SOMERSET SQUASH RACKETS ASSOCIATION (SOMERSET SRA)

WINTER LEAGUE RULES (2019/20)

New additions for 2019/20 have been highlighted (as agreed at the AGM or enforced due to the change of league results website)

1. Administration. Interpretation and application of these rules is at the discretion of the League Secretary, as directed by the Somerset SRA Committee. The Somerset SRA Committee will adjucate on those occassions when either of the teams concerned does not accept the Secretary's judgement.

2. League Composition. Any Squash Club or Facility, within or bordering Somerset and affiliated to the England Squash & Racketball Association (ESRA), may apply to join the Somerset SRA with one or more teams. Each Division of the League shall normally consist of eight teams, with a minimum number of Five and a maximum number of eleven. The breakdown of teams will be made by the League Secretary once the final list of entrants is known. The deadline for entries will be AGM Meeting. All clubs intending to enter must provide on or before that date playing details for each team (including captains, contact addresses/telephone numbers, players must be registered on the website against the club that they are going to play for).
All players and clubs must be affiliated to England Squash.

3. Subscriptions. A team subscription will be required. This is payable to Somerset SRA via bank transfer only. Bank account details will be sent to the captains of each team once the league fixtures have been created. All fees will be set at appropriate levels at the Somerset Squash AGM. (£70 as agreed at the 2019 AGM with a penalty of £20 if paid after 1st Nov.)

4. Team Composition (Legality of Players). A team must consist of bona fide members of the respective Club. No player may represent more than one Club per season unless otherwise agreed with the league secretary. A player may not play for more than one team in a given week. Once a player has played more than twice for a higher-ranked Club team then he shall be barred from representing a lower team for the rest of the current fixture period (though this ruling may be relaxed at the discretion of the League Secretary, if a player is no longer able to command a place in a higher team for whatever reason). A Club may introduce no new players during the last 3 matches of the season unless agreed by the League Secretary. A player must be registered on the Somerset Squash website if he is to play for a Club in a season. Unless both the League Secretary and opposition captain has agreed to it beforehand or there has been a genuine misunderstanding, any points gained by an illegal player (as defined by any of the above rules) will be forfeited to the opposition as a 3-0 win. This will also apply to all those playing below the offending player in the team order. The same procedure will also apply in the case of a player failing to appear on court.

5. Team Order of Merit. Teams must play in order of merit, i.e. the strongest player at number 1 and the weakest at number 5. Players may only move one place per match in the club order of merit relative to the other players who played at that time. This is best explained by this example:

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
Jane	Jane	Simon**
Jim	Simon*	Jane
Wendy	Tina	Tina
Tina	Sarah	Bert***
Simon	Bert	Sarah

* Simon has only moved one place over Tina
** Simon has only moved over Jane
*** Bert has moved one place over Sarah

6. Matches. A match will consist of five ties, each being the best of five games in accordance with the standard ESRA rules of squash. If court time runs out before completion of a match then the remaining games and part-games will be awarded to the away team. A match should be played on the date stipulated in the fixture list. The team captains may, by mutual consent, change the fixture to the Thursday evening of that week's fixture, but there is no obligation on either captain to accept the rearranged fixture. Otherwise, fixtures shall not be rearranged except for when inclement weather makes travel unreasonable or when courts are unavailable. In any event, all matches for the first half of the season must be played by the start of the second half and those of the second half within two weeks of the end of the season. If it proves impossible to rearrange by a suitable date then a "double header" may be accepted by the League Secretary if both teams are in agreement. If a match is not played by the due date and a double-header cannot be agreed upon, then a walkover shall be awarded against the offending team; if both teams are deemed to be at fault then points will be awarded to neither team. Any team unable to play on the stipulated date (excluding conditions stated above) will result in the offending team having 5 points deducted. Any dispute regarding the above should be presented to the League Secretary - whose decision will be final.

7. Walkovers. A team successfully claiming a walkover will be awarded 15 points. The team conceding the walkover will be penalised by -3 points. Every effort should be made to rearrange a match, a walkover will only be awarded if a match cannot be rearranged. Any team having three walkovers awarded against it will be withdrawn from the League; all of its previous matched will be declared null and void.

8. Start Times. Start times will be published by the League Secretary in the fixture lists at the start of the season and may be changed only by the mutual consent of the team captains. At the appointed start time each team should strive to have at least three players present and the remaining two must arrive within one hour of commencement, unless previously agreed otherwise. If a player is unavailable to play on a free court in a reasonable time then the opponent is entitled to claim the tie 3-0.

9. Scoring. Each game won in a tie is worth one point; three bonus points will be awarded to the team winning the most ties. Should a team playing without a full complement of 5 players win a match no bonus points will be awarded. The base scoring system for the league is PAR15 2 clear. With the agreement of both captains the scoring can be change to PAR11 - if the home team only has 1 court available then they should use the PAR11 2 clear scoring system to enable the tie to be completed within a sensible time period, this is particularly important where the visting team contains Junior players ort the away team has travelled a significant distance. If captains cannot agree the scoring system then PAR15 shoudl be used.

10. Results. The home captain is responsible for entering match results into the web based results system. Results should be verified by the away team. Usernames and passwords will be issued to each team captain prior to the start of the season. Results must be entered by midnight on the Thursday following the fixture otherwise the home team will have 3 points deducted. Any problems with entering the results onto the website must be notified to the League Secretary before the deadline for entering the result.

11. Hospitality. The home team will usually provide a supper and a drink for the visiting team after the match and a reciprocal arrange will occur in the reverse fixure. The social side of the evening is a very important part of the fixture and captains should therefore make every effort to ensure that this is upheld. Where teams either do not have the appropriate facilities to provide food or drink or the team consists of a number of Junior players the visiting captain should be made aware at the earliest opportuntity so that they can make their own arrangements and obviously there will be no expectation for the visiting team to provide food at the reverse fixture.

12. Balls. The home team shall provide new Dunlop Double Yellow Dot Balls.

13. League Result. This will be decided by the total points scored. In the case of a tie, then the games different (for - against) will be used. The bottom team in a Division will normally be relegated and replaced by the top team of the next lower Division. The teams in each division will play each other twice in a season, unless otherwise instructed by the League Secretary.

14. Knockout Cup. A knockout cup and plate competition will now be a standard part of the Somerset Squash calendar. The draw for the first round of the competition will be created randomly and teams will be handicapped based on their current division (0 for Div 1, 3 for Div 2 and 6 for Div 3) These handicaps are applied for each game as follows: Div 1 team playing Div 2 team - Div 2 teams starts on 3 points for each game. Div 1 team plays Div 3 team - Div 3 teams starts on 6. Div 2 team plays Div 3 team - Div 3 teams starts on 3. Scoring will be PAR (points per rally). Matches will be best of 5 with PAR scoring to 11 (No clear points required).
As agreed at the AGM, the knockout cup will be run throughout the  season but on an agreed night between the two teams and teams will be asked whether they want to enter by the 16th Sept 2019. The cup will run as follows and first round losers will automatically be entered into the plate competition. Round 1 played between the 7th Oct 2019 and 7th Nov 2019. Round 2 (Cup and Plate) played between 14th Nov 2019 and 14th Dec 2019. Semi Finals between the 20th Jan 2020 and 20th Feb 2020. Finals will be played on Firday 27th March 2020 (Venuse to be agreed). Home teams will be shown on the draw - but location can be changed if both captains agree. If the games are not played within the allocated time period then the League Secretary will select a winner by the toss of a coin.

Team composition players must have played at least 3 games in the league for the team during the season, to be eligible to play in the cup, otherwise any change to this must be agreed by the League Secretary. Players who have already played for a team in the cup competition are not permitted to play for a different team in the same competition (Cup or Plate). Failure to comply with any of the above may result in the offending team forfeiting the match. Results should be sent to the League Secretary as soon as possible, who will post the next fixtures on the league results website - under News.

15. New Teams. New teams will be inserted into the League in an appropriate position according to the League Secretary's judgement.

16. Complaints. Any complaint about any issue must be made in writing by post or e-mail to the League Secretary within 7 days of the event.