Queen City Pool League

Agenda

11/1/2016

Attending: Ron Michaud (Cercle 2/Pres.), Amanda Laverriere, (Cercle 3), Paul Cere (Davignon 3/V-Pres.), Peter Vallieres (Davignon 4), Steve Porter (Deerhead), George Carter (My Friends 1), Dan Simoneau (Rimmon), Tony Cote (Workmens), Sue Novak (secretary), Tom LeBlanc (treasurer)

Absent: Ed Caswell (British American), Eric Milanese/John Laliberte (Davignon 2), Roger Gardner/Kim Janelle (Eastside)

Guest: Ann Sacco

Location: Cercle at 7PM

New Business:

1. Treasurer report – Bank balance as of 11/1/16 is $3,978.26, collected $560 tonight for total of $4,538.26. League scorer fee has been paid for 2016-2017 season.

2. 2016 Rules Committee – New Table Rules were approved. Awarding the break and Racking the balls were revised. Old rules will be removed from the web site.

3. Clarification on Alternating/Awarding Break – Does alternating break also apply to playoffs or will we still lag for break in playoffs? After some discussion of the rule change made on 8/30/2016

AWARDING THE BREAK

a. During regular season play, as well as in playoff matches, the visiting team will break in the first, third and fifth match; the home team will break in matches two and four.

b. In tournament games (Singles and Doubles) players will lag for award of the break. The player winning the lag (closest to the top rail) shall be awarded the break.

c. In tournament play the player who has won the lag, or his partner, shall have the OPTION of breaking or allowing his opponent(s) to do so.

d. In order to promote fair play, a player competing in the lag should attempt to hit his ball at the same moment his opponent does so.

e. One practice lag shall be allowed before the deciding lag.

The rule will read -

AWARDING THE BREAK

a. During regular season play the visiting team will break in the first, third and fifth match; the home team will break in matches two and four.

b. In Playoff matches, one player from each team will lag for break. The winning team will break in the first, third and fifth match. The opposing team will break in the second and fourth match.

c. In tournament games, players will lag for award of the break. The player winning the lag (closest to the top rail) shall be awarded the break.

d. In tournament play the player who has won the lag, or his partner, shall have the OPTION of breaking or allowing his opponent(s) to do so.

e. In order to promote fair play, a player competing in the lag should attempt to hit his ball at the same moment his opponent does so.

f. One practice lag shall be allowed before the deciding lag.

4. Racking balls – The player breaking will rack their own rack. The opposing team can ask for a re-rack due to alignment of rack.

5. 2016 Player Ratings – Several captains brought up players who may need ratings adjusted.

Phil Graham – raise to 3 – denied,

Diane Marion – drop to 2 – approved,

Tom Whitney - drop to 2 – approved,

Steve Cere - drop to 5 – approved,

Lenny Pappas Jr - drop to 5 – denied,

Paul Cere - drop to 5 – denied

Captains can bring to any meeting the names of individual players they feel are improperly rated; the board will vote on each case brought to their attention.

6. “Survivor Rule” – It was brought up that in order to avoid forfeits a team who has less than 10 active players on their roster should have the ability to add players at any time. This was tabled to the next half.

7. The QCPL suffered the passing of another player last week - Glenn Pierce from the British American. Calling hours are Thursday, 11/3/16 4-8 PM at Cain Funeral Home. The funeral will be Friday, 11/4/16 at 10 AM.

Old Business:

1. Singles and Doubles locations – Eastside has the Singles dates are Jan 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29. Cercle has the Doubles dates are Feb 18, 19, 25, 26, Mar 4, 5, 11, 12.

Logistics of where other in-house leagues play during the tournament is the responsibility of the club and QCPL tournament has priority of play on tournament days.

2. Collect all Player fees and Team fees – one team still owes both team fees and player fees. One team owes partial player fees; otherwise all teams are up to date. Both should be collected by the end of the week.

3. CODE OF CONDUCT - A copy of the APA Code of Conduct from the team handbook was given to Sue Novak by Pete Vallieres. This was revised slightly to apply to our needs. All captains were given a copy of this Code of Conduct which needs to be reviewed and voted on at the next meeting.

By creating a Code of Conduct players who violate the code will know that there are league consequences for misconduct in addition to individual club misconduct rules. When approved captains will present to their team.

4. Rotating League trophy – TABLED

5. Set next meeting date and location – December 20^th at Davignon.

Adjourned 8:05 PM

Respectfully,

Sue Novak

Secretary

Conduct During League Play

The purpose of this section is to provide you with specific guidelines concerning player conduct during League play. The APA has charged your Local League Management with the responsibility of enforcing these guidelines. League Management includes League Operators, Boards of Governors, or any other individual or committee that might pass judgments on misconduct. The guidelines contained herein deal with PHYSICAL CONTACT and VERBAL ABUSE. There is room for judgment in some areas and there is no room for judgment in other areas. The APA has cautioned League Management to strictly adhere to those areas where there is no room for judgment.

There are two kinds of action taken by League Management in these types of misconduct cases— IMMEDIATE ACTION and FOLLOW-UP ACTION. Immediate action is the action taken that immediately effects the actual results of the team match. Immediate action effects the entire team and it is recognized there are sometimes innocent individuals involved. Follow-up action is the action taken later, specifically against the individual involved in whatever incident occurred. The innocent members of the teams involved are not affected by follow-up action.

1. PHYSICAL CONTACT

Physical contact is the hostile physical contact between two players. This contact could be in the form of bumping, shoving, pushing, or hitting. Although this contact normally involves only the team members, League Management should impose the same penalty when a nonmember is involved if it is deemed the nonmember(s) involved is with one of the teams. With could mean a number of things; in general, if an offending person is deemed to be with the team, it would mean they came with the team or the team should have had some control over the person’s actions. With is a judgment.

IMMEDIATE ACTION - If hostile physical contact occurs, THE MATCH IS OVER! There are only two possibilities to consider: only one team was guilty of hostile physical contact or both teams were guilty of hostile physical contact. LEAGUE MANAGEMENT MUST EXERCISE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO OPTIONS:

a. Only one side was involved. In this case, the offending team loses all points if it is a regular night of play on the weekly schedule, or loses the team match if it is a Session Playoff or any kind of a tournament match. The nonoffending team receives five points (75 points in 9-Ball) in the case of a regular night of play, or advances to the next level in the event of Session Playoffs or some sort of tournament play.

b. Both teams were guilty of hostile physical contact. In this case neither team would receive any points for the night in the case of a regular night of play on the weekly schedule, or if it is a Session Playoff or tournament play, both teams lose the match, which is the same as saying both teams are disqualified.

League Management has no alternative other than to enforce one of the above two options. When considering the above options, League Management cannot consider who started it, nor can League Management consider that the retaliation, if it occurred, was justified. The only way both teams can avoid the same penalty is for one of the teams to refuse to retaliate no matter what provocation they may have to endure.

2. VERBAL ABUSE

Verbal abuse consists of any name calling, threats, or any other language that could be considered to be harassment or could cause embarrassment to the opponent. League Management will always have to make judgments in this area. It is not considered harassment to root for your team—just do not do it while your opponent is shooting.

IMMEDIATE ACTION - If League Management can determine the verbal abuse was entirely one-sided, then the individual match must be awarded to the nonoffending player. This is the standard immediate action taken by League Management. The verbal abuse could be coming from the opponent, anyone on the opponent’s team, or anyone who is with the opponent. It is only considered to be a one-sided situation if no one from the other side responds or retaliates in any way. League Management may call for forfeiture of the entire match if it determines the abuse and harassment put the nonoffending team in an unfair competitive situation.

If both players or both teams are involved in the verbal abuse, a situation commonly referred to as a screaming match, then the match results may or may not be affected based upon the decision of League Management. If it is in a tournament or playoff situation, both teams could be disqualified, as it is extremely disruptive to other matches and to the tournament in general.

3. FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS

It is during follow-up action that League Management is given the opportunity to decide who started the problem and whether or not the degree of retaliation was reasonable. Follow-up action addresses the long-term issues.

It is important that those ladies and gentlemen who cannot act like ladies and gentlemen adjust their demeanor appropriately or they will be removed from the League.

League Management must take action against any members involved in physical contact violations, no matter how remotely League related they are. It is not acceptable for a couple of members to take their fight outside, or to agree to meet and fight it out at a later date. If, indeed, they do fight at a later date and League Management determines it was as a result of League play, then League Management must take action. This action would be in the form of follow-up action. A fight that occurs outside, but during League time, will be considered to be the same as one that occurred inside. If a player threatens to wait outside until the match is over, League Management should rule that the entire team match is forfeited. How can a player and his teammates possibly concentrate on finishing a match if they feel they will be facing a brawl later on? In other words, a threat could be treated as physical contact in terms of immediate action. There is certainly room for a lot of judgment in this area.

Follow-up action by League Management results in penalties such as probation, suspension and permanent termination of League and APA membership. The latitude of these penalties is left mainly up to League Management, but the following guidelines should be observed:

a. To any person who starts a fight or brawl—permanent termination of League and APA membership.

b. To a person who gets into a fight or a brawl defending himself— a minimum one month suspension if first offense, and much longer if otherwise.

c. To someone who consistently uses foul or intimidating language— six month suspension, and longer for a second offense.

d. To someone who uses lesser degrees of verbal abuse—probation and suspension as deemed appropriate.

It is important that all team members are aware of these conduct guidelines. Your team should consider dropping anyone from your roster who does not agree with them. Any individual or team suspended from League play will immediately lose certain other membership privileges, including eligibility for APA tournaments, until and unless the suspension is lifted. Once a player is suspended that player will not have the privilege to coach their team, keep score or put up players, until their suspension has been lifted. Breaking this rule may result in a much lengthier suspension. You joined this League to have a good time and so did the vast majority of other members. Every member has the right to be treated in a sportsmanlike manner, and members who display offensive behavior will not be tolerated.