League Rules
1The League shall be called The Watchet and District Men’s Skittle League. The purpose being to provide an organised game of skittles for as many teams as possible within a reasonable and convenient travelling distance of Watchet. The foregoing Rules shall be regarded as standing orders and shall not be rescinded in whole or part without the approval of the Officers and Members.
2The Officers of the League may comprise of, The President, Honorary Vice President, Chairman, Fines Collector, Hon Hon Secretary, Hon. Treasurer, as elected at the Annual General Meeting.
3COMMITTEE. The Committee shall comprise of the Officers and those Members elected at the Annual General Meeting.
4BUSINESS. All business of the League shall be referred to the Hon Hon Secretary who shall be empowered to deal discretionally with such business or alternatively refer same to the Committee who shall be empowered to settle all business referred to them.
5TEAMS. Each establishment or Club may nominate any number of teams. Nominated Teams must be accepted by the Members at the Annual General Meeting and play in such Division of the League as they decide. A Team will consist of six players, duly registered, to fulfil any one fixture. An unlimited number of players may be registered in any Team to ensure that six players are always available to fulfil a fixture.
a) Teams will not be allowed to play on Alleys judged by the Committee to be unsafe.
b) No Team to be registered unless they wish to play on an existing Alley.
c) One member of each Team able to be contacted at home by telephone.
d) All new Teams must play the first season in the bottom division, a deposit which will be decided annually by the Committee, to be paid and refunded after they have completed all of the League matches.
e) No Team will be registered until they have paid the appropriate registration fee.
f) Teams who have not paid their Fines before the Annual General Meeting will not be re-elected.
g) Teams responsible for not completing the League fixtures will be subject to a point’s deduction and/or a fine as decided by the Committee.
6 MEMBERS. Each player must be registered through his Team Captain and his subscription paid to date. Members are permitted to play only for the Team with whom registered. Any Team playing an unregistered player forfeits 2 points for a home match and 3 points for an away match. Double the penalty if a Team plays a registered player of another Team.
7 TRANSFERS. No player will be permitted to transfer to another Team after he has played one match with the Team whom he is registered.
8 DISPUTES. Any matter which is the subject of dispute between opposing Captains shall be reported to the Committee for decision and such decision shall be final.
9 RESPONSIBILITIES. The Team Captain will be responsible for his Teams observance of the Rules.
10 MATCHES. A match shall consist of twelve hands by each player or if through illness or injury one player of a Team is unable to complete his twelve hands the lowest score of the hand shall count as his score. If more than one player is unable to complete their twelve hands the match must be replayed. Teams at fault must pay £15 towards expenses of replayed match. See Rule 26.
a) Any player of the opposing Team may be present in the alley.
b) The Sticker Up is responsible for decisions at the “Diamond” and their decision shall be final.
c) No Ball decision shall be made by the Captain of the Team in play and the member of the opposing
Team who is present at the time the ball is delivered.
d) Each Team to provide its own Sticker Up for each match and shall be paid not less than the minimum agreed by the Annual General Meeting each year.
e) Each Captain shall appoint a scorer for his Team at each match who may be a playing member.
f) Should a Team be unable to field a Team of six registered players for a match, it is permitted to play
the male Sticker Up. If only five players, including Sticker Up are available the lowest score in each
hand shall count.
g) In the event of a Team being a player short, but who is expected to play, the match may commence
but not go beyond three hands unless agreed by both Captains.
h) If a player falls sick, absents himself from the latter part of the game or skittles off without permission a score equivalent to the lowest of the remaining players in his side shall be inserted for the particular hands involved.
i) Points will be awarded as follows. 3 points for an away win. 2 points for a home win. 1 point for a
draw.
j) If for some acceptable reason a League match cannot be played on the date shown on the fixture list, it must be arranged to be played before the end of the season. The Hon Secretary must be notified of a cancellation as soon as possible, along with any agreed date for re-scheduling the match. The team responsible for the cancellation to inform the Hon Secretary.
k) The Captain of the winning Team will be responsible for supplying full details of each match played to the Hon Hon Secretary. Score cards will be provided and the results must reach the Hon Hon Secretary by either a text message, email, or any of the Social media before 10AM the Wednesday after the match.
l) All three balls must be used in one hand of skittles. The practice of carrying forward a spare or flopper will not be allowed.
m) The Front Pin shall be identified either by white chalk or tape and kept well marked throughout the match.
n) If in the visiting Captains opinion a pin is badly worn it should be always be placed at the rear of the pack. If a pin is rendered useless during a match and there is no replacement the match shall continue without a pin at the rear of the pack.
o) In the event of two or more teams ending the season on the same number of points , a playoff match will be played on a neutral alley to decide League winners and Relegation places.
p) The two teams with the lowest number of league points shall be relegated to the lower division.
q) The two teams with the highest number of league points shall be promoted to the higher division.
In the interest of running the league the Hon Secretary can relegate/promote more than two teams so as to balance the number of teams in the divisions.
11. PITCHING. All players should wait until three balls are in the box before making their first delivery and shall use three different balls in each turn. If an opponent discovers a player throwing the same ball twice in one turn he shall shout “Wrong Ball” before that ball reaches the pins otherwise it shall count. No player should deliver a ball until the Sticker Up has cleared the Diamond and has stood back out of the way.
a) All balls must contact the Pitch board/plate direct from the throwers hand. The opposing side shall shout “Off the Board” when this is not complied with and any pins that may fall shall be reset and the throw lost.
b) Any ball that touches the side of the alley before it touches a pin shall be lost and the pins reset.
c) A player shall stand or run as far up the Pitch board/plate as he likes in order to deliver his ball, which shall count providing it conforms to the remaining clauses under this heading.
12 PINS If a pin is off its mark but is still standing on the Diamond the pin shall be playable in the position in which it remains.
a) The same pins and balls must be used for all Home matches on any particular alley unless a
replacement is unavoidably necessary.
b) If any portion of the pin is off the Diamond the pin shall count as having been knocked down.
c) If after a throw a pin is found leaning against another pin but not properly down, the Sticker Up shall not touch the pin but shall call the game to a halt. The two Captains shall then review the position. If no part of the “Belly” of the pin is touching the ground, the pin shall be reset, otherwise the pin shall count as having fallen.
d) If on a narrow alley a corner pin should fall at right angles to the side of the alley which prevents it from falling completely, the pin shall count in favour of the player.
e) If a tottering or unbalanced pin should suddenly fall after a ball has left a players hand it shall count as having being struck by that ball.
f) If a player delivers a ball before the Sticker Up has completed his work and stood away from the pins “Ball Back” should be called and shall be re-played.
13 STARTING TIME. All matches shall start not later than 8.15pm.
14 ORDER OF PLAY. The order of play shall be Two Hands forward and Two hands back after half time,
a) If Teams wish to play Hand for Hand they shall be allowed to do so provided both Captains agree,
15 SPECIAL REGISTRATION. Players may be registered at any time during the season. This can be by phone, email or written on the score card.
16 TEAM WITHDRAWAL. In the event of a Team withdrawing from the League after the commencement of the season or being barred by the Committee for disciplinary reasons, all the registered players of said Team will be ineligible to play for any other Team for the remainder of that season.
Any players of a Team withdrawing from the League shall not be allowed to register for another Team during the season. Only Two players from the side withdrawn can be registered by another Team during the following season.
a) If an alley becomes unavailable or venue closes the captain shall inform the Hon Secretary immediately. He will convene a meeting with the Committee to discuss a suitable alternative alley.
17 TEAM KNOCK OUT COMPETITION FRONT PIN AND ALAN CLARK CUP. The Front Pin and Alan Clark Cups to be played for on alternate years. A Team will consist of six registered players of the same Team. The competition shall be decided over twelve hands with the draw deciding the venue, Home Team to commence play.
a) Competitions will commence with teams being drawn into groups. Teams then play a series of matches to decide Group winners and runners up. These teams proceed on to the knock out stages.
b) Teams who do not arrive to play a match will be fined as decided by the Committee. This will be shared 50% to the Team which did arrive to play the match and 50% to the Landlord or Club involved.
c) The choice of Trophy’s for League and Cup winners will be decided by the Committee.
d) Trophies not collected by winning Teams or Individuals at the Annual Presentation of Trophies shall forfeit them.
e) Cups will be engraved for the previous year’s competition, this being conditional of the Cups being returned for engraving to the Hon Hon Secretary within six months of presentation.
f) All Cup rounds to be played on the alley drawn out first by the Committee. Semi Finals and Finals will be played on neutral alleys on dates arranged at the start of the season with starting team decided by toss of a coin.
18 PAIRS COMPETITION. Pairs can consist of either two or three players. Each round of the competition will be decided over twelve hands. All rounds to be played on neutral alleys. Order of play will be shown by the draw. Entry fee to be paid before competition begins.
a) Pairs must be registered players of the same Team.
b) Pair entry fee will be decided at Annual General Meeting
c) If pairs agree, date for round may be changed providing match is played on the alley drawn by the Committee.
d) Sticker Up fee as agreed by the Committee.
e) Pairs who do not play their Pairs matches or notify their opponents that they will not be playing will be fined as decided by the Committee.
19 TIES. In all Knock Out competitions should the score be equal after twelve hands one additional hand will be played. Should a tie still be in being after the additional hand has being thrown, “Man for Man” will be played until an advantage has been gained from an equal number of Players.
20 FEES. The Registration Fee shall be decided by the Committee.
a) STICKER UP. Fees for the Sticker Up in League and Cup matches shall be paid by Team Captains.
21 RULES. League Rules will apply at all times subject to Rules applicable to other competitions.
22 FINALS. A plate judge will be provided for all Finals. He will be a member of the Committee.
The Committee to arrange food for Finals.
23 FRONT PIN COMPETITION. The order of play is as Rule 14.
a) All pins hit after the Front Pin has been knocked down by the ball score. All pins hit before the Front Pin has been knocked down by the ball do not score.
24 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. Members wishing to have a proposal for discussion at the Annual General Meeting must submit details to the Hon Hon Secretary in writing not later than two months prior to the Annual General Meeting. Any proposal made at the Annual General Meeting to amend the Rules which is not on the Agenda will be included on the Agenda for the following Annual General Meeting.
25 No player shall be allowed to compete in the Champions of Champions play of matches unless he undertakes to represent the Watchet and District Men’s Skittle League in the Final.
26 The spirit of the game and common sense is expected to be used on all occasions even though in most exceptional circumstances this may override the Rules.