Important changes to MSSA's Inter-Club Ladder rules.

Northcliff High School in action.

MSSA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 4 December 2016 saw the council of member clubs make some important revisions to the inter-club ladder.

First important change:

Rules that changed now allow the inter-club ladder to be played on Regional, Provincial, and National levels for all categories.

Thus a club like Jeppe Boys, could theoretically become the City of Johannesburg, Gauteng  and SA National ladder champions for both schools and senior ladders.

Of course that would require a number of games to be played, but who would shy away from playing games?

Second important change:

The next important change  is that the restriction of whom may be challenged has been removed. Thus a team just entering the ladder may pick-and-choose who they want to challenge. In theory a team could go from being unranked to being the top ranked team.

The ladder should thus be a great deal of fun, and will, no doubt, help teams prepare for LAN championships and National Team Trials. In turn, teams will be further prepared for the international circuit.

The rules are:

INTER-CLUB LADDER

1. All affiliated clubs shall be invited to participate.
2. Initially teams shall be listed in order of ranking.
3. Inter-club tests may be held in each period.
4. Inter-club test matches may be held on Regional, Provincial, and/or National Championship levels for schools, university, and/or open as well as for the categories as per LAN championships.
5. If held on a Regional level, then such Regional Director shall be responsible for the notation of challenges, the collation of results, the write-ups of results, and the lodging of dates on MSSA’s Calendar.
6. If held on a Provincial level, then such Provincial Director shall be responsible for the notation of challenges, the collation of results, the write-ups of results, and the lodging of dates on MSSA’s Calendar.
7. If held on a National level, then such Gaming Representative shall be responsible for the notation of challenges, the collation of results, the write-ups of results, and the lodging of dates on MSSA’s Calendar.
8. All teams shall only consist of Registered Players.
9. Clubs may enter any number of teams.
10. Results shall be submitted to the Management Board before 9H00 the day after the test was held.
11. Any team may challenge any other team in the same ladder.
12. The Chairman of the relevant BOC must be copied in on all challenges.
13. The challenged team has five (5) working days (for esports), and twenty-one (21) working days for board gaming and figure gaming, to respond and play the match.
14. A team that is challenged as per the above rules that does not play the game within five (5) working days (for esports) and twenty-one (21) working days for board gaming and figure gaming, automatically defaults and counts as having lost the match.
15. A team challenged during any official MSSA event while both teams are participating in such event, and are paired by the umpire to play against each other, must play such challenge.
16. The winning team takes the place of the losing team, if the losing team is listed higher.
17. It the winning team is listed higher, the winning team remains in its current position.
18. If the losing team is listed higher than the winning team, the losing team drops one position on the listing.
19. The highest listed team, per period, at the end of the SA National Championships is given the title of SA LADDER Champions.