|
|
Director: (till 31 May) Bruce Rannie, 7 Keswick Drive, NORTH SHIELDS, NE30 3EW Home tel: 0191 252 9739, Mobile: 07790 021 034 e-mail: bruce.rannie@blueyonder.co.uk (correspondence) (from 1 June) John Handy, Lavender Furlong, Coventry Road , Dunchurch, RUGBY, CV22 6RE results@croquet.org.uk (match results and scores) |
April 2009
National Club Event Organiser, .......................................................... Club
Dear Organiser
Thank you for helping to organise the National Club events this year. Bruce Rannie is the member of the CA's Tournament Committee who directs these events nationally. John Handy takes over from him on 1 June.
I enclose the draw sheets for the events you have entered and a list of contacts (the website also has details).
All finals (except the Secretary's Shield) will be played at Surbiton. The final of the Inter-Club will be played on Sunday 4th October, the match consisting of three rounds (see details of Inter-Club Format on page 39 for earlier matches). The final of the Mary Rose will be played on Saturday 3rd October. The semi-finals of the Longman Cup will be played on Saturday 3rd October, and the final and third place play-off will be played on Sunday 4th October. The final of the Secretary's Shield will be held at a venue and on a date to suit the finalists - the Director must be informed of the arrangement beforehand to organise trophy presentation.
(particularly Condition 4 re venues) in the 2009 Fixtures Book, pages 39 to 42. If you cannot remember where clubs played a previous cup-tie, the CA website includes all results in these competitions since 1989, and shows home teams since 2003. Remember, if there is distance between the two clubs, the home team may be willing to assist in accommodating visitors at members' homes. The away team may prefer this than have to find and pay for a neutral ground - there is no obligation on the home team to agree to play at a neutral ground.
All matches in each round are to be played on or before the due date: only under extreme circumstances will late matches will be allowed. Results of matches must be sent no later than two days after the due date, preferably immediately after the match is played, AS THE TOURNAMENTS PAGE ON THE WEBSITE SPECIFIES, i.e. by e-mail to results@croquet.org.uk giving the details in the format requested. If you also include a short report, it will be published on the website news pages. Chris Williams will use Inter-Club and Mary Rose singles results to update the rankings. All singles results should be recorded on individual handicap cards. Results CANNOT BE NOTIFIED in any other way.
A match planned within three days of the due date that has to be cancelled due to exceptional circumstances outside the control of the teams may be played within seven days of the cancellation, but the Director must be told within 24 hours of the cancellation and give approval.
Make contact as early as possible, to give time for making arrangements. Try very hard indeed to agree. If you fail, follow this procedure - but it will probably leave a nasty taste in at least one club's mouth.
a) Each club gives AT LEAST TWO preferred dates, AT LEAST ONE of which must be a WEEKEND. If two dates coincide that is the day of the match. If all the dates coincide choose one.
b) ONLY if no dates coincide, each club should then give ONE preferred date, WEEKEND unless both clubs agree at this stage to play midweek, and then SPIN A COIN. If you wish the Director to spin please ask.
c) If neither club has lawns available, play must take place at another venue - note, the CA will not pay lawn fees. See Condition 4 referred to in 2 above. This includes when the expected home team cannot provide courts on the date that has been determined by the above process.
If a selected player's handicap becomes altered outside competition ranges up to seven days before a pre-arranged match, the person may still play in that match. Each round of each Cup is designated as a separate tournament for handicap triggers, except that the Longman Cup Finals weekend is treated as one tournament, i.e. players play off the same handicap on both days.
should not be less than 30x25 yards (approx. 3/4 area), nor in such poor condition that there is virtually no possibility of accurate positioning, nor of hitting a ball from one end of the lawn to the other. Please be considerate however and realize that some clubs do have lawns with rough patches and the odd hill and valley. If you are really worked up about such things then contact the Director for a ruling.
for a team must be declared before play and kept for the whole match, even if two or more players have the same handicap. Please note that in all four competitions, no player from one side may play the same player from the other side twice in singles ties (see "Format" under the appropriate competition).
are not normally used in the Inter-Club or Mary Rose, except by agreement between the two captains before the match begins, or to apply a further hour to a game that is becoming becalmed, because matches must be completed in one day. If both captains agree, the Limit on Number of Turns Regulation T3 may be used to determine the length of each game instead of absolute time. In the Longman Cup and Secretary's Shield, time limits of 3.5 hours are compulsory. Regulation T3 (2.5 hours plus 12 turns) may be used if both captains agree.
In order to ensure that a result is achieved in a single day in the case of bad weather, shortened matches may have to be considered for the Second Round. If the Second Round has begun but has to be abandoned, then the scores of completed matches only count for the result. If the Second Round has not started, or no games have concluded, the result is taken from the First Round games only. If fewer than three games have been completed, or if the scores in a curtailed match are level, and there is no possibility of further play in any outstanding game to complete it, then, unfortunately, the toss of a coin is the only means of determining the winner (see 4 above, which allows for postponements assuming the away team is prepared to travel again - if so, this is a new match, and no games are carried forward from the abandoned match). In an abandoned match, any completed singles game counts for handicap and ranking purposes, so full results should be submitted with the reason for abandonment.
The Tournament Committee would like to know about any problems you encounter when playing your events so we may address them and try to improve our organisation. We also want to have ideas from clubs about how we may attract yet more entries to the National Club Events in 2010. So please have a word with the Director or Chairman of the Tournament Committee, or write or e-mail with any thoughts you may have.
Do enjoy your matches.
Yours sincerely
$ Please arrange matches early - the earlier you ring, the more time you have.
$ If you cannot contact your opponent let the Director know straightaway.
$ If you play your match early, great! If you win, e-mail the result as soon as you can, don't wait for the due date.