1.ENTRIES

a. The Federation Secretary shall invite applications from clubs in the region for places in the leagues for the following year when notifying them of the agenda for the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

b. The deadline for entries shall be fourteen days after the AGM.

2.FIXTURES AND VENUES

a. 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.

b. In a League competition comprising 20 or more entrants, the League shall be structured in a minimum of four blocks

3.FIXTURE DATES

a. No fixture shall be arranged for a date later than the penultimate Sunday in August, except for the Advanced League.

b. It shall be the duty of all clubs concerned to submit the dates agreed for their fixtures to the League Secretary by 1st February. Appendix 1 is to act as a check-list for club tournament secretaries / team captains.

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, dates 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 section of 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 members of the club shall be eligible to represent that club.

b. No player shall play for more than one team in any league during one season.

c. A player may represent one club in any league during one season provided that on the date of the match he plays in he is eligible to play in that match under the terms of (d) to (g) below. 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 Parkstone Trophy team may play for the Advanced League Qualifying team, and no member of the Qualifying team may play more than one match for the Parkstone Trophy team. Un-nominated players will be assumed to be members of the squad of that team for which they first play.

d. There is no handicap restriction in the League for Advanced Play.

e. Players with singles handicaps of 15 or below may play in the Federation League matches. In addition, teams may field one player whose singles handicap is 16 or above but that player must play off 15.

f. Players with singles handicaps within a range of 9 to 18 may play in the Intermediate League matches. In addition, teams may field one player whose singles handicap is 19 or above but that player must play off 18.

g. Only players with singles handicaps of 16 or above may play in the 'B' League matches. Players with club handicaps in excess of 24 must play off 24 in this competition.

h. Where a player has a Croquet Association (CA) singles handicap different from his club singles handicap, the CA handicap shall be the one referred to for the purposes of (d) to (g) above.

i. No CA handicapper, who is a member of a team, may alter the handicap of a member of the opposition without their 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. Minimum team size to 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 - 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(1) above and the number of lawns it has available, the home club shall choose the match format. Appendix 2 lists the possible match formats.

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, 3 hrs 15 mins or 3 hrs 30 mins, 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 2 hrs 30 mins.

(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 hr time limit and, in that case, will be played as an 18 point game, starting at Hoop 5.

b. 'B' LEAGUE

(1) Any doubles games and any singles games not covered by (2) below) may be given time limits of 2 hrs 30 mins, 2 hrs 45 mins, 3 hrs, 3 hrs 15 mins or 3 hrs 30 mins, 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 size 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.

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 one 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, the match shall be declared a draw.

12.FINAL LEAGUE POSITIONS

a. In determining the league positions 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 wins, a mini block of the matches between the teams concerned will 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 the season.

f. Where, as a result of (e) above, two teams are now ranked equally, (b) above shall be reapplied.

g. If (a) to (f) fail to produce a league winner, lots shall be drawn by the Committee to choose the team qualifying for the play-off match.

13.PLAY-OFFS

a. The Committee shall arrange play-offs, where necessary, to produce two finalists for each league.

b. The play-offs and league finals shall be at venues and dates to be decided by the Committee and printed in SWAN.

c. The host club shall determine the number and size of the lawns for the play-offs and league finals. The 'home' club is determined by the League Secretary.

d. The host club shall appoint a referee for the play-offs and finals.

e. The winner of the Federation League shall represent the Federation in the Secretary's Shield in the following season.

14.MATTERS IN DISPUTE

The Committee shall have the power to resolve:
a. any matter not covered by the rules.
b. disputes over the interpretation of anything contained within these rules.

15.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
 

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.
 

NOTES

There is no reason why you shouldn't have even bigger teams if you have lawn space, balls and players available.

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.

*( )* These formats require 2 consecutive singles games to be played on the same lawn in the same session.

APPENDIX 3

FULL BISQUE GAMES – ALLOCATION OF BISQUES

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.

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.

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

1. 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 he strikes the striker's ball or is deemed to have played it in the last stroke of his turn.
   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).
2. HANDICAP GAMES. 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.
3. RESTORATION OR ADJUSTMENT OF TIME. This Regulation is subject to Law 53(g)(2) and Regulation R4(c).

T3 LIMIT ON NUMBER OF TURNS

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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).

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