CONSTITUTION AND RULES (05/10/2022)
 

1.            TITLE

1.1        The Association shall be called: “The Exeter and District Over 60’s Triples Bowling League”.

 

2             AFFILIATION

2.1        The Association shall be an Associate Member of Bowls Devon.

 

3.         OBJECTIVES

3.1        The Objectives of the Association shall be:

3.2       To organize a Triples Bowling League between Member Clubs for Males having reached the age of 60 years.

3.3       To arrange other such matches or competitions as may be decided upon by the Management Committee.

3.4        To arbitrate on disputes, relating to the League, between affiliated Clubs.

 

4.         MEMBERSHIP

4.1          Membership of the Association shall be open to Bowling Clubs in the Exeter and nearby area that are affiliated to Bowls England and are located within a 35 mile radius from the centre of Exeter.

4.2          Every application for affiliation shall be made, in writing, to the Secretary of the League by both the Club Secretary and another Club Official duly authorised.

4.3          The AGM or Special General Meeting will determine which future applications to the League are successful, voting by a simple majority of those attending.

 

5.            FEES AND AFFILIATION

5.1          The League Playing year shall commence on the 1st of March. The League Financial year shall start on the 1st of January each year.

5.2          The Annual Subscription per Club Team entry shall be determined at the Annual General Meeting of the Association.

5.3          The Annual Subscription shall be paid not later than the second week in March each year to the Hon. Treasurer of the Association, and any Club failing to pay these fees by the due date shall forfeit all the rights and privileges of membership until all arrears have been discharged.

 

6.         ADMINISTRATION

6.1          The affairs of the Association shall be conducted by a Management Committee consisting of:

6.1.1     The President, Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Fixture Secretary, referred to as “The Officers”, who shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting and each of whom shall have a vote.

6.1.2     Vice Presidents may be elected who are able to attend the Management Meetings without the power to vote.

6.1.3     One representative from each Affiliated Club, who may be separate from the Officers.

6.2       The Management Committee may co-opt persons to assist with specialist matters without the power to vote.

6.3        Eleven Members of the Management Committee shall form a quorum.

6.4       An Executive Sub-Committee shall be set up to deal with urgent matters, consisting of Officers. A quorum shall be three of the members of the sub-committee. The decision of the executive sub-committee shall be final.

6.5        The accounts of the Association shall be examined by a person, appointed at the Annual General Meeting, who shall not be a member of the Management Committee.

 

7.         MEETINGS

7.1        The Management Committee shall meet at least two times during the year.

7.2       A Club shall provide a Deputy, who shall have full voting rights, if its representative is unable to attend any meeting.

7.3        The Annual General Meeting shall be held in October, each year.

7.4       Each Affiliated Club shall be represented by ONE Voting Delegate; other members of the Club may attend without voting rights.

7.5       Agenda items for meeting of the Management Committee, Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting shall be forwarded to the Secretary fourteen days prior to the date of such meeting.
 

7.6       A Special General Meeting can be summoned within twenty eight days by the Executive Sub-Committee or at the written request of no less than six member Clubs. Voting rights to be as for the Annual General Meeting.

7.7        The President shall preside for the Annual General Meeting.

7.8        The Chairman shall have a casting vote.

 

8.            CONDITIONS OF PLAY

8.1       Play shall be in accordance with The Laws of the Sport of Bowls as laid down by Bowls England and World Bowls.

8.2       The League shall consist of Divisions comprising of up to ten Teams in each Division. Each Team shall consist of TWO rinks of THREE players. The minimum preferred number of teams per division to be six but can be as arranged at the Fixture Secretary’s discretion.

8.3       Each Team shall play home and away with each other Team in their Division, or as arranged at the Fixture Secretary’s discretion

8.4       All matches to be played on Wednesdays, on the specified dates and starting at 2.30pm, as shown in the League Fixture Lists.

8.4.1     All fixtures shall be played on the date and at the time specified unless there are exceptional circumstances. These include;

8.4.1.1  IF THE GREEN IS NOT AVAILABLE ON THE FIXTURE PLAY DATE.

If a Club has prior knowledge that it’s Green is not available on the scheduled play date they are to contact their opponents PRIOR to the start of the season and re-schedule. The re-schedule date should be before the published fixture list play on date. The League Fixture Secretary shall be advised of any change of playing dates.

8.4.1.2  IF THE GREEN IS CLOSED THROUGH BAD WEATHER OR OTHER REASONABLE CAUSE.

If a green is closed for any reason, the home Club must notify their opponents a minimum of three (3) hours or earlier, before the scheduled start time to avoid un-necessary travel, and the match then re-scheduled.

The home team must offer their opponents 3 dates and times for a rematch. These dates must all fall into a time span of 21days after the scheduled play date and can include any weekday and any time between 10.30am and 4.30pm. The opponents cannot refuse any reasonable date and time offered. The League Fixture Secretary shall be advised of any re-scheduling of postponed matches.

8.4.1.3  All fixtures shall be played by the last date of the issued fixture list unless there are circumstances falling within Rule 8.4.1.1 and 8.4.1.2 otherwise Rule 8.5 shall apply. The League Fixture Secretary shall be advised of any change of playing dates.

8.5       A Team that for any reason defaults on a fixture during the playing season will be referred to the 'Arbitration Committee' (Consisting of Three Members of the Executive Committee, one at least being the Secretary or Fixture Secretary) who may award 8 points and 10 Shots to the Non Offending Team, and whose decision shall be final.

8.6       The points system shall be TWO for each winning rink, ONE point for each drawn rink, FOUR points for a Team win, if the result of the match is a draw, then each Team will be awarded TWO points.

8.7       In the case of two Teams with an equal number of points the best aggregate of shots for and against will decide the position of the Team in the League.

8.8       There will be promotion and relegation between the Divisions of the League. The system for promotion and relegation shall be agreed at the Annual General Meeting.

8.9       ELIGIBLE TEAM MEMBERS

8.9.1    A Club that enters more than one Team in the League shall organize its players in such a manner that each Team has a sufficiently sized squad to fulfil its commitments throughout the season.

8.9.2     If, due to exceptional circumstances, a Team finds itself short of players to fulfil a commitment that Team may draw on a player from another Team’s squad in the same Club but plays in a lower Division, for a maximum of three occasions during a season.

8.9.3    Should a player be called to play for the higher Team on more than 3 occasions, that player will then automatically become a member of the higher Team and may not play for his former Team again during that season. (More than one player can be called upon to play for the higher Team for the maximum of 3 times each).

8.9.4    No player will be eligible to play for another Team in the same or a lower Division for the Club.

8.9.5    No central record is kept of players in each side so this rule relies on the goodwill and integrity of the Clubs.

8.10      If a match is abandoned should six ends have not been completed the match will be replayed. If the game has progressed beyond six completed ends the score shall be recorded and the game continued from the point at which it ceased, on a date mutually agreeable to both teams.

If 24 ends have been completed before the match is abandoned, the score when the match is abandoned shall be the result.

8.11      Any Team failing to arrive within half an hour of the time fixed shall forfeit the match and Rule 8.5 will apply. Unless the Home Captain agrees to play the Match.

8.12      The results, shall be forwarded to the Fixture Secretary using the Digital On-line Match Result Form within twenty-four hours of the game being played or completed. (See: exeterbowls.com)

The Fixture Secretary shall maintain a record of results and issue periodically League Tables.

8.13      If for any reason a season is unable to be completed, the Executive Committee will decide whether sufficient matches have been played in order for trophies and certificates to be awarded and for promotion and relegation to take place.

 

 

8.            TROPHIES

8.1          The Winning Club of each Division of the League will be presented at the Spring Management Meeting with the appropriate Trophy to be held for the duration of that playing season.

8.2          The Winning Clubs shall ensure safe custody of the Trophies throughout that time period.

8.3          At the end of the playing season all Trophies are to be returned to the League Officers at/during the Annual General Meeting held in October each year, or earlier.

At this time, the AGM, a Championship Memento will be presented to each of the current season’s Division’s winning Clubs.

8.4          At the end of the AGM Officers will arrange for the Trophies to be engraved with winning Club names ready for presentation at the next years Spring Meeting.

 

 

9.            ALTERATION TO THE RULES

10.1      Any alterations to the League Rules shall only be made at an Annual General Meeting or at a Special Meeting called for that purpose. Any alterations must have the support of at least TWO THIRDS of the affiliated Clubs to be successful; each Club shall have only ONE vote from those attending.

 

 

NOTES FOR GUIDANCE

 

Priority for applications for entry into the League shall be,

1.             Clubs entering a Team for the first time.

2.             Clubs entering a second Team.

3.             Clubs entering a third Team.

4.             Clubs entering a forth Team, and so on.

5.             If two or more Clubs are requesting the same number of teams to play the first application received will take preference.

 

Appendix A:

 

A)            Any Club dropping a team during or prior to the start of one season will go to the bottom of any new and re-applications list to enter for the following season.

B)            Other exceptional circumstances regarding team entry would be discussed at the Annual General Meeting and entry decisions to be agreed by a majority of those present.

 

 

Revised 5th October 2022