Set: 27-03-2024
| The RPT - Burton & District Inter Club Tennis League Regulations |
| 1 |
| The competition shall be called: 'THE RPT - BURTON & DISTRICT INTER CLUB TENNIS LEAGUE'. |
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| * 2 . a Amended March 2023 |
| The competition shall only be open to Tennis Clubs that are affiliated to the County Association appropriate to their location. or the LTA |
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| 2 . b |
| The League shall be affiliated to the Staffordshire Lawn Tennis Association and shall be governed by its rules and regulations. |
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| 3 |
| The constitution and rules of the competition shall be subject to agreement at the Annual meeting of representatives of competing clubs, which shall be held in the Spring of each year. |
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| 4 |
| All competing clubs shall be entitled to send representatives to the Annual meeting. Each club represented shall be entitled to one vote in respect of all elections and notices of motion. |
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| * 5 Amended March 2023 |
| The competition shall be administered by a League Committee of SEVEN members, made up of a Chairman, Treasurer, General Secretary, Ladies League Secretary, Men’s League Secretary, Mixed League Secretary and Nominations Officer. The committee shall have the power to co opt other Members if considered necessary. Each member of the general Committee shall have one vote, but the Chairman shall have an extra vote which shall be the casting vote, co opted members shall not have a vote, but members co opted to fill a casual vacancy shall be entitled to vote. |
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| * 6 Amended March 2017 |
| The League Committee shall be elected at the annual meeting and shall have responsibility for all aspects of the competition including the grouping of competing clubs, monitoring and enforcement of all rules relating to the competition and all financial arrangements. The treasurer shall prepare an annual statement of accounts for presentation to the members at the annual meeting and the members shall agree the statement of accounts at that annual meeting. In the event that the members are unable to agree the statement of accounts a suitably qualified independent examiner will be engaged to re prepare the statement of accounts for agreement by the members at an extraordinary members meeting to be held within three months of the date of the original annual meeting. |
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| 7 |
| Nominations of persons to act for the ensuing year as members of the Committee may be made by any competing club. Each such nomination should be proposed and seconded at the AGM. Before a nomination is made, the proposer must ensure that the nominee is prepared to stand. |
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| * 8 March 2024 |
| All competing clubs shall pay a league fee for each team entered and accepted into the competition. The amount of the fees shall be determined by the Annual Meeting and shall be payable to the Treasurer at or before the start of the season.
Should a club that had been awarded a trophy not return it to the AGM WITHOUT engraving, a fine of £15 will be levied on that club |
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| 9 |
| Each competing club shall be a separate organisation under paragraphs (a) and (b) of Rule 37 of the Rules of the L.T.A. and a player shall be entitled to represent a club if he shall have been a bona fide member of that club for at least fourteen days standing prior to a match. No player shall be entitled to play for more than one club during one season, in each competition i.e. Mens1 Ladies/Mixed. |
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| 10 |
| A club desirous of competing or resigning shall give notice of its desire in writing to the League General Secretary on or before the 31st January of the same year. |
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| 11 |
| All games must be completed by the end of September and the results received by the relevant Men's, Ladies' or Mixed fixtures secretary not later that 14 days after |
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| 11 . a |
| Should a game be re-arranged, other than due to unfit courts or bad weather, the team agreeing to the re-arrangement will be given a walkover IF for some reason the match is not played at a later date |
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| * 11 . b Amended March 2023 |
| The dates thus agreed upon shall be strictly adhered to and no match shall be postponed for any reason except bad weather or the unfit condition of the courts. In the event of a match having to be postponed, the Captains or other responsible officials of the home club shall notify the relevant Men's, Ladies or Mixed league fixtures secretary of the postponement within 10 days and shall state the re arranged date in due course.
Failure of the home team captain or other responsible official to let the relevant league secretary know of the postponed match within 10 days of the match’s original date will receive a £5 fine on the first occasion, £10 on the second occasion, £15 on the third etc.
Both teams should aim to play all rubbers if possible however if one team wants to claim rubbers for a late arrival then the following rules should be followed
a) if a pair is not ready to play by 6.45, unless otherwise agreed, that pair forfeits the first set 6-0
b) if a pair is not ready to play by 7.00, unless otherwise agreed, that pair forfeits the first rubber 6-0, 6-0
c) if a pair is not ready to play by 7.30, unless otherwise agreed, that pair forfeits both rubbers 6-0, 6-0
d) if all 4 members of a team arrive after 7.00 and have not been in contact earlier with an explanation, the assumption, unless otherwise agreed, is that they are not coming and they therefore forfeit the match. If the team have been in communication and are ready to play by 7.30, one round of rubbers are able to be played
e) this times scale is the be adapted for matches played at other times |
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| * 12 Amended March 2017 |
| For the purpose of these regulations a rubber is the best of three sets. The normal, first to seven points tie breaker (From 6 6 in a tiebreak a couple must have a two point advantage to win the tiebreak), shall operate at 6 games all in the first two sets. Should the match stand at one set all a special tie break to 11 points (From 10 10 in a tiebreak a couple must have a two point advantage to win the tiebreak) shall be played instead of a third set. This will count as the third set for scoring purposes. |
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| 13 |
| Points for each match shall be awarded on the basis of one point for every rubber won. In four rubber matches the total number of points available per match will be four. |
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| 14 |
| Each club shall play two matches, one home and one away, against each other club in the same division. The home club shall have the right to decide the type of surface to be used, in the event of a deterioration of the original surface shall have the right to change the surface during the course of a match. |
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| * 15 Amended March 2017 |
| Should a team give a walkover to another team, that latter team shall score four points.
In addition, the Committee shall impose a 1 point deduction to the team that gives one walkover. If the same team goes on to give a second walkover, the committee will impose a 2 point deduction. After a third walkover by the same team, all results will be scratched and that team will be demoted to the bottom division in the following season.
If a team chooses to concede more than 2 matches in a season, that team shall immediately be removed from that division and all its results to date will be expunged. The previous matters concerning future punishments shall remain the same.
(A walkover shall only be recognised when team captains or other responsible officials of both clubs have submitted/confirmed details on My Division and contacted the relevant Mens/Ladies/Mixed league Secretary.) |
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| 16 . a |
| The home club shall provide for each match at least 6 new L.T.A. official balls in 2 pair matches and 9 in three pair matches. Only balls manufactured for use during the same season as matches are to be played shall be used. |
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| * 16 . b Amended March 2016 and 2019 |
| Appropriate tennis attire should be worn by all players.
The Home Club should provide suitable food & drink for visiting teams. The committee reserve the right to levy a £25 penalty on any club that fails to provide suitable refreshments for a Home Match unless both teams agreed not to have refreshments in advance of the match. |
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| * 17 March 2024 |
| Each club shall be represented by a team of 4 players. The captains shall arrange the teams in pairs and each pair shall play each opposing pair, one rubber. |
If a team only fields one pair at a fixture on more than 2 occasions they will forfeit a point for the third occasion and each one after that |
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| 18 |
| Once a match has commenced, and is then abandoned e.g. weather conditions, the match must be continued exactly from the position when the abandonment took place. There must be no change of player for the recommended match. |
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| * 19 Amended March 2017 |
| Play in each rubber shall be continuous and without unnecessary delay on the part of any player from the first service until the rubber is concluded. If, towards the end of a round, two pairs are set-all the special tie break to eleven points (From 10 10 in a tiebreak a couple must have a two point advantage to win the tiebreak) shall be played immediately and not postponed to a later period in the match. |
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| 20 |
| Any club intending to scratch shall give information of its intention to do so to the Match Secretary of the club not less than three days before the date agreed upon for playing and, in default of so doing, shall have the power to take such action as they may deem expedient. The club scratched may be required by the committee to explain the reasons for its inability to raise a team. |
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| * 21 . a Amended March 2016 |
| BOTH TEAM CAPTAINS or other responsible officials of the clubs involved in the match shall be responsible for submitting/confirming the result of each match played on My Division. They will submit/confirm the score of all rubbers, sets and games won and lost AND the names of players involved in the match. The result must be submitted AND confirmed on My Division within 14 days of the conclusion of each match by BOTH clubs involved. If there are 3 instances of non-compliance, without extenuating circumstances being agreed/advised by the League Secretary, the offending Club will have 1 point docked, then a further point docked for each of the incidents thereafter. The Committee’s decision will be final. |
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| 21 . b |
| The League Committee shall meet by the second week following the completion date for fixtures in order to compile the final League Tables for the season. Any written result not received by the League Committee by the commencement of the meeting will be regarded as a lost match for each of the teams Concerned. Any outstanding results will be recorded as 0-4 for each team involved, and will be included as such in the final League Tables. |
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| 21 . c |
| Club representatives shall contact the relevant Men's, Ladies or Mixed league fixtures secretary by 30th September each year in order to confirm that all submitted result cards have been received. |
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| 22 |
| The Committee shall be under no obligation to take official cognisance of the result of any match, notice of which has not been sent to the relevant Men's, Ladies or Mixed league fixtures secretary in accordance with these regulations and one point may be deducted from the score of the club in default. |
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| 23 |
| If it shall be found impractical to complete all matches during a season, the Committee shall decide promotion and relegation of clubs. |
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| 24 . a |
| The club scoring the highest number of points in Division One shall be the Champion club of the year. |
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| 24 . b |
| The bottom two teams in each Division shall be relegated and the top two teams shall be promoted. |
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| 25 |
| If two or more clubs in any one Division shall score an equal number of points, the order of precedence in the Division shall be decided by matches won and then if necessary by sets and then games. |
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| 26 |
| All questions of eligibility, qualification or competitors' interpretation of the regulations shall be referred, through the League Secretary to the Committee, whose decision shall be final. |
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| 27 |
| Any dispute arising between clubs in the competitions shall be referred to the sole arbitration of the Committee, whose decision shall be final and binding upon all clubs. Should any club in connection with any dispute or protest have a member of the Committee, the said member or members shall not be eligible to sit on the Committee while such a dispute or protest is being considered. |
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| 29 |
| The Committee may re-arrange each year the number of clubs in all Divisions in such a manner they deem necessary and, for the purpose of such re-arrangement, may promote to a Higher Division or relegate to a Lower Division more than two clubs, or may not relegate any club, provided that, in such re arrangements, the order of precedence established by the previous competition is strictly maintained. |
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| 30 |
| Clubs with more than one team in the same League must observe the following: |
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| * 30 March 2024 |
| When there are 2 teams (or more) of the same club in the same division, nominated players can only play for the team they are nominated for in that division during the season |
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| * 30 . a Amended March 2019 |
| Nominated Players should not play for a lower team. If Nominated Players do play in lower team/s, any rubbers that they win in the lower team/s will be scratched.
Nominated players should play in one of the first three matches for the team to which they are nominated.
Failure to do so will incur a 4 point penalty for that team.
For every match played thereafter (e.g. 4th match to 12th match) without the first appearance of all nominated players, the team will incur a further 1 point penalty.
Nominated players should be stated on the team contact/Fixture Form which will be handed in to league secretaries at the A.G.M. Exceptions or changes in Nominated Players during a season shall be considered by the Committee only after receiving a communication from the team concerned. |
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| * 30 . b Amended March 2019 |
| A player in a lower team of a club may play twice for a higher team or teams.
On the third appearance the player shall automatically NOT be able to make further appearances in the lower teams. |
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| 30 . c |
| Before the first match of the season each club which has more than one team in each league competition must communicate nominated players for all but the club’s lowest team to the relevant league secretary. For the Men’s and Ladies leagues this is 3 nominated players for each of the club’s teams other than its lowest team. For the Mixed team one Gentleman and one Lady player must be nominated for each of the club’s teams other than its lowest team. Under no circumstances can a nominated player play in a lower team than the one they have been nominated for. |
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| 30 . d |
| The Committee shall reserve the right to request from a club, at any time during the season, a list of their first team players, and subsequent teams if applicable. |
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| * 30 . e Amended March 2015 |
| Where a club has two or more teams in the same Division, these two or more teams must play their fixtures against each other before any other fixtures are undertaken.
If clubs who have two or more teams in the same division fail to play each other before playing other teams, the points may be disregarded by the committee. The team captains must notify the relevant league secretary if any problems arise in the fulfilment of the fixtures within 10 days and they must advise the secretary of the intended players names, which will then be recorded on My Division. |
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| 31 |
| The Committee may, at the Annual Meeting, specify dates on which fixtures may not be made. |
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| 32 |
| An Extraordinary General Meeting shall be convened by the League Secretary. |
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| 32 . a |
| By direction of the League Committee whenever it shall think fit. |
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| 32 . b |
| Upon receipt by the League Secretary of a request for such a meeting, made in writing, supported by not less than ten teams from a minimum of five clubs. Notice of an Extraordinary General Meeting shall he sent to all team representatives within 14 days of receipt of the request for a meeting. The League Secretary will give teams 21 days notice of an Annual General Meeting. |
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| 33 |
| These rules shall only be altered, rescinded or added to at an Annual or Extraordinary Meeting of the League. Notice in writing of any proposed alteration or addition to these or any other notice of motion must be received by the League Secretary 14 days before the date of the Annual General Meeting or 21 days before the date of an Extraordinary Meeting |
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