Team Selection Policy

Introduction

For a number of years, it has become apparent that, in spite of the wishes and best efforts of the Committee, Team Captains have not, for one reason or another, selected/played players from a wide enough ‘population’ of members who have expressed a wish to play in teams. The result of this is that a number of players end up playing lots of matches for more than one team, and many players do not get to play any matches. Each year, this situation is recognised about half way through the season, by which time it is too late to do much about it. A new set of Captains is appointed the following year and the cycle goes round again.
At the July 2002 committee meeting it was suggested that the existing Committee guidelines be set in stone in such a way that it would be more difficult to overlook or ignore them. The Committee produced a paper containing the following policy and a form of words to present to the AGM to amend the Club Constitution to allow the Committee to set policy. The Constitution was amended accordingly (see Rule 20) at the AGM on 15th November 2002 and the following policy came into effect on that date:

Committee Team Selection Policy

   League Teams

• The overriding Team Selection Policy for teams competing in Leagues or Cup Matches is that the Team should be selected to win its league division or cup match. There may be other matches or events such as friendlies where winning is not the principal consideration.
• The Committee directs Team Captains to recognise that where an individual is selected for more than one team, the team with the highest relative importance will take priority. Priority (highest first), is in the following order:

1. County Representative Matches
2. County Competitions (eg. Som. Bowl)
3. SVGC 1st Team (Bristol & District)
4. SVGC 2nd Team (Avalon A)
5. SVGC 3rd Team (Avalon B)
6. SVGC Seniors Team
7. SVGC Stragglers Team
8. Other SVGC Team

• Players are to be selected from those that volunteered to play at the start of the season, however the original volunteer list can be augmented during the season by additional players who did not originally choose to volunteer or who are new members.
• Team Captains must meet before the start of the season to agree which volunteers are allocated to which team. The Club Captain will chair this meeting.
• It is important that if a Team Captain considers that he will never select a particular player again, that player is transferred to the list of another Team Captain and informed accordingly. It is recognised that this task is difficult as it involves telling a player something he may not want to hear; nonetheless it is important to ‘bite the bullet’ and do it promptly.
• The flexibility for players to choose which team they wish to be considered for has now been removed (effective from 2003 season). Players who wish to represent the Club will have to play for the Team they are selected for or risk not playing matches at all. In the 2002 season and a number of prior seasons this flexibility has been given to members, and Team Captains have experienced major problems in balancing the expectations of players with the number of times they are selected, and also balancing the selection issues between Teams. The unanimous view of the 2002 Team Captains therefore was that the method has not worked. The theory of the new method is that the 1st Team Captain will be able to select his team from the complete volunteer list; the 2nd Team Captain from the remaining volunteers; the 3rd Team Captain etc. etc. This should encourage the enthusiastic golfer to aspire to play in the highest team he can. The main foreseeable difficulty is that some players do not like the foursomes format which is the format used in the Bristol & District League.
• All Team Captains are to meet once per month during the months from March through to August to discuss issues that have arisen and to ensure that selection policy is being followed. As an indication of the importance of this meeting to the Committee, it will be chaired by the Club Captain.
• Team Captains should not select players that do not appear on their volunteer list unless they have already asked everyone on their list. If a Team Captain wishes to select a player from another Team then the Team Captain of the other Team should be consulted first and the selection should be discussed after the event at the next Team Captain meeting.
• The following additional rules apply to players that might be selected to play in 2 different teams in the same league (note that these rules may be overridden by League rules that must take precedence):
  • Where we run 2 teams in the same division of a league, we must nominate one team as our 1st team:
    • before the first match of the season, the Club will nominate a minimum of 8 players for the 1st Team. In the absence of exceptional circumstances, those players will not be allowed to play ‘down’ in the 2nd Team in that season.
    • any individual that is not one of the 8 nominated players, will be barred from playing in the ‘lower’ team once he has played 2 League matches in the ‘higher’ team.
  • Where we run 2 or more teams in different divisions of a league, any individual will be barred from playing in a ‘lower’ team once he has played 3 League matches in a ‘higher’ team.
  • When selection to a higher team means that a player will be unable to ‘play back down’, the wishes of that individual will be taken into account in the selection process prior to the match.
  • There are no such restrictions on Reserve Players in any matches.
• There will be instances where certain players on the Team Captain’s volunteer list are perceived by the Team Captain, for one reason or another, to be unreliable. If the Team Captain decides not to include such players in selection decisions then those players should be promptly informed accordingly (potentially another ‘difficult task’). Ideally good communication between Team Captain and players will nip any such situations in the bud before this position is reached.
• It is just as important that individual players take responsibility to communicate openly and promptly with Team Captains, particularly with regard to confirming availability to play in matches. It is recognised that different players will have different levels of commitment to teams due to their personal circumstances, however failure to communicate shows disrespect and will result in the individual being considered unreliable.
• More guidance on the responsibilities of Team Captains can be found in the Job Descriptions document and refers to issues such as keeping detailed records of who plays, which meetings they must attend, what reports they need to produce and on-the-day Match duties.

   ‘Friendly’ Teams

Currently the Stragglers and Seniors & Ladies sections run teams that play friendly matches with other Clubs. By their nature, friendly matches have little significance beyond the match itself and so the requirement to win is different and arguably not as important as league & cup matches. The selection policy contained in this paper is not intended to apply to the Seniors and Ladies friendly teams as they only run one team each and in any case have the power to set their own policies, but it does apply to the Stragglers team. The Stragglers Team Captain will attend the early March Team Captains meeting referred to above that is chaired by the Club Captain. The Seniors and Ladies Team Captains may choose to attend this meeting but this is not mandatory

•    Stragglers    The team was set up to give the opportunity to players that are not of a standard to be selected for a league team, but who are nonetheless enthusiastic to play team golf. This team is also a useful means to ‘blood’ improving players on their way through the ranks to play in league teams. The criteria for selection used to be dependent on the handicap restrictions applied by the leagues we competed in. The Wessex League used to operate a maximum handicap policy of 18 and therefore players of 19 handicap or above were selected for the Stragglers team.
  
  Nowadays, we play in the Avalon League, which also operates handicap limits (currently 18 for the lowest division and 16 for higher divisions). While we continue to have a team in the lowest division, it is not unreasonable to expect the Stragglers team to exclude players with a handicap of 18 or less. If our teams get promoted out of the lowest division then the Stragglers minimum handicap limit should be adjusted accordingly.
  
  There may be other factors to consider like, for example, some of the teams we play against include players with low handicaps, so maybe a total exclusion of ‘18 or under’ players is a little tough; perhaps to say a maximum of 2 players in the team may have a handicap of 18 or less is more reasonable as long as this is strictly adhered to.
  
  Matches such as the Knowle Challenge, where there is a cup at stake, should be excluded from these restrictions.

   County & League Day Events and Other Exceptions

• Day events such as the Trounson Trophy (Somerset Golf Union) or the day competitions run by the Bristol and Avalon Leagues involve the selection of a small number of players. These events are perceived to be the ‘cream on top of the milk’ in terms of representing the Club.
  • It has been the practice of Stockwood Vale to leave these selections up to the Club Captain who will use his judgement to decide who deserves to play. His criteria for selection should be a combination of who will represent the Club well in terms of appearance and behaviour, who deserves to play due to the work they have put into the Club over the preceding couple of years and perhaps of lesser importance, who is currently playing well.
• The Gray/Maggs Trophy, or the Knowle Challenge as it has come to be known, is a 2-leg challenge match where the winning club is the one that wins the most matches over the 2 legs. The trophy is a symbol of the ongoing friendship between the 2 Clubs. This is another exception where, although Captained by the Stragglers Team Captain, will be selected by the Club Captain, although he may choose to delegate this responsibility:
  • The Club Captain is encouraged to select players with a wide range of handicaps, but with the majority of players with higher handicaps.
  • Winning is not the key factor in this match, unlike league and cup matches, but at the same time there is a trophy at stake so players with some match experience should be selected.
  • The Club Captain would normally play in these matches.

   Dress Code

• Over the years, Stockwood has operated an after-match dress code where players are expected to change into a ‘jacket & tie’. During the days of our participation in the Wessex League, the discipline shown by Stockwood and a few other clubs rubbed off on the less disciplined Clubs and contributed to a far more sociable after-match dinner/occasion.
• Currently the Avalon League insists that teams stay for a meal after matches. This is an acknowledgement by the League that something is given back to the Clubs (the majority of which are proprietary and run as businesses) in exchange for allowing opposing teams to play at no charge. The Committee therefore require Stockwood players to change into a ‘jacket & tie’ after all matches.
• The Bristol & District League, which has a much longer history and is managed for the most part by people from the older, member-owned Clubs do not insist on after-match meals. As a result, players tend to drift away after matches, there is little interaction with the opposition and the social aspect of the event is largely lost. This has resulted to some extent in a loss of interest in playing in the Bristol & District League amongst a significant number of Stockwood players.
• In response to this, the Stockwood Committee are taking active steps within the rules of the Bristol & District League to get opposing teams to stay for a ‘jacket & tie’ meal after matches at Stockwood, and the Committee require Stockwood players to maintain discipline and change into a ‘jacket & tie’ after all home Bristol & District League matches and as a minimum, stay for at least one drink and food where provided at away matches.
• For all other matches, including the Stragglers, Seniors, Ladies and Mixed Teams, unless agreed with Stockwood Management, a ‘jacket & tie’ dinner will take place.
• The Committee expect all team players to stay on for the dinner (where appropriate), and if an individual is not able to stay, in the absence of a good reason, that player will be considered unreliable and may forfeit his/her place in the team.

   Interpretation

Where there is any confusion or dispute about the interpretation of the above policy, the matter will be referred to the Club Committee who's decision will be final.

SVGC Committee
November 2002