RULES 2008 -09
1) The competition shall be caled the Stockingford AA Invitation Charity Cup and shall be affiliated to the Birmingham County Football Association. The object of the competition shall be to raise money for charity and any funds accruing after all expenses have been paid will be made payable to local charities as decided by the Executive Committee.
2) The competition shall be annual and entrance will be by invitation, all invited clubs shall be duly affiliated to a recognised County Football Association, the names and particulars of all clubs shall be returned annually on form "E" to the Birmingham County Football association.
3) The control and management of the competition shall be vested in the Executive Committee, consisting of President, Vice-President, Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and six others, all of whom shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting. In addition to this, there will be two representative members, each club having the right to nominate one of their members for election. Three members of the Executive Committee to form a quorum for the transaction of business. No memeber will be allowed to vote on any matters directly appertaining to himself or the club he represents and must leave the meeting whilst the subject is being discussed. The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, as representing the subscribers of the cup, shall be jointly for all intents and purposes be the owners of the cup.
4) The conferance dates shall be the second Sunday in the month, commencing September, the Final Tie shall be played on as Sunday in May as decided by the Executive Committee.
5) The names of the competing teams shall be placed in lots and drawn from such lots in couples at a time. These clubs shall then compete against each other within the time specified by the Executive Committee, in accordance with rule 4. The names of the winning clubs shall again be placed in lots and drawn in couples at a time, as in the first round and so on until the final has been played. The first club of each couple drawn shall have the choice of ground in all rounds, with exception of the semi-finals and final tie, the management of which will rest with the Executive Committee. If the ground of the club having first choice be considered not suitable, their opponents may appeal to the Executive Committee, who shall declare the ground fit or unfit, and may order the game to be played on the ground of their opponents, or on a neutral venue, any cost incurred in using a neutral venue will be borne by both clubs. Such an appeal must be made within seven days of the draw taking place. Should the ground of the club having choice, become unfit or unavailable for any reason, the Executive Committee shall have the power to order the tie to be played on the ground of their opponents, or on a neutral venue, any costs incurred by using a neutral venue will be borne by both clubs. Immediately after each draw, the Secretary shall notify each club of their opponents, dates of matches and kick off times. Clubs not attending the draw will be charged a £3.00 administration fee.
6) Duration of the matches shall be 90 minutes, 45 minutes each half. In the event of drawn matches, an extra half hour must be played, 15 minutes each half. Penalties shall decide the tie in all rounds if still drawn after extra time has been played. If a drawn match is abandoned after ninety minutes, through no fault of either club, the replayed match will be replayed on the ground of the club not having choice of ground in the first match. In replayed matches, no player may play unless he was eligible when the first match was played, with the exception of players serving County F.A. suspensions.
The half time period in all rounds shall be five minutes. Kick off times in all rounds shall be 10.30 a.m. the final tie shall kick off at 6.00 p.m. No match shall kick off later than thirty minutes after the appointed time. A team not ready to play thirty minutes after the appointed time will be deemed to have caused the match to be postponed and will lose the tie.
7) Should it be proven that a match has been abandoned through the fault of one, or both clubs, the club(s) at fault may be fined upto £50.00 and eliminated from taking any further part in the competition for the remainder of the season.
8) When the winning club has been ascertained, the cup shall be handed over to a representative of the club on the receipt of an indemnity certificate for the same signed by three members of the club. In addition to the cup, the Executive Committee will present to the players in the final tie winners and runners up mementoes. A runner up cup shall be presented to the losing finalists. The cup and runner up cup to be returned to the Secretary on or before the first of March each year or on request of the Secretary, failure to do so will result in a fine of £25.00 being imposed on the club.
9) Any club refusing to play the club which it has been drawn against within the time intimated without sufficient reason shall be adjudged to have lost the tie, and in the evnt of not giving sufficient notice, shall be held responsible for any actual expenses incurred. A fine of upto £25.00 may also be imposed. Any club failing to play in the final tie without showing good reason may be adjudged to have been guilty of serious misconduct and may be liable to a fine not exceeding £500.00
10) The home club must confirm the fixture with their opponents and match official(s), at
least five days prior to the date of the match. Failure to do so will result in the offending club being
fined £5.00.
11) The result of each match must be telephoned to the Competition Secretary, by the winning club, immediately after the match, or in default be fined £2.00
12) The match report form, correctly completed, must be forwarded to the Competition Secretary, by the winning club, to reach him within five days of the match taking pace or in default be fined £5.00.
13) A referees marking card, correctly completed, must be forwarded to the Competition Secretary, within five days of the match taking place or in default be fined £5.00.
14) Should a match be postponed for any reason, the home club must notify the Competition Secretary without delay, or otherwise be fined £5.00.
15) All players must be bona fide members of their club, the qualification of a bona fide member shall be that the player be registered as a member of the club, and shall have played at least one league game or other competetive match for the club in that current season, prior to the cup round, with the exception of the first round of the competition. No player shall play for more than one club in this competition an any one season.
A club found to have played an ineligible player shall lose the game in which he played and their opponents will go forward to the next round, subject to a protest being made by their opponents in the game, in accordance with rule 19. A fine of up to £50.00 may also be imposed.
Should it be found, without protest, that a club has played an ineligible player, the club shall be eliminated from the competition and the club they were due to play in the next round will receive a bye. A fine of up to £50.00 may also be imposed.
16) A club may name five substitute players prior to the game, of which three may be used at any time during the match, all substitutes must be named to the match referee before the game commences.
17) The competition shall appoint referees in all matches, assistant referees will be appointed if available, clubs must provide an assistant if an official assistant is not available. Should the appointed referee fail to attend the match, the competeing clubs must toss a coin and the winning club select a substitute referee, the substitute referee shall have all the powers, as would an appointed referee. Referees assistants will be appointed in the in semi-final and final ties. The away club shall pay the expenses of the referee in all rounds except the semi-finals where all expenses are shared. The competition shall provide momentoes for the officials in the final tie. Should a match be postponed and the referee having traveled, he shall be entitled to half his fee, this shall be shared by both clubs.
18) Any objections to the grounds or other appurtenances of the game must be made to the referee before the commencement of the game. The protesting club must inform the match referee and their opponents of their intention to protest before leaving the ground.
19) Any protest or appeal arising from the match must be made in writing to the competition Secretary within seven days of the match taking place. Protests must be in duplicate and accompanied by a protest fee of £25.00, which shall be forfeit if the protest is lost or found frivolous. The Executive Committee shall take into consideration when dealing with the protest, the possesion of the protesting club, of any information, if properly used, might have avoided the protest.
20) If the Executive Committee find that any rule has in their oppinion been violated by mutual arrangement, it shall be in their power to disqualify one or both of the clubs involved from taking any further part in the competiton, or order the match or matches to be replayed without protest being made.
21) Matches shall be played under the laws of F.I.F.A. and in accordance with the rules and regulations and bye laws of the Football Association.
22) A balance sheet showing receipts and payments in connection with the competition shall be submitted to the Birmingham County Football Association. Any club who has not cleared any outstanding account twentyeight days after the date of the final tie, will be fined £20.00 and may be excluded from the next seasons competition.
23) The Executive Committee have the power to alter or add to the above rules as they from time to time deem expedient, with the approval of the Birmingham County Football association. The Executive Committee has the power to act on any matters not specifically stated in these rules, subject to appeal under rule 24.
24) Clubs shall have the right to appeal to the Birmingham County Football Association, against any decision of the Executive Committee. Any appeal must be accompanied by a deposit fee in accordance with the Birmingham County Football Association rules.
e