Regulations for VETTS Team Competitions

REGULATIONS FOR VETTS TEAM COMPETITIONS

 

Management

1. VETTS Team Competitions are competitions for teams, which may be any combination of eligible players wishing to play as a team, operating under regulations approved by the Executive Committee of the Veterans English Table Tennis Society (VETTS).

2. Subject to the overriding authority of the Executive Committee, the competitions shall be managed by an Organising Committee responsible to that Executive Committee.

 

Eligibility

3. All team members must have attained the minimum age specified for each competition by the date of play and must have a valid VETTS membership for the duration of the competition.

4. Evidence of age and/or identity may be required.

 

Entry and Fee Payment

5. Entry shall be by completion of an online submission in the form prescribed which may include a declaration that the person submitting the entry has been authorised by all the team players and will have been authorised by any players added later (a) to include them in the team for which they have been nominated and (b) to signify their agreement to these regulations and an appropriate General Data Protection Regulation consent.

6.  Completed online entries must finally include the names of a full complement of eligible players. If it is necessary to restrict entries, teams which played in the previous competition in the same age category shall be given a reasonable time to enter before the entry of new teams is accepted. For the purpose of this Regulation and Regulation 19 a team must include at least two players who competed in at least two matches played by that team in the latest similar previous competition to be accepted as the same team unless exceptionally exempted from this requirement by the Referee.

7. No entry shall be accepted without payment of the requisite team entry fee in an authorised manner. No additional fee shall be payable for registering any number of individual team members. All fees paid shall be returned if the competition cannot be run for any reason, as shall the fee paid by any team whose entry proves invalid or is not placed in a division because the competition is oversubscribed but for no other reason.

8. Teams may choose any name which is not misleading or offensive and their players are requested to wear shirts of matching or near matching colour.

 

Additional and Substitutional Players

9. Additional players may be nominated for a team after the submission of the team's entry, but in the case of a nomination after the formation of the divisions only if the additional player has fewer rating points at the time of nomination than the highest ranked of the players originally nominated for that team.

10. Subject to them signifying their agreement to these regulations and an appropriate General Data Protection Regulation consent to the satisfaction of the Referee,

substitutional players may be nominated for a team at any time provided they have a VETTS ranking in the age category for which they wish to enter and have fewer rating points at the time of nomination than the player they are replacing.

 

System of Play

11. Provided that there are sufficient entries there will be separate divisions for men and women in each age competition run, which divisions shall each consist of six teams as far as possible. The Organising Committee may approve a team match format different from that shown below for any age and gender category for which there would otherwise be insufficient entries.

12. Each team shall choose three players from those nominated for that team to play each match, but may include substitutional players as above.

13. A team match shall consist of six singles matches, played in the following order: A v Y, B v X, C v Z, A v X, C v Y, B v Z.

14. All individual matches shall be the best of five games.

15. All individual matches shall be played.

 

Points

16.1 A team shall be awarded two league points for a team match won and one league point for a team match drawn.

17.  Position in the division shall be determined primarily by the number of league points won.

18. If two or more teams are equal on league points, their relative positions shall be determined by the ratios of individual matches won to individual matches lost; if they are still equal, their relative positions shall be determined by the ratios of games won to games lost; if they are still equal their relative positions shall be determined by the ratios of individual points won to points lost and if they are still equal by the toss of a coin.

 

Divisional Formation for Subsequent Competitions

19. In the next similar competition in each age category, continuing teams shall be entitled to a place in the same division save that teams finishing first or second in each division other than the top division shall be entitled to a place in the next higher division and teams finishing in the lowest two places in each division shall only be entitled to a place in the next lower division.

20.1. The final two places in the division corresponding to the lowest division in the latest preceding competition shall be filled by new teams or if there are no new teams to fill either or both of those places firstly by the team finishing next to last in that competition and secondly by the team finishing last in that competition if those teams re-enter.

20.2. Vacancies arising because teams do not re-enter shall be filled by new teams in descending order of ratings strength, and also by continuing teams if this would place them in a higher division than their entitlement under Regulation 19, provided that the mean average of the rating points of their three highest rated players in the latest relevant VETTS ranking list available at the time of the divisional formations is higher than the mean average of the ratings points of the three highest rated players in the continuing team which finished next highest in the preceding competition.

20.3. New team places in any lower division shall be allocated to other new teams in order of their ratings strength determined in the same manner as in Regulation 20.2.

 

Ratings Significance

21. All singles matches shall count for VETTS ratings points.

22. Players in each team shall be placed in the ranking order in the latest VETTS ranking list relevant for that age category. For the purpose of this section of the regulations a notional rating shall be given, using the best information available, to any player without a rating on the relevant VETTS ranking list.

 

General

23. Players who are not members of Table Tennis England are responsible for arranging their own insurance.

24. No glueing of rackets is allowed at the venue.

25. Racket testing may take place at the event.

26. The competition shall be played under the ITTF Laws of Table Tennis, together with the National By-Laws (Table Tennis England Regulation A section 2). ITTF Regulations for International Competition apply only to those matters specified below and can be found in the website for the current ITTF Handbook.

 

Rackets. ITTF Regulations 3.2.1.3 and 3.4.2.2 apply. The ITTF website www.ittf.com/equipment/ has a list of currently approved racket coverings (LARC).

 

Intervals.Time outs will be allowed, as per ITTF Regulations. Additionally, any player who is due to play in two matches of any kind in immediate succession shall be entitled to request an interval of five minutes between those matches.

 

Advice. Players may not receive advice except before a game or in the permitted intervals between successive games or time outs.

 

Clothing. ITTF Regulations 3.2.2.1, 3.2.2.2, 3.2.2.5 and 3.2.2.6 apply.

 

Referee’s Decision

27. The Referee’s decision shall be final on points of law, any question not provided for in these regulations, and in any dispute as to their interpretation.

 

August 2024