The 2008 Golf Croquet Inter-Club Championship

Team composition

The team competing in each match shall consist of four players (but Clubs may field more than four players during the course of the season). No individual may play for more than one club in the same season and shall be a member of the club for which they play.

Clubs may enter more than one team for the Championship, but in these cases their entries must include all players’ names for each team, including reserves. No interchange of players between teams is allowed.

The Championship matches

On arrival for each match, the Captains shall exchange team lists with players listed as A, B, C and D. The listing shall be in ascending order of handicap (that is, list the strongest player as A and so on).

The Championship is a knockout competition. Each match shall consist of the following:

in the morning, three legs: the A & B players of each side play doubles and, at singles, C plays D and D plays C;
in the afternoon, four legs: A plays A, B plays B, C plays C and D plays D (all singles)

The winning team is the one that wins more of the seven legs.

Each leg shall be the best of three level-play games. The approved CA Laws of Golf Croquet shall apply (those applicable on the date of the match). The default is to play 13-point games. However, if both Captains agree then they may choose to contest 19-point games (for legs in the morning, afternoon or both). The singles games may be double-banked (but not the doubles game). If both Captains agree the necessity then they may apply time limits to some or all of the games.

The winning club is responsible for reporting the result of the match (no later than two days after the deadline date for the round but preferably as soon as reasonably practical after the match is complete). The club shall submit detailed results to <results#croquet.org.uk> and to the Championship Director.

The location of matches

In order to host ties at home, a club shall have a minimum of two full-sized courts. Individual clubs may opt to play all their games away if they do not have suitable match facilities but the club shall declared this on the submitted entry form. The position in the draw does not indicate which teams are home and away. If clubs have played in the past then the away side for the previous match becomes
the home side for the new match, ignoring any intervening matches that have taken place at neutral venues. In all other cases, the Captains should either agree a means of random allocation of which club hosts the match (for example, predicting whether the next National Lottery Thunderball will be odd or even) or ask the Director to toss a coin.

The away team may offer to find and pay for courts at a neutral club for a match. However, the home team is under no obligation to agree to play at a neutral venue.

The CA will pay for the neutral venue for the final. The Director will identify this venue once the two finalists have won their semi-finals.

Court conditions

Clubs may apply to the Championship Director for permission to provide courts that are less than full size. However, in these circumstances, the courts shall be no less than 30 x 25 yards. The court conditions shall allow players both to take position consistently and to hit a ball from one end of the court to the other. However, teams shall recognize that some clubs suffer rough patches or the occasional hill or valley. The Director will only make a ruling as to unsuitability of courts in extreme circumstances.

Setting the match date

Please try very hard to agree on a date. If you fail then please use the
following procedure (but remember this is likely to upset one of the two clubs):

Both clubs identify two preferred dates (at least one of which shall be at the weekend). If two dates coincide then this is the date of the match. If both dates coincide then choose one.
Only if no dates coincide, both clubs then identify one preferred date. This date shall be a weekend, unless both clubs have stated they are happy to play midweek. Toss a coin to decide who has the choice of date.
If neither club has courts available on the chosen date then the clubs shall pay for a neutral venue.

Clubs shall not play their ties after the specified deadline date for the round unless they have sought the specific approval of the Championship Director in advance. The Director shall only give such approval if the late playing of the match will not adversely affect the following round.

Bad weather

The clubs shall strive to obtain a result in a single day. The Captains may consider shortening the afternoon legs if weather intervenes (only one game in each leg or time limits as necessary). If the teams abandon play then only completed legs shall count towards the match result. If fewer than three legs are complete or the scores in a curtailed match are level then the following are allowable:

the Captains toss a coin to decide the result;
the away team agrees to travel again to start the match afresh (without
carrying forward the scores of the completed legs) at a later date (before
the deadline for completion of the round).

Final thoughts

Please arrange matches early and do not wait for the deadline date for the round to advise the Director of the match result.
If the team contact for your opposition is not replying to your attempts to communicate then please advise the Director.