BIRMINGHAM AND DISTRICT CHESS LEAGUE
Constitution
1.
The League shall be called “The Birmingham and District Chess League”.
2.
The objects of the League shall be to run team and individual chess
championships amongst its members and any other chess contests (including
matches against other leagues and organisations) which the Management Committee
may consider likely to be of benefit or interest to members of the League, to
publish handbooks and news bulletins recording the League’s activities, to run
social functions for the participation of the League’s members and their
friends, and generally to encourage the study and playing of chess and the
organisation of chess clubs within the area covered by its activities.
The League shall be affiliated to the English Chess Federation.
3.
Membership of the League shall be open to:
(a) Affiliated Clubs: Any chess club whose club-room is within 12 miles
of Stephenson Place, Birmingham.
Clubs in membership on 1st November, 1977 and whose club-rooms are more than 12
miles radius from Stephenson Place shall have the right to retain membership,
provided that if they move club-rooms, the venue shall lie no further from
Stephenson Place than the venue of 1st November, 1977, excepting if the
Management Committee should deem the proposed new venue more convenient.
(b) Individual Members: Any individual who shall be currently registered
by an affiliated club as a playing member or shall be serving as an elected
President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer or other officer of the League
as hereinafter provided.
4.
An application by any club for membership of the League, made in writing to the
Honorary General Secretary of the League, shall be accompanied by an entrance
fee of £2, and shall be considered as soon as possible after its receipt by the
Management Committee which shall have the absolute discretion to grant or refuse
it.
5.
The Annual General Meeting shall, in each year, settle the League fees (which
may include team, individual and registration fees due to the League) to be paid
in the ensuing season. All such
subscriptions and fees shall be paid to the Honorary Treasurer of the League on
or before October 31st in each year.
If a
team that has been entered in the League for a particular season is withdrawn on
or before the date of the Fixtures Meeting for that season no team fee shall be
payable in respect of the entry; if it is withdrawn after the Fixtures Meeting
and on or before the following 31st August the team fee payable shall be 50% of
the full amount; and if it is withdrawn after 31st August no reduction in team
fee payable shall be allowed.
6.
The Annual General Meeting shall authorise the Game Fee to be paid to the
English Chess Federation. The
Honorary Treasurer shall request payment from individual clubs, as and when the
ECF charges arise, and give 30 days’ notice for such payment to be made by the
club. Failure to pay by the due date
will result in the penalties specified in clause 8a and 8c of the constitution.
7. Each affiliated club shall be entitled to receive one free copy of the
League’s current Handbook for each player registered by it.
Each officer of the League shall also be entitled to a free copy thereof.
8. (a)
Any affiliated club whose subscription, fees, or other dues contained in this
Constitution or the Competition Rules are not received by their due date shall
be fined ten per cent of the monies outstanding, such amount to be added to the
monies outstanding and become part thereof.
(b) If payment of the arrears is not received by the Honorary Treasurer
within seven days, each of the club’s teams shall incur a deduction of two
points in the All-Play-All Championship.
(c) If payment is still not received within a further seven days the club
and its members shall be suspended from the relevant competitions until such
time as the arrears are paid. Any
matches due to be played by the club’s teams or individual members during the
period of suspension shall be scored as lost by the suspended club or
individual. No postponements of
matches due to be played by the club’s teams during the period of suspension
shall be permitted, but games due to be played in the League Individual
Tournament may be postponed provided the Tournament Rules are not thereby
breached.
(d) Any club whose dues continue to remain outstanding shall be liable to
expulsion from the League by the Management Committee.
9. (i)
The Officers of the League shall be: -
(a) a President;
(b) Vice-Presidents as provided under (ii);
(c) an Honorary Treasurer;
(d) an Honorary General Secretary;
(e) an Honorary Records Secretary;
(f) a Rating Officer;
(g)
a Safeguarding Officer; and
(h)
such additional Honorary Treasurers or Honorary Secretaries as it may deem
requisite;
who shall, with the exception of (b), be elected at the Annual General Meeting
with all retiring officers being eligible for re-election.
(ii) Vice-Presidents shall consist of those having held the office of
President, on retiring from such office, plus any other person the League wishes
to honour. They shall nominally be
elected for life with the proviso that anyone deemed to have brought discredit
to the League may be removed on a resolution passed at a General Meeting by a
two-thirds majority, provided that the same notice has been given of such
resolution as is required by clause 22 for an amendment to the constitution.
10. The Management Committee shall have power to appoint additional
Vice-Presidents (if authorised so to do by the Annual General Meeting), to
appoint assistants to the Honorary Secretaries or Honorary Treasurer in such
cases as it may deem desirable, and to fill any vacancy arising by reason of
death or resignation of any officer until the holding of the next Annual General
Meeting.
11. Nominations for the various offices of the League may be submitted in
writing by any individual member or affiliated club and shall be received by the
Honorary General Secretary not later than April 30th preceding the Annual
General Meeting at which they are to be proposed.
A nomination shall be invalid unless accompanied by a statement signed by
the nominee that he is willing to be so nominated.
If no nomination has been received for any office by April 30th as
aforesaid the Annual General Meeting may proceed to elect a willing nominee,
failing which the Management Committee shall have power to appoint a person to
fill the vacancy as though it had arisen under Clause 10 above.
12.
At each Annual General Meeting of the League an Honorary Reporting Accountant
shall be appointed for the purpose of examining the League’s books and accounts
prior to their presentation at the next Annual General Meeting or any Special
General Meeting called in the intervening period at which consideration of the
accounts is part of the agenda.
13. Three trustees shall be appointed by the League.
The powers and duties of such Trustees shall be defined in a trust deed
the terms of which shall be settled by the League in a general meeting.
The power to appoint new Trustees shall be exercised by any general
meeting of the League as vacancies arise.
14. All business of the League (other than such business as this Constitution
requires to be transacted at a general meeting) shall be conducted by a
Management Committee consisting of:
(a)
the Officers
(other than Vice-Presidents) appointed by virtue of Clause 9 hereof;
(b) the
immediate past President of the League;
(c) one
representative of each club which shall be a member, for the time being, of the
League;
(d)
Representatives of the League on outside bodies;
(e)
Chairmen of the subcommittees of the Management Committee together with the
Webmaster;
(f)
any persons co-opted by the Management Committee in accordance with clause 16.
Only persons who are members of the Management Committee by virtue of
sub-clauses (a), (b) and (c) above shall be entitled to vote at its meetings.
15. The Management Committee shall be responsible for all competitions run by
the League and shall be empowered to make rules for the regulation of such
events. Any proposal to adopt, amend
or rescind any such rule may only be made by an affiliated Club, Officer or
Sub-Committee of the League, and shall be sent in writing to the Honorary
General Secretary by the proposer so as to reach him at least five weeks before
the meeting at which it is to be submitted, and notice of such proposal shall be
sent to all other members of the Management Committee by the Honorary General
Secretary at least three weeks before the said meeting is due to take place.
Amendments to such proposals which are within the scope of the original
proposal may be made at the meeting by anyone present and entitled to vote, and
must be seconded by another such person. The decision of the Chairman of the
meeting as to whether an amendment is within the scope of the original proposal
is final and binding. Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause 16 hereof, no
sub-committee of the Management Committee shall have any power to effect any
adoption, amendment or rescission of any competition rule, but may be requested
to advise the Management Committee as to the effect of any such proposal and may
itself initiate any such proposal for consideration by the Management Committee.
16.
The Management Committee shall meet as frequently as it deems necessary, and at
least three weeks’ notice of each meeting (together with an agenda) shall be
given by the Honorary General Secretary to all members.
It shall also have power to appoint such sub-committees as it may deem
convenient for the handling of any sections of its business (save only as
provided in this constitution); to co-opt to itself or to any of its
sub-committees such additional persons as it may think fit; and to adopt
standing orders for the regulation of its business or that of its
sub-committees.
[Standing Orders can be obtained from the
Hon Gen Sec]
17. The Annual General Meeting of the League shall be held in the month of June,
or at such other time as the Management Committee shall deem to be convenient,
in each year for the purpose of receiving reports from the various officers of
the League and the audited accounts of the Honorary Treasurer, electing the
Officers for the ensuing year, effecting changes in this Constitution as
hereinafter provided, and generally transacting such other business as the
Management Committee shall deem proper to be transacted at an Annual General
Meeting. The Honorary General
Secretary shall give notice to each of the League’s Officers and affiliated
clubs at least eight weeks before the date of the said meeting and shall
circulate the agenda at least three weeks before the meeting.
18.
A Special General Meeting of the League may be convened at any time by the
Management Committee or upon a requisition signed by the secretaries of at least
one third of the clubs which shall be affiliated members of the League at that
time. Such requisition shall state
the business required to be transacted at the meeting and, within three weeks
after receiving the same and not less than two weeks before the date of the
meeting, the Honorary General Secretary shall notify each of the League’s
Officers and affiliated clubs as to the place and date appointed by the
Management Committee for such Special Meeting and shall state the purpose for
which the meeting has been summoned.
19. All individual members of the League shall be entitled to attend and speak
at any Annual or Special General Meeting.
For both Management Committee and General Meetings the following
procedure shall apply in respect of all proposals and elections of officers,
etc.
(a)
Voting shall be by show of hands unless rule (b) is applied.
(b) After a
vote by show of hands any person entitled to vote may call for a full vote as
set out under (e) below.
(c) No
proxy votes shall be allowed.
(d) In the
event of a full vote being tied the chairman of the meeting shall have a casting
vote.
(e) A
full vote at a Management Committee or a General Meeting shall consist of the
following:
(i)
Each officer of the League (other than Vice-Presidents) shall have one
vote, irrespective of the number of additional offices any such individual may
hold.
(ii)
Each member club shall have one vote for each of its teams taking part, for the
time being, in the League competition and no other votes shall be allowed to be
cast in respect thereof.
20.
At all general meetings of the League 16 persons present and entitled to vote
thereat shall form a quorum. The
Management Committee shall fix the size of a quorum for any sub-committee which
it may appoint, and at all meetings of the Management Committee itself 8 voting
members present shall form a quorum.
21. Any notice given to the secretary of an affiliated club shall be deemed to
be a notice given to all registered playing members of such club and shall be
sufficient if posted by ordinary pre-paid letter to the last known address of
such secretary. With the consent of the recipient, e-mail notification shall
also be considered sufficient.
22.
No alteration or addition to this Constitution shall be made except at an Annual
or Special General Meeting of the League and upon a resolution adopted by the
votes of at least two-thirds of the persons present and entitled to vote.
A motion for any such amendment or addition to be proposed at an Annual
General Meeting shall reach the Honorary General Secretary at least five weeks
before the meeting at which it is to be proposed and may be initiated by the
Management Committee or any of its sub-committees, or any Officer or affiliated
club. The Honorary General Secretary
shall thereafter notify the Officers and affiliated clubs, at least three weeks
before the meeting, of the text of all such motions.
A motion for such an amendment or addition to be proposed at a Special
General Meeting shall be included in the requisition (if any) and agenda for the
meeting.
23.
Where a masculine pronoun appears in this Constitution it is to be taken to
include the equivalent feminine pronoun.