FAIRFIELD COUNTY SENIOR TENNIS LEAGUE RULES AND REGULATIONS

PREAMBLE:  The Fairfield County Masters Tennis League has been organized by and is closely affiliated with the Fairfield County Tennis League.  Although Each League shall have its own rules and regulations, it is intended that they shall cooperate thoroughly and shall share a common Treasurer, who shall be the Treasurer elected by the Fairfield County Tennis League.

A. BASIC PROCEDURES AND SCHEDULES

1. The League shall consist of Clubs in Fairfield County. The number and identity of Clubs shall be a determined by the Board of Directors subject to ratification at the Annual Meeting.

2. Each team must have a Captain who will fulfill League responsibilities as outlined in these Rules and Regulations. A list of teams and their captains will be listed on the League website: www.fctl.org.

3. League competition shall begin in mid-May on a Thursday as determined by the Board and continue each subsequent Thursday until the season is complete. Each team in the League will play every other team on one occasion as indicated in the schedule.

4. Home team captains are responsible for contacting visiting team captains a few days prior to their engagements to: a. acknowledge the engagement; b. advise the visiting team captain whom to contact for last minute weather decisions; and c. coordinate any other arrangements necessary.

5. Each engagement shall consist of three men’s doubles matches between three doubles teams from each club. The three doubles teams shall be ranked one through three and shall play the correspondingly ranked doubles teams from the opposing team. Compliance with this requirement is basic to the integrity of each team and its responsibility to its opponents and other teams in the League. Team captains will maintain a record of team members for each match and the order in which their teams played. This record shall be made available to the Board of Directors upon request.

6. Each match will be two out of three sets. When in any set the game score becomes 6-all, a 12 point tie-breaker will be played.

7. Home teams captains are responsible for providing yellow balls and refreshments.

8. A post-season tournament, The Alex Reddin Memorial Tournament (which has no affect on team scoring or ranking) may be played in September, as voted at the Annual meeting.

B. SCORING, RANKING AND DIVISION TRANSFERS

1. One point will be awarded for each match won; no points will be awarded for matches lost. In certain circumstances, as outlined in Rules C1-C6, teams may win a half point each for unplayed or unfinished matches, or such other points as the Board of Directors decides.

2. Home team captains shall be responsible for reporting match scores, to the League website immediately following the engagement, but no later then noon the day following the match. A “rainout must also be reported. In the event that the home team captain or his surrogate does not enter the scores on the website by noon the day following the match, one point shall be deducted from the season’s score of the team responsible for reporting the results. That deduction shall appear with an * in the final standings. In the event of extenuating circumstances, the point penalty may be remitted, but only upon petition to the President of the League.

3. The team winning the most points during the season in each division will be the winner of that Division. The winner of the 50+ Division I will be the winner of the League.

4. In the event of a tie for the Division winner, the following procedures shall be used; a. The score of the team match or matches against the team tied will decide the winner. b. If the match score was tied, then the number of sets won by each team during the match or matches between them will decide the winner. c. If the set were even then the number of games won by each team during the match or matches between them will decide the winner. d. If the game were even, the spin of a racket will decide.

C. Unusual Circumstances

1. All engagements not started due to inclement weather or other unusual circumstances shall automatically be rescheduled to the first Monday or Tuesday following the scheduled match. The home team captain shall make the election of whether the rescheduled match shall be played on the following Monday or Tuesday, and shall communicate his choice to the captain of the opposing team on the same day that the original match was scheduled. In the event the home team Captain selects a Monday or Tuesday that falls on the observance of a national holiday(Memorial Day or July 4th), the opposing Captain may opt to not play on that day. The following Monday or Tuesday shall then be selected by the home team Captain. In the event a rescheduled match must again be postponed because of bad weather, the home team captain shall again make the election and communicate his choice within the time specified above.
   
   Since available daylight decreases rapidly in August and the likelihood of rain increases, all captains are urged to make-up postponed matches on other evenings or weekends during the regular season. If heavy rains force an unusual number of postponements, efforts should be made to make-up those matches on other evenings/weekends throughout the season. The Captain of the home team and the Captain of the away team need to agree upon playing indoors in the event of inclement weather. This is true even if the home team has indoor courts.

2. When it is known in advance that a match must be defaulted due to a shortage of one or more players, the defaults must start with doubles team three and proceed up from the bottom.

3. Matches should begin at 6 PM, but in no event later than 6:45 PM. For the purpose of this paragraph C-3 a doubles team will be “ready to play” if both team members are on the court in tennis attire. If the team members of one of teams are not ready to play at 6:30 PM, one set of the match will be defaulted to the team that is ready to play. If the team members of the teams are not ready to play by 6:45 PM, the match will be defaulted, with one point awarded to the team which is ready to play. If both doubles teams are not ready to play by 6:45 PM, then that particular team match will be considered a default with no point awarded to either team and with option by either team captain to reschedule it.
   
   For clubs with lighted courts, home matches may begin after 6:00PM, if both the home team Captain and opposing Captain agree. The first set default time will be 30 minutes after the agreed upon start time and the match default time will be 45 minutes after the agreed upon start time. It is mandatory that Captains put in their weekly report of match results to the League website(www.fctl.org) the number of defaults that occurred in connection with the match. The Board is authorized to take appropriate action, including suspension , where any team has defaulted excessively.

4. All engagements not started due to inclement weather or other unusual circumstances shall automatically be rescheduled to the first Monday or Tuesday following the scheduled match. The home team captain shall make the election of whether the rescheduled match shall be played on the following Monday or Tuesday, and shall communicate his choice to the captain of the opposing team on the same day that the original match was scheduled. In the event the home team Captain selects a Monday or Tuesday that falls on the observance of a national holiday(Memorial Day or July 4th), the opposing Captain may opt to not play on that day. The following Monday or Tuesday shall then be selected by the home team Captain. In the event a rescheduled match must again be postponed because of bad weather, the home team captain shall again make the election and communicate his choice within the time specified above.

5. Any scheduled match begun but interrupted because of rain, darkness or other unusual circumstances may be settled by: 
   
   a. Continuation of the match that evening indoors or substituting a 10 point tiebreaker for the third set, with the agreement of both the home and away team captains. 
   b. Continuation of the match at a mutually agreeable time and place within eleven days. 
   c. The concession of either team at that time. 
   d. Scoring each team a half point if mutually agreeable to both team captains.
   
   In any continuation of an interrupted match, it should begin at the point the match was interrupted, with the same score and the same teams (the same four players), unless otherwise agreed between the captains.

6. In the event that a match has not been completed according to paragraph C-1, then the Division Secretary shall make a reasonable effort to confer with each team captain and shall promptly set a date for the match to be played. In the event that either team does not appear on such date, it shall be defaulted. In the event of a rain-out or rain interruption, the Division Secretary shall reschedule the match.

7. If teams leave the court in an interrupted match without agreeing on any option as outlined in Rule C-5 or if the match should not be played within eleven days, the Board of Directors will make a prompt determination of how it will be scored and may include a penalty of up to two points per match for failure to play the match.

D. QUALIFICATION

1. 1. Each team shall consist only of Club members who shall have reached the age of 50 years (for the 50+ Divisions) or 60 years (for the 60+ Division) during the current year of play. In the event a team plays one or more ineligible players in any engagement without announcing this fact to the opposing captain and forfeiting the match in which such ineligible player(s) participates, it shall forfeit all three matches of the engagement. Forfeits must start at position #3 and move upward.

2. When a club has more than one team in an age division, (50+ or 60+), the six highest ranked players must be designated for play in rank order only on each higher team (#1 team if there is a #2 team). The designated players may not play for a team lower than their designation. The designated players must be posted on the League website by the start of the season. The team will only earn points for matches played after the designated players are posted on the League website. 

3. 3. Where a player belongs to more than one Club, that player may play for only one Club in the Masters League during the season, except that he may play for another club in the Open League.

4. Because Clubs have conflicting rules regarding tennis apparel, players must abide by the dress code of the home team Club or be defaulted.

5. A player who participates in any playoff or in the post-season tournament must have played in at least one match for his team during the regular season.

6. No person will be allowed to play in a League/Team match if he earns a significant portion of his income from teaching tennis.

7. Teams will not be admitted to the League unless 3 Har-Tru or equivalent courts are available at the Club for home matches. No matches may be played on hard courts.

E. ORGANIZATION

1. A membership fee to be determined annually is payable promptly on June 1st. Fee should be sent to the League Treasurer, payable to Fairfield County Tennis League.

2. 2. Any disputes concerning these rules or concerning matters not covered by these rules should be directed at once to the Division Secretary. If the Secretary is unable to resolve the dispute, he will refer the matter to the Secretary of the League and, if he is unable to affect a solution agreeable to the disputing parties, the Secretary of the League shall convene a Grievance Committee to arbitrate a solution which shall be final. The Grievance Committee and/or Board shall have the power to place a team or player on probation or suspension.

3. The officers of the League will be as follows: President: He shall preside over meetings of the League and of the Board of Directors. He shall see to it that these rules are carried out and that the League is successful. Secretary: He shall prepare the schedule for the League and shall be responsible for the correspondence and records of the League. Treasurer: He shall collect and disburse the funds of the League and shall recommend a budget annually.

4. The Officers of the League shall be elected at the Annual Meeting, which shall be held in February or March, and at which one representative from each team is entitled to vote.

5. The President, Secretary and Treasurer comprise the Board of Directors.

(May 2008)