Rule Proposals for 2025

The Committee:

That the previous BSF Fundamental rule be updated and incorporated in the Government section of the handbook.

~~Fundemental Rules:~~

Competitors shall be amateurs. For the purposes of these rules, an amateur is one who does not receive remuneration or consideration (appearance money or travel expenses) of any kind directly or indirectly, whilst representing their club in a Competition.

All competitors shall register with ~~each~~ the Bolton Tennis League. ~~Each~~ The league will collect the full name and address of the competitor and any other details required for the operational needs of the League. It must be understood that each competitor agrees to conform to the rules of the League, ~~and~~ understands the potential hazards and agrees that the League is not liable for any accident, injury or loss. ~~Forms~~ Registrations shall be ~~countersigned~~ made by the Club Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer. ~~An email or other electronic registration from such an official shall carry the same standing as a written form.~~ It is understood that Club Officials will have enquired into the qualifications of such competitor and that he or she is duly qualified to compete in accordance with the rules of the League.

Registered players wishing to transfer to another Club must declare their previous Club has been advised. Such transfers must be approved by the League Committee.

Passed Unanimously

The Committee

That Registration and Eligibility Rule 2 (i) rule be amended as shown.

A player becomes committed to a match once he/she has played his/her first point and this would count as an appearance for eligibility purposes ~~providing their scores are entered on the score card.~~ providing the match had started as shown by scores on the card.

Amendment

That the above should read as follows:

Players become committed to a match once their first point has been played.

If a match is abandoned, the away captain should provide the names of the players to the home captain to be entered on the card for eligibility purposes.

The amendment was passed 9 for, 5 against and 2 abstentions.

The Committee re Registration & Eligibility 7 (c)

That rule 7 (c) be reworded;

7(c) A player cannot play for a lower team when a higher team does not have a match for any reason if they have played two or more league matches for higher teams than the number of league matches played for the lower team.

7(c) If a team does not have a match for any reason, a player cannot play for the team immediately below if they have played 2 or more league matches for the higher teams than they have played for the team below.
If a club has broken this rule, the same criteria will then be applied to all its lower teams playing in that fixture week.

Passed 15 for and 1 against

Hawkshaw - re Registration and Eligibility rule 7 (f):

That in the junior league players should be exempt from the rule of must have played 2 matches before last 2 matches.

Passed 8 for, 2 against and 6 abstentions

Markland Hill - Registration & Eligibility rule 7 (f):

That the third paragraph be amended as shown:

In all other divisions only players who have played for their club in that competition at least ~~twice~~ once prior to the last two fixture weeks are eligible to play.

Passed 13 for , 1 against and 2 abstentions

Holcombe Brook re Match Rule 2:

That when there there is a match where the team must play on a mix of surfaces then the home team should switch rather than the away team.

Passed 8 for 6 againsr and 2 abstentions

The Committee re Match Rules 6 (iii)

That when a club is fined for failing to fulfil a fixture, the league will pass this onto the non-defaulting club.

Passed unanimously

Note - paras need renumbering

The Committee:

Cecil Cup Scoring: That the method of scoring should be added to the start of Cecil Cup Handicaps rule (d).

The winner of a set is the first to reach six games. There are no tie breaks.

Passed unanimously apart for 2 abstentions

Proposed Rule Changes for 2025