Regulations for the AC Home Internationals

Eligibility

The Association Croquet Home International Championship is contested between National Teams of five players from each of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Player eligibility is determined in accordance with Appendix 1 of the latest version of WCF Sports Regulations.

Format

The four Teams play a Test against each other Team. Each Test consists of five Matches, with each Match being best-of-three Games. For each Test, players each play a single Match against their opposite numbers (1v1, 2v2, etc.).

The order of Tests is selected by public random draw at the start of the event.

Determining the Winner

The winner of the Championship is the Team which, in descending order of precedence:

1. wins the most Tests
2. wins the most Matches
3. wins the most Games
4. If still tied, the criteria are re-applied, this time considering only results from Tests between the countries tied. This may be performed iteratively if necessary.

Other finishing positions are found using the same method, having first determined the higher positions.

If any Games are not started or are incomplete, then if it can be determined that the incomplete Games could not affect the final result, that result is the finishing order. Otherwise, for the purpose of step 1 above any incomplete Games or Matches are ignored, and then for each Test:

• If five Matches are complete, a point is awarded to the Team with the most Match wins
• If four Matches are complete, a point is awarded to the Team with the most Match wins, or half a point to each team if the scoreline is 2-2
• If three Matches are complete, a point is awarded to a Team which is leading 3-0, or half a point to a Team which is leading 2-1
• If two Matches are complete, half a point is awarded to a team which is leading 2-0, and no points awarded if the scoreline is 1-1
• If one or no Matches are complete, no points are awarded.

Team Order

At the start of the event, each Captain declares his Team Order to the Tournament Manager; these should be in order of current singles form. The same Team Order applies to all three Tests.

Once all Team Orders are declared, the manager publishes them. Any Team Captain may appeal any other Team Order, in which case an Appeals Committee shall be formed to resolve the matter.

Substitutes are only permitted in the event of injury to one or more players, or by unanimous agreement between the Team Captains. In the case of a substitution, the two Captains for the next Test may re-declare their Team Orders.

Hours of Play

Play will begin at 9:30am on each day. On Day 1, players should be available to play until dusk. On Day 2, players should be available to play until 7pm. Players who need to make earlier travel plans should discuss this with the Manager at the earliest opportunity.

Warm-up is permitted for 15 minutes before the scheduled start of each day.

Laws

All Matches are to be played under the current Laws of Association Croquet.

Approved Laws variations and other tournament regulations approved by the host country's governing body, and others agreed between the four Captains, shall apply.

Time Limits

Once a Test has been decided, the manager may decide to peg-down any Matches in progress at a suitable opportunity (usually at the conclusion of a Game), in order to allow subsequent Tests to start. Unfinished Matches may be completed later in the event if time permits.

In general, time-limits will not be applied, except when necessary to ensure that a winner will be declared for all Tests. When this is not possible to achieve without the imposition of excessively short limits (of less than 2 hours per game), the Manager should give priority to ensuring that a winner can be declared for the whole Championship.

Lateness

If a player is not available to play at either the scheduled start of a day's play (unless otherwise agreed with the Manager) or the start of a Test, the following shall apply:

	less than 1 hour	1-2 hours	more than 2 hours
1st offence	No penalty	One game lost	Best-of-three Match lost
2nd offence	One game lost	Best-of-three Match lost	N/A

For the purposes of lateness, a Test is considered to have started when half of the scheduled Matches in that round (of two Tests) have started. Note that this means that a Team that is unable to field five eligible players will have lost any uncontested matches 2 hours after five Matches in the round have started.

Players who are late should remain in their declared position within the Team Order. If it is known at the time of Team Order declaration that a player will not be available for the duration of the event, then the missing player must be declared at the bottom of the Team Order.

Appeals

An Appeals Committee consisting of the Tournament Manager and each Team's Captain (or a representative) may be convened to adjudicate in disputes between two or more Teams or a decision of a tournament official.

If unable to reach a consensus, an Appeals Committee may reach a decision by majority vote.

The decision of an Appeals Committee is final.

Emergency Power

If the Tournament Manager is concerned that the completion of a round is at risk before it has started, and that the time-limits necessary to ensure completion would be too short, a modified format may be proposed. Such modification is subject to agreement by the Appeals Committee.

Samir Patel