SOUTH CAMBRIDGESHIRE CONTRACT BRIDGE LEAGUE
Constitution as revised July 1999
- The League shall be called the South Cambridgeshire Contract Bridge
League and is approved by the EBU. Its aim is to encourage interest in
competitive bridge at club level.
- The League shall be managed by a Committee consisting of one delegate
from each constituent club.
- A Secretary shall be elected at the beginning of each season by the
Committee.
- In view of the small expenditure to run the League no entrance fee
nor annual subscription shall be required of member clubs.
At the end of the season the Secretary shall submit his expenses (which
should be nominal - ie postage and stationery) and these shall be
reimbursed to him by the county association.
- The League competition shall take place within the period 1st October
to mid-April.
- At a meeting called by the Secretary in September clubs shall
mutually arrange the dates and times of their fixtures within the above
period.
- A club's fixtures shall be alternately home one season and away the
next with each of the other clubs in the League.
- A fixture shall consist of 4 pairs per club playing as a team of 8,
each pair playing in turn the 4 pairs of the opposing team. It shall be
played over 24 boards, in 4 rounds of 6 boards each, with a score-check
at half-time.
The visiting team, N/S at alternate tables, remain seated throughout the
match.
Initially, boards 1-6 are shared between tables 1 and 2 and boards 7-12
between tables 3 and 4.
After 6 boards have been played, the home pairs at tables 1 and 2 change
over and play boards 7-12: the home pairs at tables 3 and 4 also change
over and play boards 1-6.
After the interval and score-check the home pairs at tables 1 and 2
change over with those at tables 3 and 4 and the previous sequence is
repeated with boards 13-24.
- The results of each match shall be converted to Victory Points
according to the scale in paragraph 80.17 of the EBU Supplement to the "EBL
Tournament Directors' Guide" with the following variation:
IMP difference |
|
VPs |
0-3 |
|
10-10 |
4-5 |
|
11-9 |
Ties in the final table at the end of the season shall be broken by VP
count.
The winning club shall be that scoring 11 VPs or more and shall be
awarded 2 points in the league table. Where the IMP difference is 3 or
less the match shall count as a draw and each side shall be awarded one
league point.
- It shall be the duty of the home team to inform the Secretary as soon
as possible of a match result by written note or score-card signed by a
member of each team showing the result and the members of each team.
- If a club has to scratch a fixture the offending side will score no
VPs. The non-offending side shall be credited with a win and, at the end
of the season, be credited with a VP score for the fixture being the
average of the average VPs scored and the average VPs scored against the
offending club.
- Generally, when a club requests a fixture to be postponed owing to
very bad weather or for mutual convenience, a new fixture date shall be
arranged.
The fact that a club was unable to raise its strongest team for a
fixture would not justify a postponement and if it is not possible to
complete a match by the end of the season rule 11 shall
apply.
- No player shall represent a club unless he is a paid-up member of
that club and a member of more than one club shall nominate his club for
League matches at the beginning of the season. A player need not be a
member of the EBU. No team shall include more than 2 players with a
master point ranking of Regional Master or above; for this purpose a
player's master point ranking shall be determined by reference to the
latest annual list of master point rankings published by the English
Bridge Union in August of each year.
- The home club shall provide a Director for each fixture. The Director
may be a team member.
- Any complaint as to the decisions or conduct of a Director shall be
put to the Committee via the Secretary.
- Convention cards and hand record cards shall be obligatory (attention
is drawn to the recent EBU reminder that both members of a partnership
are required to provide a convention card and have it available at all
times). Only systems and conventions having a Level 3 licence shall be
played.
- Play and procedure shall be governed by the latest (1997) edition of
the "Laws of Duplicate Bridge" and such penalties as are laid
down in these Laws shall be exacted.
- The Secretary shall keep accurate records of the results and will
provide up-to-date information to any team making a telephoned request.
- The application of other bridge clubs of similar standard to join the
League shall be submitted to the Committee for
consideration.
- The winning club shall award 54 local points to each member of the
winning team. The following ranking awards (based on the final league
ranking at the end of the season) should be made in addition to the
awards for each match won:
1st |
|
108 |
local points |
2nd |
|
54 |
local points |
Any player who has played a third or more of the boards in the
season (in practice anyone who has played in three or more matches)
qualifies for these ranking awards.
Points may be recorded and awarded in total at the end of a season.