from the Competition, except if clearly not at fault, or if a special circumstance occurs. Where practicable, results will be media publicised. To be eligible to play in any handicap competition organised by the League, a player must, in the current season, have competed in at least three League matches prior to the date of the draw for any round (normally 14 days before the round is scheduled). Also refer to final sentence of Rule 15 – use of player from a lower team in the same club. In all team handicap competitions the handicap shall be sealed until the end of each match, and the points awarded then added to the appropriate team score. When both teams aggregate an equal number of points, the team with the lesser or nil handicap will be the winner.

17. REGISTRATION AND TRANSFERS
No player shall be eligible to play in a League game until that player’s League and ETTA registrations have received the approval of the Match Secretary or General Secretary. The cut-off date for registration is the 31st December. No players may be registered after the 31st December except in exceptional circumstances and requires the approval of any two of the Chairman, Match Secretary or General Secretary and the registration fee to be received before the player is eligible to play. No player may be registered for than one club or team at a time. If a player desires to transfer from one club or team to another he shall make a personal written application to the Match Secretary or General Secretary and shall pay a further fee of £2.00 if the transfer is granted. Any team playing an unregistered or otherwise ineligible player shall be fined £2.00 and the player’s games in all matches prior to correct registration reckoned as lost.

18. PROTESTS
All protests regarding Fixtures or Match play shall be made to the Match Secretary in writing within seven days, and a copy sent to the opponents concerned. All other appeals or protests to the General Secretary.

19. RULE AMENDMENTS
These Rules shall be binding on all members, and no alterations shall be made except by a General Meeting of the League. Proposals for alteration or addition must be submitted by 30th April, and circulated, by the Hon. General Secretary to members, at least one month before the General Meeting. Alternatives to such proposals must be submitted at least 18 days before the Meeting, and all proposals shall be included in the agenda for the Meeting.

20. POWERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
In the event of any matter or question arising which is not provided for in these rules, it all be dealt with by the Executive Committee.

21. ANNUAL PRESENTATION OF TROPHIES AND AWARDS
The Executive Committee shall, at an annual ceremony, to be arranged at the end of each season, present, for all competitions as decided, such permanent trophies in procession or purchased, together with mementoes, to team members of winning teams, and of runners-up.

Mementoes uncollected by the start of the following season shall be appropriated by the Executive Committee for other official use. The Executive Committee shall, at this ceremony, make such other awards, together with mementoes, as are within its jurisdiction.