According to the RDTTA rules, League matches should not be postponed but should take place on the scheduled date, or on an earlier date if agreed by both team captains. (see Rules 12.11.1 - 12.11.5)

The rules around playing league matches on the scheduled date are particularly relevant this season given that each Division has a full complement of 12 teams and many Clubs have little or no “wiggle room” when it comes to arranging additional home matches.

The obvious  exception to this would be if the venue was known to be unavailable on the scheduled date. In this case the home team captain should offer the opposition team captain at least one alternative date on which the fixture could be played. The re-arranged date must be agreed by the opposition captain and made known to the relevant Divisional Fixture Secretary (DFS).

(In exceptional circumstances, bad weather may prevent players from attending the venue on the scheduled date or a power failure could prevent the match from being played or completed, in which case the fixture should be re-arranged as above.)

The unavailability of a team’s best player is not a valid reason to ask for a match to be re-arranged. Most Clubs have sufficient players signed-on for lower ranked teams and the option to play-up these players should be taken, as plenty of teams already do. (A player is entitled to play-up for one or more higher ranked teams in the same Club, as long as it is in a higher Division, for a maximum of 4 times in a season.)

The only other exception to the no postponement rule would be if a team cannot field 3 players and there are no lower ranked teams in that Club from which another player could play-up.

If a team captain feels they cannot field a full team, despite having checked the availability of players in lower ranked teams, they should contact their DFS and the opposition team captain to request the fixture is re-scheduled.  Then, if both captains and the DFS agree to a re-arranged date for the fixture, it will be re-scheduled for the new date.

This will still be dependent on the venue being available on the suggested date, so if no alternative date can be agreed with the opposition captain, the match may have to go ahead with one team fielding only 2 players. Otherwise, if a team cannot fulfil a fixture and cannot agree an alternative date with the opposition captain, the match will be awarded to the opposition.

All requests for re-scheduling matches, for whatever reason, should be made known to and must be agreed with the relevant DFS.

These rules are not new – they have been in place for several years and have been printed in the RDTTA Handbook every season.

If you have any queries about this please discuss them with your Divisional Fixture Secretary.