EAST KENT SHORT MAT BOWLS ASSOCIATION

1] TITLE
2] OBJECTS
3] MEMBERSHIP
4] NON COMPLIANCE TO CONSTITUTION & RULES
5] PLAYER REGISTRATION FEE
6] ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
7] A.G.M. PROPOSALS
8] APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEE
9] VOTING IN COMMITTEE
10] LEAGUE SEASON
11] TEAM/PLAYER REGISTRATION
12] PLAY ARRANGEMENTS
13] DIVISIONS
14] PROMOTION & RELEGATION
15] FIXTURES [DATES]
16] FIXTURES [CANCELLATION / POSTPONEMENT OF]
17] GREEN FEES
18] RESULTS
19] LEAGUE POINTS & TABLE POSITIONING
20] DISPUTES
21] DRESS
22] SMOKING
23] ANNUAL AWARDS
24] NOTICES
25] DISSOLUTION
26] ALTERATION OF CONSTITUTION & RULES

CONSTITUTION & RULES OF THE GAME

This Constitution and Rules are set out for the use of all players in the above Association, and no other rules should be used whilst playing any games or competitions organised by the said Association.

CONSTITUTION

1] TITLE

The Association shall be known as the EAST KENT SHORT MAT BOWLS ASSOCIATION.
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2] OBJECTS

To further the game of short mat bowls in the East Kent area.
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3] MEMBERSHIP

Membership shall be open to all short mat clubs in East Kent, and shall be from 1st May to the 30th April of the following year. Applications for membership shall be at the discretion of the Committee who shall, if necessary, limit membership.
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4] NON COMPLIANCE TO CONSTITUTION & RULES

Any club who is unwilling to abide by any part of this Associations Constitution and/or rules, or any decision made, voted upon and agreed, by the majority present at the AGM, will after a maximum period of 90 days following the AGM be subject to one or any combination of the following penalties; -

1] The offending club’s team be relegated to a lower division.  If the club has more than one team in the league, then the highest team will be relegated.  If the club’s team is already in the lowest division then they will start the new season with a deficit of 6/8/10/12 points, (The amount of points to be determined at the meeting.)

2] Have no promotion prospects for the following season, regardless of where they finish in the table.

3] Start a following season with a point’s deficit of 6/8/10/12 points. (The amount of points to be decided at the meeting.)

4] The offending club be removed from competing in the triples league for the following season, but remain a member of the association and able to compete in all other organised competitions.  Re-entry to the league after one season’s absence will mean starting in the lowest division.

5] The offending club to be fined up to a maximum of £100.

6] For a second offence in consecutive years the offending club be asked to resign from the Association.

7] The offending club be asked to resign from the Association forthwith.

Further to this, a request to rejoin the association from any such club, will only be considered at an AGM after a minimum period of one full season, and then only if the club gives its full assurance, in writing, that it is willing to conform and abide by this Associations Constitution and rules.
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5] PLAYER REGISTRATION FEES

Registration fees shall be set annually at the AGM. Fees shall be payable by the 31st May each year, although clubs may add to their registration list throughout the season, by sending the players FULL NAME/S and relevant monies to the Association Secretary at any time. These should however arrive no later than the score cards showing said players first game.

If a card arrives without the required fee for a new player attached, the Secretary shall, as soon as possible, contact, by telephone, either the Association Representative or the Secretary of the club at fault, and that club shall then have a maximum of 7 days in which to have the due fees delivered to the Association Secretary. No leeway will be allowed. Failure to ensure this will result in 3 points being deducted from the offending teams total regardless of whether or not they would have scored any from the game in question, and the normal points for this game being awarded to their opponents.
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6] ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Association will hold an Annual General Meeting in April or May of each year, for which members will be given 28 days notice in writing. Each club shall be entitled to 2 voting members, although there is no restriction on the number of club members wishing to attend.
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7] AGM PROPOSALS

Clubs, or individuals, tabling proposals for the AGM must be represented at that meeting, otherwise those proposals will be deleted from the agenda without being heard or voted upon.

Proposals will only be addressed at an AGM if they have been forwarded and recorded by the preceding Pre-AGM, and included on the AGM Agenda, giving clubs a minimum of 28 days notice of that meeting.
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8] APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEE

Nominations for the appointment of Officers must be notified, in writing, to the Association Secretary at least 14 days prior to an AGM and they will be voted on at that meeting. Offices open for nomination are :- President; Chairman; Vice Chairman; Hon. Secretary; Hon. Treasurer and Competition Secretary.

Officers not intending to stand for re-election at an AGM should make their intentions known by the preceding Pre AGM.

Committee members, 1 from each club, are to be elected by their respective clubs and their names put forward at the AGM.
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9] VOTING IN COMMITTEE

Voting in Committee shall be by a show of hands, and by the majority of Committee members present. In the event of an equality of votes the Chairman shall have the casting vote.

Any matters of real importance, raised at Committee level, will be referred back to all Associated clubs prior to any possible vote being taken. Clubs will be expected to discuss these before the next Association Committee meeting, and send their representative to that meeting with any views they may have, plus the authority to vote for or against. Any decisions thus made, voted upon and agreed, will be binding on all clubs until ratification at the next AGM.
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10] LEAGUE SEASON

The league season shall run from September to April annually.
Clubs must ensure that all of their match equipment meets the Associations requirements, as laid down in the rule book, at the start of every season.
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11] TEAM / PLAYER REGISTRATION

i)Clubs must, when registering their players, also pre-register them to their respective teams before the season commences. Any players registered after this time must also be allocated to a specific team. If a player who has not previously been listed, plays, then they will automatically be registered to the team they have played for, on receipt of the scorecards.

ii) A team (at the time of play) will consist of 6 players with up to 2 reserves. No team alteration will be allowed after the game has commenced.
Individual player registrations will be as per lists supplied. Once a player is thus registered to a team, then they cannot play in any other team that season, (exception:- see paragraph (iii) below) unless the said player/s changes clubs permanently.
In this case their new club must reregister them and pay the relevant fee. Failure to observe this will result in all points for the offending game/s being awarded to the opponents. All players must be bona-fide members of the club they are playing for, and all due registration fees paid.

iii) A maximum of 2 players, at a time, playing in a lower division team, may be promoted to a higher division team, within the same club, on one occasion only per season. They must then return to playing in their former lower division team for the remainder of the season.
No player may move between teams in the same division. Players can only play "up" not "down".

iv) A penalty for infringement of these regulations will be imposed as follows:-
The team for which the offending bowler has played will forfeit 4 points for the specific game they played in, regardless of whether or not they won or lost it, and a further 2 points will be deducted from their total league points.
The other game of the fixture will be awarded:- 2 points for a win or 1 each for a draw, making up the 6 points available for each match.
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12] PLAY ARRANGEMENTS

Play will be 2 triples with 2 woods per player, over 15 ends. It will be the home clubs decision as to whether 1 or 2 mats are used. Home clubs may also decide order of play of teams, i.e.: instead of 2"A"s followed by 2"B"s it may be decided to play 1"A" & 1"B" followed by another "A" & "B", or any other combination. However no club shall host 2 or more visiting clubs at the same time, and all fixtures must be confirmed in writing, between the club secretary's.

Before deciding on the order of play above, it should be borne in mind that if a person/s has just played, either in a game or just practising, on a particular mat, then that person/s must not where-ever possible, immediately use the same mat again.

Individuals should be especially mindful of this if they are about to take part in any competition game. If another mat is available then this should be used. Visiting teams / players have the right to request this.

Common courtesy and etiquette should prevail in all circumstances.
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13] DIVISIONS

Divisions will be limited to a maximum of 12 teams. There will be no limit to the number of teams a club may enter.
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14] PROMOTION & RELEGATION

There will be promotion and relegation between divisions with at least 2 teams promoted and 2 teams relegated each season.
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15] FIXTURES

Fixtures will be as per the published fixtures lists. The home and away match must be played within the published period. Club secretary's are to arrange the actual date and time between themselves.
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16] CANCELLATION OR POSTPONEMENT OF FIXTURES

Fixtures postponed due to inclement weather or for other valid reasons should be notified to the Association Secretary immediately. A mutual date should then be re-arranged between clubs and this also notified to the Association Secretary.

If a league fixture, once started, has to be abandoned due to unforeseen circumstances   with at least 10 ends having been completed, on both mats, before an abandonment   becomes necessary, and play cannot be restarted again within 20 minutes, then the score   as recorded at that time becomes the result of the match. Any match where both mats   have not completed 10 ends must be re-arranged and replayed in full, even if this means   that the match has to be played at the opponents, or a neutral, venue to enable it to be   completed before the end of the season.

Cancellation of a fixture inside of a minimum notice period of 72 hours, may result in a penalty being given to the offending team, as decided by the Committee.
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17] GREEN FEES

These to be payable to the home club, and will be reviewed annually.
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18] RESULTS

All score cards must be posted to the Association Secretary. All four cards for any one game MUST NOT be sent together in the same envelope, in case of loss in the post. Each club is responsible for sending in their own cards. All cards should be signed by both Skips after first checking that all details are correct. Cards should then be with the Association Secretary as soon as possible after the game has taken place, and at the latest within 5 days of same.

If scorecards are received from both teams in a particular game with different results shown, and they have been signed by both Skips, the Association Secretary is allowed to accept as correct the lowest scores recorded, even if the final end is not completed on the card in question, without contacting either team.
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19] LEAGUE POINTS & TABLE POSITIONING

A maximum total of 6 points will be awarded for each match, as follows :-

1 point = 1 Draw

2 points = 1 Win

3 points = 2 Draws or 1 Win + Overall Draw

4 points = 1 Win + Overall Win

5 points = 1 Win + 1 Draw + Overall Win

6 points = 2 Wins

If a fixture is broken by default ON THE DAY OF PLAY by either club failing to field ONE or BOTH teams, for whatever reason, then 4 points will be awarded to the opposing club for one un-played game, or 6 points for two. A club may however elect to play with a team of 2 players ( See Rule 30e ) if necessary.

A claim for points against an un-played match, i.e.; where no suitable re-fixture date agreed between clubs, will only be considered, by the Committee, after written confirmation of original fixtures have been broken. The Committee will wish to hear both sides views in any dispute before a decision is made. Points cannot be awarded by individual clubs, or the Association Secretary, as all decisions must be made by the Committee.

If the Home teams venue is unavailable the fixture should be re-located to either the opponents or a neutral venue, if one is found to be available. It will be the Home teams responsibility to contact other clubs to see if this is possible, before any decisions are taken with regard to awarding points. It can, as already stated above, only be a Committee decision as to the awarding of points, and clubs should be aware of the consequences of breaking Association Rules as per Constitution Article 4.

In the event of two or more teams, in the same division, being equal on points, and having played the same number of games, then in order of priority, to decide their positions in the league, the following shall apply :-

Firstly Number of Wins

Secondly Number of Draws, and

Thirdly Shots Differential

In the very unlikely event of there still being a Tie situation, then the results will be declared a dead heat, but if these are the final results of a season and positions will affect promotion or relegation of teams, then a fifteen end game, on one mat, will be played at a neutral venue, to decide the winner.

If it affects more than two teams, for the same position, then they will all play each other in a round robin, and then onto a straight knockout if necessary.

Final positions in both cases will be decided as follows :-

Normal game rules will apply with the following exceptions; NO points will be awarded, but if scores are level after fifteen ends, then the number of ends won will count. Tied ends WILL NOT count as being played, and as such must not be shown on score cards. Normal Dead End penalties will apply.
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20] DISPUTES

In the event of any matter occurring that cannot be satisfactorily resolved between teams and not covered by these rules, the Committee shall have full power to deal with same, and their decision will be final.
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21] DRESS

All teams must wear White, not Cream, above the waist, and Grey below. Trousers for ladies are optional, but lycra leggings or jogging suit bottoms will not be permitted. Footwear must be HEEL-LESS FLAT SMOOTH SOLED, but planed or ground off trainers etc. are not acceptable.
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22] SMOKING

Association players are NOT permitted to smoke during their game. Club Captains are expected to see that this, and Article 21 above, are adhered to.
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23] ANNUAL AWARDS

Any club, or individual, who is due to receive a trophy for their League or Competition results MUST attend themselves, or send a representative, to the presentations, regardless of whether or not they attend the accompanying Dinner Dance.
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24] NOTICES

All notices concerning the Association shall be posted, by the Association Secretary, to all Committee members, and therein shall be deemed to have been given to all clubs.
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25] DISSOLUTION

In the event of the Association being dissolved, any property or monies remaining after all debts and liabilities have been settled, shall be passed to clubs on an agreed percentage according to length of membership.
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26] ALTERATION OF CONSTITUTION & RULES

This Constitution and Rules shall not be altered except at an AGM after prior notification to the Association Secretary.
 
 


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