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1. LEAGUES AND ENTRIES
a. The Federation shall organise a number of leagues, in which teams from Member Clubs may play matches against one another. The leagues currently supported are:
(1) the Federation League;
(2) the 'B' League;
(3) the Intermediate League;
(4) the League For Advanced Play.
b. The Federation League, 'B' League and Intermediate League (the "Handicap Leagues") shall each consist of two or more all‑play‑all blocks. The number of blocks in each league and the allocation of entrants to those blocks shall be at the discretion of the League Secretary, except that in a league containing 20 or more entrants that league shall be structured in a minimum of four blocks.
c. The League For Advanced Play (the "Advanced League") shall consist of two divisions, namely Division 1 ("The Parkstone Trophy") and Division 2 ("The Parkstone Qualifier"). Each division shall normally comprise a single all‑play‑all block. A team shall remain in the same division from season to season, subject to:
(1) any promotion or relegation under 14a(2) at the end of a season; and
(2) its application for a place in the League under 1d for the following season.
d. The Federation Secretary shall invite applications from clubs in the Federation for places in the leagues for the following year when notifying them of the
agenda for the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
e. The deadline for entries shall be fourteen days after the AGM.
2. FIXTURES AND VENUES
The fixtures and their venues for each season shall be laid down by the League Secretary, who shall send out notification to each club of its league fixture commitment for the following season no later than one month after the AGM.
3. FIXTURE DATES
a. It shall be the duty of all clubs concerned to arrange the dates for their fixtures and submit them to the League Secretary by 1st February. Appendix 1 is to act as a checklist for club tournament secretaries / team captains.
b. No fixture shall be arranged for a date later than the penultimate Sunday in August, except in the League For Advanced Play.
c. It shall be the duty of the League Secretary to publish a full league fixture list, with details of dates and venues, in the South West Area Newsletter (SWAN).
d. Once SWAN has been published, a fixture date may only be changed in exceptional circumstances with the agreement of both clubs and subject to immediate notification to the League Secretary.
e. If two teams from the same club are in the same
block in a League then those teams must play the fixture between them before
any other game for either of those teams.
4. ELIGIBILITY
a. Only current playing club members shall be eligible to represent that club.
b. For any given league, no player shall play for more than one team during one season, except in the following circumstance: a club entering a team in each
division of the League For Advanced Play must declare each team squad to the League Secretary before the first game of the season; thereafter no
member of the Division 1 squad may play in Division 2, and no member of the Division 2 squad may play more than one match in Division 1
(un‑nominated players will be assumed to be members of the squad of that team for which they first play). Note that this does not preclude a player from
participating in more than one league during any season, or from playing for another club in a different league.
c. On the day any match is played, each player shall comply with the appropriate handicap restriction from the following:
(1) There is no handicap restriction in the League for Advanced Play.
(2) Players with handicaps of 15 or below may play in the Federation League matches. In addition, a team may field one player whose handicap is 16 or above but that player must play off 15.
(3) Players with handicaps within a range of 9 to 18 may play in the Intermediate League matches. In addition, a team may field one player whose handicap is 19 or above but that player must play off 18.
(4) Players with handicaps within a range of 16 to 24 may play in the 'B' League matches. In addition, a team may field one player whose handicap is 25 or above but that player must play off 24.
d. Where a player has a Croquet Association (CA) handicap different from his club handicap, the CA handicap shall be the one referred to for the purposes of c(1) to c(4) above.
e. A CA handicapper, who is a member of a team, may not alter the handicap of a member of the opposition without that player’s consent.
5. SIZE OF TEAMS
a. The size of teams for any given fixture is a matter for agreement between the opposing clubs, subject to (b) and (c) below.
b. The minimum team size shall be three players.
c. Subject to (b) above, where teams cannot agree on the team size, the lower of the two suggested figures shall be used.
d. Nothing in (a) to (c) above shall restrict a club from substituting new players in the afternoon session of the match.
6. MATCH FORMATS
a. Whatever the team size, the match shall be arranged so that one side must win.
b. Subject to 5(a) and 6(a) above, and the number of lawns it has available, the home club shall choose the match format. Appendix 2 lists the possible match formats.
c. A match shall consist of a minimum of five games.
One‑lawn clubs may either play two afternoon sessions (see 8a(4) and 8b(2))
or triple-bank.
7. GAME FORMATS
a. LEAGUE FOR ADVANCED PLAY. All games shall be played according to the CA Laws for Advanced Play on full- or near to full-sized lawns.
b. FEDERATION AND INTERMEDIATE LEAGUES. All games shall be played according to the CA Laws for Handicap Play on full or near to full-
sized lawns.
c. 'B' LEAGUE.
(1) All games shall be either:
i. 26‑point games played on half-sized lawns; or
ii. 14‑point games played on full- or near to full-sized lawns.
(2) The choice in (1) above shall rest with the home club, which may decide to play some games in the match on full-sized lawns and other games on
half-sized lawns.
(3) All games shall be played according to the CA Laws for Full Bisque Handicap Play, using a Base Handicap of 13½.
i. 26‑point games, on half-sized lawns, shall use the full calculated bisque allocation.
ii. 14‑point games shall use the calculated bisque allocation modified, in accordance with published Schedules, for 14‑point games and for full-sized lawns.
Appendix 3 specifies the allocation of bisques.
8. TIME LIMITS
a. ADVANCED, FEDERATION AND INTERMEDIATE LEAGUES
(1) Time limits for any session shall be 3 hrs, 3¼ hrs or 3½ hrs, to be determined by the away club. Other time limits may be imposed by the agreement
of the two captains.
(2) The time taken for stoppages (for tea, coffee, etc.) shall be added to extend the time limits.
(3) Notwithstanding (1) and (2) above, where the home club has only one lawn and wishes to play three games in one session, the away club may
decide that all or some of the singles games in that match shall be limited to 2½ hrs.
(4) In the Federation and Intermediate Leagues, where the home club wishes to play two rounds of singles in one session, any singles game in that
session may be given a 2‑hour time limit and, in that case, will be played as an 18‑point game, starting at Hoop 5, with the number of bisques
reduced accordingly.
b. 'B' LEAGUE
(1) Any doubles game and any singles game not covered by (2) below may be given time limits of 2½ hrs, 2¾ hrs, 3 hrs, 3¼ hrs or 3½ hrs, to be
determined by the away club. Other time limits may be imposed by the agreement of the two captains.
(2) Where the home club wishes to play two rounds of singles in one session on half-sized lawns, any singles game in that session may be given a 2‑hour
time limit and, in that case, will be played as an 18‑point game, starting at Hoop 5, with the number of bisques reduced accordingly.
c. WHARRAD TURNS. Games will be concluded with Wharrad Turns if both captains agree. If the captains disagree a coin will be tossed and the winner
will decide whether Wharrad Turns are to be used. Wharrad Turns will be conducted according to CA Tournament Regulation T3 and will start 1 hour
before the end of the agreed time limit. (See Appendix 4)
9. PAIRING OF OPPONENTS
a. In all leagues it shall be the duty of the team captains to arrange the pairing of opponents for all games of the match prior to the start of the morning session.
b. The captains should first arrange the pairings for the sessions with the most singles games (normally the afternoon session) by choosing their doubles pairings, if any, and then pairing opponents for the singles games by random draw.
c. Games in the other (usually morning) session should then be arranged so that no game is repeated.
d. LEAGUE FOR ADVANCED PLAY ONLY. As play may be all singles, all doubles or a mixture of both the following apply:
(1) When more than one doubles game is agreed the captains shall nominate their pairings; games shall be played in order of aggregate handicaps. The
remaining singles games shall be between the players with the highest handicaps in order of handicap.
(2) Players playing singles in the first session must play different opponents in the second session, but otherwise second-session games shall be played in handicap order.
10. REPORTING OF RESULTS
It shall be the duty of the home club to inform the League Secretary of the match result and provide him with details of the games within seven days of the match.
11. WALKOVERS/ABANDONED GAMES
a. If a club fails to provide the minimum size of team for any match, the League Secretary shall be empowered to award a walkover win to its opponents.
b. A walkover win shall be scored 3‑0.
c. In the event of a match having to be abandoned, the match shall be awarded to the team with the most wins in completed games. If the number of completed games is shared equally, the match shall be declared a draw.
12. FINAL BLOCK POSITIONS
a. In determining the positions in an all‑play‑all block after all fixtures have been decided, teams shall be ranked in order of match wins achieved.
b. Where two teams have the same number of match wins, the team which won the match between them in that season shall be ranked the higher.
c. Where more than two teams have the same number of match wins, a mini-block of the matches between the teams concerned shall be examined, and the principles of (a), then (b), above shall be re‑applied. If (b) above cannot be applied to the mini-block, the teams shall be ranked in order according to the percentage of games they have won in the mini-block during that season.
d. Where, following the application of (c) above, two teams are now ranked equally, (b) above shall be re‑applied.
e. Where, following the application of (c) and (d) above, more than two teams are ranked equally, those teams shall be ranked in order of the average points difference achieved per game played in the mini-block during that season.
f. Where, as a result of (e) above, two teams are now ranked equally, (b) above shall be re‑applied.
g. If (a) to (f) fail to resolve the equality in ranking, lots shall be drawn by the Committee to determine the matter.
13. PLAY-OFFS AND FINALS ("HANDICAP LEAGUES" ONLY)
a. After the final block positions for each of the constituent blocks have been determined, then in each block the team with the highest position shall be declared the Block Winner. For each league the Committee shall arrange such play‑offs between the block winners as may be necessary to produce two finalists.
b. Play-offs shall be staged at the venues of block winners, and each block that is to provide the host and “Home” club shall be determined on a rotational basis and printed in SWAN. Matches may be played on any date after the penultimate Sunday in August, by arrangement between the clubs involved, but no fewer than seven days before the scheduled date for the relevant final. It is the responsibility of both clubs in each match to inform the League Secretary of the agreed date.
c. League finals shall be staged at venues (host clubs) and on dates decided by the Committee and printed in SWAN. For each of the finals, the “Home” club shall be determined by the League Secretary.
d. For each play-off and final, the host club shall:
(1) determine the number and size of the lawns; and
(2) appoint a referee.
e. The winner of the Federation League shall represent the Federation in the Secretary’s Shield in the following season.
14. OUTCOME AND ENTRIES (LEAGUE FOR ADVANCED PLAY ONLY)
a. After the final block positions for each of the two divisions have been determined, the outcome of the league shall be decided as follows.
(1) The team with the highest position in Division 1 shall be declared the winner of The Parkstone Trophy for that season.
(2) For the following season, under normal circumstances, the team with the lowest position in Division 1 shall be relegated to play in Division 2, and the team with the highest position in Division 2 shall be promoted to play in Division 1. However, the Committee may vary the number of teams promoted or relegated.
b. A new entrant to the League shall be assigned to Division 2 (The Parkstone Qualifier).
15. MATTERS IN DISPUTE
The Committee shall have the power to resolve:
• any matter not covered by the rules;
• disputes over the interpretation of anything contained within these rules.
16. AMENDMENTS
These rules are subject to amendment at any General Meeting of the Federation by simple majority of the delegates present.
APPENDIX 1
Step by Step Guide for Arranging a League Match
| STEPS | RELEVANT RULES |
| Before 1st February | |
| 1.Once you have been notified of your fixture commitments, you should contact your opponents and agree a date for the fixture. | 2, 3a, 3b & 3e |
| 2.Notify the League Secretary of the dates agreed for your fixtures. | 3a |
| As Soon As Possible | |
| 3.Contact your opponents to agree team sizes. | 5 |
| 4.The home club should then decide the match format and notify the away club. Where relevant they shall also inform the away club of the size of lawns to be used. | 6&7 See also Appendix 2 |
| 5.The home club should notify the away club of any time limits it needs to apply to make a certain match format viable. | 8a (2&4) & 8b (2) |
| 6.The away club shall decide time limits for games not covered by 5 above and shall notify the home club of these. | 8a(1&3) & 8b(1) |
| On Match Day | |
| 7.The team captains shall arrange the pairing of opponents for all games prior to the start of the match. | 9 |
| NOT LATER THAN 7 DAYS AFTER THE MATCH | |
| 8.The home club shall inform the League Secretary of the match result and the full details of the games | 10 & 11 |
APPENDIX 2
POSSIBLE MATCH FORMATS
The following chart indicates combinations of Doubles (D) and Singles (S)
games which will enable a result to be obtained on different numbers of
available lawns.
Number of Available Lawns |
ONE |
TWO |
THREE |
FOUR or MORE |
| Number of Players | am . . . . . . . . . pm | am . . . . . . . . . pm | am . . . . . . . . . pm | am . . . . . . . . . pm |
| 3 | 1D,1S . . . . ...3S* | 1D,1S . . . . . . 3S | 1D,1S . . . . . 3S | 1D,1S . . . . . . 3S |
| 4 | 2D . . . . 1D,2S* | 2D . . . . . . 1D,2S
1D,2S . . . . . . .4S |
2D . . . . . . 1D,2S
1D,2S . . . . . . 4S |
2D . . . . . . 1D,2S
1D,2S . . . . . . 4S |
| 5 | 2D,1S . . . .1D,3S | 2D,1S . . . .1D,3S
1D,3S . . . . . . 5S |
2D,1S . . . .1D,3S
1D,3S . . . . . . 5S |
|
| 6 | 3D . . . . . . 2D,2S | 3D. . . . . . .2D,2S
3D . . . . . . . . .6S 2D,2S . . . 1D,4S 1D,4S . . . . . . 6S |
3D. . . . . . .2D,2S
3D . . . . . . . . . 6S 2D,2S . . . . 1D,4S 1D,4S . . . . . . .6S |
|
| 7 | 3D,1S . . . 2D,3S
2D,3S . . . 1D,5S |
3D,1S . . . 2D,3S
2D,3S . . . 1D,5S 3D,1S . . . . . . 7S 1D,5S . . . . . . 7S |
||
| 8 | 4D . . . . . .3D,2S
3D,2S . . . 2D,4S |
4D . . . . . .3D,2S
3D,2S . . .2D,4S 3D,2S . . . . . .8S 4D . . . . . .1D,6S 1D,6S . . . . . . 8S |
NOTES
1. There is no reason why you shouldn't have even bigger teams if you have lawn space, balls and players available.
2. Many of the above formats, of necessity, involve double banking. In B League matches on half size lawns double banking is not feasible but 2 x 2-hour games can be played on a half size lawn in a 4-hour session.
3. * These formats require 2 consecutive singles games to be played on the same lawn in the same session, unless triple banking is used.
All games in the 'B' League are to be played under the conditions of Full Bisque Handicap Play.
26-point games on small lawns will be played from a base of 13½. This means that each player must deduct 13½ from their CA or Club handicap to find the number of bisques for the game.
14-point games on full-sized lawns will also be played from a base of 13½, but the bisque allocation must be modified to take account of the reduced points and the bigger lawn size.
The following table is a quick reference indicating the number of bisques to be allocated in any 'B' League singles game.
|
Player's CA or Club handicap |
Allocation of bisques to this player in a 26-point game |
Allocation of bisques to this player in a 14-point game |
|
16 |
2½ |
2½ |
|
18 |
4½ |
4 |
|
20 |
6½ |
5½ |
|
22 |
8½ |
7 |
|
24 |
10½ |
8½ |
NB Both players are given bisques in accordance with the above table.
For doubles, each side must deduct 13½ from half the aggregate handicap of the side.
The following table is a quick reference indicating the number of bisques to be allocated in any 'B' League doubles game.
|
Side's aggregate handicap |
Allocation of bisques to this side in a 26-point game |
Allocation of bisques to this side in a 14-point game |
|
32 |
2½ |
2½ |
|
34 |
3½ |
3 |
|
36 |
4½ |
4 |
|
38 |
5½ |
4½ |
|
40 |
6½ |
5½ |
|
42 |
7½ |
6 |
|
44 |
8½ |
7 |
|
46 |
9½ |
7½ |
|
48 |
10½ |
8½ |
NB Both sides are given bisques in accordance with the above table.
APPENDIX 4
CA TOURNAMENT REGULATION T3 (T2 is included for clarity as it is referred to in T3 – full Tournament Regulations are available on the CA website)
T2 EXPIRY OF TIME LIMIT
a. GENERAL PROCEDURE.
1. When a time limit has been imposed on a game, the players should arrange for an independent person or, failing that, one of themselves to be responsible for announcing audibly that the time limit has been reached.
2. Play then continues for an extension period in which the striker completes his
turn and his adversary plays one subsequent turn. For the sole purpose of
determining whether the striker's turn ends before or after time is called, it is
deemed that his turn ends and the adversary's turn begins as soon as the
striker, in the last stroke of his turn:
· strikes the striker's ball,
· plays an air-shot,
· commits a fault, or
· plays the stroke by declaring that he will leave his ball where it lies, which in this case he may only do after any balls moved by previous strokes have come to rest and any balls in hand have been placed in lawful positions.
3. The side which has scored the greater number of points at the end of the extension period is the winner. If each side has scored the same number of points, play continues and the side for which the next point is scored is the winner (any points scored subsequently in the stroke are ignored).
b. HANDICAP GAMES.
1. No half-bisque or bisque may be played during the extension period or immediately thereafter by the player in play when the extension period ends. If play continues after the end of the extension period under (a)(3) above, any half-bisque or bisques may then be played.
2. For the purpose of this regulation, a half bisque or bisque is played when the first stroke of that turn is played. Accordingly, if a player indicates that he intends to play a half-bisque, but does not play its first stroke before time is called, the half-bisque or bisque is deemed not to have been played and his opponent's turn is deemed to have begun before time was called.
c. RESTORATION OR ADJUSTMENT OF TIME. This Regulation is subject to Law 53(g)(2) and Regulation R4(c).
T3 LIMIT ON NUMBER OF TURNS
a. APPLICABILITY. As an alternative to a one-hour time limit imposed under Regulation T1(b), or to the final hour of a time limit imposed under Regulation T1(a), the Manager may limit instead the number of further turns to twelve (exclusive of any bisque turns) to be played by each side. The general procedure is as described in Regulations T2(a)(1–2), with the following provisions.
b. START. The additional turns shall start after the end of the extension period defined in Regulation T2(a)(2). Regulation T2(b) will not apply.
c. END. If the game has not ended before these turns are completed, the side which has scored the greater number of points is the winner. If each side has scored the same number of points, play continues and the side for which the next point is scored is the winner (any points scored subsequently in the stroke are ignored).