Club Responsibilities as per the Constitution
Club Responsibilities per the Constitution
10. Club responsibilities per the Constitution
a. Each team in membership of the League must deposit a guarantee fee to remain on deposit until such time as the team ceases membership. The League Executive Committee shall have the power to confiscate all, or part of, the guarantee if the team fails to fulfil its obligations.
b. Each team in membership of the League must be members of the English Cricket Board/Lancashire Cricket Foundation (LCF) or Cheshire Cricket Board.
c. Each team in membership of the League must pay an annual subscription fee at the AGM and provide Club, Team CWO forms detailing the constitution of the club. Annual subscriptions include League and LCF for the current year and entry into all competitions run by the LCF and League.
d. Each team in membership of the League must participate in a monthly club draw from April to September inclusive. Rate of contribution by teams and prize value, to be decided by the League Executive Committee each year.
e. Each team in membership of the League must furnish the Registrations Secretary with a list of any players who have not fulfilled their obligations to their club at the end of the playing season. This list must be supplied by 31st December each year.
f. Each team in membership of the League shall be reported to the League Discipline Committee if at the end of the season the club has been responsible for either six late starts or six short teams.
g. Each team in membership of the League wishing to resign from the League, must do so by 31st October by email or recorded letter. Any team that does not resign but does not re-apply for the next season shall remain in membership until the next AGM. Any club wishing to join another league next season must resign from this League by 30th June in the current season.
h. Each team in membership of the League owing money to the League in excess of the team’s guarantee fee after 31st October shall have its membership suspended forthwith and applications from new teams will be given priority for membership for the following season. The teams guarantee fee shall be confiscated.
i. Each team in membership of the League must have a ground complete with the following facilities: adequate and secure changing rooms, clean running water and toilet facilities. All teams in Division One must play on a grass wicket of suitable standard. All teams must either own a ground or be contracted to a ground as detailed on the Pitch Allocation Form, by the date of the League AGM. Each team must complete a Pitch Allocation Form along with dates available for the ground, to be returned to the Fixtures Secretary by mid-March. The Association of Cricket Officials shall review the completed forms and all grounds must be authorised for use. It is preferable that grounds should be no further than 25 miles from Manchester city centre.
j. Each team in membership of the League must provide two umpires, as directed by the ACO to fulfil club umpiring appointments (see Rule 19). All club umpires to be registered members of the Club (for insurance purposes). Teams must provide experienced cricketers with a good knowledge of the laws of cricket and the rules of the League. All club umpires are required to have attended the League’s Laws/Rules course if they are not already qualified.
k. Each team in membership of the League is expected to appoint a scorer.
l. Each team must be registered with ECB Play Cricket.
11. a. The Disciplinary Committee shall consist of the Chairman plus six members, all elected at the League AGM. No more than two members can be elected from the same division Each member shall have one vote. The Chairman shall have an additional casting vote in the event of a tied vote. (Quorum 3.) The League General Secretary shall be an ex-officio member of the Committee, with sole responsibility for the administration of the Discipline Committee. If in the opinion of the Chairman of Discipline, a report constitutes “serious misconduct” the Chairman, in consultation with the League Trustees, has the power to impose an immediate suspension on either player or club, pending the Disciplinary Committee hearing. The Discipline Committee has the following powers:
For a player, (a) require a written apology, within a specified time; (b) issue a warning, or final warning to future conduct, for a specified time; (c) impose a fine; (d) suspend a player for a number of matches; (e) deduct five League points from a players team; (f) expel a player, for a specified time.
For a club, (a) require a written apology, within a specified time; (b) issue a warning, or final warning to future conduct, for a specified time; (c) impose a fine (a minimum fine of £25 shall apply for all case found proven); (d) deduct five League points from the team; (e) relegate a club/team(s) to a lower division; (f) expel a club or team from a competition; (g) expel a club or team from the League.
The GMACL has taken up the ECB General Conduct Regulations For Recreational Cricket (GCR), the ECB Recreational Conduct Regulations (RCR) and the ECB Anti-Discrimination Code, links below –
https://resources.ecb.co.uk/ecb/document/2023/03/01/e83cc03a-3671-42e5-a433-c0c1d50b360c/27.-RCR.pdf
MCC Law 42 Players Conduct describes four levels of conduct offence (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4). For guidance the Disciplinary Committee can potentially impose the following sanctions dependent on the level of offence –
Level 1 – Ban of between 1 and 3 matches
Level 2 – Ban of between 2 and 6 matches
Level 3 – Ban of between 6 and 10 matches
Level 4 – Ban of between 10 matches and up to lifetime ban from all recreational cricket
For lower level Conduct issues (level 1 and 2) then any player suspension will apply only to the specific competition that the conduct issue occurred (the Sunday and Wednesday competitions are separate and therefore any ban will be served in the Competition concerned). For higher level conduct issues (level 3 and 4) then the Chair of Discipline will consult with the League Trustees as to whether any suspension should carry across both Sunday and Wednesday competitions.
b. The ECB have directed the following guidelines for disciplinary sentences in amateur cricket:
i. Dissent which includes foul or abusive language. Fine to be a maximum of £100 and a minimum suspension of four matches to be actual served, plus for repeat offenders the deduction of five League points irrespective of which competition the offence occurs;
ii. Accumulated bad behaviours shall refer to either a player, team or club who have been found guilty of related repeated offences on more than three occasions within two years. The fine to be a minimum of £100 and a minimum suspension of one year, plus deduction of five league points irrespective of which competition the offenses occur. (This is primarily for repeated field offences.)
iii. Violent conduct and/or racial abuse shall not be tolerated and shall result in a minimum fine of £100 and an immediate suspension of two years;
iv. Captains must at all times uphold the Code of Conduct, and if a Captain fails to act responsibly in a disciplinary situation then the committee must consider firstly suspension of the captain, deduction of five League points irrespective of the competition the offence occurs and secondly, in serious cases, the acceptability of the person to captain a team in the League;
v. Legal representation is not allowed to either players, teams or clubs, at any committee meeting within the League.
c. Unless an appeal is lodged per rules, the decision of the Discipline Committee is final, and in all cases of proven serious misconduct shall be reported to LCF (for ECB).
12. a. The Appeals Committee shall consist of the Chairman plus four members, all elected at the League AGM. Each member shall have one vote, the Chairman shall have an additional casting vote in the event of a tied vote. (Quorum 3.) The committee can only deal with appeals entered per rule, for which the appeal fee has been paid. The League General Secretary shall be an ex-officio member of the Committee, with sole responsibility for the administration of the Appeals Committee. The Appeals Committee has the same powers as the Disciplinary Committee and may confirm, vary or overturn the decisions of the Disciplinary Committee. The Committee will also deal with any appeals for penalties imposed for notified breach of rules. No member of the Discipline Committee is eligible to sit on, or be elected to, the Appeals Committee. The decision of the Appeals Committee is final.
b. Only clubs have the right of appeal (except for Rule 22) and club/team(s) expelled from the League retain the right of appeal. Clubs, however, do have a right of appeal to LCF, if in their opinion the League Discipline/Appeal procedure has not been followed by the League.
c. For either League Executive Committee, Disciplinary Committee or Appeals Committee, no Committee Member or co-opted member may sit on an agenda item in which they themselves are directly involved, nor should a Disciplinary or Appeal Committee member sit in judgement of a player or club when they have been a participant in the game concerned as either a player or umpire – this is a direct conflict. A Committee member (either Disciplinary or Appeal) will not be considered directly conflicted if they are from the same Division, but the Chair of Discipline or Appeal has sole discretion as to whether potential indirect conflict may arise and make the decision to replace that member. The Chair of Disciplinary and Appeal will never be considered to be conflicted unless a participant in the game concerned. The Committee Chairmen have the right to co-opt members to a committee to replace members for whom apologies have been received.
13. All matters concerning umpires/scorers, or umpiring/scoring within the League, shall be dealt with by the Greater Manchester Association of Cricket Officials.