27 November 2006, 7.30pm
Held at Cheadle Conservative Club
Present: President, Secretary, Veterans’ Match Secretary, Treasurer and delegates
Apologies: Chairman
Absences: Edgeley Conservative, Heaton Mersey Conservative, Ryecroft Park, Woodley Sports, Wythenshawe Park
The minutes of the previous half yearly meeting had been circulated. They were taken as read and approved.
To amend rule 3.4 to read as follows.
All Matches shall be played as arranged in fixtures, and if rearranged, within 14 days of the last scheduled fixture. The following exceptions are allowed.
(i) Bad weather or green unplayable
If a match is postponed on the day, owing to weather, light or green condition, the two clubs shall agree a new date and inform the match secretary within 14 days. Failure to reach an arrangement by the two clubs concerned must be reported to the league secretary within 14 days. The home club (or both clubs for cup matches) has the duty of informing the match secretary.
Potential penalties:
Failure to notify match secretary – £10 and 10% of points scored in the match.
(ii) Other reasons
If a club wishes to rearrange a match for any other reason, it shall give seven days notice to both the opponent club and the match secretary, with a minimum of three alternative dates. The club requesting the rearrangement shall inform the match secretary, with the new date (or failure to agree), within 14 days of requesting the rearrangement. No notification is required if the match is brought forward.
Potential penalties:
Failure to notify match secretary – £20 and 20% of points scored in the match.
(iii) Cancellation in week before match
This is not considered acceptable. A match cancelled in these circumstances will not be played. Average home and away points respectively will be awarded, decreased by 20% for the cancelling club and increased by 20% for the opponents.
Proposed by the Secretary
The secretary explained that cancellation of matches, often at short notice, had become more prevalent in recent years. He had looked at other leagues’ rules on this subject, and come up with this proposal. He hoped it would allow clubs to plan properly, but would apply a deterrent penalty to those that did not.
Gatley Recreation had proposed an amendment to this motion:
3.1.1 Item (iii) to read:
This is acceptable only in exceptional circumstances and not more than twice per season per club. Subsequent matches cancelled in these circumstances will not be played. Average home and away points respectively will be awarded, decreased by 20% for the cancelling club and increased by 20% for the opponents.
Nursery proposed a further amendment to this amendment, replacing “twice per season” with “once per season.”
Both these amendments were defeated on a vote.
Waggon & Horses queried the proposal (in paragraph iii) to award a team a bonus of 20% of its points if a match was cancelled. It was felt that this was an unfair advantage. They proposed an amendment, to delete the words “and increased by 20% for the opponents.” This amendment was approved on a vote.
The amended proposal was then passed, with two votes against.
Proposed by Houldsworth WMC
Proposed by Marple Park
These two motions were taken together. The proposers explained that the aim was to finish matches a little earlier and so avoid the school run traffic.
Votes were taken for the three possibilities. There were two votes for 2pm (the status quo) and a large majority for 1.30pm. Motion 3.2 was therefore declared carried.
That the Jennison Shield competition be played on a four away and four at home basis up to the final stage, with the final being played on a selected neutral green; the applicable handicap being shared between the two venues.
Proposed by Great Moor Conservative
Great Moor explained that the intention was to help the secretary, who currently had some difficulty finding neutral greens. He also remarked that the host clubs did not always attend to open the green and provide jacks etc. Each team would play its home leg on its normal match day, so that a tie may be split between Tuesday and Wednesday. If a club had two teams their home legs would happen at the same time, sharing the green.
The main problem raised was how to deal with a draw, especially if the two legs were played on different days. Other points raised were the lack of atmosphere with only four games being played and the need to find markers for them. On the other hand, clubs would not have to find someone to open their own green for a neutral match whilst also fielding two or three teams.
The motion was defeated on a vote.
To amend rule 7.4 to read as follows.
Division 1 teams to play off scratch, division 2 teams to receive 20 points and each lower division to receive 10 points compared to the division above. The winners to be penalised 10 points for the following season. New teams in the league to start at scratch and earn a handicap of 10 points per year, unless adjusted by promotion or relegation.
Proposed by Great Moor Conservative
Great Moor said that the Jennison shield was invariably won by a first division team, and this was an attempt to give the lower divisions a better chance. Alan Bligh said that he had examined this year’s matches. If this proposal had been in force, only two of the 56 matches would have had a different result. So if anything this proposal did not go far enough.
Nursery proposed an amendment to make the handicap (and winner’s penalty) 16 points per division. This amendment was passed, 32 votes for and 22 votes against.
The amended motion was then passed, with eight votes against.
The president presented league and cup trophies and prize money and trophies to the average winners.
This included the new cup for the veterans’ knockout – the PCS Cup. This replaced the Jennison Shield and had been bought with a donation from the PCS club when it wound up.
The secretary reported that he had received one firm application for the veterans’ league – from South Reddish. There were also two enquiries. One was from Bramhall Queensgate who would want to play their home matches in the morning, and he sought delegates’ views on this. The discussion drifted towards the question of whether new clubs should be placed in the bottom division or at a level judged to be appropriate to their strength (as now). The current policy was approved, although several clubs preferred reverting to placing new teams in the lowest division.
Cringlewood had withdrawn one team from the evening league.
There had been a meeting with the council on charges for using parks greens. The council had agreed that their proposals amounted to a big increase and were working on a new scheme which was expected to cost little more than last year.
The Annual General Meeting would be on 29 January 2007.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.20pm.