CONSTITUTION
M&DTTA Constitution 2024-2025.pdf
PRESIDENT
Mr Brian Fuller
LIFE VICE PRESIDENTS
Mrs Janie Cooper, Mr Dennis Goodwin, Mrs Julie Hall, Mr Gordon Harris, Mr Peter Mitchell, Mr & Mrs Barry & Evelyn Skates.
VICE PRESIDENTS
Mr Colin Creed, Mr Roger Harris .
Chair - Adrian Hall
Secretary - Adrian Hall
Treasurer - Paul Malyon
Tournament & league format Organiser - Julie Hall
League Secretary - Rob Hart
Web Master - Rob Hart
Allen Cooper Handicap Secretary - Tim Noble
Kent League Secretary - Dave Clapperton
Trophy Officer - Barrie Incledon
Kent County Representative - Adrian Hall
Auditor - Paul Woolven
Committee Members - Club Secretaries or their Representatives
RULES
2024-25 SEASON
1. Title
1.1. The name of the Association shall be
‘The Maidstone & District Table Tennis Association’.
2. Affiliation
2.1. Membership shall be open to Registered Clubs in Maidstone & District subject to the approval of the Executive Committee and the payment of all necessary fees.
2.2. The Association shall be affiliated to the Table Tennis England (TTE) and K.C.T.T.A.
3. Registration
3.1. The annual entry fee shall be per team only. There shall be a single Senior team fee set at the AGM. The Executive Committee shall recommend this sum for the AGM's consideration. The team fee for an all Junior team (which can include 1no Senior adult) shall be 50% of the Senior team fee. Each Junior in a Senior team shall reduce the Senior team fee by 10% up to a maximum of 30%. A Junior is classified as under 18 on the 30th June prior to the playing season.
Note 1: The team fee includes entry into the Winter League, the Allen Cooper Trophy and the Closed Tournament.
Note 2: the TTE Individual Membership fee is not included in the MDTTA team fee and is paid by the player direct to the TTE or their Premier Club.
3.2. A team shall comprise of a minimum of 3 named TTE registered players.
3.3. The committee reserves the right to decline the registration of a player.
3.4. Every Club must pay in full all its due fees for the forthcoming season by 31st August.
3.5. All Player registrations must be received and approved by the Registration Officer prior to playing a match. All players must be paid up Table Tennis England members. Any failure to comply shall result in the relevant player's games being conceded until a registration is compliant.
4. Constitution
4.1. The President, Life Vice Presidents and Vice President posts are honorary positions of the association. The former two shall hold the posts for life, (unless they bring the game into disrepute). The Officers of the Association shall consist of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Registration Officer and Treasurer, each of whom shall be elected at the annual General Meeting, which shall be held before the 30th April in each year (or as soon as possible after that date, at the discretion of the Executive Committee). The post of Secretary may be split into two roles if necessary, both roles holding a position on the Executive Committee as ex-officio officers. The Registration Officer shall be assisted by a Divisional Administrator for each division. The role of Divisional Administrator is not an ex-officio Committee role.
4.2. The affairs of the Association shall be managed by an Executive Committee which shall consist of the Officers (who shall be ex-officio members), four other Committee Members who shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting and Club Representatives nominated by MDTTA Clubs. All elected members of the Committee shall retire annually but may offer themselves for re-election. Elected Members serve in their individual capacity but may, subject to the agreement of their Clubs, also act as Club Representatives. Each MDTTA Club should have at least one person on the MDTTA Executive Committee. In the event of a Club not being represented by an Officer or elected member, it should nominate a Club Representative to serve on the Committee.
4.3. The Executive Committee shall meet at least three times between Annual General Meetings, once in May/June, once in October/November and once in March/early April not less than one month before AGM.
4.4. The quorum necessary for the Committee to transact business shall be four.
4.5. The Executive Committee shall have the power to appoint such sub committees as it may deem to be necessary and shall have the power to co-opt not more than three other members of the Association to the Committee. These members shall not, however, have full voting rights. There shall be a Standing Committee consisting of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Registration Officer and Treasurer to deal with any urgent matters which may arise between Executive Committee meetings, of whom three shall constitute a quorum. Entries from clubs wishing to take part in the Association’s activities must be submitted on the prescribed form to the Registration Officer by such date each year as laid down by the Executive Committee and must quote names and addresses, and dates of birth of all players and officials. The Executive Committee shall have the power to accept or decline registrations.
4.6. No new players may be registered after 31st December without the consent of the Executive Committee. Any player who is registered but has not played in the first half of the season will not qualify to play in the second half of the season. Neither will players qualify who only taken part in the Handicap Trophy. The Executive Committee however can consider registered players taking part in the second half of the season for reasons such as non-participation in the first half due to long term illness and teams with no provision to use other players from lower teams.
4.7. Promotion and relegation will be automatic at the end of each season with two teams from each division (winners and runners-up) being promoted and the bottom two teams being relegated, (Divisions of nominally 12 teams). Where divisions are nominally 8 teams, one (1) team will be promoted and one (1) team relegated per division.
4.8. The number of teams in any division shall be as near equal as possible. Where required the Executive Committee can give notice to any of the higher Divisions prior to completion of the registration process that there shall be three teams demoted in that coming season.
4.9. If a vacancy occurs in any division after promotion and relegation has been effected the place(s) may be filled at the discretion of the Executive Committee.
4.10. If a team from any division decides to change clubs or form a new club, at least two members of the original team must be part of the newly formed team. This new team will only be allowed to assume the original team’s place providing the original club cannot, or does not wish, to retain the team place.
4.11. Notification of a change of team name must be submitted with the entry form, prescribed above, to the Registration Officer by the due date and the Executive Committee may accept or decline the application at its discretion.
4.12. A club may not register a reserve until each of their team(s) has at least three registered players.
4.13. The season shall commence as late in September as possible but allow the first half fixtures to finish before Christmas.
4.14. The League shall aim to operate a GeneraTTion League as a development to encourage player graduation into the main league. Its rules shall be separate to the main league rules.
5. Meetings
5.1. Blank.
5.2. The Association shall hold its Annual General Meeting as stated in Rule 4. Any MDTTA member Club player and non-playing Club Chair (or Secretary) who is a registered member of the TTE may attend and vote at the Meeting. Every club must have at least one such registered member at the AGM. Where any Club does not meet this requirement a fine of £20 shall be levied, payable within one month.
6. Playing Rules
6.1. Each game shall be played and umpired under the current Laws of the TTE., using any match ball , types and colours of rubbers, blades, glues, equipment and clothing which have ITTF authorisation.
6.2. Playing conditions of the clubs shall be subject to scrutiny and approval by the Executive Committee.
6.3. Each match shall consist of 10 sets, to be played the best of five (5) games up to eleven (11), of which 9 shall be singles and 1 doubles. The order of play shall be as follows, with the home team players called A, B & C and the away team players X, Y & Z. The order of play will be: 1. A v X; 2. B v Y; 3. C v Z; 4. B v X; 5. A v Z; 6. C v Y; 7. B v Z; 8. C v X; 9. A v Y; 10. Any 2 of A,B,C v any 2 of X,Y,Z.
6.4. The doubles pairing shall be nominated by team captains at any time during the match. The home team shall enter its order of play first on the Match Score Card and the order of play may only be altered by mutual agreement between the captains. Umpiring shall, as far as practical, be carried out alternately by each team.
6.5. The minimum number of players to constitute a match shall be 4 (2 per team). In the event of there only being two players from each team, 5no games consisting 4 singles and a doubles shall be played and points awarded accordingly.
6.6. Each team shall play home and away matches on such nights and times fixed by the Executive Committee and the result of each match shall be decided by games won.
6.7. There shall be no postponement of matches except due to adverse weather and loss of a pre booked venue, or at the discretion of the Executive Committee where there are extenuating circumstances beyond a team's own control.
A team postponing a match shall prior to the match advise their opponent and the Divisional Administrator and also confirm their reasons in writing within 7 days of the match date to the Divisional Administrator.
The Standing Committee shall consider the reasons within 7 days and if extenuating circumstances are not demonstrated the points penalty in 7.3 shall be applied.
All postponed matches shall be played. Postponed matches scheduled for the first half of the season shall be completed before the start of the second half of the season. Every effort shall be made to play a postponed match within the i) same week, ii) a prior week, iii) within one month and iv) in the last resort for postponed matches scheduled for the second half of the season within one week after the last scheduled fixture week.
6.8. If any team withdraws from the Association during the first half of the season (divisions 10/12) or first third (divisions of 8), the results will be deleted. For any team withdrawing in the second half (divisions of 10/12) or second third (divisions of 8) of the season, all results from the first half / first third will stand, For any team withdrawing in the 3rd part of the season (divisions of 8) the first two thirds will stand, the remainder will be deleted. Any matches outstanding will be adjudicated by the committee. Withdrawing clubs must notify the League Secretary, who will, in turn, notify all other Club Secretaries.
6.9. All matches shall commence at 7.30pm. An earlier start can be agreed by both teams. Where a venue is not available before 7.30pm the earliest possible start shall be made. Any player not present for their games as per the order stated in 6.3 and 6.4 shall concede that game unless the order is agreed to be varied by both team captains. Games that over run the venue close time shall be conceded by the home team unless the away team were the cause for those games not being played, in which case the away team shall concede these games.
6.10. The maximum number of points per match shall be 10 with one point for each game won or conceded.
6.11. At the end of the season the team having won the most match points shall be declared the division winner. If match points won are equal, all league placings shall be decided by, in descending order, (i) the team having won the most matches, (ii) the team having drawn the most matches, (iii) the team having won the most games in aggregate in the matches between the two teams concerned, (iv) the team having won the most legs in those matches and (v) the team having won the most points in those matches.
6.12. Blank
6.13. The winner of each division shall hold the appropriate Divisional Trophy for a period of one year and at the end of that period shall return this, in a fit and proper condition. Up to four small mementoes shall be awarded to the winning team and similarly the runner-up team in each division. Any additional trophies required over four shall be the responsibility of the club concerned, who must notify the Trophy Secretary within 14 days of the Presentation Date.
6.14. In principle no player may registered into a division significantly below their playing standard. No registered player may at any time play in a lower team from that which they are registered without the consent of the Executive Committee, nor for any other club in any division. The exception is that a player from a higher team in the lowest division may play for a lower team in that same division, provided the two teams are from the same club and provided the opposing team agrees.
6.15. A registered player may play for a higher rated team in any division. A player may though only play 3 times (divisions of 10/12) or 4 times (divisions of 8) against any other team during a season. The exception is that a player registered with the lowest team (i.e. by letter or number) in a Club and any player registered with a team in the bottom division may play 4 (divisions of 10/12) or 5 times (divisions of 8) against any other team.
7. Penalties
7.1. The Executive Committee shall have the power to penalise defaulting clubs by reduction of points or otherwise, as they think fit.
7.2. Results of matches must be entered on the website within 72 hours of the match being played or conceded. The home team is responsible for sending in the results of matches played or conceded.
7.3. In the event that a match is postponed and the Executive Committee determines that extenuating circumstances have not been demonstrated (see 6.7) the team postponing the match shall be fined £12 and penalised 5 points for the first offence and 10 points for subsequent ones. In the event that a postponed match is not played by the due dates set out in 6.7 the team who postponed shall be fined a further £12 and be penalised a further 5 points for the first offence and 10 points thereafter. Any team so penalised will have the right to appeal to the Executive Committee within seven days of receipt of the notification. The Executive Committee's decision will be final.
7.4. In the event that a team postpones a match without giving 48 hours’ notice to the opposing Club Secretary the £12 fine shall be levied, even if the match is re-arranged. The fine shall be offered by the Association to the other Club as compensation to cover any expenses involved through the fixture not being played on the scheduled date. The Executive Committee has the discretion to levy a higher fine if the other Club can show that it has incurred expenses above £12.
8. Special General Meetings
8.1. A Special General Meeting shall be convened within one month of the receipt by the Secretary of a requisition to do so, stating fully the reason, signed by the representatives of at least two-thirds of the clubs belonging to the Association with the knowledge of their own Secretaries. It shall also be convened by a resolution of the executive committee.
9. Amendments To Rules
9.1. No addition to, alteration or recession of the Rules shall be effected unless at the Annual General Meeting or at a Special General Meeting convened for the purpose. Any proposed alteration to the Rules shall, with the exception of variations in fees, be submitted to the Secretary by 1st April and circulated to all Club Secretaries not later than 14 days before the Annual General Meeting.
10. Disputes
10.1. In the event of any questions or matter arising which is not provided in the foregoing rules, such questions or matter shall be referred to the Executive Committee who have the authority to decide such an issue.
11. Disciplinary
11.1. A member shall not do or cause to be done anything deliberately harmful to the association or to the game of Table Tennis.
11.2. A member shall not without good and sufficient cause: absent himself from the hearing of any allegations or appeal after having been requested with reasonable notice to attend.
11.3. Refuse or neglect to answer any question put to him in connection with such allegation or appeal if directed to answer by the chairman of the adjudicating body.
12. Suspension
12.1. For a breach of this Association's Rules or Regulations the Association shall have the power to suspend any Local League club, player or official within its jurisdiction, under the power created by these Rules and subject to the right of appeal by such rules.
12.2. The County General Secretary shall be notified of any suspension under this rule. Such suspension shall be enforced by all bodies in this Association but shall operate only within the jurisdiction of this Association and does not affect the privileges of membership or of affiliation to the K.C.T.T.A. or to the TTE. enjoyed outside the jurisdiction of this Association.
13. Disciplinary Committee
13.1. There shall be a Sub-committee, called the Disciplinary Committee and shall consist of five persons, one of whom shall be designated as Chairman by the Executive Committee.13.2 Members of the Disciplinary Committee shall (unless they resign) serve until the end of the season in which they were appointed and thereafter until the appointment of their successors. Casual vacancies shall be filled by the Executive Committee.
13.2. A decision may be taken by not less than three members, all of which must have been present throughout the hearing.
13.3. Any member having an interest in a matter to be discussed must declare that interest as soon as he is aware of it, and must not be present in his capacity as a member of the Disciplinary committee during the transaction of that business.
13.4. Should qualification under rule 23.3 leave less than three members as required by Rule 13.2.1, the Executive Committee shall appoint sufficient temporary members to make the number up to three, such members serving only for the particular matter for which they are appointed.
13.5. The Disciplinary Committee shall deal with any allegation under Rule 13.6 of breach or Regulation of this Association.
13.6. Any allegation referred to in Rule 13.5 must be made in writing to the Hon. Secretary specifying the Rule or Regulation alleged to have been broken, the name of the member or organisation alleged to be in breach and the date and place of the alleged breach.
13.7. The disciplinary Committee shall follow the procedure laid down by the National Council of the TTE. as included in appendix E to the rules of the TTE.
13.8. If a formal allegation is proved to its satisfaction, the Disciplinary Committee shall have the power to impose on the member or organisation guilty of such breach (the offender) one or more of the following penalties
13.8.1 That he be suspended from privileges of membership of this Association either indefinitely or for a stated period.
13.8.2 That he/she be fined.
13.8.3 That he/she be censured.
13.8.4 That he/she be dealt with in some other manner as the Discipline Committee may think fit.
13.9. The chairman of the Disciplinary Committee shall, within seven days of the hearing, notify its decision in writing to the Hon Secretary, who shall notify the member or organisation in writing at the same time sending the member or organisation a copy of Rule 14(right of appeal) if the charge has been proved.
14. Right Of Appeal
14.1. Any member, affiliated club aggrieved by a decision or action of this Association, or a committee, Officer or official of this Association(except the proper determination of an appeal), or by the neglect or refusal to do something which this Association or such committee, Officer or official of this association is under a duty to do, may appeal against such decision, action neglect or refusal to the County/TTE. Board of Appeal.
14.2. Any appeal under Rule 14.1 shall be made in writing to the Hon. Secretary of the County Association within 21 days of notification of the decision or action appealed against, and shall be accompanied by a fee of ?5.00 in the case of an individual or ?15.00 in the case of an organisation, which shall be returned if the adjudicating body consider the making of an appeal to have been justified (whatever the result)
15. Dissolution Of League Assets
15.1. If upon the winding-up or dissolution of the Association there remains, after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any property whatsoever the same shall not be paid to or distributed among the members of the Association, but shall be vested in the K.C.T.T.A. who shall hold them for a period of 4 years in trust to pay them to any organisation set up within the Maidstone area, with similar objects identical or similar to those of the Association(the K.C.T.T.A. during such period making every endeavour to promote and encourage the formation of such organisation) and thereafter for the general purpose of the K.C.T.T.A.
End.
