MRHA Men’s League - September 2018 Newsletter

The season as an Open League is almost upon us so it’s time for my first Newsletter.

I hope you like the new look to our website and it provides all the information you need.
By now you should have received your copies of the League Handbooks and two MRHA Handbooks. If not please let me know ASAP.  (YardleyHC has received its Handbooks)

Please make sure you fully read the Rules and Rules Guidance. There are some major changes this year, most of which are to allow for the change to a three Tier Open League. There are still far too many TBC of club officials, hopefully we can work towards reducing these next year. If you make both Divisional Secretaries and myself aware of any changes I’ll make sure they are noted on the website. Most of you submitted your details and payments in a timely fashion but still far too many clubs that I had to chase.

We will be performing our normal Card Reviews at weeks 7, 15 and 22, so let’s keep your average cards below one a game and you’ll be free from any potential penalties.  
Although we added a section to last year's handbook, titled ‘Guide for Club Umpires’, having talked to a number of club umpires last year I don’t believe it’s existence was communicated within your clubs. If you do so it may hopefully remove a few of our problems we’ve had in previous years and reduce a few fines for incomplete match sheets. I can provide a copy of the document for you to pass on.
 
If you need more qualified umpires, remember the Men’s League will reimburse £25 to all Level 1 course attendees and a further £25 when they are assessed and start umpiring Men’s League games. These payments will be made to clubs for their reimbursement to individual players.
I’m glad to see that most clubs are entering their Home game Venues/Start Times on the League Website with only 9 days to go it should be 100%. One thing I would like you to be aware of is the communication of start times outside ‘the window’, as per Rule 12. 
Umpires may be assigned to any of Tier1/Tier2 games so please ensure contact details and start/times venues are specified on the MRHUA website for umpire appointments.  
I know that Fixtures Secretaries no longer must verbally confirm fixtures, but a quick reminder about Guidance Note 2a/b/c.
‘The home club is expected to provide “teas” or suitable refreshment for the visiting side. It is advisable to let the visiting team know, the venue for the “teas” and the arrangements, so that the opposition can confirm whether their players will be available to take “tea”– and if the visiting team is for any reason unable to accept the offer of “tea”, or if not all of the players can stay, then the visitors can notify in advance and any waste of food and costs can be avoided. ‘Don’t just go straight home after the games if the Home teas are expecting you to return to their venue for ‘teas’.
 
One of the objectives of Open League was to try and allow clubs to find their correct divisional level. This may take more than one season to achieve so clubs and teams should allow for some potential highs and lows this season.
Although I hope it will not be necessary to implement, I would like to warn clubs that if that if any incidents are identified, where a club has colluded to disregard the rules, then there is a strong possibly that all of teams in a club would be punished.
A reminder that, from this year, we will no longer be using Russells and ALL Home teams should text their result ON THE DAY OF THE FIXTURE, late texting will be fined. The only exclusion is results for games played outside of the original fixture date and these should be communicated to the relevant Divisional Secretary on the day of playing.     
Finally, I wish you all a problem free season and remember if you are not sure about any rules or need to do something you’re not sure about remember to seek clarification from the relative Divisional Secretary and a final reminder to make sure any new players are ‘transferred’ as per our process.  

 
Nick Haynes
Honorary Secretary