Constitution

Tottenham Ladies Lob-Ball
Next meeting of the Executive

Year-End
Results

Constitution
Revised October 2005

Article 1.         – Executive 

1.1              The affairs of the league will be run by an executive to be elected each year at the end of the season. The executive will consist of the following:
President
Vice-President
Past-President (for continuity)
Secretary
Treasurer
Statistician
Captains
Co-Captains

1.2              President shall not be captain or co-captain

1.3              The President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, Statistician will be elected from the nominations voted on during the General Meeting. 

1.4              The Captains will be elected from the previous year’s teams from volunteers or appointees. The new Captains may select a Co-captain for the playing year prior to the draft pick.

1.5              Duties

1.5.1        Vice President - To aid and assist the President, helping to organize meetings and the banquet. A sub-committee of two team members per team must be responsible to provide assistance for the banquet. 

1.5.2        Secretary - To attend all meetings and keep records of the minutes and assist when needed.

1.5.3        Treasurer - to be responsible for all monies paid to and by the league. All cheques must be signed by two of the three appointed executive members. 

1.5.4        Statistician - To collect score sheets, keep track of points and submit write-ups to the newspaper.

Article 2.        Voting

2.1              The league Captains and Co-Captains will have a vote in league matters. The President will have the deciding vote in the event of a tie. Matters involving disciplinary action or rejection of players from game, etc. will be decided by a vote of team captains.

Article 3.        Roster & Payment Schedule

3.1              Each team shall have a minimum of ten and maximum of thirteen players. No names may be added to that list during the season without the league’s permission. 

3.2              Entrance fee must be paid before the teams are drafted.

3.3              All teams will be formed new at the beginning of each season. 

3.4              Any player who has not paid the fees before the draft will not be drafted. But will be put on a waiting list for players as soon as she pays her fee.

Article 4.        Eligibility

4.1              All players must be 30 or older by December 31^st of the current year.

Article 5.        Standings 

5.1              Standings will be determined on the basis of points earned during the regular season games. The team with the greatest number of points will finish first. 

5.1.1        Win counts as 2 points

5.1.2        Loss counts as 0 points

5.1.3        Tie counts as1 point

5.2              Tie in the Standings

5.3              In the event of a tie in the standings, the higher placed team will be determined by:

5.3.1        The most overall wins

5.3.2        Who has the better record, runs for and against

5.3.3        Revert back to last game’s completed inning, runs for and against.

5.4             All games sheets must be handed in by the home team, within one week of playing.  If the game sheets are not handed in, the home team will be recorded as a lost.

Article 6.        League Championship

6.1              A league championship trophy is to be awarded to the first place team at the end of the regular season.

Article 7.        Play-Off Championship

7.1              The play-off championship trophy is to be awarded to the winner of the round robin tournament at the end of the regular season. The home team in each game of the play-offs will be the team that finished with highest point standing in the league; except the semi-final and final games, a coin toss will decide the home team. A consolation trophy will be awarded to the runner up in the play-off tournament.

Article 8.        Community Week Championship

8.1              Each year a trophy will be awarded to the winner of the Community Week Tournament and consolation trophy to the runner-up.

Article 9.        Umpire

9.1              The home team is to supply the umpire with a new ball for each game. At the end of the game, the umpire will return the ball to the home team. The umpire will decide if a game is to continue due to rain, darkness, etc. Before the umpire can make a decision as to whether a game will commence, he/she must first get approval from the team captains; in the event of a split , the umpire will make the decision.

9.2              Players ejected by the umpire are suspended until the league captains can deal with the matter (within 7 days).

9.3              All decisions will stand that are made by the umpire, unless appealed in writing to the executive where a final decision will be declared by the league captains. 

9.4              One umpire will be supplied per game.

9.5              Only the President is allowed to approach the Umpire in Chief with any problems.  Any complaint about an umpire must be directed to the Captain who in turn will notify the President of the League in a timely manner.

Article 10.   Time Limit

10.1          1 hour 25 minutes is the maximum time allowed for the completion of each game.If time is called the score will revert back to the last complete inning. A full game will consist of seven (7) innings. Five (5) innings must be played to constitute a legal game. A game called by the umpire before five (5) innings are completed shall be replayed in its entirety. If the home team is leading, only 4½ innings are required. The score will revert back to the last completed inning..

Article 11.     Rules of Play

11.1          In order to field a team, a minimum of seven (7) team players must be present.  Substitutions are allowed to a maximum of ten (10) players, but in the event that both pitcher and back-up pitcher are away, the team may pick up a pitcher or back-up pitcher as their 11^th player within the same rating as any absent player. If teams have eleven (11) or less players on their roster, a minimum of five (5) team players must be present.

11.2          Members may join the team any time during the game providing they play a minimum of two (2) innings. 

11.3          If someone joins a game in progress as a substitution.  This player must be added to the bottom of the lineup.  This player does not assume the injure player place in lineup.

11.4          Anyone leaving during the game must have played a minimum of two (2) innings and make her departure known to the scorekeeper in order not to be considered an automatic out when her name appears on the batting order. 

11.5          Attempts should be made to play all players equally.

11.6          Every member of the team is included in the batting order.

11.7          A runner may have a substitute runner (last player out) for reasons of injury.  Should a substitute runner be required in the first inning and there are no players out, last player in the batting order will be the substitute runner.  When a substitute runner is used, the batter must use a substitute runner at 1^st base for the remainder of the game.

11.8          MERCY RULE - each inning each team is allowed a maximum of seven (7) runs, except in the last inning which will be open.

11.9          All equipment is the property of the league and must be returned at the end of each season.

11.10      Each captain will be responsible for obtaining the necessary substitutes.

11.11      The base lines are 65 feet. The ball is 11 inches in diameter

11.12      Runner commit line will be used on the third base line, with a force out rule at home plate. The catcher is required to play the plate while the runner is required to cross the extension of the first base line behind home plate.  Runner cannot be tagged between the commit line and home plate.

11.13      A player will be declared out if she hits a foul on the third strike.

Article 12.   Ground Rules

12.1          The home team is responsible for placing the bases.

12.2          The home team shall provide the official scorekeeper for each game.  (Scorekeeper must be competent).

12.3          Any questions of ground rules not covered by the above points will be decided by the discretion of the umpire.

Article 13.   Re-scheduled Games

13.1          A team canceling a regular season game must reschedule the game through the Umpire in Chief with the agreement of the other team. The game must be rescheduled with the President/Vice President. If games are not scheduled within two weeks the President/Vice President will reschedule and the game must be played or it will count as a loss. This is to save possible overlaps at the end of the season.

13.2          If the Captains cannot decide whether to play the game within one hour of game time due to rain, all reams must show up at the park prepared to play. The umpire and captains will decide whether the game is playable due to safety issued.

13.3          It is forbidden to arrange with your opponent to not play a game and take a tie, as this can affect the standings of other teams in the league

Article 14.   Pitchers Box

14.1          The pitcher’s distance is a zone of 24” wide, located 50 to 60 feet from the rear corner of home plate. The pitcher will be able to place her pivot foot anywhere within this zone. .

Article 15.   Annual Banquet

15.1          The annual banquet will be held at the end of the season.

Article 16.   League Meetings

16.1          When a league meeting is held, all teams should be represented by either the captain or the co-captain.

Article 17.   Advertisement

17.1          An ad will be put in the paper each year prior to the general meeting and sign up. A poster may be put up if so desired.

Article 18.   Picking Teams

18.1          Each year everyone’s name is put back on the list according to their ratings.  Numbers are put in a hat and each Captain will draw a team number. They will then proceed to pick names from a hat in numerical order (team #1,2,3 etc., the next draw will start with team #2, then #3, etc.) starting with the pitchers, back-up pitchers and paid-up players until all names are chosen. The first few draws will be set up to even out the teams.

Article 19.   Picking Team Names

19.1          Sponsors names are put in a hat and drawn according to the team number chosen.  Whichever Captain has the number one (1) team will draw first and the rest will choose in order (this way everyone in treated fairly).

Article 20.  Ratings - Substitutions

20.1          In the spring, a rating committee of three will be assigned by the Executive of the League.  The responsibility of this committee will be to determine the ratings of the individual players over the course of the season and submit to the executive. Each player is rated at the end of the season by Captains and co-Captains who will now be given to the rating committee for consideration when doing their final ratings. 

20.2          Ratings for new players will be re-assessed at a meeting the ratings committee before the Community Week Tournament A list of the new ratings will be printed for each team and substitutions will be based on the following example: 

20.2.1    If a player on Team #1 has a player with an original rating of Group 10 and her rating changes to a Group 2

(a)  Team #1 can only pick up a player form Group 10 since they already have a Group 2 player

(b)  Other teams can only pick her up if they need a Group 2 player

20.3          A substitution player can be anyone willing to spare. Captains must be fair in choosing a substitute.. They can only pick someone from the same rating group or lower

20.4          Substitutions are allowed to a maximum of ten (10) players, but in the event that both pitcher and back-up pitcher are away, the team may pick up a pitcher or back-up pitcher as their 11^th player within the same rating as any absent player.

20.5          Substitutions during play-offs will be decided on by the executive.

Article 21.   Official Score

21.1          At the end of each game the official score is to be handed to the statistician so she can get the statistics for the standings and do the write-up for the newspaper. She will inform the Captains and Co-Captains of the time and place where these are to be dropped off. 

Article 22.  Protest Clause

22.1          Any protest must be handed into an executive member in writing before any action is taken. This must be done within 48 hours of the incident.

Article 23.  Quorum

23.1          All paid-up members attending the Annual General Meeting constitute a Quorum.