President F Warburton, Chairman G Dixon, Secretary R Kavanagh, Treasurer J Fletcher, and P Thompson and G Tonge
Merging of accounts
G Tonge would close the Sale account and transfer the remaining balance (about £450) to the new Sale and Urmston account.
Payout to Urmston clubs
J Fletcher to calculate this.
Registration invoices
As soon as the Urmston payout was known, R Kavanagh to send out invoices for player registrations.
Prize money – league, knockouts, merits, pairs comps
This would be generally as per the plan. However the plan assumed separate Merits and Pairs competitions for each Wednesday division. These had been combined, halving the payout for Wednesday events.
They were not well attended this year. It was decided that we should plan for association-wide events (i.e. open to both Monday and Wednesday teams). These to be a Merit, an Individual Handicap (though handicapping between Monday and Wednesday could be tricky), and a Pairs Handicap (same problem).
If at all possible, these should be run on match nights.
Changes agreed at this meeting would be proposed on behalf of the committee and subject to approval by the members.
Cut-off date for player registrations
Currently there is no limit. Agreed on 31 July.
Qualification for entrants to competitions (this year one of the winners of the Wednesday pairs comp had not played a league match)
Entrants should have played at least four league matches.
Team knock-outs: practice should be formally banned.
Rules for players transferring between A and B teams (only affects Flixton Cricket and Mersey Valley, but has caused Flixton CC problems)
No change to be proposed.
Team size (Monday to go to 8-a-side?)
No change to be proposed.
There had been four so far, all on Wednesdays. It was agreed that the defaulting teams should receive zero chalks, and their opponents to receive their average chalks (based on home or away matches as appropriate).
For the team knock-out handicaps, defaulting teams should have their handicaps calculated assuming they had scored their average chalks (based on home or away matches as appropriate).
There should be no further adjustment for occasions when teams played short (as is done in some leagues).
Currently both knock-out finals are scheduled for the same day: will be a problem if a club is in both.
It was decided to run all three finals at a single venue. This should be neutral, and preferably at a club that would benefit from the attendance. The Wednesday Div 2 final to start in the morning, followed by Wednesday Div 1 and Monday. Wednesday prizes and trophies to be presented after the second Wednesday final. Monday prizes and trophies to be presented at the end.
Trophies then to be retained for engraving, and handed out again at the AGM.
We have an excess of these. The general agreement was that any that had any value (e.g. silver) should be sold.
Mersey Valley had written to say that their green would not be available for the home legs of their matches in the knock-out cups. The committee agreed this was unsatisfactory – clubs having entered the league should make their greens available for league events. For this year, they will be allowed to play their knock-out matches entirely at the opponents’ greens (subject to their agreement). In future they should not enter the knock-outs if the green is not going to be available.
The AGM is planned for January.
It was agreed to hold a rules revision meeting in November, to consider proposals from the committee and possible proposals from clubs. Changes agreed at this meeting (after possible amendment) would be presented for ratification at the AGM.