Easter Tournament Rules

RULES GOVERNING THE NEW ZEALAND CHINESE ASSOCIATION (INC)

ANNUAL SPORTS TOURNAMENT

(As amended at the Annual Conference 2019)

1. The Tournament shall be called "The New Zealand Chinese Association (Inc) Annual Sports Tournament" and shall be held during the Easter weekend.

2. The object of the New Zealand Chinese Association (Inc) Annual Sports Tournament (herein after called "the Tournament") is to promote friendship, goodwill, mutual understanding and to enjoy healthy competition among Chinese.

3. The name of a sponsor or its products may as circumstances require be added to the official name of the Tournament but the Association reserves the right to refuse consent to a name which is not in keeping with the aims and objects of the Tournament.

4. Definitions.  In these rules:

   “Association” means The New Zealand Chinese Association Incorporated

   “Branch” means an incorporated or unincorporated society that is a member of the Association.

   “Chinese person” means a person of Chinese descent.

   “De facto partner” means the de facto partner of a Chinese person to which the provisions of the Property Relations Act 1976 applies.

   “Main centres” means the cities of Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch.

   “Host Branch” means the Branch responsible for holding the Tournament.

   “International Rules” means the International rules applicable the respective sports at the time of the Tournament.

   “Sportsperson” means a person or persons participating in the official sports at the Tournament.

   “Home Branch” means the Branch in which a Sportsperson has last been resident for three months immediately prior to the Tournament.

   “Official Sports” means those sports and grades as defined in clause 16.

   “Origin Branch” means the Branch where the Sportsperson originally resided immediately prior to their residence in their Home Branch.

   “Team” means two (2) or more players forming one side in a sport.

   “Tournament Controller” means the person appointed by the Host Branch to organise and run the Tournament.   

   “Conference of the Association” means the Annual Conference of The New Zealand Chinese Association.

5. Only a Branch can enter official teams in the Tournament.

6. Persons eligible to participate in the sports events at the Tournament are:

   (a) A Chinese person; or

   (b) The spouse of a Chinese person; or

   (c) The adopted child of a Chinese person or the child or the adopted child of the spouse of a Chinese person; 

   (d) The De Facto partner of a Chinese person; or

   (e) A birth parent of a Chinese person or a parent of an adopted Chinese person 

   provided that person has lived in New Zealand for a period of three months.

   It is the responsibility of each Branch to ensure that each Sportsperson from their Branch is eligible to participate in the Tournament. If requested by the representative of a Branch participating in the Tournament the Tournament Controller shall require a Sportsperson to provide evidence of their eligibility. Failure to provide satisfactory proof shall deem that Sportsperson disqualified from participation.

7. The Tournament shall be held at the following Main Centres in rotation:

   Wellington

   Dunedin

   Auckland

   Christchurch

   Any other Branch may apply to hold the Tournament and such application shall be determined by the Association at its discretion.

8. The Branch responsible for the Main Centre holding the Tournament shall be the Host Branch and shall appoint at least one Tournament Controller and a Controller for each sport event.

9. The Association shall send two delegates or nominees or more at its discretion to declare the Tournament open, arbitrate any dispute, attend the Tournament Conference, present trophies, and close the Tournament.

10. A Tournament Conference shall be held at each Tournament.  Each participating Branch in the Tournament is required have at least one representative attending this conference. The business of the Tournament Conference shall be:

    (a) To review the conduct of the present and past Tournaments.

    (b) To consider and recommend changes to the format and to the Rules of the Tournament

    The Host Branch shall notify each participating Branch of the time, date and venue of the Tournament at least one week prior to the commencement of the Tournament.  A representative of the Host Branch shall be the Chairperson of the Tournament Conference.

11. The Host Branch shall prepare and submit to the Association the minutes of the deliberations of the Tournament Conference and a report of the results of the Tournament no later than 60 days after the Tournament. The minutes and the report shall be circulated to all Branches and shall be tabled for discussion at the next Conference of the Association.

12. The Host Branch shall be entitled to receive a subsidy from the Association to assist in the conduct of the Tournament. The amount of the subsidy shall be determined at the preceding Conference of the Association. Notwithstanding the foregoing the Host Branch shall be entitled to seek other grants and donations for the purposes of conducting the Tournament.

13. All Branches shall be entitled to enter three teams in any grade of any official sport. Additional teams may be entered by any Branch but the acceptance of such additional entries shall be at the sole discretion of the Host Branch.

14. A sport may be added to or deleted from the Tournament but such addition shall not become an Official Sport and any deletion shall not be removed as an Official Sport unless it is ratified by the Conference of the Association.

    In order for any sport to become an Official Sport, Teams from a minimum of three (3) Branches must have competed at the Tournament for a minimum of three (3) consecutive years prior to the sport being made an Official Sport.

15. The Host Branch shall have the discretion to create additional grades for any sport event but such grades shall be unofficial.

16. Should entries to the Tournament in any grade of any Official Sport be in the view of the Host Branch insufficient to hold a satisfactory competition the Host Branch may at it's discretion refuse the entries and remove that grade from the Tournament for that year.

17. The Official Sports and grades of the Tournament are:

    SPORT	Mens				Womens			Mixed
    	Open	Under 21	Under 17	Veterans	Open	Under 21	Under 17	Open
    Badminton	y				y			y
    Basketball	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
    Golf	y				y
    Indoor Netball*								y
    Indoor Soccer	y						y	y
    Lawn Bowls								Pairs & Triples
    Netball					y
    Relay**	y				y
    Soccer	y				y
    Table Tennis	y				y			y
    Tennis***	y				y			y
    Touch Rugby	y				y			y
    Volleyball	y				y			y

    * Number of players in each indoor netball team is 6 persons per side.
    ** Mens Relay is 4 x 100m
    *** Mens, Women and Mixed Doubles

18. For the purposes of the Tournament, all games in the respective sports shall be played under International Rules as amended by the Host Branch.

19. Each year the Host Branch shall forward to each participating Branch not later than four weeks before the opening of the Tournament the amendments to the International Rules governing the respective sports.

    The Host Branch shall also notify each participating Branch not later than six months before the opening of the Tournament whether any Official Sport will be played under a particular format or variant of that sport.

20. A Sportsperson shall represent one Branch only.

21. A Sportsperson who wishes to participate in the Tournament can elect to make themselves available for either their Home Branch or Origin Branch. The Sportsperson must make the election in writing to the Secretary of the Association no later than six weeks before the Tournament commencement date. If a Sportsperson who wishes to participate in the Tournament does not make the election before the six week deadline then that Sportsperson will be deemed to have made themselves available for their Home Branch.

22. If the Sportsperson is not selected to represent their Home Branch or Origin Branch they may then represent another Branch at that Branch’s invitation but only after permission to do so from both their Home Branch and Origin Branch. Such permission shall not be unreasonably withheld.

23. If a Sportsperson is attending a University or similar educational institutions that person's Home Branch shall be deemed to be the Branch in which that person is resident for his or her studies and the three month rule relating to residence shall not apply.

24. A Sportsperson may play in the Under 21 grade if they are under 21 years of age as at 31 December in the year preceding the Tournament. A Sportsperson eligible to play in the Under 21 grade may play in the Open grade instead of the Under 21 if required by the Branch they represent.

25. A Sportsperson may play in the Under 17 grade if they are under 17 years of age as at the 31st of December in the year preceding the Tournament. A Sportsperson eligible to play in the Under 17 grade may play in the Under 21 or Open grade instead of the Under 17 grade if required by the Branch they represent.

26. The onus of proof of age for Sportsperson playing in the Under 17 or Under 21 grades shall be the responsibility of that Sportsperson.

27. A Sportsperson may play in up to two grades in any one sport provided the prior consent of the Protest Committee has been obtained.

    The Protest Committee will only grant consent to such an application if it believes that the application is made in the spirit of participation. Any application shall state the reasons for consent being requested.

    Applications must be submitted no later than four (4) weeks prior to Tournament commencement and any applications submitted within the four (4) weeks prior to the commencement of the Tournament may be accepted at the sole discretion of the Protest Committee.

28. A Sportsperson and their team shall be excluded from the Tournament if these Rules are not adhered to.

29. Overseas teams shall be eligible to participate in the Tournament but such participation shall be on an unofficial basis. The acceptance of an overseas team entry shall be at the sole discretion of the Host Branch.

30. All Branches and Sportspersons shall ensure that they are familiar with and will adhere to the Code of Conduct and Host Responsibility as approved by the Association and modified from time to time by the Host Branch. The Host Branch shall ensure that the Code of Conduct and Host Responsibility is publicised as wide as possible.

    If any Sportsperson is in breach of the Code of Conduct they may be subject to disciplinary action and punishment as determined by the Protest Committee. The Rules of Punishment shall be as determined from time to time by the Host Branch.

    The procedure regarding any hearing by the Protest Committee of any breach of the Rules of Conduct and Host Responsibility shall be as determined in Rule 31 except that the there will be no time limit as to when a complaint can be lodged provided such complaint is lodged before the end of the Tournament.

    The decision of the Protest Committee on any punishment is final.

31. Any protest shall be made by the team managers, the team captains or the Umpires to the Tournament Controller or Sports Controller in writing within 30 minutes of the end of the relevant match.

    A Protest Committee consisting of two of the delegates or nominees from the Association, of which neither can be from the Host Branch, one who shall be the Chairperson, the Tournament Controller and the Sport Controller shall then convene forthwith to hear the protest. The Chairperson of the Protest Committee shall have a casting vote in the event of a deadlock.

    The parties involved shall be informed of the time and place of the sitting of the Protest Committee. The only persons eligible to appear before the Protest Committee shall be the Umpire or Umpires involved in the match, the manager, captain and members of the teams directly involved in the protest.

    The decision of the Protest Committee is final.

32. A Trophy shall be awarded to the winners of each official sports event. A Trophy shall also be awarded to the most friendly and sportsmanlike Branch at the Tournament. The selection of the winner of this Trophy shall be decided by the Protest Committee

33. A Tournament Trophy shall be awarded to the Branch that wins the most Official Sports at the Tournament provided that if an Official Sport has less than three competing teams representing less than three Branches then that event shall not count towards the Tournament Trophy.

34. A Branch awarded a trophy at the Tournament shall have the option of keeping that Trophy for a period of time agreed with the Association or returning it immediately after the award ceremony to the Host Branch. In any event all Trophies must be returned in good condition to the Association no later than two months prior to the next Tournament.

    The Secretary of the Association shall notify each Branch and trophy winners who retain their Trophies as to whom and where to return their respective trophies.

35. A Branch shall be responsible for any Trophies won by their Branch and shall compensate the Association for any lost or damaged Trophies.

36. These rules may be altered, added to or rescinded or otherwise amended by resolution passed by a majority of those present and entitled to vote at the Conference of the Association or Special General Meeting of which no less than 30 days and not more than 60 days notice has to be given and such notice shall set forth the purpose of the proposed alteration, addition, rescission or other amendment.

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