LCBA LEAGUE RULES: 2007-08

1 LEAGUE MANAGEMENT
1.1 The League Secretary [LS] is responsible to the LCBA Committee for the proper administration of the LCBA League in accordance with EBU rules and guidelines.
1.2 He shall seek to operate the League to the benefit of the members of the LCBA.
1.3 He shall exercise these responsibilities in consultation with the League Committee [LC] in respect of long term and overall policy, or as indicated in these League Rules or otherwise appropriate, with the League Management Sub-Committee [LMSC], which is comprised of the LC Chairman, the LS and a third member elected annually by the LC.

2 LEAGUE STRUCTURE
2.1 Applications, incorporating details of proposed venue and captain, from existing or prospective teams to participate in the League season 2007-08 must be sent to the LS by 31 July 2007, together with the entry fees. Late entries where accepted may be penalised by a fine of up to 3 VPs.
2.2 The League shall be organised in a single hierarchy of Divisions by the LMSC acting in accordance with the Appendix ‘Determining the League Structure for the Season 2007-08'. In each Division teams will normally play two matches against each other on a home and away basis. The LMSC shall have discretion to organise the match schedule in a Division differently if circumstances require this.
2.3 The LMSC shall publish the League structure as soon as may be following 31 July 2007.
2.4 The LMSC shall not amend the League structure for the season following its publication.
2.5 Any appeal against the LMSC decision shall be to the LCBA Committee and shall be submitted within five days of the publication of the League structure. Appeals will not be entertained if they are based upon information that a team should have, but failed to, submit to the LS at the time of entry. Appeals shall be accompanied by a deposit of £40.00 which will not be returned if the LCBA Committee determines that the appeal is frivolous or otherwise without merit.

3 TIE BREAKS
3.1 Teams ending the season with the same number of VPs are considered to be tied. Ties will be resolved where necessary (e.g. to determine promotion, relegation or the destiny of trophies) in accordance with the following rules:
    3.1.1 A tie between two teams shall be resolved (a) by the combined results in VPs of the two matches between the two teams, failing that (b) by any difference in IMPs over these two matches, failing that (c) by the number of matches won by each team (draw = half win), failing that (d) by their net IMPs over the whole season, failing that (e) by random ballot.
    3.1.2 If the tie is between three or more teams then the equivalent tests (a) to (e) involving all tying teams shall be applied until at least one team is removed from the tie. At this point, if the necessary resolution has not occurred, then the tie splitting process shall revert to stage (a) in 3.1.1 in respect of the teams remaining tied.

4 ELIGIBILITY OF PLAYERS
4.1 All regular players must be paid-up members of the LCBA for the year 2007-08. However if a club is unable to fulfil a fixture by playing only LCBA members then:
    4.1.1 in all Divisions other than the lowest, up to two non-members may be introduced without penalty in order to complete a team; but no individual non-member may play under this dispensation more than once in any season.
    4.1.2 in the lowest Division only, non-members may be introduced without penalty in order to complete a team subject only to the restriction that none may play more than three times (including any match in a higher division) in any season.
4.2 If a player plays in a second match in total in all Divisions other than the lowest, or a fourth match in total in all Divisions including the lowest, before payment of his subscription then that outstanding subscription must be sent to the Membership Secretary (MS) without further delay. If it is later found that the subscription still remains outstanding the LS will issue a final warning that unless payment is received by the MS within 14 days thereafter all matches in which the player concerned played will be deemed lost by default and scored as in 8.
4.3 No-one may play for two or more clubs in a season without the prior approval of the LMSC.
4.4 Each club having two or more teams in the league must nominate eight players for each team, other than its lowest, in Division 4 or above. Nominees must be expected to play in at least five matches for the team for which they are nominated. They may not play for any lower ranking team. (A lower ranking team is defined as one in a lower division, or one in the same division identified by a later letter of the alphabet.)
4.5 The nominations should be sent to the LS prior to the first match of the season; if none are received those playing in the opening match will be deemed nominated. The nominations may only be changed with the consent of the LMSC. The LS will warn a club if any of its nominated players appear unlikely to meet the five match criterion in 4.4 and the LMSC may subsequently require the club to nominate additional, or replacement, players.
4.6 In addition any player becomes barred from playing in a given team, or a lower ranking one, on playing in a seventh match in the season, in total, for higher ranking teams.
4.7 If any team includes anyone barred from playing for that team by the provisions of 4.3 - 4.6 or 5.5 then the match(es) in which that person played whilst barred will normally be deemed lost by default and scored as in 8.

5 POSTPONEMENT OF MATCHES
5.1 The LCBA expects league matches to be played on, or before, the date shown in the league programme whenever possible.
5.2 If a captain realises in advance that his team is unable to fulfil a fixture (e.g. because the home venue is not available, there are extreme weather conditions, he cannot raise a team) he shall notify both the LS and the opponents of this. The opponent captain may (a) agree to reverse the home and away fixtures or (b) unreservedly agree to rearrange the match or (c) offer to play the match on a specified date(s) of his choice or (d) claim the match by default.
5.3 Both captains shall report the outcome of their negotiations re 5.2 to the LS before the scheduled date wherever possible and otherwise within seven days thereafter. Any agreement to play the match at a later date will be subject to the approval of the LS. Any dispute shall be referred to the LS, for consideration by the LMSC.
5.4 Any extra expenses resulting from the rearrangement of a fixture shall be met by the team seeking the rearrangement.
5.5 No player from the club seeking the rearrangement may play in (a) two matches that were originally scheduled for the same date, except with the specific prior approval of the LS, or (b) a match postponed beyond the last scheduled match date unless he has played more times in total for that and lower teams than he has played for higher teams.

6 MATCH ARRANGEMENTS
6.1 The captain of the designated home team shall contact the captain of the visiting team at least 48 hours in advance to confirm the match date and venue. Matches are scheduled to begin at 7.15 p.m. unless the captains have agreed upon a different time.
6.2 Teams shall consist of 8 players. Reserve players may be brought in at the end of a stanza. A planned substitution at any other time requires the consent of the opponent captain.
6.3 Matches shall normally consist of 24 boards, but the captains may agree to reduce the match to 20 boards.
6.4 Each pair/reserve of the visiting team shall be allowed a choice of stationary seats; each pair/reserve of the home team shall, subject to the provisions of Rule 7, play an equal number of boards at each table. New opponent pairs may, but are not obliged to, compare their scores in the previous stanza at the start of the second and fourth stanzas.
6.5 Before play commences the captains should if possible agree upon an experienced TD (or failing that experienced player), to act as TD should a ruling be needed. Without such agreement the captain of the away team, or his nominee, shall so act.
6.6 If a psychic bid is reported to the TD, he shall, on request, record the details of the board on which it occurred, and report them to the to the LS for the attention of the Laws and Ethics Subcommittee of the LCBA. The TD also has discretion to record and similarly report any departure from the system that he considers should be brought to its attention.
6.7 The net aggregate score on each board of a match shall be converted to an IMP score using the standard scale, and the net IMPs for the match shall be converted to a VP score using the scale shown on the Match Result Sheet.
6.8 The home team captain should send the completed Match Result Sheet, countersigned by the visiting captain, to the LS without delay. If more than 8 persons played for a team the number of boards played by each player must be recorded. If a Match Result Sheet is not received within 14 days the captain will be warned; a second offence will lead to a ½ VP team penalty (suspended). A third offence will lead to a further ½ VP team penalty and the suspended fine being activated, i.e. a total penalty of 1 VP, subject to ratification by the LC.

7 LATENESS & PARTIAL ABSENCE PROVISIONS
7.1 Even if only one team is complete at the agreed start time, play should be begun at as many tables as possible, subject to not requiring the offending team to field other than intended partnerships, within 5 minutes. The non-offending team shall decide at which table(s) play shall initially be begun, and the sequence in which play shall be begun at the other table(s).
7.2 If any table is still incomplete 15 minutes after play actually starts then the first 2 boards due to be played there should be removed from that table; the next 2 such boards then being removed after each further 15 minutes of incompleteness.
7.3 On each board played at 3 (or 2) tables an artificial score shall be awarded at the table(s) at which the board was not played. The artificial score shall be the most favourable to the non-offending side of the real scores on the board.
7.4 Any board played at no more than one table shall be scored +4 / -4 IMPs in favour of the non-offending team.
7.5 If a team is still incomplete 45 minutes after the scheduled start time, or at any stage becomes incomplete due to illness or emergency, the non-offending team shall in all cases have the option of (a) continuing the match; but with artificial scores as in 7.3 continuing to be given at the incomplete table(s) until, if ever, they become complete, and also if the incompleteness (whether initial or occurring later) exceeds 45 minutes the option of (b) withdrawing; in which case the match shall be scored as in 8..
7.6 If for any reason the second half of a match is not started within 2 hours of the scheduled match start time, (1 hour 45 minutes in the case of a 20 board match) either captain may require each subsequent stanza to be reduced by 1 board.

8 SCORES FOR UNPLAYED AND DEFAULTED MATCHES
8.1 For the non-offending team the best score (any fraction being rounded up) from:
(a) their own average VPs for completed matches over the whole season;
(b) the converse of the offending team’s average VPs for completed matches over the whole season;
(c) their own VP score in the reverse fixture;
(d) 7 VPs,
together with the minimum positive IMPs difference corresponding to this score; or
(e) in the case of a match later defaulted under the provisions of 4.2 the actual score, both in VPs and IMPs, obtained in the match.
8.2 For the offending team: 0 VPs together with a negative IMPs difference, balancing the positive IMPs score awarded in 8.1.
8.3 If both teams are offending each shall score 0 VPs, -82 IMPs.
8.4 However if a team fails to complete at least half of its fixtures, then 8.1 - 8.3 shall not apply and all scores against that team shall be cancelled.

9 LAWS, SYSTEMS, CONVENTIONS
9.1 Matches shall be played in accordance with the 1997 Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge and supplementary regulations laid down by the Laws & Ethics Committee of the EBU. The home team should provide at least an authorised copy of the 1997 Laws, a copy of the 2006 Orange Book and the amendments thereto as announced in the LCBA 2007-08 Yearbook and which took effect in August 2007, together with a copy of these LCBA League rules for reference as necessary during the match.
9.2 Each player must provide a completed EBU 20/20A/20B style convention card that is to be made available to opponents. Pairs not having completed such cards should be furnished with LCBA Simple System (Standard English) Cards and required to play in accordance with these until personal EBU cards are completed. WBF style cards may not be used.
9.3
    9.3.1 In divisions 1 – 4 inclusive, pairs with properly completed (2 paged) EBU 20 style convention cards, may employ EBU Level 2 (and 3) Permitted Agreements, as detailed in Section 11 of the 2006 Orange Book, incorporating amendments as per the LCBA 2007-08 Yearbook.
However pairs wishing to include any Agreements only permitted at Level 4, again as detailed in Section 11 of the 2006 Orange Book incorporating amendments as per the LCBA 2007-08 Yearbook, must complete full (4 paged) EBU 20A or 20B style convention cards.
    9.3.2 In division 5, pairs with properly completed (2 paged) EBU 20 style or (4 paged) EBU 20A/20B style convention cards. may employ EBU Level 2 Permitted Agreements [N.B. Multi 2 ¨ is not permitted.], as detailed in Section 11 of the 2006 Orange Book, incorporating amendments as per the LCBA 2007-08 Yearbook.

10 DISPUTES, RULINGS & APPEALS
10.1 When a bridge law related problem or question arises at a table the TD (see 6.5) should make a ruling.
10.2 A captain wishing to appeal, or to preserve the right to appeal, a ruling must record this on the Match Result Sheet and also notify the TD.
     10.2.1 The actual appeal should be made on an LCBA League Appeal & Psyche Form and sent within 7 days of the match to the LS for the attention of the LCBA Laws & Ethics Sub-committee. Normally a single Appeal Form should be fully completed on the night with an agreed statement from the two captains of facts, (including the original claim, the name of the TD and the ruling he gave), as well as making clear the claim(s) now made. If separate Appeal Forms are submitted, or a team wishes to make a further statement, copies must be sent to the opponent captain simultaneously with the submission to the LS.
    10.2.2 Any appeal against a decision of the LCBA Laws & Ethics Sub-committee must be submitted, within 14 days of receipt of that decision, to the LS for the attention of the National Authority (i.e. EBU Laws & Ethics Committee), be accompanied by a deposit of £75 and be in accordance with section 8.2 of the Orange Book.
10.3 Any appeal against a decision of the LS, LMSC or LC can only be made to the full LCBA Committee. A representative of each club involved will be invited to the meeting hearing this appeal. The outcome may not be further appealed.
10.4 Any serious misconduct allegation, associated with an appeal under 10.2 or 10.3 or otherwise, lodged with the General Secretary of the LCBA will be referred to the LCBA Laws & Ethics Committee for investigation and thereafter if appropriate either to the LCBA Conduct Committee, which acts as a Judiciary Panel, or to the National Authority.

Footnote re scoring of fouled or unplayed boards

Any board unplayed at one or more tables due to the absence of one or more players shall be scored as per Rule 7.

If the board is unplayed for any other reason at one or more tables then the Fouled Board regulations (below) shall apply.

If the board is fouled at either of the two tables sharing the boards in any stanza then the score at the other of these tables shall be cancelled, and the IMP conversion for this board shall initially be that for the net score at the other two tables.

However if the fouling is due solely to the actions of one team then a second artificial IMP score of +3 / -3 in favour of the non-offending team shall be added to this. If both teams offend no such artificial score is added.

It should be noted that if a board is

played twice with the same team NS in the earlier of the two stanzas in which it is due to be played this need not be treated as a fouled board; the situation can be retrieved by the other team playing NS twice in the later stanza.

otherwise fouled in the earlier stanza, it can always be played and scored normally in the later one, re-dealing if necessary.

Appendix: Determining the League Structure for the Season: 2007-08.

The League Secretary will gather information from teams entering for the season 2007-08 regarding their venue restrictions, their likely strength in the new season and their views about the optimal League structure. This information will be made available to the LMSC.

A     Preparation of a Ranking List
The LMSC will generate a team ranking list for this new season. This will be done as follows, applying these steps in the order they are listed.
1 All teams entered for the season 2006-07 will be listed in the order in which they finished the season, with any team that withdrew after scheduling treated as having finished bottom of the Division in which they had been scheduled to play.
2 The teams finishing first and second in all Divisions other than the first will each be moved two places up the list, that is ahead of the two teams (including any team that withdrew) finishing bottom of the Division above.
3. Any team that withdrew after scheduling for season 2006-07 will be deleted from the list; any application to re-enter will be treated as an application on behalf of a new team and placed under 5 below.
4. Any team that fails to re-enter for the season 2007-08 will be deleted from the list.
[Following name changes and/or the amalgamation or splitting of clubs then each of their teams will initially be included sequentially in the slots occupied by the original club(s) teams. Requests to vary this will be treated as under 6 below; any extra teams arising will be placed under 5 below]
5 New teams in the competition will be inserted into the list by the LMSC. Whilst normally this will be at the foot of the list the LMSC will use its judgement, using information available to it as to the likely strength of the new teams.
6 The LMSC will use its judgement in the light of information available as to likely playing strength as to whether to agree to a request by an existing team to be placed other than in accordance with the above.
7 The LMSC shall have absolute discretion to consult with team captains, and to exercise judgement to resolve any eventuality not covered by the foregoing.

B.     Grouping the Ranking List
The LMSC shall then use its judgement to group the ranking list into Divisions, applying the following principles, which are not to be taken in any priority order.
• The views expressed by teams will be taken into account
• Divisions of eight teams are optimal. The sub-optimal numbers of teams in Divisions are seven, nine, and six in that order.
• If the outcome is to be a mixture of Division sizes, the allocation of Divisions of eight shall be prioritised from Division 1 downwards.
• The desirability of promoting teams winning Divisions.