Finals eligibility

Players that are eligible to play in the Finals (particularly Gold medal matches of their division) follow the same rules as that of the player migration controls in force through the season with some minor variations…

The rules governing the movement of players between teams within a club remain the same with the one exception; that a player from a higher ranked team CANNOT play down in the team ranked lower. (This would in fact be LOADING the team for the final.) However, up to 3 players from a lower ranked team can play UP to bolster numbers in the higher ranked team if necessary. To this end these players can play two matches on the finals night.

For a player to qualify to play in a team, he/she MUST have played at least 4 matches for the club during the current season. (This is a slight increase from previous seasons requirement of 3… and will move to 5 for next season… a mechanism to prevent teams loading with good players that have not played for the season.) For qualification to be valid all players must have fully paid up registrations, and where part-timers are used, these players must have had at least a half-season registration paid.

This season’s rules for player movement has been (and mostly have been for 3 years) -

Movement of players between teams within a club :
· If a player, playing in a lower team, plays in the next team up, then that player may play 2 further matches with that team before being considered as a full member of the next team up
· If a player plays in the next team down, he/she will have to play 3 matches with that team before being elligible to be able to play back in the next team up

(..And while it has been requested that consideration be given to clubs to allow players to play in more than one team within the same week (night) to provide flexibility when teams are short in players … the following has been added noting though that each team registration must show full fees (or equivalent) for at least 6 unique players -)

· Only up to 2 players of one team may be allowed to play in a second match within the same club on the same week.
· Under extreme circumstances and if ratified by the duty officer an exception of one higher team member may play in the lower team (to only make 5 and so avoid a possible forfeit.) The duty officer ensure that this player is not a standout player for the higher team and therefore provide the lower team with a significant advantage. This would be outside the principles and provision of sportsmanship & fairness.