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re: Primary/Secondary Player Status, Incl Automatic Enforcement Procedures Added In 2017

posted by Administrator 03/17/2022 08:03:04

Summary Of ENYTB Roster Rules
re: Primary/Secondary Player Status,
Incl Automatic Enforcement Procedures Added In 2017


ENYTB.com performs automated enforcement of virtually all of the rules the league has adopted, including rostering, scheduling, player movement, reschedules and various other team and league administrative functions. It was recently discovered that while some of our rules on secondary player eligibility were being automatically enforced via the website, one important one was not. Thus, one of the league's administrative priorities for 2017 is to fully automate the enforcement of all its rules pertaining to secondary player eligibility.

Last year, when reviewing the rosters of the clubs participating in our Valley Cats' Fall Classic, it came to my attention that many ENYTB teams were routinely acquiring players for their summer teams on a secondary basis but were using them as full-time players i.e., these players were no longer playing for their primary team. This is a direct violation of our rules that regulate secondary player eligibility. Teams were able to get away with this rules violation because there was no enforcement protocol of the rule that players must remain active on a full-time basis for their primary teams in order to be eligible to play in the league on a secondary basis. Moreover, teams have not always been vigilant in placing their inactive players on the DNR list.

The remainder of this missive address these shortcomings: first, by defining the existing ENYTB rules pertaining to secondary player eligibility; and, then by describing the new enforcement procedures for ensuring that ALL of the league's rules on secondary player eligibility are automatically enforced by the website.

ENYTB Rules re: "SECONDARY" Player Eligibility

RULE 1 .....

A player can have only one "primary" team at a time.

By definition, the first ENYTB team a player rosters with is labeled his primary team. To change primary teams, the player is subject to ENYTB's RFA CAP&Credit system (which regulates intra-league player movement).

RULE 2 .....

A player can play for multiple ENYTB teams owned by different clubs on a "secondary" basis provided the player remains active on a full-time basis with his primary team.

NOTE: The above provision that is both underlined and in bold was not being automatically enforced by the website prior to 2017!

Any additional teams the player may be rostered on beyond his primary team are referred to as his "secondary" teams.

By this rule, a player is NOT eligible to be added to a team's roster on a secondary basis unless he is currently ACTIVE and PRIMARY on the roster of an ENYTB team.

Players can switch from one secondary team to another in the same age division by simply agreeing to do so. Movement among secondary teams is not subject to ENYTB's RFA CAP&CREDIT System or further regulation.

RULE 3 .....

In the event of a scheduling conflict between a player's primary and any of his secondary teams, the player is obligated to honor his commitment to his primary team unless his primary team waives its rights for limited dates in writing (signed and dated).

When a scheduling conflict exists between two or more secondary teams, the player is free to choose for himself, which team to play for.

NOTE: It is common for the club that owns a player's primary team to also make that player secondary on other teams owned by the same club. Indeed, this is one of the advantages of owning a multiple team club. When a player's teams have a common owner, the club has sole discretion in determining which team the player plays for on any given date.

RULE 4 .....

A player's RFA rights are held by the club that owns his primary team i.e., the club that owns a player's secondary team has no RFA rights to that player (unless it also owns the player's primary team). Once a player has been added to a team's roster on a secondary basis, that team has the right to use that player in its ENYTB regular season games as long as the player remains on its roster and if and only if the conditions of rules 2 and 3 are satisfied.

RULE 5 .....

A player can appear on a maximum of one roster per age division where he is age-qualified i.e., the player's secondary teams can not be in the same age division as his primary team nor each other. Some players are on three or even four teams at once.

What a player can NOT do is choose not to continue playing for his primary team while continuing to play for any of his secondary teams. In such cases, the secondary teams would have to either stop using the player in league play altogether or any one of them could add the player to its roster on a primary basis via the player movement system (using RFA credits, etc.). Were that to happen, the player would be eligible again to play for other ENYTB teams in other age divisions on a secondary basis.


WEBSITE AUTOMATED ENFORCEMENT - CHANGES for 2017:

Now that we know the rules, we need an enforcer that is on the job 24x7. That would be the enytb.com website. As noted above, all five rules pertaining to secondary player eligibility are already being enforced with the exception of rule #2.

Enforcement Change #1 .....

Beginning this year, on the first day of every new league year – all secondary players shall be removed from the rosters of their secondary teams.

Enforcement Change #2 .....

If the player is ACTIVE as a PRIMARY player in another age division, he is eligible to be added back to rosters on a secondary basis.

If the player is INACTIVE (on his primary team's DNR list) he is NOT eligible to be added to another team's roster on a secondary basis. (Previous website software did not include this restriction.)

Together, these two changes are sufficient to enforce ENYTB's rules for adding players on a secondary basis for players that were placed on DNR at the end of the prior summer season i.e., any player appearing on the DNR list at the conclusion of the prior summer season will be prevented from appearing as a secondary player on any other ENYTB team. If his primary team is not still active in the league i.e., it is a dead team, the player is automatically reclassified as an UFA and would be eligible to be added on a primary basis only, to a new team. Once he is ACTIVE again on a Primary basis for an active ENYTB team, he would regain his eligibility for joining other teams on a secondary basis.

For this system to work as it should, club owners, team managers and team coaches must be vigilant in placing players that have no intention of continuing to play for them on the DNR list as soon as possible. This action benefits the primary team because it forces other ENYTB teams to use an RFA credit to acquire and use the player in ENYTB regular season games as well as tournaments i.e., the team losing the player would at least receive a compensatory RFA credit for its RFA loss.

Enforcement Change #3 .....

What about the player that is placed on DNR after the first day of the new league year and is already on one or more teams' rosters on a secondary basis?

The website software has been extended to perform this function automatically on a real time basis whenever a player is placed on the DNR list.

Now, the only way a player who fails to pass the various secondary player eligibility tests would be able to play for an ENYTB team other than his primary team would be if the team he wishes to play for were to add him to its roster on a primary basis and thereby use an RFA credit to do so (which is how the player acquisition process is supposed to work). And, of course, when an RFA is acquired on a primary basis, the team losing the player on a primary basis will be awarded a compensatory credit for its loss.
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