1) Read through your handbook and get to know the League Rules. The Rules are there for everyone's benefit.
2) Please make sure that matchesstart promptly at 7.30 except where otherwise stated Give your visitors the opportunity for a pre-match knock-up.
3) The Divisional Record Secretaries are your direct contact with the League. In the first instance, if you have a problem, contact your Divisional Record Secretary.
NAME: The League shall be called The Malvern Table Tennis League.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: The business of the League shall be dealt with by an executive committee consisting of President, Chairman, Treasurer, Secretaries and a minimum of six committee members. The officers of the league shall be elected annually at each Annual General Meeting, retiring members being eligible for re-election. In the event of any member of the committee resigning during his/her year of office, the executive committee shall have power to fill the vacancy by co-opting a new member to the committee.
4) SELECTION COMMITTEE: The Selection Committee shall consist of three members under the chairmanship of the Inter-League Secretary, with the Secretary present in an advisory capacity only.
5) ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: The Annual General Meeting of the League shall be a gathering of teams each of which must send at least one representative for each team REGISTERED with the League during the previous season. All such registered members shall have full speaking and voting powers. Seven days notice of the meeting shall be given to all team secretaries. Penalty for non-attendance will be £5.
6) ALTERATION TO RULES: No alterations to the rules of the League shall be made, except at an Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting convened as in Rule 7. Any proposed amendment or alteration to the Rules must be received by the league secretary by 30th April in each season.
7) SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING: A Special General Meeting may be called at seven days notice by the executive committee at any time, to be attended by at least one member of each team.
8) AUDIT: An Auditor shall be appointed at the Annual General Meeting.
9) FEES: Affiliation and Registration Fees shall be as determined by the A.G.M.'s of Table Tennis England, W.C.T.T.A. and M.T.T.L. respectively. The date for payment of these fees shall also be determined at the League's A.G.M. Each registered player shall receive a copy of the league handbook. Registration fees must be received by the League Secretary 24 hours before a player is eligible to play in a match.
10) JUNIOR PLAYERS: A Junior Player shall be under 18 on 1st January in the playing season. VETERAN PLAYERS: A Veteran Player shall be over 40 on 1st January of the playing season.
11) REGISTRATION: A player shall register for one team only. No player may play for a team in a lower division than his registered team and with the exception of the lowest division, no registered player may play for any other team in the division in which his team plays. A higher division team may call a player in a lower division to play for them. A team in the lowest division may call a player from another team in the same division to play for them. No team may include more than two invited players in any one match. A player may play a maximum of six matches in the higher division and six matches (for teams other than their registered team) in the lowest division in any one season, but is not restricted to a single team. Any player playing for a team in the lowest division that is not their registered team must be of equal or lower ranking than the player that they are playing in place of. Any variation from this must be approved in advance by the Fixtures Secretary or a senior committee member.” No player may be registered within four weeks of the end of the season except with the approval of the league committee concerned.
11a) As an exception to Rule 11, at the discretion and with prior approval of the executive committee, a player may be registered to play in two teams (of different divisions) where this action is for the explicit purpose of promoting the participation of young players in the lowest division of the League. Such an exception may only be approved for one season and, where required, approval renewed annually. The following restrictions apply to any such player when playing for the team in the lower division :- i. he is precluded from playing in any doubles events; ii. he may not enter any other competition reserved for players of that division; iii. he may not play in the Handicap Competition; iv he will not be assigned an individual record for matches in that division. Under these arrangements, although two such players may be registered for a team, they may not play together in a match.
12) TRANSFER: Any player requesting a transfer from one team to another will only be eligible to transfer to a team not in a lower division and must obtain a transfer form from the league secretary. The form shall be signed by both team secretaries concerned and by the player requesting the transfer. The completed form shall be sent to the league secretary together with the transfer fee of £1. No player is eligible to play for a new team until his / her transfer has been sanctioned by the league secretary. No player may be transferred within four weeks of the end of the scheduled league programme except with the approval of the divisional secretary concerned.
13) FIXTURES: Each team shall name a definite night on which their HOME MATCHES shall be played. 72 hours' notice must be given by any team wishing to postpone a match unless the team secretaries concerned agree to a shorter period of notice. All postponements must be notified to the Divisional Record Secretary concerned. If a shorter period of notice is not acceptable then both team secretaries should contact the Divisional Record Secretary IN WRITING giving full details of the circumstances involved. The Divisional Record Secretary will then present the facts to the committee for a decision to be made concerning the match. In the event of a postponement, the two team secretaries must agree an alternative date and this must be submitted to the Divisional Record Secretary by the home team. Any match postponed within 24 hours of the scheduled start time or to which a team fails to turn up without prior agreement between the team secretaries, as outlined above, shall be forfeit by the infringing team by a score of 10-0. Any team who have more then three matches, which they have cancelled, that are unplayed at any one time, are deemed to have left the league and all their results shall be deleted.
14) The Home Night of each team shall appear in the official handbook. All matches to start at 7.30 p.m. If any player has not arrived by 8.30 p.m., three games will be forfeited and he will not be allowed to play any singles event. Any player who arrives after the start of a match forfeits the right to have a 'knock up' with a member of their own team. Any complaints regarding match procedure or playing conditions in any match shall be made in writing to the Divisional Record Secretary, and signed by the team captain. The complaint must reach the secretary within 24 hours of the match being played or it will be ignored. SCORE CARDS: The secretary of the HOME team must send in the score card to reach the Divisional Record Secretary within 72 hours of the match being played. Failure to comply may result in the forfeiture of points.
15) All matches must be played according to the Laws of Table Tennis, as approved by the I.T.T.F. and adopted by Table Tennis England All home teams must provide a ball selected from the Table Tennis England approved list. A list of approved balls will be provided by the secretary at the start of each season.
16) MATCH PROCEDURE: A team shall consist of three players (except where separate players take part in the doubles event). Each of these players shall play each other player of the opposing side once. In addition there shall be one doubles event, the result of which shall count as one event in the final match score. All sets shall be the best of five games. The order of play shall be according to the scorecard, except with the agreement of both captains. Points shall be awarded as follows :- 3 points for winning 10, 9, 8, 7 or 6 sets, 2 points for winning 5 sets and 1 point for winning 4, 3 or 2 sets. Teams cannot play double headers against the same team i.e. each match must be played on separate occasions.
17) PROMOTION & RELEGATION: If at least one division contains more than 10 teams, at the end of the season the two highest teams in each division shall be promoted and the two lowest relegated, except in the case of the top and bottom divisions, where promotion or relegation is impossible. If all divisions contains 10 teams or less, only the top team shall be promoted and the bottom team relegated automatically. There will be a play-off match between the teams finishing second in the lower division and second from bottom in the higher division. The lower team shall have home advantage. The winner will play in the higher division the following season. If the match is drawn, the lower division team will be promoted and the higher division team will be relegated.
At the end of a season if two or more teams at the top or bottom of a division are level on league points, then precedence shall be decided on sets won and thereafter on matches won and thereafter on the difference between games won and lost and thereafter the final position shall be decided by a match play off. No doubles to be played to ensure a result. Vacancies occurring by virtue of an increase or decrease in the number of teams shall be filled at the commencement of the ensuing season from teams available in the following order:- a. Teams playing in the division during the previous season which would normally be subject to relegation in order of league position. b. Teams in the next division, other than the first two, in order of league position. The executive committee reserve the right to allocate a team to a division other than the bottom one if a team’s playing strength merits this. The constitution of the various divisions in the league shall be published two weeks prior to the start of the season and any objections must be notified to the league secretary within 3 days.
18) REPRESENTATIVE MATCHES: All players in the league may be called upon by the selection committee to represent the league, and five days' notice shall be given to the selected players.
19) MALVERN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: A player shall be eligible to enter the Malvern Individual Championships provided that :- a. He/she has played in at least one third of the matches for his/her team in the Malvern League during the current season at the time of entry or b. He/she is defending a title. Applications from any other category of player may be considered, the committee exercising its discretion in these cases.
20) HANDICAP COMPETITIONS: No player shall be eligible for the Handicap Competitions unless he/she has played in AT LEAST THREE MATCHES for his/her side prior to the fixing of the handicap for each respective round. All Handicap Competition matches must be played in the weeks allocated to them in the handbook, or at the discretion of the committee.
21) REVIEW OF LEAGUE DECISIONS: Any individual or team aggrieved by a decision or action of this league, or of a committee, officer or official of this League, may apply to the committee to review such a decision or action, and the committee shall arrange a Hearing if requested. Any such application for review shall be made in writing to the League Secretary within 14 days of notification of the decision or action of which review is sought.
22) EXPULSION OF MEMBERS: Members of the League whose conduct may bring the League into disrepute or who decline to abide by any of the Rules may be expelled or suspended by a resolution passed at a meeting of the Committee. Members shall have the right to appeal in person to the Committee with regard to any decision affecting themselves, provided that notice of such appeal is submitted to the Secretary, in writing, within 7 days of notification of the decision.
23) DISSOLUTION: a) If at the Annual General Meeting of the League a resolution is passed for the dissolution of the League, the Secretary shall immediately convene a Special General Meeting of the League to be held not less than one month thereafter to discuss and vote on the resolution. b) If at that Special General Meeting, the resolution is carried by at least two thirds of the members present at the meeting, the Committee shall thereupon, or at such date as shall be specified in the resolution, proceed to realise the assets of the League and discharge all debts and liabilities of the League. c) After discharging all debts and liabilities of the League the remaining assets shall not be paid or distributed amongst the members of the League but shall be given, or transferred to other voluntary organisations having objects similar to those of the League.