RULE 10 – PLAYING SEASON – CONDITION OF PLAYTIMES AND KICK-OFFS – POSTPONEMENTS – SUBSTITUTES
10(A) The Annual General Meeting shall determine the date for the commencement and conclusion for the season in accordance with Football Association Rules. No club shall be compelled to play after the concluding date. Original fixtures arranged by the Fixture Secretary, or at a meeting specially convened for that purpose, to be held no later than 1st May, must not be arranged for a date later than 7 days preceding the concluding date determined by the Annual General Meeting.
10(B) All matches shall be played in accordance with The Laws of the Game as determined by The International Football Association Board.
Clubs must take reasonable precautions to keep their grounds in a playable condition. All matches shall be played on pitches deemed suitable by the Management Committee. If through no fault of the home team a match has to be replayed, the Management Committee shall have the power to have the venue changed.
The Management Committee shall have the power to decide whether its pitch and/or facilities are suitable for matches in the Competition and to order the club concerned to play its fixtures on another ground.
All matches shall have a duration of 90 minutes unless a shorter time (not less than 70 minutes) is mutually agreed by the 2 captains in consultation with the referee prior to the commencement of the match, and in any event be of 2 equal halves.
The time of the kick-off shall be fixed by the Annual General Meeting. Clubs failing to commence at the appointed time shall be fined a sum not exceeding £5, or otherwise dealt with as the Management Committee may determine.
Referees must order matches to commence at the appointed time and must report late starts to the Competition.
The home team must provide at least 2 footballs fit for play. Corner flags, assistant referee’s flags and goal nets must be used. The referee shall make a report to the Competition if any of the equipment is unsuitable.
10(C) Except by permission of the Management Committee all matches must be played on the dates originally fixed but priority shall be given to The Football Association and all relevant County Association Cup Competitions. All other matches must be considered secondary. Clubs may mutually agree to bring forward a match with the consent of the Fixture Secretary. In the case of a revised fixture date the clubs must be given by the Competition 5 clear days notice of the match (unless mutually agreed).
10(D) The Secretary of the home club must give notice in writing / e.mail of full particulars of the location of, access to ground and time of kick-off to the match officials and Secretary of the opposing club at least 5 clear days prior to the playing of the match. Telephone calls are acceptable if made within the prescribed period above. Text messages are unacceptable in confirming a fixture. The away club shall seek and acknowledge receipt of such particulars.
Any club failing to comply with this Rule shall be liable to a fine of £5.
10(E) In the event of a club playing in any match with less than 11 players they shall be fined £5 for each missing player. A minimum of 7 players will constitute a team for a Competition match.
10(F) Home and away matches shall be played. In the event of a club failing to keep its engagement the Management Committee shall have the power to inflict a fine, deduct points from the defaulting club, award points from the match in question to the opponents, order the defaulting club to pay any expenses incurred by the opponents or otherwise deal with them except the award of goals. Not withstanding the foregoing home and away provision, the Management Committee shall have the power to order the match to be played on a neutral opponent’s ground if they are satisfied that such action is warranted in the circumstances.
Any club with more than 1 team in the Competition shall always fulfil its fixture within the Competition in the following order of precedence: first team, reserve/A team. Clubs in breach of this requirement shall be fined a sum not exceeding £15, or otherwise dealt with by the Management Committee. A reserve/A team can honour its fixture when their first team has applied for a free week on condition that it contains no more than 3 players of first team experience [Rule 8(C)]. National Cup players are not allowed.
Any club unable to fulfil its fixture must, without delay, give notice to the Fixture Secretary, Referees’ Secretary, the Secretary of the opposing club and match officials. Any club failing to comply shall be dealt with by the Management Committee who may inflict any fine it may deem suitable.
In the event of a match not being played or abandoned over causes which neither club has control, it shall be played in its entirety on a date mutually agreed by both clubs and agreed by the Management Committee. Failing such agreement and notification to the Fixture Secretary within 14 days the Management Committee shall have the power to order the match to be played on a named date on or before the date given.
The Management Committee shall review all matches abandoned in cases where it is consequent upon the conduct of either or both teams. Where it is of advantage to the Competition, and does no injustice to either club, the Management Committee shall be empowered to order the score at the time of abandonment to stand in all cases. Where the Management Committee are satisfied that a match was abandoned owing to the conduct of 1 team or its club member(s) they shall be empowered to order the points for the match to the opponents. In cases where the match is abandoned owing to the conduct of both teams or their members, the Management Committee shall rule all points from the match be void. No fines can be applied by the Management Committee for an abandoned match.
10(G) A club may at its discretion, and in accordance with The Laws of the Game, use 3 substitute players in any match in the Competition who may be selected from 5 players.
The referee shall be informed of the names of the substitutes not later than 5 minutes before the start of the match.
A player who has been selected, appointed or named as substitute before the start of the game but does not actually play in the game, shall not be considered to have been a player in that game within the meaning of Rule 8 of this Competition.
10(H) The half-time interval shall be of at least 5 minutes duration, but shall not exceed 15 minutes . The half-time interval may only be altered with the consent of the referee.
10(I) Any club failing to provide a pitch voucher, or receipt where required, shall be fined £10 and dealt with as the Management Committee may decide.
10(J) It is the responsibility of all clubs to provide a fully equipped first aid box/kit at matches. Failure to comply may incur a fine.
10(K) Requests for free dates must be submitted in writing to the Secretary. Requests must be given at least 2 months notice. Only 2 per team will be accepted during the season, with allowances being made for mitigating circumstances.
RULE 11 – REPORTING RESULTS
11(A) The Registration Secretary must receive within 3 days of the date played the result of each Competition match in the prescribed manner. They must include the forename(s) and surname of the team players (in block letters) and also the referee’s markings as required by Rule 13, or any other information required by the Competition. Failure to do so will incur a fine of £5, and/or the club being dealt with as the Management Committee decides.
11(B) The home club shall telephone the result of each match to the Fixture Secretary by 1.30pm, or within 1 hour of the end of mid-week matches. Teams playing in F.A., National and County Cup matches against teams not in membership of this Competition will also be responsible for telephoning the result by 1.30pm for morning kick-offs and 5.30pm for afternoon kick-offs. Clubs in default shall be fined £5 for a late result. Clubs failing to phone the result within 4 hours of such deadline will incur a further £5 fine.
11(C) The match result notification, correctly completed, shall be witnessed by a responsible member of the club. Failure to do so will result in a fine of £5. NB: If the fixed penalty exceeds £20 the club must be charged as detailed in Rule 5(D).
RULE 12 – DETERMINING CHAMPIONSHIPS
12(A) Team rankings with the Competition will be decided by points with 3 points to be awarded for a win and 1 point for a drawn match. The team gaining the highest number of points in their respective Divisions at the conclusion shall be adjudged the winners. Matches must not be played for double points.
In the event of 2 or more teams being equal on points team rankings may be decided by any 1 of the following ways:
(i) Goal average/Goal difference.
(ii) Goals scored or deciding match(es) played under conditions determined by the Management Committee.
12(B) Automatic promotion and relegation shall be applied for the first 2 and last 2 teams in each division except as provided hereunder, subject to the provision of Rule 1(B).
(i) Should 1 or more teams withdraw from any 1 division after the fixtures have commenced an equal number of teams to those withdrawing in that division shall not be automatically relegated
(ii) Vacancies occurring after the conclusion of the season may be filled in the following ways:
(a) Retention of otherwise relegated teams.
(b) Additional promotion for the next ranked team(s) from the division below.
(c) Election.
(iii) The last 2 teams in the lowest division shall retire, but be eligible for re-election except as below, and subject to the condition of paragraph B(i) above.
(iv) When the senior team is relegated to a lower division of which its reserves is a member, or entitled to ne a member, such reserve team must accept relegation to, or retain its position in the next lower division, and should the senior team be relegated to the lowest division its reserve side automatically retires from the Competition.
(v) Should either or both of the leading teams in any division have its senior team in the next highest division promotion shall fail, at the discretion of the General Meeting, to the next highest team or teams in the division concerned.
12(C) In the event of a team not completing 75 percent of its fixtures for the season, all points obtained by or recorded against such defaulting team shall be expunged from the Competition table. When a club has completed 75 percent of its fixtures the point for the unplayed games shall be awarded to the defaulting club’s opponents.
