The League shall be called the Daventry and District Table Tennis League. Membership shall be open to Clubs having suitable playing facilities and their admission for participation will be at the discretion of the committee. Its objects shall be to conduct an annual competition between affiliated Clubs and to otherwise assist and encourage Table Tennis in the district.

a) The League shall be administered by a committee which shall consist of the League Chairman, Honorary Secretary, Treasurer, Match Secretary, and Junior Match Secretary, together with Committee members representing each club.

b) Quorum: Five Members shall form a quorum, of which 2 shall be officers.

c) Clubs failing to send a representative to at least 3 Committee meetings shall be fined £1.00.

a) The Annual General Meeting shall be held within 3 weeks of the end of the playing season. The agenda for this meeting must be in the hands of the Club secretary at least 7 days before the meeting.

b) Clubs should send at least 1 representative to the A.G.M., which will be open to the general public, but only registered playing members will be allowed to vote. Clubs failing to send a representative to the A.G.M. shall be fined £1.00.

c) This meeting shall consider the following:-

i) Minutes of the previous A.G.M. which shall be confirmed, and any matters arising there from dealt with.

ii) The Treasurers Report and Statement of Income and Expenditure.

iii) Any proposed alterations to Rules.

iv) Election of Officers (see rule 2a), including President and Vice Presidents.

v) Election of Honorary Auditor.

vi) The League programme for the next season.

vii) Any other business.

d) Extra-Ordinary General Meeting: An E.G.M. may be called at any time by not less than 2 officers or 4 Committee members or by not less than 10% of the registered playing membership. The Agenda for any E.G.M. must be published before the meeting. An E.G.M. shall only discuss the business for which it is called.

e) The Quorum For a General Meeting shall be 5% of the registered listed playing membership

a) Alterations to the League Rules may only be made at the Annual General Meeting or an Extra Ordinary Meeting convened for that purpose.

b) Clubs desirous of submitting proposals for alteration of the League Rules must do so at least 28 days before the A.G.M. The Honorary Secretary on receipt of these proposals, must forward them as soon as possible to all Club Secretaries, and in any event not less than 7 days before the Meeting.

a) Application for membership must be made Annually to the Honorary Secretary, by a date agreed at the previous A.G.M., on the form provided. A Committee meeting will be held within 14 days to consider the formation of Divisions, also fix the date of the start and end of the League season, and the Closed Tournament.

b) Annual fees to be fixed annually at the A.G.M. and incorporated into the handbook.

SENIOR TEAMS £20.00 

MIXED TEAMS £15.00 

JUNIOR TEAMS FREE

INDIVIDUALS £5.00

c) Registration must be carried out and all fees and fines paid before each session begins, by a date fixed by the Committee.

No Club will be allowed to commence fixtures until this has been done. Additional players may be registered after the start of the season, subject to the discretion of the Committee and a charge of 50 pence per person.

d) Only registered players may play in matches or Tournaments. All registered players will be insured by the League.

a) At the commencement of the season, Club Secretaries must register their teams in descending order of status, with at least 3 players nominated for each team. These players shall not be eligible to play in teams of lower status unless the Committee referred to in Rule 6e, cancel their nomination in place of another player. Any player playing for teams of higher status shall after a total of 5 appearances be automatically transferred to the higher team, unless by special sanction* of the committee referred to in Rule 6e. This rule does not apply to Junior players. (Changed at 2004 AGM to enable the more rapidly improving youngsters not to be held back.)

By way of clarification for where a club has more than two teams:

A player registered for, say, C can play up for either A and/or B - when (s)he has played up five times they must stay up.  If that player played all five games for A (or until such time as they do) then they must stay with A as they are deemed to have also played up from B.  In practice the sub-committee have always tried to allow people to play as often as possible by allowing playing up - it is however worth checking first as the opposition could claim points!

b) A club having 2 or more teams in one division can play members from one team to the other only in the following conditions i) Can only play up. ii) Must have played in the League for at least 2 seasons. This rule does not apply to Junior players. (Changed at 2004 AGM to enable the more rapidly improving youngsters not to be held back.)

c) A player must be registered at least 3 days before taking part in a match or League Competition.

d) Any games won by an ineligible player shall be awarded to the opponents.

e) Decisions required under the provisions of Rule 6 shall be made on behalf of the committee by a sub committee consisting of the Chairman, Honorary Secretary and Match Secretary.

Any player wishing to transfer from one club to another may do so once only during the season, by making a formal application to the Match Secretary. Transfers may only take place up to 31st January. A transfer charge of the current registration fee (£5), must accompany the formal application.

a) A team shall consist of 3 singles and 1 doubles pair, which may or may not be chosen from the singles players. There shall be 9 singles sets and 1 doubles set (each the best of 5 games up to 11), each singles player playing 1 set against each of his opponents. Each set will count 1 point, making 10 points in all.

b) Matches must start not later than 7.30pm unless an alternative time has been agreed between the teams. A player who arrives late will be allowed to play provided he arrives before the seventh games has been completed.

c) The home team will provide the Score Card, and clean ETTA approved 3 star ball. They will enter their players on a score card, in order of play, first. Matches will proceed in the order given on the score card unless otherwise agreed by the Team Captains.

d) The result of the matches must be forwarded by the HOME team on the official score card signed by the captains, to be received by the Match Secretary not later than 7 DAYS following the handbook date of the fixture, except that if the match is postponed (see Rule 9a). A penalty of 2 POINTS will be DEDUCTED from the League total of any Home Team failing to do this.

d) They will be notified of any such penalty within 14 days (or end of season) of the result card in question being due. No appeal shall be allowed unless SENT to the Match secretary within 1 week of notice being served.

e) Promotion and Relegation: This will be done on a 2 up 2 down basis, but always subject to the number of applications for entry to the League at the beginning of the season.

a) Matches can be postponed from the original date providing that the MATCH SECRETARY has been informed in writing (a confirmed e-mail will suffice) by the team requesting the postponement. Re-arranged matches must be played as soon as possible. The result must be forwarded to the MATCH SECRETARY within 5 days of the date of the re-arranged match being played, failure to do so will result in the MATCH being awarded to the NON-DEFAULTING TEAM by 10 points to nil. An alternative venue to be arranged if home team, are unable to use their hall.

b) Matches may be brought forward by consent of both teams.

c) Any additional expense relating to the hiring of the venue caused to the NON-DEFAULTING team by the operation of Rule 9a shall be borne by the defaulting team.

a) If a team fails to arrive at the place where the match is to be held, or if they do not notify their opponents of their inability to honour the fixture they will forfeit 10 match points to their opponents.

b) A team claiming a match for this or any other reason must notify (confirmed e-mails will suffice) the Match Secretary and the Team Secretary of the opposing Club in writing immediately. Where a claim is opposed the issue shall be decided by the Committee, otherwise the Match Secretary shall award 10 points.

c) The record of any team which may resign or be expelled from the League, shall be completely expunged.

The home team to inform the opposition about the date of the match.  Results of previous rounds are posted on the website.

a) Divisional KO Competitions shall be held before Christmas, each match shall consist of 9 singles sets of 3 Games only.

b) Handicap KO Competitions shall be held after Christmas. The handicapping sub-committee shall handicap all registered players.

c) A player may only play for 1 team in the Handicap KO in any one season. In exceptional circumstances the league sub-committee may waive this rule. The handicaps shall apply both to the Handicap KO Competition and the individual handicap event in the Closed Tournament.

d) A match shall consist of 9 singles sets and 1 doubles set, each of 2 games being played, making 10 in total. Each game finishes when one player reaches 21. The points scored by each team shall be totalled, the appropriate handicap added, and the team with the most points shall be the winners. In the event of a tie, the Doubles set is continued for a 3rd game. The handicap being applied pro-rata. The dates and venues on which KO finals must be played will be notified by the Match Secretary.

e) A sub-committee, one member of which shall be the Match Secretary, shall be appointed to assess handicaps.

f) A full draw shall be made for each competition at a convent meeting of the Committee.

g) A player may not play down in KO competitions.

h) A player may only play in a KO Final if he has previously played in 2 league matches during the season, or in 2 previous rounds of the competition.

a) To compete in the Annual Closed Tournament, all players must have played not less than 30% of his/her teams League matches prior to the date of entry to the Tournament.

b) Any objections should be made to the Tournament Referee before the start of a game.

All Matches and Competitions promoted by the League shall be conducted under the current Rules of the ETTA. Where possible players should confirm with the recommendations of the ETTA.

Any complaints concerning playing conditions should be made to the home team Captain, and even if the complaint cannot be rectified, the match should be played. Complaints, or serious cases of misconduct, shall be sent to the Committee via the Match Secretary.

a) The Committee may fine, and for serious offences suspend players, teams, clubs or officials for violation of the Rules.

b) Appeals: A player, team, club, or official may appeal to the committee against any disciplinary action imposed under Rules nos. 8&15a. The appeal should be made to the Honorary Secretary within 7 days of the date of notification of the fine or other penalty. Similarly, a player, team, club, or official has further right of appeal to the Northamptonshire Table Tennis Association.

Each club must provide contact(s) for their team(s) who should, be accessible by telephone, either at home or at work.

If contact is not accessible by telephone, telephone number of another responsible member of the club should be given whenever possible. Where there is more than one Contact for a Club, one of them must be appointed Secretary for the purpose of receiving telephone calls and correspondence.

Trophies to be held for 1 year, will be presented to the winning teams/players and must be returned on demand. Individuals, at the discretion of the Committee, will be presented with miniature trophies for their retention.

That no team be admitted to the First Division unless it has suitable playing conditions which satisfy a sub-committee examination to establish its condition.

The Committee interpretation of these Rules, and all matters affecting the administration of the League, shall be final, except where there is a right of appeal to the Northamptonshire Table Tennis Association.