Bude & District Pool League 2011 - 2012

RULES OF BUDE & DISTRICT POOL LEAGUE.
As agreed at AGM 04/09/2011.

The committee will consist of three playing members; a chairman, a secretary and a treasurer/ player representative. There will be an external treasurer, where that post can not be filled by a league player.

1. Bude and District Pool League abide by the rules of the English Pool Association
‘World Pool Rules’, (in regard to playing the game of pool).
Available from: -  www.epa.org.uk/wrules.php

2. A player can only play for one team in any season. (Applies to League and Cup matches)
All players must be sixteen years of age or over. Proof of age may be requested.

3. A team consists of five players. Each player will play three singles frames (i.e. fifteen frames per match).
Player 1 will play players A, B & C.
Player 2 will play players B, C & D. (And so on).
Any team missing a player can play without that player but his/her three games will automatically be awarded as winning frames to the opposing team. Where a player is a late arrival for his/her match, those frames may be delayed until that player turns up; providing that this is before 9:00 pm. If the player has not arrived by 9:00 pm his/her frames will be awarded as wins for the opposing team. And where necessary a player may play his games early where he has an unexpected commitment.
Matches start at 7:30 pm Sunday nights. Any team expecting to arrive late should contact the secretary and the home venue.

4. The player to break at the start of a frame is decided by the tossing of a coin.

5. The home team will provide a referee for all matches (League and Cup). The referee will rack the pool balls at the start of a frame.

6. Venues must have a pool table in top condition, (without tears or divots) and where possible the pool table should be accessible for pool shots of all angles.

7. If a team should drop out of the league, all points scored for or against that team will be declared null and void. In Cup competitions, the team losing to that team in the previous round will be deemed to be winners and go through to the next round.         

8. Notification of any cancelled matches must be given to the secretary by at least 6.00 pm the night before any fixture, (i.e. normally 6.00 pm Saturday night). Notification must be given by this time. Failure to do so may result in the non-cancelling team being awarded 15 points. Any teams with more than one late cancellation (i.e. cancelling after 6.00 pm Saturday night), may be expelled from the league at the discretion of the committee.
Similarly any team cancelling within time on more than two occasions may be expelled.
This will be at the discretion of the committee.

Where cancellations are made, the match should be rearranged within 28 days. Both teams     should make every effort to rearrange the match. The non-cancelling team is normally awarded 15 points, unless a match is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances or bad weather where 7 points is awarded to each team if there is no rearrangement No MVP points will be awarded to teams involved in a cancellation. MVP points will be awarded for rearranged matches. (Rule re-worded to be confirmed AGM Sept 2012).

9. Late score cards, not received by the secretary by the Thursday after any Sunday fixture will result in a deduction of 2 points from home team’s League points total.

10.  Most Valuable Player. (MVP). One point is awarded to each player per frame won.
No MVP points will be awarded where there is a cancellation unless the match is rearranged. MVP is only awarded for league games (i.e. Cup matches do not count towards MVP points).

11.  Handicap League. The handicap is calculated by the difference between winners of the league’s points total and a team’s league points total for the previous season.
Where a new team enters a division, for whatever reason; that team will be awarded 50% of the handicap difference between the top and bottom teams for the first division: and 33.3% for division two.

12.  Cheating; (changing scores on score cards etc.); must be considered by committee, but should result in a minimum 20 point deduction from league total, but this penalty may be increased, at the discretion of committee, to the team being barred from the league for a part of or a whole season.

13. Doubles competition. Open only to league players who play for the same team.
Singles open to any league player. (I.e. open to players who have played one or more matches for a league team.).

14. Captains role. To ensure they have a team for each fixture; to ensure prompt return of score cards, according to the rules; to ensure communication with the secretary and the venue of the match where any problems arise, (e.g. cancellations, late arrival, etc).

15. Placing in the League is decided firstly by Points; then secondly by Games won.
A play-off will occur if these are equal for teams at the end of the season that are in championship winning, promotion or relegation situations.

16. Use of substitutes. A substitute may be used for a player. However that substitute can only be re-substituted by the player who was originally substituted. Use of a substitute must be declared at the start of the match.

17. The top four teams in Division One, at the end of the previous season, will be seeded in the first round of the Heaverman Cup; so as to prevent those teams playing each other in the first round.