VETTS SUPER 60 TEAM COMPETITION REGULATIONS

Version March 2023 - Roger Pingram

Management

1. The VETTS Super 60 Team Competition is a competition 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 competition shall be managed by an Organising Committee responsible to that Executive Committee.

Eligibility

3. All team members must be 60 years of age or over on 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 shall include a declaration that the person submitting the entry form has been authorised by all the team players (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 entry forms must include the names of a full complement of eligible players. It may be necessary to restrict entries which will be accepted on a first come/first served basis after teams which played in the previous competition have been given a reasonable time to enter. 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 previous season’s competition to be accepted as the same team.

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 ina 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. Subject to inclusion in a declaration as set out in Regulation 5, 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 over 60 ranking and have fewer rating points at the time of nomination than the player they are replacing.

System of Play

11. Teams shall be divided into male divisions and female divisions, which shall each consist of six teams so far as possible.

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.

Ratings Significance

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

17. After the application of Regulation 19 and subject to any review of that Regulation teams shall be placed in the remaining places in divisions using the mean average of the rating points of the three highest ranked players nominated for that team in the latest VETTS over 60 ranking list available at that time. Players in each team shall be placed in the ranking order in that list. For the purpose of this regulation a notional rating shall be given, using the best information available, to any player without a rating on the VETTS over 60 ranking list.

Points

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

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

18.3 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 the highest placed team in each division other than the top division shall be entitled to a place no lower than in the next higher division, the highest placed two teams in the top division shall be entitled to a place in the top division and the second placed team in all other divisions shall be entitled to a place no lower than in the division in which they have just competed. Unless reviewed meanwhile all other divisional places in the next similar competition shall be determined when the divisions are formed by the then current rating points in accordance with Regulation 17.

General

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

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

22. Racket testing may take place at the event.

23. 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

24. 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