A deadline for all dispensation applications has been inserted as a new Regulation 3.4 so that any known dates and/or stand-by dates that teams cannot reasonably fulfill are considered before the start of the season rather than such application being made a few days before the scheduled match if the circumstances are such that could be known about well in advance.

However, an “exceptional circumstances” provision has been included.

A new Regulation 6.1.1 provides that any unfulfilled Premier League match will be rescheduled, and the defaulting team may be subject to sanction. Previously, that provision had been included as an add-on exception to the original Regulation 6.1.1, which defined that a 28-0 result would be awarded in the case of non-fulfillment in a Women's Championship match.

WOMEN’S CUP REGULATIONS

The Women’s Cup, Bowl and Plate will now be contested as knock-out competitions. Previously, these competitions had been contested a series of one-day tournaments leading up to finals day.

The revised format has necessitated considerable changes to Regulations 3 (Draw and Dates), 4 (Match Venues), 5 (Dates of Rounds), 7 (Postponement and Abandonment), and 10.4 (Replacements/Substitutes).

The new wording in these Regulations closely follows the men’s Cup equivalents.