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.

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 Committee:

That Registration & Eligibility Rule 5 be amended as shown. Player registration closes at 11.55pm on July 31st.

Background: Some on the Committee felt that it needed to be more precise.

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.

Background: The Committee feels the need for further clarity within this rule as a multi team club felt they had understood and followed the rule, when perhaps they hadn't.

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.

Background: Some don’t play at all until all their GCSEs are finished which means they are only available for the last couple of matches.

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.  

Background: The last 2 fixture weeks of the season coincide with the start of the school holidays, therefore many players are unavailable, sometimes making it difficult to field full teams. Changing the rule so that a players only need to have played once (not twice) prior to the last 2 matches would make it slightly easier.

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.

Background: The home team has the advantage of regularly playing on both. This would mean the away team are able to stay on the same surface and not be disadvantaged. 

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.

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.

Background: Under the old system of 8 players all matches were based on games. When the mixed became the same as the men's that fact that the Cecil Cup is based on games was never carried forward to the Cecil Cup rules. We now get some matches with a hybrid of systems.

Hawkshaw re Junior League:

That in the junior league a tie break is played at 6-6 instead of a draw.

Background: In some matches, particularly in division 1, the fact that you can’t play to a win (draw at 6-6 instead of tie break) this affected the end result. The players would have preferred to play to a proper result in these instances. Adult matches are played to tie break so not sure why the junior rules are different.

End of Rule Proposals

Other points to note for 2025: John Nuttall's email needs to go in the handbook.