1. The Association shall be called "The Chester & District Badminton League"

2. The league shall be open to one or more teams of affiliated Clubs situated within a radius of ten miles of Chester Cross. Such Clubs must be affiliated by subscription to the County Organisation in whichever County they are resident. Applications and resignations to the league Secretary on or before the 1st June.

3. The Annual General Meeting shall be held in the month of May in each year, when the Audited Accounts shall be submitted and General Business transacted. A copy of the Agenda shall be forwarded to each Club Secretary not less then sever days prior to the date of the General Meeting. An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called at the discretion of the Executive Committee or on the requisition of not less than one fifth of the Clubs in membership, each requisition to be sent in writing, to the League Secretary and signed by the Clubs concerned. Each team representative together with the Officers of the League and any member of a registered Club shall be entitled to vote at a General Meeting and take part in the discussion. The season's fixtures shall be arranged at a special meeting to be called for that purpose.

4. The business of the League shall be conducted by an Executive Committee consisting of a President, Past Presidents, Vice Presidents (who shall be non voting), Chairman, Vice Chairman, Hon. Secretary, Hon Minutes Secretary, Hon Treasurer, Hon. Tournament Secretary, Hon. Match Secretary and Press Liaison Officer who shall be elected at each Annual General Meeting, and one elected representative from each team, eleven to form a quorum. In the absence of an elected representative another member may attend. The Executive Committee shall have the power to appoint any Sub-Committee for specific purposes and to define their duties. The Chairman, Hon Secretary, Hon Match Secretary and press Liaison Officer shall ex-officio be members of such sub-committee.

5. The League shall be divided into divisions the number of teams in each division to be decided by the Executive Committee. Clubs having more than one team must register their eight strongest players (four men and four ladies) as its "A" team. Clubs having more than two teams must register their next strongest eight players (four men and four ladies) as its "B" team and so forth, and each match shall consist of eight events (four mixed, two mens and two ladies doubles), each event being the best of three games of fifteen aces. The winners shall be the team winning the most events. Should events be equal then results shall be allocated after each match, win 2 points, draw 1 point, lose 0. Captains of teams shall simultaneously exchange team sheets and no alterations shall be permitted during the course of the match. It is not necessary for the best two players in a team to play together, but the pairs must be arranged in order of strength.

The teams which have scored the highest number of points throughout the season shall hold the championship of their respective Division. If points tie then events shall count, if events tie then the winning team shall be decided as that team having the highest game average. The top team in Division 2 will be promoted to Division 1. The bottom team in Division 1 will be relegated to Division 2. The bottom 2 teams in Division 2 will be relegated to Division 3 and the top two teams in Division 3 will be promoted to Division 2. This pattern of promotion and relegation will be repeated throughout the remaining Divisions, subject to any amendments within the authority of the Match Secretary as a result of resignations and applications.

Captains are required to indicate on the score sheet any reserves playing, by adding a letter "R" after their name, a report of the substitution is also required on the back of the score sheet, this should include the name of the player missing and the number of consecutive matches missed.

6. The time of commencing matches shall be as stated in the Fixture Book. It is the responsibility of the Home Team to contact the visiting team at least 48 hours prior to the match in order to arrange a different starting time should this be necessary and which would enable the match to be played to a finish. Any player arriving half an hour after the time stated shall forfeit 2 events 15 aces to love, unless a different time has been previously mutually agreed.

Unfinished events in matches which have started at the correct time may, by mutual consent, be completed at a later date. Confirmation of conceded/claimed matches must be notified by both teams in writing to the Match Secretary. All other undecided matches will be reported to the League Committee for their own attention.

7. Bye-laws of Clubs regarding "lets" and "faults" in League and Trophy matches shall be approved by the League. Visiting teams shall abide by the above bye-laws and shall be notified before the commencement of matches of the above bye-laws. Scorers shall be appointed by mutual consent. Their duties shall be to announce the score and also, if requested to do so by the players, to call faults and lets.

8. Home and visiting captains shall be responsible for filling in score sheets which will be jointly signed by the match captains. The home captain will fill in two sheets one to be forwarded to the Match Secretary and one to the press Secretary. The away captain will fill in one score sheet which must be forwarded to the Match Secretary. All score sheets to be dispatched to the Match Secretary and Press Secretary within 48 hours of the match being played. If the sheet is not received within 10 days of the match, the home team will forfeit one point for each offence from the total league points.

9. Only bonafide members of a Club, who are liable for its full subscription and have been registered seven days, may represent it in a league match. Each Club Secretary shall send a list of all team players to the League Match Secretary at least seven days before the first match of the season. These lists may be amended at any time up to the 1st March of that season, but the players shall not be eligible to play in League matches until seven days from the date of their registration. No members of a higher team may play for a lower team unless registered seven days before the match. A player remains registered in his/her present position until the new registration date takes effect which is seven days. A Club must at all time have eight bonafide first team players (four men and four ladies) registered as its first team. A player is no longer considered a bonafide team member if he/she misses four consecutive matches without the permission of the League Match Secretary. No player shall be registered for more than one Club at the same time.

For Clubs with more than one team, if more than one match is arranged for the same night the higher registered team must take precedence.

10. Matches may be re-arranged for the following reasons:

(a) Unavailability of the Hall
(b) Inclement weather

Provided that the League Match Secretary and press Liaison Officer be notified within 48 hours of the cancellation and they are given a re-arranged date for that match as soon as possible.

In addition the Match Secretary may authorise the re-arrangement of a match for reasons not covered above provided both Clubs involved are in agreement and he considers the application for re-arrangement to be legitimate. Application for such re-arrangements must reach the match Secretary not less then 48 hours before the match was due to be played and his decision shall be final in all cases.

Any match which is re-arranged without the Match Secretary's permission will be considered void. Teams unable to fulfil a fixture on the scheduled date or on an agreed re-arranged date will have two points deducted. In exceptional circumstances the Hon. Match Secretary will consider a re-arrangement for single team clubs and last teams of multi-team clubs. In the event that the team concerned cannot play on the re-arranged date with a full team, then the minimum requirement to fulfil this fixture will be 2 men and 2 ladies.

10a. All teams throughout the League are required to play their matches with an approved brand of cork based shuttle. Teams in the first, second, third and fourth division must use FEATHERED shuttles. Approved brands of shuttle will be specified at the AGM of the League.

11. An annual subscription shall be payable in respect of each team entered in the League. A player registration fee shall be payable in respect of each player registered to play in the League.

12. Subscriptions, player registration fees and entry fees to be determined at the AGM of the League. Details of all subscriptions, player registration fees and entry fees to be forwarded to the League Match Secretary on or before 1st October or 7 days before the Club's first league match, whichever is earlier, together with the appropriate remittance. Cheques to be make payable to 'Chester & District Badminton League' IT IS TO BE REMEMBERED THAT NO REGISTRATION WILL TAKE EFFECT UNTIL THE CORRECT FEES HAVE BEEN PAID. Failure to comply with this rule in its entirety could result in the suspension of all benefits of membership of the League. County Affiliation fees shall be forwarded to the County Representative for onward transmission to the County, together with cheques payable to 'Cheshire County B.A.' before the end of October in each year. Failure to comply with this rule in its entirety could result in the suspension of all benefits of membership of the League and County.

13. Any Club wishing to make a complaint or claim against another Club shall first notify their opponents within one week of the fixture and then BOTH parties will send a written letter to the Match Secretary within a further week. The Disputes Committee will convene a meeting within one month of the fixture, at which both parties will be represented and three members of the Disputes Committee shall be present. Their decision which shall be final, will be reported to the next League Meeting.

Should either party not submit a written letter, or fail to attend the arranged meeting, they will be considered to have defaulted from the disputes process and the decision will automatically be awarded against them.

14. Alterations and additions to these rules shall only be made at a General Meeting if twenty-one days notice in writing is given to the Hon. Secretary. The proposed alterations shall be included in the Agenda and circulated to Club Secretaries not less then seven days prior to the date of each meeting.

15. Clubs failing to comply with any of the foregoing rules shall be liable to forfeit one or more points as the Executive Committee may decide.

16. In the event of any question arising, not provided for in the foregoing rules it shall be dealt with by the Executive Committee, who shall be the sole interpreters of the rules and whose decision shall be final.

17. Any Club not represented at a League Fixture Meeting will, at the discretion of the League Officers, be debarred from participating in the League for the ensuing season.

18. The League and all fixtures made for the League Championship take priority over all other events.

19. It is expected that all teams will make every endeavour to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the foregoing rules.

20. All League trophies and the Parker Trophy to be returned to the Match Secretary by the 31st March. All tournament trophies and Arthur Capper Trophy to be returned to the Tournament Secretary one week prior to the following season's tournament.

21. The Executive Committee shall have the authority to waive a rule in exceptional circumstances and when they consider that it would be in the best interest of the League to do so.

APPENDIX:

SUBSCRIPTIONS, ENTRY FEES AND REGISTRATION FEES

Annual Subscription £5 per team
Parker Trophy Entry Fee £5 per team
Player Registration Fee £1 per player

SPECIFICATION OF SHUTTLES:

Plastic: Yonex Mavis, Carlton Tournament, Carlton Tournament Plus.

Feather: B.A. of E. Shuttles, RSL No. 1 Tourney, RSL Shuttles, Apollo, Karl Cramp Grade B, Yehlex, In Flight Premier, Carlton, Aerogear 770, Yonex, Aerosens A30

NOTE FOR THIS SEASON REGARDING

RULES 8 & 10
RULE 8 - All score sheets must be dispatched to the Match Secretary and Press Secretary within 48 hours of the match.
If a sheet is not received within 10 days of the match the home team will forfeit one point for each offence.

RULE 10 - Matches may be re-arranged for the following reasons:
[a] Unavailability of hall
[b] Inclement weather

THESE RULES WILL BE ENFORCED FOR THE COMING SEASON - PLEASE WILL ALL SECRETARIES AND MATCH SECRETARIES MAKE THEIR TEAM CAPTAINS AWARE.