League AGM Announced

The AGM has been announced for Sunday 21st of February and will held at Nottingham University, Room B01, Engineering and Science Learning Centre, University Park.

The AGM will cover the following topics:

·         Review of the 2015 season

·         EMSL Finances

·         BSF Updates

·         Costs for the 2016 season

·         Ground for the upcoming season

·         New Website

·         Voting on Proposals

·         EMSL Local League Rules

·         EMSL Amendments to ISF Rules

·         Committee Proposals

·         Team Proposals

·         Election of Officers

·         Chairperson – OPEN POSITION

·         Treasurer – RE-STANDING – Philip Kielthy

·         Secretary – OPEN POSITION

·         Fixtures Secretary – RE-STANDING – Charlie Hallam

·         Development Officer – RE-STANDING – Paul Cooper

·         Website and Social media Officer – RE-STANDING – David Morley

·         General Members – OPEN POSITIONS

·         Umpire in Chief – RE-STANDING – Ian Tomlin

·         Welfare Officer – OPEN POSITION

Election of Officers:

Every role is elected every year in the EMSL. We have a number of open roles without nominations. If you wish to stand for a role or have any questions about the requirements then please refer to the EMSL Local League Rules v1.0 or e-mail us and we will explain everything to you.

You can nominate yourself up to the point at which the chairperson asks for final nominations.

Proposals:

Every year the committee, teams and members have the opportunity to raise proposals at the AGM. The process and dates for doing this is as follows, for benefit of doubt the deadline on a specific date at 8pm, after this time on the deadline day we will not accept any feedback/proposals:

Team/Member proposals:

Teams/members must submit their proposals in writing to the EMSL committee e-mail by 8pm on February 3^rd 2016. These will then be sorted and sent to teams for voting the following day.

Committee Proposals:

This year we have a slightly different proposals as in we are asking for feedback on a couple of documents. We will make changes following feedback and then submit them to a vote at the AGM after it has been sent to the teams as above.

EMSL Local Rules and ISF Rule Amendments

Due to some of the issues we experienced last year during the league we have reviewed how we structure ourselves and how we have a firmer standing when dealing with delicate and sometimes serious issues.

We have decided to split the previous EMSL Rules document in to two distinct documents.

EMSL Local League Rules v1.0

 This document is intended to form more of a constitution for the league and holds information not related to the playing rules of the game. It ties up some lose ends that were missing from previous documents and also lays out the structure of the league. We hope you take time to read through the document and understand what this will mean for your team/club. Some key points are:

Umpires – We have changed the policy and guidance around umpires. Teams must have 2 qualified BSF umpires to be available for fixtures. We have also explained our expectations when there is a club involved and who should umpire. It also includes penalties for not completing your duties which were absent previously.

 We still expect 2 umpires per team and there will be an Umpires course laid on free to members. This is provisionally set on Saturday 19^th March/Sunday 20^th March 2016. If you wish to book on to this course please contact Ian Tomlin on ianclare.matthew@virgin.net

Committee Structure – We have added rules for how we can manage the committee and how we replace people as well as what may cause them to be asked to leave.

Voting – This is now clearer in line with the guides we have always used.

Club/Team – The definitions of these have been explained and what we would expect from each in terms of people and umpires. It also clears up the invoices and how we will ask for money from a club.

League Structure – There is now more clarity on our structure and how the titles are decided. This also includes national’s places.

Discipline – The penalties for disciplinary issues are now explained and how we will deal with it as a committee to be fair to everyone.

Costs of Playing – We currently vote on the total cost of playing. This is not the usual way to do it within a league structure. The costs are generally the costs with the variance been between grounds and umpire payments. We will always vote on which grounds we use and this will drive the cost based on that vote. So we feel we do not have to vote on the cost again as if this is rejected then we cannot use the ground we just voted on etc. IT IS NOT THE INTENTION TO MAKE IT EASIER/HARDER TO RAISE COSTS. COSTS WILL ALWAYS BE DISCUSSED AT EVERY AGM AND COMMENTS CAN BE MADE AT THAT POINT.

EMSL Amendments to ISF Rules

This second document explains our local playing rules which vary to the ISF rules. This document focusses on the game and how it is played on the day. This has minor changes from last year. They are highlighted in yellow for you. The changes are mainly to clarify a few rules points.

We know there are some changes in the documents and the purpose it to make it easier to run the league and support the teams. We don’t believe this makes it harder for teams who play in the league to function. It gives them a more detailed structure they need to work to. It will also help us to separate out league issues and playing issues. We welcome feedback throughout the 2 week period. PLEASE FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES BELOW TO GIVE FEEDBACK:

If you need any clarification of the documents then please e-mail the committee on emslsoftball@gmail.com DO NOT REPLY ALL. We will explain any parts back to you as needed. If we feel your question will benefit everyone then we will send it to everyone. We don’t want to have multiple long e-mail chains going around as it gets confusing for all parties. We also wish for each team to talk to its members and get their own ideas about how this may affect them.

Other Committee Proposals:

Please find below the other committee proposals that we will be voting on at the AGM.

Score Sheets Upgrade

Our long term ambition is to move to a league that records and keeps stats on players and matches. To improve the MVP and scoring process this year the first stage is to change the way games are reported. Currently there is no need for teams to inform the committee of results. The umpire will send us MVPs.

 Our proposal is to have a new sheet attached to the roster sheet that is completed in full by the umpire at the end of the game and signed by the Umpire, Away Captain and Home Captain. The umpire will then send this to us in the form of a picture from a smart phone or by filling in a text version and sending that from a computer by email.

The exact form will be sent out soon, we are just making final touches. You will have it to vote on it with at least 2 weeks’ notice. The vote will be to decide if we adopt it.