THE WHITE HORSE League
Constitution – 27thOctober 2014
The objective of the League is to offer 4 high standard swimming galas to invited member Clubs whilst giving swimmers the opportunity to gain County and Regional Qualifying times.1: RULES.
1.1. / The League shall be known as “The White Horse League”.
1.2 / The League shall be managed by a General Committee consisting of one delegate from each Club. Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting from amongst member Clubs.
1.3 / The eight Clubs invited to form the league are:-
Gravesend & Northfleet Swimming Club
Barking and Dagenham Aquatics Club
Bromley Swimming Club
Erith and District Swimming Club
Orpington Ojays Swimming Club
Saxon Crown Swimming Club
Southwark Aquatics Swimming Club
White Oak Swimming Club
1.4 / Applications from teams wanting to swim in the League must be made in writing to the Secretary. They will be placed on a waiting list and considered by existing members in order of receipt.
1.5 / The competition to comprise a series of 4galas. A team must have competed in all of 4 galas to enable them to win the league. A team is only deemed to have competed in a gala if they have taken part in a minimum of 30 events.
1.6 / The Club with the most points after 4 galas will be declared the League Champions. In the event of Clubs being equal on league points, the Club with the most gala points will be declared the winner. If there is still a tie, then the number of first places across all 4 galas shall be considered. If there is still a tie, then the number of second and then third places shall be considered and then so on. The winning Club will hold the Trophy until completion of the following year’s competition.
1.7 / Gala dates to be organised at the Annual General Meeting following agreement by a simple majority of member Clubs.
1.8 / The Secretary to be responsible for pool hire. The Secretary shall inform all Clubs in regard to warm up and start time for galas a minimum of 28 days before the scheduled date of competition.
1.9 / On completion of the Gala, the host Club shall inform the Secretary within 24 hours by e-mail of the full point’s result of the gala. Copies of the recorder’s sheet are to be supplied to Team Managers on the night.
1.10 / Secretary to inform all teams of the results and points from each gala within 7 days of the gala.
1.11 / The League shall affiliate to the ASALR. Clubs not affiliated to the ASALR may join theleague but in doing so they shall be deemed to accept the ASALR jurisdiction on all matters related to their Membership and competition.
2: FINANCE.
2.1 / The financial year shall be from the 1st January to the 31st December.
2.2 / Entrance fee £3.50 for adults. Children free without programme.
2.3 / Raffle tickets to be sold at £1.00 a strip. Prizes to be bought by the host Club and cost to be taken from the raffle proceeds. Cost of raffle prizes not to be more than £25. Proceeds from the door and raffle to be sent to the Treasurer within 14 days of the gala.
2.4 / Any team not attending a designated gala will be fined £100 however if they have advised the Secretary 48 hours in advance of the gala then the fine shall be reduced to £75.This fine must be paid prior to the next gala or said Club will not be able to compete.
2.5 / All funds or other property of the League shall be used for the furtherance of the objectives of the League.
2.6 / An annual fee is to be paid to the by each member Club. The amount of the annual fee is to be agreed at the Annual General Meeting by a simple majority of member Clubs.
2.7 / “The White Horse League” shall maintain a sum sufficient to meet all proper expenses involved in the hire of facilities and running costs of one gala. In the case of insufficient funds being available then the membership will agree a sum, or sums, to be paid by all member Clubs to compensate for such deficiency. Such payment may be by means of a single payment, or by staged payments.
2.8 / Any sums stated in the Rules and Constitution shall be reviewed at each AGM and amended as agreed by the voting members present.
3: GALAS.
3.1 / All galas shall be held under A.S.A. Laws, FINA Technical Rules of Swimming and General Conditions.
3.2 / The age groups in all galas to be for boys and girls: 11 and under, 13 and under, 15 and under and Open.
3.3 / All ages as at the 31st December in the year of competition.
3.4 / Gala programmes, as agreed, are attached. All relays to be 4 x 50m.
3.5 / Swimmers may compete in a maximum of 2 individual swims in their own age group except an Open Age Group swimmer who may swim in 3 individual events. In addition, swimmers may swim individual events in an older age group subject to an absolute total of no more than 5 individual events. A swimmer may swim in any number of relays for which they are eligible. Swimmers who are 9 years of age at 31st December are not permitted to swim in any 100m events apart from the Individual Medley.
3.6 / Swimmers can only compete for one Club in any year.
3.7 / Gala points shall be awarded as follows regardless of how many teams are swimming:-
1st-8 points5th-4 points
2nd-7 points6th-3 points
3rd-6 points7th-2 points
4th-5 points8th-1 point
If a swimmer in an individual event goes faster than the stated Upper Limit Time then the Club shall not be awarded Gala points for that event. The swimmer will still be awarded the time achieved and this will be entered into the ASA Rankings
3.8 / In the event of a tie in a race, the two swimmers who have tied will share the number of points applicable to their joint positions with the next fastest swimmer dropping a place, e.g. If there is a tie for 1st place, those two swimmers will each be awarded 7.5 points, with the third placed swimmer gaining 6 points.
3.9 / At the end of the gala, League points will be awarded as follows:-
Teams with most Gala points-8 points
Second team-7 points
Third team-6 points
Fourth team-5 points
Fifth team-4 points
Sixth team-3 points
Seventh team-2 points
Eighth team-1 point
If there is a tie on gala points, then the number of 1st places shall be taken into account to resolve gala positions. If there is still a tie then the number of second places, third places and so on shall be considered.
3.10 / All competing Clubs shall, in turn, host one of the galas on a rotational basis. The dates regarding this will be circulated by the Secretary. The host Club will organise the lead Officials required to run their host gala: 2 referees, 2 chief timekeepers, 1 starter, 1 recorder assistant, 1 announcer, 1 AOE Operator, 2 people to collect entrance fees/raffle money, 2 Clerks of the Course and one person to distribute refreshments. Details of the officials organised by the host Club must be e-mailed to the League Secretary a minimum of 7 days before the gala. Host Clubs are also responsible for printing gala programmes and Chief Timekeepers slips.
3.11 / All competing Clubs shall provide one Judge 1 and one Judge 2 at each gala. Any Club failing to put forward the requisite number of Officials shall be fined £50 for each deficit. This fine must be paid prior to the next gala or said Club will not be able to compete.
3.12 / The warm-up period will be 25 minutes.
3.13 / A maximum of fifteen minutes delay will be allowed for the late arrival of any team as long as late arrival is notified by telephone to the Pool or League Secretary.
3.14 / In the event of any query not covered by these rules, the decision of the Referee is to be considered final and binding.
4: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS.
4.1 / An Annual General Meeting shall be held during November or December. The Secretary shall give at least 21 days notice of the meeting. An income and expenditure statement and a balance sheet to be circulated with the notice of the AGM along with any proposals for rule changes etc.
4.2 / All member Clubs shall be entitled to one voting representative at the AGM.
4.3 / Any proposal for additions or amendments to the rules of the League must be received in writing by the Secretary at least 30 days prior to the AGM.
5: GALA ADMINISTRATION.
5.1 / Team sheets indicating swimmers name, date of birth and ASA number must be sent to the League Secretaryby 6pm on the Thursday before the competition. If a Club fails to submit their team sheet by the agreed time then the Club defaults on its right to earn its swimmers their Licensed times. The Club will still take a full part in the gala and earn gala points but swimmers names will not be entered into the programme and their times will not be submitted to ASA rankings. Team sheets need to be submitted in an agreed electronic format.
5.2 / Clubs may make amendments to the submitted team sheet up to the start of the warm up. After this time, no further alterations may be made to the team. If a swimmer withdraws through injury/sickness after the start of the gala then no swimmer shall participate in his/her place.