Proposed Rule & Fee Changes - for 2022 AGM

Fees – There are no proposals to change RDTTA fees for 2022-23. 

Proposed Rule changes from the RDTTA Management Committee

PROPOSAL 1 - changes needed to deal with TTE membership category changes

These amendments are needed to account for TTE changing their membership categories and to simplify the associated definitions. New wording in bold, explanations in italics.

Proposal 1A) AMEND rule 4.4 to read:
Individual member:  the President, a Life Vice President, a Life Member, an honorary officer, a registered player, the secretary of an affiliated club.
- removes “an Associate member”

Proposal 1B) DELETE current rule 4.5 
Associate member: a person who has taken out Associate membership with Table Tennis England and is “associated” with the Association on the TTE players’ database.
- “Associate member” is no longer a valid category

Proposal 1C) ADD new rule 4.5:
Registered Player: A player who has been registered by the Association for a team in the current season and who has taken out the appropriate form of playing membership with TTE.
- This term is mentioned in Rule 4.4 and in five other rules, but not defined, and would simplify Rule 10.5.2

Proposal 1D) AMEND Rule 10.5.2 (Reading Closed entries) to read:
An entry from a registered player, other than a junior, but who does not qualify under Rule 10.5.1 may be accepted at the discretion of the Management Committee.
- CURRENT 10.5.2 refers to a “Player Member” of Table Tennis England, which is no longer a valid category 

Proposal 1E) AMEND Rule 12.12.5 to read:
All applications for player registration must be accompanied by proof of the relevant TTE membership. (Normally a TTE membership number.)
- CURRENT 12.12.5 refers to being a “Player Member” of Table Tennis England 

PROPOSAL 2 - changes needed to cover the Handbook no longer being printed 

Proposal 2A) AMEND Rule 11.2.2 to read:
For any team match the ball to be used shall be the choice of the home club. Unless a team has given notice to the designated officer of the Association before publication of the League Fixtures that an orange ball will be used for all home team matches, a white ball shall be used.

Proposal 2B) AMEND Rule 12.2.2 to read:
Applications for player registration made by clubs after forwarding completed form RTT B shall be made in writing by the club secretary and sent to the League Registrations Secretary accompanied by the appropriate fees. The appropriate Divisional Fixture Secretary shall be notified at the same time (if the League Fixtures have not been published then notification should be sent to the Divisional Fixture Secretary immediately after their publication).

Proposal 2C) AMEND Rule 12.6.1 to read:
Any team wishing to change its team captain, venue or home night after publication of the League Fixtures must immediately inform, in writing, the General Secretary, the League Registrations Secretary, the Newsletter Editor, the Divisional Fixture Secretary and the captain of every other team in that division.

Proposal 2D) AMEND Rule 12.6.2 to read: 
Any club wishing to change its secretary after publication of the League Fixtures must immediately inform, in writing, the General Secretary, the League Registrations Secretary and the Divisional Fixture Secretary of every division in which a team from that club plays. 

PROPOSAL 3 - changes to reflect what actually happens with match scorecards 

PROPOSAL 4 - change to correct an error in current rule

Amend Rule 12.12.4 to read:
Should any blank spaces occur in the league structure (i.e. teams less than an equal multiple of the agreed number), then these spaces shall be spread over all divisions where possible, but with a maximum of three spaces in any 12 team place division. Alternatively the RDTTA Management Committee may authorise that all divisions have 6, 8, 10 or 14 team places with teams playing each other up to 4 times. Any spaces in any revised format shall be spread across all divisions where possible.

PROPOSAL 5 - change to reflect there being just 4 Divisions

Amendment to the premises inspection conditions simply to reflect there being just 4 divisions. The only change is to the table, removing one column and amending the heading. No change to the text.

Amend Rule 12.13 to read :
An application by a club for affiliation to the Association must be accompanied by a Premises Form RTT 17.  A club will not be admitted to the league for the first time unless it complies with the following minimum playing conditions:

PROPOSAL 6 - change to playing-up rule

Amendment to allow players to play-up to a “higher” team within the same Division. The Bracknell League already allows this for the same reason as those given below.

The number of Divisions in the Reading league has been reducing over the last 30 years, when there were 9 divisions over 6 levels, yet the play-up rule has remained the same. We are currently playing in a league which has only 4 divisions, which might even reduce to 3 divisions in the coming years!  

With so few divisions, some clubs are being restricted from entering two teams in the same division, knowing they will have to be two totally discreet teams, because currently playing-up is not allowed between these teams and the club does not have sufficient players to allow for potential absences in each team. 

This could cause a particular problem if a lower team is promoted to the same Division as a higher team from the same Club or a higher team is relegated to the same Division as the lower team, meaning that Club would have two teams in the same Division, but the lower team players can no longer play-up for the higher team.  This could mean that a club would then not be able to field two teams.

Amend Rule 12.5.2 to read as follows (all new wording):

A player belonging to a club with more than one team is allowed to play-up for a higher ranked team or teams, even if the higher ranked team is in the same Division, but shall not be allowed to play-up for more than one team in the same division.

(i.e. A player cannot play-up from a club’s C team to both their B team and their A team if both A and B teams are in the same division, keeping this provision of the current rules)

PROPOSAL 7 - move existing paragraph to a separate rule - NO change to wording

This moves the final section of the current rule 12.5.2 to a separate rule 12.5.3 to aid clarity, but keeps the same wording.

CREATE New Rule 12.5.3, for maximum number of play-ups:

A player shall not be allowed to play in more than a total of four team matches apart from those for the team for which registered. If the registration of a player is transferred to a higher ranked team any earlier play for a team ranked higher than that to which the player has been transferred shall count towards the new four.

PROPOSAL 8 - change to AGM timing

The Covid situation has meant the Association has fallen foul of its own rule on the timing of the AGM in both 2021 and this year, therefore it seems sensible to amend this rule to allow for greater flexibility. Currently the rule references the Berkshire AGM and 15 June.

AMEND rule 9.1 to read:
The Annual General Meeting shall be held not later than 30th June, if at all possible.

PROPOSAL 9 - change to Committee membership

The Committee is becoming more depleted each year, so if we are to have any chance of the Association  continuing (to arrange League matches, Cup competitions and other events) we need more players and others to step up and help out. Therefore the Committee proposes the following:

CREATE a new Rule 8.5:

Every club which has at least two teams registered should have at least one representative on the Committee.

Note: Currently there are 11 Clubs, but 5 of these are not represented on the Committee.

PROPOSAL 10 - new rule related to ITTF regulations (1)

There has been some confusion over which ITTF rules apply to local league matches, especially since all of them are applied to national competitions in which some of our members take part.  However the regulations for Local League matches are determined by the Local League Committee and the RDTTA Committee think it would be sensible to add the following clarifications. 

CREATE a new Rule 11.1.1:
The ITTF time-out regulation shall not be used in the RDTTA league matches or other events organised by the Association.

PROPOSAL 11 - new rule related to ITTF regulations (2)

CREATE a new Rule 11.1.2:
Play shall be continuous throughout a match except that any player is entitled to: 

(i) an interval of up to 1 minute between successive games of a match and
(ii) brief intervals for towelling after every 6 points from the start of each game and at the change of ends in the last possible game of a match.

(- wording is as per ITTF)