CONSTITUTION

more Note: These are guidelines, you can find the official version Download the SAMBA Constitution Rev 13 here.

1. NAME

The name of this structure shall be the SOUTH AFRICAN MASTERS BASEBALL ASSOCIATION (SAMBA) hereinafter referred to as the Masters Association.

2. OBJECTS

The objects of the Masters Association shall be:

2.1. To govern, control and administer the management of the game of baseball, in accordance with the rules of

baseball.

2.2. To further the interests in, encourage and foster the advancement of Masters Baseball in all regions in

Southern Africa.

2.3. To organize and provide facilities and personnel for the conducting of national and international Masters

tournaments.

2.4. To award colours and awards on a national basis to Masters as provided for in these bye-laws.

2.5. To do all things that may directly or indirectly be inductive to promote the spirit of Masters Baseball.

3. MEMBERSHIP

3.1. The Association shall consist of all regional Masters Associations forming an integral part of the membership of

the Masters Association provided they are in good standing.

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3.2. The office-bearers of the Masters Association for the time being.

3.3. The Honorary Life Members of the Masters Association for the time being.

4. OFFICE BEARERS

4.1. The office-bearers of the Masters Association who shall constitute the Executive Committee shall consist of:

Chairperson

Secretary/Treasurer

One additional member

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4.2. An office-bearer may not serve in more than one (1) position of office.

4.3. Members of the executive committee shall perform such duties as per custom pertaining to their office and

other such duties as may be allocated to them from time to time by a General Meeting or Executive Committee Meeting and/or as described in the Bye-Laws.

4.4. Elections shall be held at the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Any person shall be eligible for election

to any position provided he/she is in good standing and the proposal is supported by a majority of the meeting.

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5. SPECIAL COMMITTEES

5.1. The Executive Committee may appoint Special Committee(s) under specific terms of reference as may be deemed

necessary.

5.2. A Special Committee shall be responsible to the Executive Committee. Members of a Special Committee shall

perform such duties as allocated by a General Meeting, the Executive Committee and/or as provided for in these bye-laws.

5.3. The powers, authority and jurisdiction shall only be applied within the specific terms of reference of a Special

Committee and no financial matters or otherwise may be conducted.

6. MEETINGS

6.1. The Masters Association shall convene meetings as required, but not less frequently than once per quarter.

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6.2. The convening of such meetings shall be dependent on the exigencies of the requirements of the Masters

Association and may be convened in a less formal manner.

7. DELEGATES, VOTING AND QUORUM

7.1. Delegates. Provincial delegates to the Masters AGM shall be the provincial chairman or his/her duly authorized

delegate.

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7.2. Voting. Each provincial delegate and each Executive member, excluding the chairman, is entitled to one vote.

In the event of a deadlock, the chairman has the deciding vote.

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7.3. Quorum. A quorum of an SA Masters AGM shall be a minimum of 60% of the affiliated provincial associations.

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8. CODE OF CONDUCT AND DRESS CODE

Whilst participating in any game(s) under the jurisdiction of the Association the following shall apply

8.1. Players shall conduct themselves in a dignified way and respectable manner at all times, both on and off the

field.

8.1.1. Any player, coach or manager of a team who is deemed to be abusive to a Scorer or Umpire shall

immediately be ejected from the game, and leave the venue, until such time that a Disciplinary Meeting is convened. The SAMBA Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Code (particularly Items 2 to 9 but not excluding any other appropriate rules within this Code) will be invoked.

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8.1.2. Any player, coach or manager of a team, currently involved in a game and in uniform, found drinking

or smoking in or around the dugout, before or during a game, will immediately be ejected from the game and the venue, as will the Manager of the team. They will not be permitted to participate in any further games until they have appeared before the Disciplinary Committee.

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8.2. No player, coach or manager, whilst in uniform, may move around the baseball fields/premises or spectate at

games, while consuming alcohol.

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8.3. The SAMBA Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Policy, as prescribed in Appendix A, shall apply to any participant

entered into any SAMBA sanctioned tournament.

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9. MASTERS TOURNAMENT NORMS

SAMBA National Baseball Championship (NBC) tournaments will be conducted under the Organisational Norms of the SA Baseball Union, with the following exceptions:

9.1. Officials. The following officials will be responsible for the implementation of the concepts of the Masters

Tournament Norms - the Tournament Director, the Local Organising Committee, officials and administrators of the Masters Association in specific functions during the competition. The Tournament Director will be the maximum authority of the Masters Association in all official tournaments. The Tournament Director will be designated by the Executive Committee before the tournament. Other committees to be designated by the Executive Committee are the Technical Committee, the Disciplinary Committee and the Selection Committee.

9.1.1. Convenors of Umpires & Scorers. The Convenors of Scorers and Umpires for SAMBA tournaments are the

Chairpersons of the SABU Commissions, as appropriate. If either is not available for a SAMBA tournament he/she may nominate a suitable replacement. The primary role of these officials is to convene their officials, and not necessarily be involved in taking games themselves.

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9.2. PLAYERS

9.2.1. Eligibility. All players and officials must be registered with their relevant provincial associations.

9.2.2. Age

9.2.2.1. Masters. Any player participating in an SA Masters Baseball tournament must be 35 (thirty

five) years of age, or older, during the year of the tournament.

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9.2.2.2. Veterans. Any player participating in an SA Masters Baseball tournament must be aged 45

(forty five) years of age, or older, during the year of the tournament.

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9.2.2.3. Mixed Teams. Individual Veterans aged 45 or older are allowed to be registered for a Masters

team, but Masters may not register to participate in the Veterans division of a tournament.

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9.2.3. Participation Qualification. A player who has officially represented his province or his country at senior

level during the current calendar year may participate in the SA Masters Baseball tournament during the same year, provided that he has obtained the necessary clearance/s from his provincial and/or national association.

9.2.4. Registration. Provinces must register all the players and officials they intend utilizing during a

tournament, at that tournament’s pre-tournament meeting. Thereafter no additional players may be introduced into the tournament without the express permission of the tournament committee.

9.2.4.1. No player may be registered in more than 1 (one) tournament division.

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9.2.5. Guest Players. Guest players are permitted, in the spirit of Masters Baseball, however they are not

allowed to pitch or catch, unless agreed upon before the commencement of the game, by the two coaches. Guest players are to have been registered in accordance with article 9.2.4 above.

9.2.6. Playoffs

9.2.6.1. Players who participate in playoff fixtures at the end of a tournament, including finals, must

have physically played in at least 50% of the round-robin fixtures.

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9.2.6.2. Where a tournament consists of a Double Round Robin only (without playoffs) no player may

enter the tournament to participate in the 2nd round only, unless this fact has been declared at the pre-tournament meeting, and he is not utilized as a pitcher or a catcher.

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9.2.7. Selection Qualification. When tournaments are scheduled with round-robin and playoff formats,

qualification for selection can only take place during the round-robin stage.

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9.2.7.1. Batting. A player may only be considered for selection for the Tournament Team (or any other

select team), provided that he has appeared At Plate at least 1.5 times the number of games his team played. eg. if a team plays 8 round-robin games, his At Plate appearances should be 8 multiplied by 1.5 ie. 12 or more.

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9.2.7.2. Pitching. A pitcher qualifies by pitching at least the same number of frames as games played by

his team in the round-robin stage ie. if his team plays 8 games, he should have pitched 8 or more frames.

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9.2.7.3. Catching. The same rule applies to catchers as is applied to pitchers.

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9.2.8. Tournament Team Recognition. With effect from the 2015 tournament, besides the Elite Masters Select

Team (of 15 members), awards will be made in the Social Masters and Vets Divisions for (1) Best Pitcher, (2) Best Batter and (3) MVP.

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9.2.9. Team Sizes including Officials. With effect from the 2017 tournament, teams are limited to a maximum

number of members as follows:

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9.2.9.1 Elite Masters. 18 including coach and manager, both of whom are considered players. Plus 1 x

Official Scorer & 1 x Official Umpire. Total 20.

9.2.9.2 Social Masters. 20 including coach and manager, both of whom are considered players. Plus 1 x

Official Scorer & 1 x Official Umpire. Total 22.

9.2.9.3 Vets. 24 including coach and manager, both of whom are considered players. Plus 1 x Official

Scorer & 1 x Official Umpire. Total 26.

9.2.9.4 Team Officials. Any team not complying with the inclusion of the Official Scorer or Umpire will

forfeit three points per missing official. Teams unable to provide their own officials may negotiate ‘Loan Officials’ from other provinces or districts through the Convenor of Umpires or Scorers, as appropriate. These ‘Loan Officials’ must be available for the full duration of the tournament.

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9.3. FIXTURES

9.3.1. Schedule. The SA Masters Executive committee will prepare a schedule of fixtures for each individual

tournament. Teams will be seeded on their performance at the previous tournament. The fixtures will be based on the number of teams participating, the amount of time available, if floodlights are available for night games, the number of playing fields available, and any other exigency which may exist for a specific venue. These fixtures will be presented to the host province 14 days prior to the tournament in order to facilitate printing of programmes, planning, etc.

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9.3.2. Game Start Times. Start times of the first game each day of a tournament should always be the same,

if possible.

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9.3.3. Duration Of Games All games shall be of 100 (one hundred) minutes duration or a maximum of 7

(seven) innings, whichever occurs first. No new frame shall commence thereafter.

9.3.4. Fixtures per Day. The allocation of more than two games per day to a team will be limited as much as

possible, or as available time will permit.

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9.3.5. Regulation Game. A regulation game shall be three completed frames.

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9.3.6. Conceding. No game shall be conceded unless it is clearly evident after one frame- and before three

frames have been completed, that the continuation of the game will be detrimental to the continuation of the fixture and the tournament eg it is considered unlikely that the losing team will be able to recover from its present situation. The conceding of a game is to be agreed upon by both team managers and be so recorded on the official Score Sheet together with the plate umpire’s signature. The score should stand at the time of the agreement reached between the two managers.

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9.3.7. Forfeit. In the event of a team refusing to take the field in a regulation game before the 100 (one

hundred) minutes or 7 (seven) frames are reached, the Umpire in chief shall declare a forfeit and the forfeiting team shall be fined 3 log points. The current score will stand at the time of the forfeit.

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9.3.8. Playoffs & Ties. In the event that playoff fixtures are scheduled, and a game is tied after 100 minutes,

time permitting, the game shall continue until a result is reached. Should insufficient time be available, the regulations pertaining to SABU Norms shall be applied.

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9.3.9. Finals. The finals shall be scheduled for the forenoon of the last day of the tournament, with the awards

ceremony to follow as soon as practical or convenient thereafter.

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9.3.10. Duration of Finals. With effect from the 2015 tournament the duration of all final fixtures will be 2

hours and 15 minutes, or 7 frames, which occurs first. In the event of a tie play continues until a winner is established.

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9.4. PITCHERS

9.4.1. No pitcher shall pitch in more than 4 (four) innings in any one game.

9.5. SPEED UP RULE

9.5.1. It is optional to substitute a runner for a pitcher or catcher any time they are on base, but compulsory

when there are two out. The runner must be a player eligible to play in the team and not currently in the line-up. Where only nine players are available, the last player out will be the speed up runner.

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9.5.2. The purpose of this rule is to facilitate the change-over between innings. The intention to use

speed-up runners is to be reported to the umpire in chief.

9.6. UNIFORMS

9.6.1. All teams must wear complete uniforms including caps at all times during the game.

9.7. HELMETS

9.7.1. Batters and base-runners must wear helmets at all times. Double flap helmets are encouraged.

9.7.2. Catchers are required to wear a helmet during games. Catchers are also required to wear a helmet and

a mask during warm-ups.

9.8. BALLS

9.8.1. All match balls will be provided by the SA Masters Baseball Association. Match balls will be issued to

participating teams prior to commencement of the tournament. One new ball is to be submitted by each team to the plate umpire before the start of each game.

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9.9. BLEEDING RULE

9.9.1. A player with an injury that is bleeding or has an open wound must be removed from the field and

treated. All contaminated clothing must be cleaned of any blood prior to the player being allowed to resume play. The wound must be covered. If bleeding re-occurs and cannot be controlled the player must be removed from the game.

9.10. MERCY RULE

9.10.1. If a team is losing by 10 or more runs after having batted in at least 3 (three) innings, and consensus

has been reached by the management of the two participating teams, the game may be terminated at that point.

9.11. TEAM ENTRY REGISTRATION DATE

9.11.1. Team entry registration for the annual NBC shall close 30 days prior to the tournament start date.

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9.11.2. In exceptional circumstances, late team entries may be considered by the Executive Committee.

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9.12. PLAYING FIELDS

9.12.1. Host provinces/districts are to design their fields layout as closely as possible to the measurements

prescribed in the Official Baseball Rule Book. In the event that the venue has fields which are not used as regular baseball fields, the planned boundary distances should be provided to SAMBA six months before any tournament. A member of the SAMBA Exec should inspect the venue within three months of a forthcoming tournament to ensure the homerun boundary distances are regulation.

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10. PLAYER UMPIRES

10.1. Teams allocated umpiring responsibilities on the fixtures schedule are obliged to provide a member to carry out

this responsibility, irrespective of whether an Official Umpire is allocated as well. Player umpires are to ensure that they are available to commence their allocated game at the scheduled time. Teams not meeting this responsibility will be forfeited three points per missing official.

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11. AFFILIATION FEES/TOURNAMENT ENTRY FEES

11.1. Regional Masters Associations who qualify to assume membership of this association in terms of article 3.1

above, are assumed to participate in each IPT with at least 1 (one) team. The annual affiliation fee forms the basis of the IPT Entry Fee for the first of each provincial teams. A further IPT Entry fee is levied per team on any additional teams entered. In the event that a province is unable to participate, or cancels its participation in an IPT, that province is held liable for it’s annual affiliation fee. The affiliation and tournament entry fees will be determined by the SAMBA Executive Committee from time to time.

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11.2. With effect from the 2017 tournament any team being entered consisting of more than 18 members

(including coach and manager) shall be liable to pay R150 per person from the 19th member, up to a maximum of 24 in the case of the Vets. See also par 9.k above.

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11.3. All Affiliation fees and additional tournament entry fees are to be submitted to the Hon Treasurer of

the Association at least 30 days prior to any tournament. This is essential to facilitate the purchase of tournament baseballs, medals, merit caps and other tournament requirements timeously.

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12. TOURNAMENT BUDGETS

12.1. SA Masters will budget for - and provide game balls, medals and other awards. SAMBA does not meet the

host province’s budget for the rental of fields, hire of tents, meals for officials, grounds-persons, cleaners, etc.

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13. TOURNAMENT GUIDELINES

13.1. Tournament Packages. Host provinces should avoid the ‘compulsory sale of tournament packages or handouts

to each participant’ prior to tournaments. Sponsored gifts may be handed out provided they are not sold.

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13.2. Pre-Tournament Meetings. They must start on time and should be arranged in a venue different to any other

function taking place at the same time. In the event of an Opening Game, the pre-tournament meeting should be scheduled for at least two hours prior to the game start time.

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13.2.1. Any agreements reached at the pre-tournament meeting shall be deemed a ruling within the

meeting's minutes, and may not be reneged upon or be withdrawn during the tournament without the explicit agreement of the two or more relevant parties (eg. team managers) and the SAMBA Tournament Director, who has the final decision.

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13.3. Assets. Trophies, miniatures, medals, merit caps and tournament baseballs are to be in the personal possession

of one of the executive committee members not less than seven days prior to a tournament.

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13.4. PA Systems. Microphone, amplifier and speakers should be available for both Opening and Closing ceremonies.

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13.5. Ground Rules. Ground rules should be provided in the printed programs as well as at the pre-tournament meeting.

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13.6. Tournament Aide-Me moire. Guidelines to plan for an SA Masters Baseball Tournament are attached to this

Constitution as Appendix B.

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13.7. Tournament Committees

13.7.1. Conduct and Disciplinary Committee (CDC). In accordance with the SAMBA Code of Conduct and

Disciplinary Policy Rev 1 of 7 September 2010, par 12, this committee will consist of one SAMBA Executive Member and two Provincial Chairmen. One of the Chairmen will serve as the Convenor.

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13.7.1.1. Decisions of this committee are final and do not require the SAMBA Executive Committee

vote, with the exception of permanent expulsion. If the offending person is suspended for four games or more, the offending person may appeal to the SAMBA Protest Committee.

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13.7.2. Protest Committee. This committee will consist of a Convenor (the SAMBA Tournament Manager)

and the Convenor of Scorers and Convenor of Umpires. Protests can only be entertained in terms of Item 13.10.2.1. above or on an interpretation of the Rules of Baseball.

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13.8. Protests. A protest fee of R500 (Five Hundred Rand) cash only must be paid to the convener of the Protest

committee before a protest is heard.

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13.8.1. The Protest committee’s decision is final, binding and non-negotiable.

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13.9. Selection Committee. The convenor of selectors shall be one of the Executive members of the SA Masters

committee. Each province is to nominate one selector per team, or a minimum of one selector per province, prior to- or at the pre-tournament meeting. Due to the general non-availability of neutral/non-participant selectors, it is expected that nominees will be one of the province’s coaches or managers.

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14. BADGE AND COLOURS

The SAMBA badge will be the same as that printed on the front of this constitution and the colours will consist of the following Marathon Cords code:

ITEM	COLOUR	CODE
Bats	Gold	1127
Mit	Tan	1338
Rope	Brown	1306
Stitching	Black	1180
Printing	Red	1049
Bases	White	1179
Infield	Green	1342
Outfield	Green	1342

15. REVISION STATUS

REVISION	DATE
1	04-Jun-96
2	22-Sep-96
3	01-Nov-99
4	17-Oct-01
5	01-Feb-04
6	01-Mar-04
7	01-Dec-04
8	01-Dec-05
9	01-Feb-07
10	01-Aug-10
11	15-May-13
12	16-Jul-15
13	11-Sep-17
APPENDIX A	07-Sep-10
APPENDIX B	01-Jul-09