General
1.
The cost is £16 per team (less £2 per junior up to 4 juniors).2.
In case of ambiguity or unforeseen circumstances, the Competitions Committee may amend or add to these rules as they deem appropriate.The Draw
1. A full draw will be made by the Chairman of B&BCBA or his appointee as soon after 24 August as is practicable and all Captains will be advised of the draw by email.
2. The draw will produce a list of teams in drawn order.
3. In Round one, the team at the end of the list will be paired against the penultimate team and the next lowest team against the team immediately above them, continuing in this way until these matches will have reduced the number of remaining teams, after taking account of the matches so drawn, to a power of 2.
4. In subsequent rounds, the highest team will play against the second team and the third against the fourth etc.
5. The first listed team will be the home team in all rounds.
Match arrangements
1. Matches will be of 24 boards until the quarter final, semi final and final which will all be of 32 boards. Scoring is by IMPs. Matches will be divided into 4 stanzas of 6 (or 4 stanzas of 8 as necessary). The Captains will toss and the winning captain may take first choice or may pass that choice to his opponent. The first choice is for seating rights for one stanza; the other captain then selects two other stanzas in which to have seating rights.
2. Immediately after each match, the winning captain must advise the Event Coordinator, Nigel Thompson, of the result and, if his next round opponent is known, advise that opponent.
Timings
The play by dates for each round are:
Round 1: 11 October 2009
Quarter-final: 20 December 2009
Semi-final: 21 February 2010
Final: 25 April
2010
This gives 7 weeks between most rounds. Because of the full initial draw, next round matches can be organised before all previous round matches are completed. This should allow maximium flexibility in arranging matches without impacting on other competitions.
Arranging Matches
1.1 The home team will offer the away team a minimum of four dates, of which no more than two shall be in the same week.
1.2 Each round must be completed by the closing date specified in the draw, unless the Event Coordinator has allowed an extension.
Notes
1 Captains who already know their next round opponent are encouraged to arrange matches before the full round is complete.
2 Away captains must ensure that they have the telephone number of the venue for each match.
Composition of Teams
Teams may consist of 4, 5 or 6 players. All players must have B&B as their county of first allegiance and not have entered in another competing team.
Venues
2.1 Unless otherwise agreed between the captains, smoking will not be allowed.
2.2 If the visiting team gives the home team reasonable notice that it will, or is likely to, include a disabled player with special requirements, the home team shall be required to provide a venue which is able to accommodate those special requirements. If the home team is unable to do so, the venue of the match shall be switched to one provided by the visiting team at its own expense.
2.3 Unless both captains agree to waive the requirement, matches must be played at a venue within ten miles of a club affiliated to B&BCBA.
2.4 The home captain must advise the visiting captain if there are any time restraints on the venue if, for instance, the venue closes at a certain time.
Licensed systems
Systems and conventions at licence level 4 may be used.
Format of the Match
3.1 There are no seating rights during a tie break. If necessary, captains should exchange written declarations of the placing of their teams.
3.2 Either captain may opt before the start of a match to have a 'closed' room, which will be specified by the captain who organised the venue. Team members may only watch in the open room. Spectators may only watch in the open room with the agreement of both captains.
3.3 Should a team arrive more than thirty minutes late, its opponents have the right to curtail the match four boards for every half hour of lateness, which right they may legitimately exercise or renounce after half the scheduled boards of play. Where the opponents have failed to notify of lateness the match may be claimed after one hour; where the opponents have notified, after two hours.
3.4 In the case of a tie, four additional boards will be played. If the tie remains then aggregate scoring over all boards shall determine the result. If there is still a tie, a replay may be arranged, provided this takes place within the time limit for the round. Otherwise the tie shall be determined by lot.
Submission of Results
4.1 After agreeing the score, both captains should sign the completed result sheet, which should be retained by the winning captain. The result should be emailed by the winning captain to the Event Coordinator within two days with details of all players and the number of boards played by each member of the winning team. If the winning captain does not have email then the result sheet should be posted to the Event Coordinator to be received within 5 days.
4.2 Where a mistake of fact (such as a mis-scoring) is discovered within five days after a match, the Event Coordinator shall be informed by email. If the facts are not agreed, the captains shall ensure that all relevant information is sent to the Event Coordinator for determination.
Rulings of First Instance and Appeals
5.1 Where a dispute arises in the course of a match and the captains are unable to resolve it, the captains are strongly encouraged to obtain a ruling, by phone (not after 11 pm), from an agreed member of the county referees panel as shown in the 2009/10 County Handbook.
This should take place after the dispute arises, so that the next set of boards is started with a ruling of first instance in place.
5.2 If a ruling of first instance cannot be achieved as suggested in rule 5.1, a result must be agreed subject to ruling and the results sheet must be signed accordingly. Details of the hand or hands in question and the arguments of the parties thereto must be sent to the Event Coordinator within 72 hours of the match date. The Event Coordinator will send the papers to the Appeals Secretary who will obtain a ruling of first instance from a County Teams Referee. The ruling will be sent to team captains within 7 days of the receipt of the request for a ruling by the Event Coordinator.
5.3 If either captain wishes to appeal against a ruling of first instance delivered according to rule 5.1 above, the result should be agreed subject to appeal and the result sheet signed accordingly. Details of the hand or hands in question and the arguments of the parties thereto must be sent to the Event Coordinator within 72 hours of the match date.
Where the ruling of first instance was delivered according to paragraph 5.2 above, any appeal against this ruling must be submitted in writing to the Appeals Secretary within 7 days of the ruling of first instance being communicated. The team captains will normally be notified of the judgement of the appeals committee within 28 days.
Any appeal must be accompanied by a deposit of £20. The appeal may be accompanied by a submission containing the arguments for appeal. The opposing captain will be given the opportunity to make a submission.
5.4 The decision of the appeals committee shall be notified to the captains by the Appeals Secretary. The appeal deposit is returnable unless the appeal is dismissed by the appeals committee considering the appeal to be frivolous.
The Pachabo
All players who have played at any stage in the competition will have their names on the trophy as holders and will be eligible to play in the Pachabo. Where one or more members of the winning team cannot compete in the Pachabo, replacements will be selected by the winning captain from the losing finalists, up to a limit of six players in the revised team.
Entry to the Pachabo will be paid for by BBCBA but players must pay all other expenses.
Victor Ludorum
Victor Ludorum points shall be awarded as follows:
· players are entitles to VL points providing that they have played at least 1/3 of the boards.
· the VL award for winning a quarter-final will be 1 VL point; the VL award for winning a semi-final or the final will be 2 VL points.
· players will gain VL points in knockout matches only if they play one third of the boards or if the match is conceded before completion
· when a match is conceded before it takes place, all members of the other team will be awarded VL points as if the match had been played and won
Master Points
Green Points will be awarded to the winning teams : 0.5 in first round, 0.75 in quarter-final,1.25 in semi-final and 2.0 in the final.
Players are entitled to master points providing they have played at least 1/3 of the boards.
A total of master points won in all stages of the County Teams Championship will be sent to the EBU at the end of June.
Players who win 6 or more green points will also receive gold points.