1.  LEAGUE FORMAT.

The competition will be conducted under the rules of the English Bridge Union, regarding systems and alerting. 
Level 4 conventions are permitted in the North East League.

Each Team will play matches of 24 boards against all the other eight teams in the Division. 

2.  TEAM STRUCTURE.

A team may consist of up to 6 players but no more than 4 may play in one match.  
No player may represent more than one team in this competition.

3.  MATCH ARRANGEMENTS.

Match fixtures and dates for each Round will be set by the Tournament Secretary within 3-4 week windows spread throughout the season. The designated home team Captain should offer at least one date to the opposing team Captains at least two weeks before the start of the date window.  Both team Captains should try to agree a mutually acceptable date & starting time within one week of the initial offer.  In the event of difficulty agreeing a proposed date, the home Captain must then offer a minimum of 4 additional dates. These must be in two different weeks within the window and include two different weekdays.  The away Captain must accept at least one date offered within 7 days, no less than 4 days before the accepted date.

It is the responsibility of the home team to arrange a suitable venue and light refreshments for both teams.

All League matches should be played wherever possible within the date windows for the Round specified by the Tournament Secretary.

4.  SEATING RIGHTS.

For all matches, the home team pairs remain seated in the same positions throughout the match. The team Captains will toss for choice of the first half seating rights.  The Captain with seating rights for a set of boards makes his choice after the opponents have nominated the position of their two pairs.  Team scores can only be compared after each set of boards have been played.

24 board matches are played in two sets of 12 boards with the away team’s pairs switching at half time. 

5.  SCORING

Scoring will be by International Match Points converted to Victory Points according to the scale below. 
If a board is fouled so that it cannot be scored, an additional board is added to the set.

IMP ~ VP Conversion table

Ties in the League will be broken as follows:-

(a) Two teams - the result of the match between them, or if tied, total number of matches won, or if still tied, by the net IMP’s in all matches.

(b) Three or more teams - the results of the matches between the tied teams in VP’s. If two or more teams are still tied, the total number of matches won, and then if there is still a tie, the net IMP’s in all matches.

6.  DISPUTE PROCEDURE

Team captains should attempt to resolve any dispute that may arise during the match.  Should they be unable to do so, the match should be completed. If the point at issue might have affected the result of the match, full details of the dispute, signed by all the participants should be sent to the Tournament Secretary as soon as possible, for a ruling by the Chief Tournament Director.

7.  MATCH RESULT NOTIFICATION

After each match, both teams must complete their own Results Form provided, to include the names of all the players & their EBU numbers, the final IMP and Victory Point scores, signed by both Captains.  After all matches have been completed by their team, each team Captain should immediately send their completed match Result Forms to the Tournament Secretary.

In addition, after each match, the Captains of both teams must notify the Tournament Secretary of the match result within one week of the match date giving details of the two team Captains, the final IMP and Victory Point scores.

8.  MATCH DELAYS

Teams should make every effort to start matches at the agreed time. If a team arrives more than 30 minutes late, the opposing team has the right to curtail the match by 4 boards for every 30 minutes of lateness.  The non-offending team is entitled to claim 3 IMP’s for every board removed.  This right must be exercised or rejected BEFORE play commences.  Where a team has not notified that it will be late, the match may be claimed by the non-offending team after a delay of one hour. Where a team has notified that it will be late, the match may be claimed after two hours.

In the event of bad weather, any cancellation must be agreed between the Captains by 10 am for an afternoon match, or 6 pm for an evening match.

If a match cannot be arranged within the specified match date window, Team Captains immediately should notify the Tournament Secretary for a ruling.

If a match is claimed or not played by the end of April 2008, it will be awarded against the team that broke the agreed date (except for bad weather), or against the home team that did not offer dates as in section 3.  The offending team will score 0 VP’s while the non-offending team will score the higher of their season’s average, or 20 minus their opponent’s average.  If a team fails to play more than half of their matches, they are removed from the league and their results cancelled.