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.
|
IMP diff |
VP |
IMP diff |
VP |
|
0 |
10
- 10 |
46 - 57 |
16 - 4 |
|
1 - 7 |
11 - 9 |
58 - 70 |
17 - 3 |
|
8 - 15 |
12 - 8 |
71 - 84 |
18 - 2 |
|
16 - 24 |
13 - 7 |
85 - 99 |
19 - 1 |
|
25 - 34 |
14 - 6 |
100 + |
20 - 0 |
|
35 - 45 |
15 - 5 |
|
|
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.