Rules & Regulations
- The name of the organisation shall be The Nottinghamshire Chess Association
- Aims
The aims of the Association are:
a) to organise chess in Nottinghamshire
b) to encourage the playing and study of chess in the County; and
c). to participate in and contribute to regional and national chess activities. - Membership
The membership of the Association shall consist of the following:
a) individual members
i. honorary life vice-presidents,
ii. elected officers,
iii. elected committee members,
b) affiliated clubs; and
c) associated organisations with an interest in chess - Application for affiliation or association shall be open to:
a) any club or organisation having its regular meeting place in Nottinghamshire; and
b) any club in an adjoining county - An Affiliated club shall have the right to send delegates to general meetings on the basis of one delegate per club plus one delegate per team in the league. An associated organisation shall have the right to send one delegate to general meetings.
- A club or organisation shall cease to be affiliated or associated in any of the following circumstances:
a). the non-payment of fees due one month from a written demand sent by the Association Treasurer;
b) by a resolution terminating such affiliation or association passed at a general meeting; and
c). by a letter of resignation sent to the Association Secretary - Meetings
The Association shall hold an Annual General Meeting. Not more than eighteen months shall elapse between successive Annual General Meetings. The business shall include the election of a President, Secretary and Treasurer.
a). The duties of the Secretary shall be:
i) To attend to the day-to-day administration of the Association;
ii) To convene all general meetings of the Association; and
iii) To take and publish minutes of all such meetings.
b) The duties of the Treasurer shall be:
i) To attend to the day-to-day finances of the Association; and
ii) To prepare and submit duly audited accounts to a general meeting of the Association. - A Special General Meeting may be requisitioned by the secretaries of at least one-third of affiliated clubs, in writing to the Association Secretary, who shall then arrange for a meeting to be held within six weeks of receiving the requisition.
- Proposals for General Meetings:
a). Any proposed alterations to the constitution, committee standing orders, league rules and any other proposed resolution must include the names of the proposer and seconder, and be submitted in writing to the Association Secretary.
b) Only individual members and affiliated clubs’ secretaries, treasurers and team captains may propose or second alterations.
c) League rules may only be altered at a designated general meeting (the Rules Revision Meeting) to be held no later than the end of May. The proposer and seconder must be from different clubs.
d) In exceptional circumstances the Rules Revision Meeting may vote to defer consideration of a proposed rule change to the next general meeting, such a vote requiring a two-thirds majority. - The Association Secretary shall give at least 21 days notice of general meetings by e-mail, delivery or post to all members. This notice shall include any proposed alterations to the constitution, committee standing orders or league rules or a proposed resolution to terminate membership otherwise such proposals shall not be entertained.
- Procedure at meetings
a) The quorum shall be ten
b). If present the President shall take the chair at all meetings. Otherwise the individual members and club delegates present shall elect one of their number to chair.
c). The matters dealt with at meetings shall be those of which due notice has been given and such other matters as the Chairman may at his or her discretion allow, unless precluded by an other parts of the Constitution.
d). The Chairman may adjourn any meeting that has been in progress for more than two hours to another date and place nominated. No further notice of the adjourned meeting shall be necessary. - The items below shall be dealt with in general meetings. All other items may be dealt with in general meetings or by a committee appointed for that purpose by a general meeting.
a) the number, titles and duties of the Association’s officers and committees
b). the election of officers, provided that no person may be elected President more than three years in succession:
d). the appointment tent of committees;
e) the adoption of the duly audited annual accounts;
f) the setting of fees;
g). the annual reports of the officers and committees;
h) any alterations to the constitution, committee standing orders and league rules;
i). the admission or termination of a club affiliation;
j). the bank mandate; and
k). alteration of the financial year - Voting
a) Each individual member or affiliated club delegate shall have one vote. No proxy voting shall be allowed.
b) A two-thirds majority of those attending and entitled to vote shall be necessary for alterations to the constitution. All other matters shall be decided by a simple majority.
c). In the event of an equality of votes the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.
The following are the standing orders of procedure for the NCA Executive Committee:
1. Objectives
a) oversee the day to day oversee the day to day running of the Association and make any decisions unless precluded by item 12 of the constitution;
b) ensure that all general meetings are convened in accordance with the Constitution, and provide advice on constitutional matters to those meetings;
c) oversee the finances of the Association;
d) appoint officers where vacancies exist until the next general meeting;
e) endeavour to promote chess within Nottinghamshire under the terms of item 2 of the constitution; and
f) consider the development strategy for the Association.
2. Membership
The membership of the committee shall be the President, Secretary, Treasurer and four elected members invited by the other EC members.
3. Procedure
a) the quorum shall be four;
b) the Chairman, who shall have a vote and a second casting vote, shall be the President, if present;
c) meetings will take place at least every four months; and
d) minutes will be taken and published of all meetings.
The following are the standing orders for the NCA League Management Committee:
1. Purpose
The League shall be controlled by a League Management Committee which shall:
a) Organise the League into such divisions as circumstances permit.
b) Organise the compilation of a fixture list
c) Organise the distribution to clubs at least 14 days before the start of the season of the League handbook.
2. Powers
The Committee shall have the power to:
a) Arbitrate on all disputes, its decisions being final, and publish its decisions and interpretations.
b) Reduce or revoke penalties if the club penalised can show this was due to circumstances not reasonably within their control.
c) Take such action on penalties as it deems equitable in dealing with the application of the rules, including imposing additional penalties.
d) Take any action it deems equitable if defaulted matches affect promotion and relegation.
e) Determine whether a player is a bona fide member of a club and apply a suitable penalty.
f) Approve or otherwise requests for a player to be allowed to play for two clubs in a season.
3. Membership
a) The Committee shall have nine members, consisting of the League Secretary, Records Secretary and seven members elected by the NCA. Where the posts of League Secretary and Records Secretary are both held by one individual, there shall be eight elected members.
b) The elected members must be from different clubs
c) Where the League Secretary and Records Secretary are both from the same club then no elected member can be from that club.
4. Procedure
a) The quorum shall be five
b) The Committee shall elect a chairman, who shall have a vote and a casting vote.
c) There must be at least five members voting on any issue for a valid decision.
d) No member may vote on any issue directly concerning their club, except by joint decision of the other members where there are not five eligible to vote.
e) Minutes of all meetings will be taken and published.
5. The League Secretary shall:
a) Have the discretion to admit new teams into the bottom division not later than 31st December.
b) Receive notification of disputes, call LMC meetings, prepare witnesses and collect relevant information.
c) Send entry forms for the following season to all clubs by 31st May
d) Approve or otherwise requests for fixture re-arrangements. If the team captains fail to agree a date for a re-arranged match within 14 days the League Secretary may choose the date and, if necessary, the venue for re-arranged fixtures
6. The Records Secretary shall
a) Validate and publish match results, compile league tables and notify offending teams of penalties imposed
b) Deal as he or she deems most equitable with incorrectly formulated results