Meir 'A' V Newcastle 'C'

Ruling From Martyn

I have received the following ruling from Martyn : "Hi Steve, Agree with the general thrust of your comment. Note however that I had previously upped Myron's estimate to 140, so that is the grade he was playing off in this match. I also think the league had agreed that the one week grace period for changes as per Article 3 rule 2a applied to the ECF January grades as well as changes purely instigated by me, with the clock starting from when I informed the clubs of the changes. The wording of the rule however does not make this clear. Like you I see no parachuting in. Indeed, even if it had been his first game, as long as we had agreed an estimate in advance there would have been no problem. Consequently in my book Newcastle were not overgraded on the night, which I believe is your opinion too. Martyn"

Steve Emmerton

Grades

Consulting with Martyn he said there was until the end of Jan to apply grading changes so as not to disrupt team deployments that had already been made. I had arranged for the 4 players to play before the new grades came out (only just over a week ago) and other potential replacements were already committed to matches for other Newcastle teams.

Steve Emmerton

Overgraded Team

The Newcastle team were 'apparently' overgraded by 7 points in last night's match. However, the Newcastle board 2 had an estimated grade of 120 at the start of the season, later upped to 140 by Martyn, and did not receive an official grade until the January List came out. Under the grading rules applied by Martyn, Newcastle have until the end of January to start using the new grade, although clubs are advised to do so as soon as possible. Contrary to the point made by Peter Windows earlier, Myron Odingo has not been parachuted in - he has played 10 matches for Newcastle prior to last night's match - more if you count matches played in the South Cheshire Shield. Granted, these matches were not for Newcastle 'C' but this is irrelevant - he is a Newcastle player and is entitled to play for any of their teams if eligible to do so. However, in the interests of fairness I will ask Martyn for a ruling on his grading for last night's match.

Steve Emmerton

No hanky panky

Team captain Nic checked the ruling in respect of Myron prior to the match and was advised he was eligible. I, presumably like Peter, was unclear about the rules and queried the situation with Nic when I saw the scorecard. So, no hanky panky from the Newcastle side.

Steve Emmerton