INTER-CLUB LEAGUE REGULATIONS

1. The Inter-Club League will be conducted under the rules of the English Bridge Union, including the current regulations regarding systems and alerting. Level 4 systems & conventions are allowed in this League and pairs must have identically completed convention cards. The competition Tournament Secretary is empowered to act on behalf of the NEBA Council to resolve any dispute that arises.

2. The event will consist of matches of 32 boards played in sets of 8. In Division A, Captains should toss for seating rights in either sets 1 & 3 or sets 2 & 4 before play commences. In all other Divisions, matches are played on an 'all play all’ basis; the away teams pairs remain seated in the same position throughout the match.

3. A team may consist of 8 to 10 players.  Clubs must always select their strongest pairs for their A team and so on. If more than 8 players are selected for an away match, the club must notify its opposition in advance and agree to pay the cost of the extra refreshments. Pairs may only be changed at the end of a set of boards. Players must play at least 2 sets in a match to qualify for master points.

4. Every player must be a fully paid-up member of the North Eastern Bridge Association before participating. Violation of this condition will lead to disqualification of the offending team for that match. No player can play for more than one club in a season or for more than one team in the same round.

5. Scoring will be on a team of eight basis by International Match Points (IMP) converted to Victory Points (VP) according to the following scale. Team Captains should supply their own score sheets.

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

7. Team Captains should ensure that a copy of these rules is available at each match and attempt to resolve any dispute that arises. 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 for a ruling by the NEBA Chief Tournament Director.

8. If a board is fouled, any valid score already achieved will count whenever possible. It may be necessary to correct the board or reverse directions at a later table to obtain a comparison. If a board can only be played correctly at two tables it is scored as played and re-dealt and played at the remaining pair of tables. IMPs are calculated separately for each pair of tables. If a board can only be played correctly at three tables the single score in one direction is counted twice in the scoring and the board is not played at the other table.

9. The home team Captains must promptly notify the Tournament Secretary of their match results, by e-mail or telephone. The Tournament Secretary is empowered to impose a fine of 2 VP on home teams not notifying the result within 5 days. After the final round, team Captains must send to the Master Point Secretary a complete list of players for matches won by the team stating the number of boards each player has played in each match and their EBU numbers.

10. The Inter-Club League is based on Divisions of six teams. At the end of each season 2 teams will be promoted and 2 teams will be relegated. Ties are broken on the result of the match between the tying teams. Depending on the number of teams available, the lowest Divisions will be organised as felt appropriate by the Tournament Secretary.

11. The Tournament Secretary will try to arrange fixtures so that teams from the same club are at home or away together, and to balance the number of home and away matches. When 2 teams from the same club are in the same Division, their match will normally be the first of the season.

12. Matches must take place on the dates advised by the Tournament Secretary and published in the NEBA Programme booklet. Matches start at 2 pm unless an alternative time is agreed in writing by both team Captains.

13. 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 four boards for every 30 minutes of lateness. The non-offending team will receive 4 IMP for every board removed. This right must be exercised or rejected before play commences. Boards should be removed equally between the 4 sets. The non-offending team can claim the match after 1 hour of un-notified absence (2 hours if notified).

14. In the event of bad weather, any cancellation must be arranged between the team Captains preferably by 10 a.m. on the day of the match. No other reasons are acceptable for the cancellation of a match. Any such cancellations must be approved by the Tournament Secretary, or in their absence, by the Chief Tournament Secretary

15. When bad weather prevents a match from being played, the home team Captain must offer a minimum of three alternative dates. They must be in two different weeks and include two different days of the week and one weekend afternoon not clashing with a NEBA event. Mid-week matches will be 24 boards with a revised VP scale. Matches should preferably be played before the next round and can only be played mid-week with the agreement of the Tournament Secretary. If the home team Captain does not offer dates as required or the away team does not accept a valid offer, they are deemed to have defaulted.

16. If a match is not played, the result will be 14-0 to the non-defaulting team, or the non-defaulting team’s average match results over the season if higher. The NEBA Council expects all fixtures to be fulfilled and may take appropriate action in case of cancellation not covered by rule 15 above.  If any team fails to play two or more matches their scores are cancelled and they are removed from the league.

17. If a team withdraws, or is removed, from the League, only one team from that Division is relegated at the end of the season but two teams are still promoted from the Division immediately below. This procedure is then repeated for all the lower Divisions in turn to make up for the loss. Teams wishing to rejoin the League will be expected to play in the lowest Division of the League.

18. The winner of Division A will qualify to represent the NEBA in the Garden Cities Trophy.