Competition Rules 2011-2012.  

Aims

1.         This competition structure has been set up:

a        to encourage and facilitate a greater number of regular Saturday games for players in the lower XV's of participating clubs.

b          to encourage continued camaraderie between clubs and players at this level.

c          to provide a gentle competitive edge to lower XV matches.

 The Competition and its Composition

2.         The full title of the competition shall be the “GREENE KING COUNTRY CLUBS COMPETITION” unless amended at an Annual General Meeting of the member clubs.

 3.         All matches in the competition shall be played under the Laws of the Rugby Football Union and shall comply with the bye-laws, resolutions and regulations of the RFU.

 4.         Only clubs affiliated to the Rugby Football Union, one of Eastern Counties, Hertfordshire and Middlesex County Unions and within “Greene King Country” shall be eligible to enter the competition. The "Greene King Country" is defined generally as within 20 miles of the A10/M11/M25 triangle, and such that no side should have to travel more than 40 minutes to fulfill a fixture.

 5.         The management of the competition shall be vested in a committee of the following officers elected annually by the member clubs.

• Chairman

• Secretary

• Treasurer

• Results Secretary

• Table Managers

The committee shall have the power to co-opt additional members for specific purposes.

In addition there may be the following honorary posts:-

• President 

• Vice-President

6.         There shall be at least two general meetings per year, at which attendance is not restricted.  However, any voting shall be restricted to one representative per club in membership at that time, as nominated by that club.  The Annual General Meeting shall be held each year by the end of May.

7.          Qualifying clubs shall be entitled to apply to enter the competition, but may only join at the beginning of a season. Application must be made in writing to the Secretary on or before the 1^st June for the following season. If accepted any club or team new to the competition shall be placed in an appropriate division, as agreed by the committee in consultation with the club concerned. Clubs may enter as many teams as they wish. 

8.         The number of Divisions/tables shall be determined each year by the committee.  The number of teams in each division shall be limited to twelve (12).   The number of teams in a division should not be less than five (5).

9.          All competing clubs shall pay an annual subscription - fixed annually at the AGM – to cover the costs of the competition. All subscriptions are payable by the 1^st of September.

Fixtures

10.        Each team must play Competition games as determined by the organising committee against every other team in its division. The committee shall have the power to switch venues and dates as necessary in consultation with the clubs. Any change of the date or venue of a competition match must be notified to the Table Manager before the match is due to be played. Competition games may be played as double headers, e.g. where teams are due to meet in a game in another competition that game may also be counted as the competition fixture.

11.        Where possible, if games are arranged on International Saturdays they should be against a nearby club with an early kick-off.

12.        Where a competition match is not played or is abandoned before 60 minutes have been played, it must be re-arranged and the new date notified to the Table Manager by both clubs within seven (7) days of the date of the original fixture.

Confirmation of fixtures

13.        Each visiting club must contact the home team by Thursday evening to confirm the fixture, and that they have a full side. If the home side has not received such confirmation by Thursday evening, then the home side should contact the visiting side that evening and report to the table manager that they have had to do so.

 14.        Clubs should not call off games due to a shortage of players without first consulting with the opposing club. Clubs are encouraged to always provide players for opposing sides in order to fulfill each fixture. 

Teams, Games and Results 

15.        Only bona-fide playing members of participating clubs may play in competition matches.

16.        The referee shall be of the normal standard provided for the home team’s games. Where an appointed referee fails to arrive or to complete the match another may officiate with the agreement of both captains. Failing this the appointment will be made by the home team. Each team should provide a touch judge.

17.        If a game is not played due to inclement weather then the Table Manager and Results Secretary should be informed by the home side within 3 days and the game re-arranged if possible.  If not, no competition points will be awarded. If a game is not played for any other reason then both clubs must notify the Table Manager with an explanation within 3 days of the original fixture date, and inform the Results Secretary. Failure to do so will result in a “no game” result with no competition points being awarded. Otherwise, and unless the game is re-arranged subsequently, the match score shall be taken as 15-0, with four points awarded, to the team not responsible. All re-arranged dates, for whatever reason, must be notified to the Table Manager and Results Secretary.

18.        The Table Manager shall be the arbiter, with the right of one appeal to the Officers of the Committee, whose decision is binding

19.       Having nominated a team at the start of the season the club shall ensure that such team shall consist of players who would normally be expected to play for that team. If, in the opinion of the committee, any club fields an unrepresentative team in any competition match, the points in that match will be awarded to the opposition, with a nominal score of 15-0. If the opposition won the game anyway, that result will stand but the offending club will have two competition points deducted.  

20.        Both teams shall be responsible for (a) confirming the score with the referee and (b) informing the Results Secretary and the relevant Table Manager of the results of competition matches within three days of the game, by whatever means the committee shall decide.

Results must be submitted to BOTH Howard Keeling and the Table Manager by email or text by the Monday evening following each game, or by post to arrive by the Tuesday following the game.  This submission  must include both teams' names, the score and identify the sender.

The nominated "main contact" per club (as shown on the current list of club contacts) is responsible ultimately for reporting all results.

If either team fails to submit their result as specified above by midnight on the Tuesday following the game then that team will forfeit the point normally awarded for playing the game (see paragraph 21).  A formal warning will be issued to the nominated club contact and two points will then be deducted for any subsequent such failure.

If no result is received from either team by midnight on the Tuesday following the game then the game will be deemed "No Result Received"  and no points will be awarded to either team.

Table Positions

21.        The positions of teams in a division shall be established by awarding three points for a win, one point for a draw and one point for playing the match AND reporting the result within the designated time.
i.e. Win = 4, draw = 2, defeat = 1 (if the result is reported on time) or Win = 3, draw = 1, defeat = 0 (if the result is not reported in time).

22.        In the event of equality of competition points awarded, positions will be determined according to the difference between aggregate of points scored and the aggregate of points conceded in all games to date. If the points difference is also equal then positions will be based according to the aggregate of points scored.

23.        Promotion and relegation at the end of each season, based on league positions at the end of that, and (possibly) previous, seasons shall be at the committee’s discretion. There can be more than one team per club in a division at the committee's discretion.

General

24.        If a club resigns from the competition before it completes all its fixtures for the current season, then all its matches shall be considered void and all points scored and conceded shall be cancelled.

25.        In the event of new teams joining or teams resigning the committee shall be empowered to adjust the numbers of teams in each division to restore the divisions' balance.

26.       In the event of any dispute, the decision of the committee is final.