RULES AND CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE COUNTY SWIMMING LEAGUE

1.

The League shall be called The Staffordshire Swimming League.

2.

Staffordshire A.S.A. shall be the promoting body for the competition.

3.

A Club wishing to participate in the League competition shall be affiliated to Staffordshire A.S.A.

4.

The League Management Committee shall consist of a Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer, four members appointed by the County Executive and four members of participating Clubs. A quorum for a meeting shall be four including one Officer.

5.

The Annual General Meeting of the Staffordshire Swimming League shall be held on the second Monday in February each year.

6.

The League shall be limited to such numbers as decided at the Annual General Meeting.

7.

Any further applications will be placed on a waiting list until arrangements can be made to accommodate them. In the event of a team dropping out of the League, the first team on the waiting list will be given preference.

8.

Clubs may submit more than one team for entry to the League.

9.

A Team participating in the Staffordshire County Swimming League, wishing to resign or withdraw, shall do so, in writing, to the League Secretary prior to the Annual General Meeting. Otherwise, the fees for the forthcoming year's competition will be payable.

10.

The Fee per Team shall be decided annually at the Annual General Meeting prior to the commencement of the competition for the year. Fees to be paid to the League Secretary within 28 days of the Annual General Meeting taking place.

11.

A Team failing to compete in a round may be suspended by the League Management Committee. The reasons shall be included in the Secretary's report for discussion at the Annual General Meeting.

12.

The appropriate misconduct law of the A.S.A. shall apply in all cases of breach of rules or misconduct as laid down in the law.


13. RULES OF COMPETITION

a.

All competitions will be conducted in accordance with A.S.A. Laws and A.S.A. Technical Rules.

b.

Age groups shall be: 9 years, 11 years and under, 13 years and under, 15 years and under and Open. Ages as at 31st December in the year of competition.

c.

The will be three preliminary rounds to the competition to determine the Finalists.

d.

The League is to be viewed as one League.

e.

For Round 1 the teams will be listed in league order from the points scored in the finals from the previous year, with the highest points at the top and the lowest at the bottom. Then the top six teams followed by the next six and so on (maximum total 30 teams) will contest the first round. The number of teams per gala will be adjusted according to the number of teams in the competition.

f.

For Round 2 the teams will be listed in league order according to the gala points scored for each team in Round

1. Then the following procedure will be used to determine the teams for each gala:-

GALA LEAGUE POSITION

1 1, 6, 11, 16, 21 and 26
2 2, 7, 12, 17, 22 and 27
3 3, 8, 13, 18, 23 and 28
4 4, 9, 14, 19, 24 and 29
5 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30

The number of teams per gala will be adjusted according to the number of teams in the competition.

g.

For Round 3 the gala points scored in Round 2 will be added to the points scored in Round 1 and league reformed. Then the same procedure used in Round 2 will be used to determine the teams in each gala. The number of teams per gala will be adjusted according to the number of teams in the competition.

h.

For the Finals, after adding the gala points scored in Round 3 to the two previous rounds the league will be reformed again. Then the following procedure will be used to determine the teams in each Final:-

GALA LEAGUE POSITION

PREMIER FINAL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
CONSOLATION FINAL 1 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
CONSOLATION FINAL 2 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18
CONSOLATION FINAL 3 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24
CONSOLATION FINAL 4 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30

The number of teams per gala will be adjusted according to the number of teams in the competition.

The gala points scored in the Finals will be the result of the Finals.


i.

In the event of a tie for gala points the number of wins followed by the number of second places, etc. for the round concerned will determine the league position. The same procedure will be used if there is a tie in any of the League Finals.

j.

Points

In each event points will be awarded as follows:- 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
and 1. When only five teams participate in a gala the points for
each event shall be 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2.

If a dead heat occurs the place points shall be added together and
divided by the number of competitors involved in the dead heat.

When less than six teams compete in a gala the following formula
will be used to adjust the league points:-

When only five teams compete the gala points are reduced by 5%.
When only four teams compete the gala points are reduced by 15%.
When only three teams compete the gala points are reduced by 28%.
The points will be calculated to the nearest 0.5.

If any team misses one Gala during the preliminary rounds, their
total league points at the end of Round 3 will be multiplied by
1.5. This will give them average league points for the three
rounds. The points will be calculated to the nearest 0.5.

Should a team fail to compete in at least two of the three
preliminary rounds of the competition that team will be excluded
from the Finals.

k.

Before the first round each participating Club shall submit to the Secretary of the League a list of swimmers they wish to use. Additions may be submitted subsequently, as necessary, but prior to the Gala in which they are required to participate. (Only swimmers not previously notified are required.)

l.

A swimmer may only represent one Club in the year of competition.

m.

A swimmer may compete in two individual events, two relays and a cannon.

n.

At each Gala, prior to the commencement of event one, lanes will be drawn.

o.

Dates for Galas for preliminary rounds and Finals will be as follows:-

Round 1 - Second Saturday in March
Round 2 - Third Saturday in May
Round 3 - First Saturday in October
Finals - Last Saturday in November

If there should be a clash of dates the League Management
Committee will decide if an alternative date is necessary.

p.

Every endeavour must be made by Teams to arrive at their venues by the advertised time. The latest time for the commencement of a Gala, due to late arrival or non-arrival of a Team, shall be 15 minutes after the advertised time.


14. AWARDS

The winning Team in the Premier Final shall receive the trophy donated to the League by Tamworth A.S.C.

The winning Team in each of the Consolation Finals shall receive a trophy.

15. PROGRAMME

a.

Five age groups as set out in Rule 13b.

b.

Individual events shall be 2 lengths races in Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Butterfly for each age group except for 9 years and for Boys and Girls separately.

c.

4 x 2 lengths Mixed Stroke team race (Back, Breast, Frontcrawl, Frontcrawl) and 4 x 2 lengths Freestyle team race for 9 years.

4 x 2 lengths Mixed Medley and 4 x 2 lengths Mixed Freestyle team races for all other age groups. Each Team shall comprise two boys and two girls swimming in any order.

d.

10 x 2 lengths Freestyle Cannon for both Boys and Girls separately. (Two from each age group, swimming in ascending order.)

e.

All starts shall be at the deep end of the pool.

f.

In the Finals, no more than two Boys and two Girls who have not competed in previous Rounds will be allowed to swim.

g.

Outside footwear, including trainers, etc., is not to be worn on the poolside.

h.

Children who are not competing are not allowed on the poolside.

i.

Only three Coaches or Team Managers for each Team are allowed on the poolside.

j.

Swimmers are not allowed in the Spectator areas unless properly
dressed.

k. Swimmers and Coaches must keep one metre from the edge of the pool unless competing in the particular event.

16. OFFICIALS

a.

The REFEREES and STARTER for each of the Rounds and the Finals will be appointed by the Staffordshire A.S.A. Honorary Officials' Secretary.

b.

All competing Teams at each Gala will appoint one JUDGE and at least one TIMEKEEPER per Team.

c.

The organising Club at each Gala shall also appoint:-

2 CHIEF TIMEKEEPERS
ANNOUNCER
RECORDERS
DOOR STEWARDS

Where the Gala has only five Teams competing, the organising Club shall arrange for one extra JUDGE.

d.

A League Representative will be present at each of the Galas.


17.

Anything not covered by the above Rules and Conditions shall be dealt with by the League Management Committee.


18.

Any amendments to these Rules and Conditions shall be notified to the League Secretary not later than 28 days before the League Annual General Meeting.


12th February, 2001