The LDCL Committee are conducting a consultation to get a better understanding of what matters to clubs in relation to the LDCL rules of eligibility. The consulatation poses the following questions which your views are sought.

High level questions

• Are there particular aspects of our eligibility the rules that you value and would like to see retained? (If so, which features of the existing rules do you think are particularly important?)

• Are there particular aspects of our eligibility rules that you would like to see changed? (If so, what changes would you like to see?)

• Do you have any other points you would like to make in relation to eligibility, that are not covered in your answers to the above/ any answers you have given to the more detailed questions below?

Detailed Questions

(1)  Selection Order:

1. Should teams be expected to play in strict grading order in any given match? If not, what level of flexibility is appropriate?
2. Should there be flexibility in team order within the ten point grading rule?
3. Should there be any flexibility beyond the ten point grading rule?
4. Should teams be expected to play in a "settled" board order, from match to match?
5. How should ungraded players be treated, in terms of where in a team line up they play?
6. How (if at all) should the publication of the January grading list (and potentially even more regular grading list updates in the future) impact on how teams are expected to line up during the course of the season?

(2)  Playing for other teams from the same club:

1. How often should a player be allowed to play up or play down for another team (from the same club) in a different division (or the same division), before becoming ineligible?
2. Currently playing on bottom board for the team above your normal team does not count as "playing up." Should it? Alternatively, is there a case for eligibility requirements to be loosened to allow playing up on the bottom two boards for the team above, to give clubs more flexibility to meet their fixture requirements?
3. What is your opinion as to how playing up by more than one team be treated from an eligibility perspective? (e.g. a C team player playing for the A team, on bottom board or otherwise.)
4. What is your opinion as to whether players should be allowed to play for more than one team (from the same club) within the same Division? If so, how often and with what eligibility restrictions?
5. Where a club has two teams in the same Division, to what extent do we expect those teams to be ranked? (i.e. should the Board 1 for the B team be weaker than the Board 4 of the A team?)
6. Should Clubs have to nominate formal squads for each of their teams at the start of the season? If so, what would this look like?

(3)  Sanctions for breach of the eligibility rules:

1. Should a club breach the eligibility rules, what sanctions (if any) do you think should apply?
2. Do different forms of breaches warrant different sanctions – if so why?
3. Loss of the game point scored by the ineligible player (if there was one) plus loss of an additional point in the match has been advocated as the penalty for a first breach. Does this feel appropriate? If not, what would you suggest?
4. Loss of the match by a score of 4 – 0 for subsequent breaches has been suggested. Does this feel appropriate? If not, what would you suggest?

(4)  Do you have any other feedback in this area, on points relating to eligibility that have not been covered by these questions?