Weekly Update - 7

Winter Season Update – Week 7

Thank you for all teams and players attending the Summer 2025 presentation, as always the league appreciates your support.

This week is the second round of the Team Knockout, good luck to all teams.

National Finals: good luck to all our entrants at the Champion of Champions this week; The Sun @ The Bull, Richard Chapman and Nick Steadman will be representing the FSPL.

Rule Clarifications: we have had some calls over the last week about clarifying certain rules, we have always anticipated these particular questions so added links to videos from Professional Referees advising on the correct calls, these can be found in the Rules Clarifications section on the website.

Deliberate Foul: while a deliberate foul is subjective there are instances where this is not the case, for example forgetting which colour you are, in this example the term deliberate will still be the case as it is a direct action of hitting your opponents ball, regardless of whether it was accidental or not. here is an example:

Player A is on yellows and forgot their colour choice and potted a red ball, the Ref called Foul, ball in hand - the ref determined that this was a pure accident and not intended as a deliberate foul and exercised discretion and playing the game in a sportsmanlike manner, however, while this is commendable this is the incorrect call and should be loss of frame, intent and advantage should no longer form part of the decision, if the player directly/deliberately played the wrong colour then loss of frame should be called. please refer to Rule 6f (1).

Coaching: any player deemed to have been coaching during a match will be given a first and final warning, any further coaching and a Standard Foul will be called and the player will be asked to leave the match and venue.

Refereeing - Foul Breaks

After a foul on the break, it is the referee’s duty to advise the incoming player of cue ball placement:

·  If the white is potted, the call is: Ball in hand from baulk (i.e. behind the line).

·  If the white leaves the table, the call is: Ball in hand (anywhere on the table).

The referee may call this at any time prior to the cue ball being struck. This is not considered coaching - it is the correct procedure.

Refereeing - picking up the white ball

After a foul the referee will call Foul, ball in hand; the player is then free to:

·  pick the white ball up

·  play from where it lies

·  ask the referee to hand them the white ball if they feel moving it could impact balls nearby

the referee does not need to immediately collect the white ball.

All players are required to have a good knowledge of the rules and not knowing certain rules is not an excuse for mistakes; such as handling balls after the black is potted from the break or not knowing where the white should be placed after a foul from the break or not knowing when to nominate colour choice.

We have qualified referees within the committee who can assist at any time with any rule anyone is unsure of.

Contacting the Committee – New Guidelines

All members of the Committee have jobs and are not always able to respond to phone calls during the day or after a certain time so we would like to implement the following guidelines:

·  General advice: Text/WhatsApp your Divisional Secretary or the General Secretary

·  Player registration or status: Text/WhatsApp the General Secretary (call only if urgent for same-day play)

·  Match night issues: Call your Divisional Secretary (there may be a slight delay if they are playing)

·  App issues: Text/WhatsApp the General Secretary (call only if urgent for same-day play)

Updated Transfer Policy - amended

Players can now transfer at any time during the season until the registration cut-off.

Fees & Conditions:

·  No fee if signed but not played

·  £10 fee if less than 25% of singles matches played

·  £20 fee if 25–75% of singles matches played

·  Max 2 player transfers in or out per team

·  All transfers must be approved by the FSPL Committee.

Sponsorship Opportunities

We're actively seeking sponsors for the League and the Website or you could sponsor a Competition, like the New Eltham Social Club have done.

We currently have two sponsors online. Interested? Contact Simon to discuss sponsorship packages.