Hampshire Squash League Proposed Rule Changes 2007

At its last meeting the Hants SRA Committee discussed the need for league rule changes in order to ensure that the Hampshire Squash leagues run as fairly as possible. The area of concern are our rules (or the lack of them) which limit the ability of players to play for more than one team, in particular the freedom to play for teams nominally lower than their main team.

Prior to moving onto the LMS system, our rules obliged clubs to nominate players for teams which then prohibited them from playing for their club teams in lower divisions. Players were also only allowed to 'play up' twice before becoming tied to a higher team. When we moved over to the Sussex SRA-developed LMS, we took on board their ranking system but decided not to implement their 'ghost' rule nor their limitation on the number of games a player could play in a season, both of which go some way towards limiting the concerns expressed above.

To give you some indication of the extent of this 'problem', if the 'play-up twice' rule was still in operation, a significant number of players would be infringing the rules; for one club over 20% of appearances would be in breach of that rule. Similarly a number of players have played for up to 3 club teams, for teams below their main team as well as for teams above. One player has played in every single match for two teams of the same club. Another player has already played 17 matches in the first half of the season and there are a number of others who have played in excess of 12 matches.

the potential unfairness which results from players "playing down" in a lower team
the reduction in opportunity for 'weaker' players to represent their club in league squash, to the detriment of the future of squash
that it gives an additional advantage to the bigger clubs with more teams and larger rankings lists

I must stress however that none of these instances break our current rules, it's just that clubs are stretching them to a point where there is a question of whether they are operating in the spirit of the rules (rule 1.2). In doing a quick check on whether other counties have the same problem, we find that in the 6 counties we have checked, all of them have some checks on players 'playing down' and all of them limit the number of matches a player can play in each half of the season.

The questions I am asking all of you are.

Is this of concern to you?
Do you think the league rules should be changed to restrict this practice?
Are there any other of our league rules which you would like changed?

If your answer to question 3 is yes, then which rules you would like to see changed?

If the majority of you answer yes to the above questions then I will call an EGM prior to the end of the season with proposals for change. There will of course be no changes in the rules for the current season.

Could I ask all of you to please respond (by e-mail) to the above questions (whether yes or no) by no later than Friday 26 January. No doubt you will consult your team players for their opinions. A copy of this note to you will be placed on the Hants website encouraging players to let you know what they think.

Many Thanks

David Law - HSRA League Secretary

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*HSRA League Rule Changes for 2007/2008 - Correspondence in reverse date sequence*
*Outcome of EGM held 28^th March 2007 from David Law.* Sent to club contacts on 29/3/2007.	23 Clubs were represented at the EGM held last night. Attached are the voting results. For those of you who attended, thank you for giving up your time and for those of you who didn't make it - please don't complain at the results, you had your opportunity to have your say. The first two proposals to change the ladies league structure and the number of players in a women's team both fell. The women reps present at the meeting then held a separate meeting to discuss these issues. Their conclusion was that they would like two divisions of 9 clubs, 5 players per team next season, which requires no change to our league structure or rules. However I will be contacting all clubs at the end of the season to ascertain whether this is the view of the majority of clubs and if necessary, might convene a separate meeting to discuss further. Thank You David David Law Hants SRA League Secretary Davidlaw3uk@aol.com 023 8086 7721 <- Click the printer icon to view and print the attachment which includes details of the results of the vote for the proposed rule change.
*Final Agenda for EGM from David Law.* Sent to club contacts on 15/3/2007.	Attached is final agenda for EGM on 28 March. It should be read in association with the committee's proposals and explanatory notes sent out on 21 February. The main changes are; a) 1 A proposal by Hamble to change the ladies league structure b) 1 a rewording to allow all the ladies divisions to have less than 5 players per team b) 2, 5, 8, 15, 21 - proposals by Beechdown which amend proposals made by committee b) 11 new proposal by Beechdown. In addition there will be a short briefing by a member of the committee on child welfare procedures, England Squash membership and the creation of a new committee post. Please make every effort to attend. If you can't make it please consider sending a deputy so that your club vote counts. If you are sending someone else, please let me know their name before the meeting. Many thanks David David Law Hants SRA League Secretary Davidlaw3uk@aol.com 023 8086 7721 <- Click the printer icon to view and print the attachment which includes the agenda for the EGM and the final proposed rule changes.
*Notice of EGM from David Law.* Sent to club contacts on 21/2/2007.	I can now confirm that the rules change EGM will be held at Trojans Club on Wednesday 28 March 2007, starting at 7.30pm. Attached are the proposed changes for us to discuss at the EGM plus a table of explanatory notes to give some background to the proposals. I have included all the rules which clubs mentioned to me in their original responses. One of the main conclusions from the clubs who responded was that there was no desire to go back to the old '2-up and you're tied' rule. Where necessary, we have restricted ourselves to proposing rules which can be monitored by LMS software. Those proposals with asterisks have the Hants SRA Rules sub-committee’s endorsement. Any others will require clubs to propose and second at the EGM. All clubs are invited to put in further proposals or amend the ones attached. There is no requirement at this stage to get any proposals seconded; we will ask for seconders at the EGM. If no other club is prepared to second, then the proposal will automatically fall. To meet the timetable any new proposals must be with me by Friday 9th March. This will allow all clubs to have the final agenda by 14 March at the latest. Thank you David Law Hants SRA League Secretary Davidlaw3uk@aol.com 023 8086 7721 <- Click the printer icon to view and print the attachment which includes the final proposed rule changes.
*Follow up note from David Law.* The correspondence on the right was sent to all Hampshire League club contacts on 29/1/2007 following responses from club contacts to the original question regarding the need for rule changes.	Thanks to all the clubs who responded to my email with respect to holding an EGM to discuss league rule changes and in particular the accompanying comments/suggestions you sent which will help the sub-committee in drafting proposed changes to our rules. There were sufficient positive replies to justify holding an EGM. I won't "name and shame" those clubs who didn't bother replying, but you know who you are and I would still welcome your comments on the rules discussed in the original e-mail or any other rules you would like changed by the end of this week. We will not introduce any rule changes which cannot be integrated into LMS with any infringement automatically identified by the software. The process will therefore be; a sub-committee meeting(s) to draft changes a meeting with Karl Manning of Silkwebs to discuss the proposed changes distribution of proposals to all clubs, in sufficient time for amendments to be proposed and circulated, before the EGM. The provisional date for the EGM is Wednesday 28 March. Venue and confirmation of the EGM date will be circulated by the end of this week. Regards David Hants SRA League Secretary davidlaw3uk@aol.com 023 8086 7721
*Chasing Note from David Law.* This note was sent to all Hampshire League club contacts on 22/1/2007 to chase clubs for input..	On 5th January I e-mailed all clubs about the Hants committee's concern about the flexibility of our rules which allow players to play for more than one team (Please refer to original e-mail for more details). The questions I asked all of you to consider were: Is this of concern to you? Do you think the league rules should be changed to restrict this practice? Are there any other of our league rules which you would like changed? If your answer to question 3 is yes, then which rules you would like to see changed? I asked for responses from all clubs by Friday 26 January. So far only 7 clubs have replied. Could I ask of who haven't replied to please consider the e-mail of 5 Jan and respond by the closing date. Many thanks David
*Original Summary from David Law.* The correspondence on the right was sent to all Hampshire League club contacts on 5/1/2007 inviting comment..	At its last meeting the Hants SRA Committee discussed the need for league rule changes in order to ensure that the Hampshire Squash leagues run as fairly as possible. The area of concern are our rules (or the lack of them) which limit the ability of players to play for more than one team, in particular the freedom to play for teams nominally lower than their main team. Prior to moving onto the LMS system, our rules obliged clubs to nominate players for teams which then prohibited them from playing for their club teams in lower divisions. Players were also only allowed to 'play up' twice before becoming tied to a higher team. When we moved over to the Sussex SRA-developed LMS, we took on board their ranking system but decided not to implement their 'ghost' rule nor their limitation on the number of games a player could play in a season, both of which go some way towards limiting the concerns expressed above. To give you some indication of the extent of this 'problem', if the 'play-up twice' rule was still in operation, a significant number of players would be infringing the rules; for one club over 20% of appearances would be in breach of that rule. Similarly a number of players have played for up to 3 club teams, for teams below their main team as well as for teams above. One player has played in every single match for two teams of the same club. Another player has already played 17 matches in the first half of the season and there are a number of others who have played in excess of 12 matches. The committee are concerned about; the potential unfairness which results from players "playing down" in a lower team the reduction in opportunity for 'weaker' players to represent their club in league squash, to the detriment of the future of squash that it gives an additional advantage to the bigger clubs with more teams and larger rankings lists I must stress however that none of these instances break our current rules, it's just that clubs are stretching them to a point where there is a question of whether they are operating in the spirit of the rules (rule 1.2). In doing a quick check on whether other counties have the same problem, we find that in the 6 counties we have checked, all of them have some checks on players 'playing down' and all of them limit the number of matches a player can play in each half of the season. The questions I am asking all of you are. Is this of concern to you? Do you think the league rules should be changed to restrict this practice? Are there any other of our league rules which you would like changed? If your answer to question 3 is yes, then which rules you would like to see changed? If the majority of you answer yes to the above questions then I will call an EGM prior to the end of the season with proposals for change. There will of course be no changes in the rules for the current season. Could I ask all of you to please respond (by e-mail) to the above questions (whether yes or no) by no later than Friday 26 January. No doubt you will consult your team players for their opinions. A copy of this note to you will be placed on the Hants website encouraging players to let you know what they think. Many Thanks David Law - HSRA League Secretary

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