General Conditions for AC and GC Inter-County Championships

1. Introduction and Definitions

1. These conditions apply to both the AC and GC Inter-County Championships. The two events are independent with regard to playing records: a player may represent different counties in the two events.
2. When assessing a player's eligibility to represent a new county (3.2.3), any year in which the event is cancelled will not be considered a year in which he/she "did not compete"(3.2.3.a.).
3. Any reference to 'previous year' shall be taken to mean the previous year in which that event was held.

2. Entries

1. To ensure eligibility for the competition in the following year, provisional entries must be received by the Croquet England Office or posted online on or before 20 October in the year prior to the Tournament. The entry must include a list of eligible players who, to the best of the knowledge of the County Organiser, will be available to play in the following year. The list must include the eligibility criteria for all the players, the number of listed players being as defined in the specific conditions. Organisers should include sufficient reserve players to demonstrate that they are not reliant on a minimum number of players. The formal entry, together with the entry fee and a list of registered players, must be received in the Croquet England Office or posted online by the deadline date given in the specific conditions. The Director will issue reminders to the County Organisers by email at least two weeks before the deadline dates.
2. Under the new membership structure, players who are now classed as Standard Associates may be registered for a county team.
3. Subject to condition 2.13 below, for joint county teams, the County Organiser may change or add to his registered players providing he notifies the Manager on the morning of the first day of the Tournament. Lists of players and substitutes must clearly indicate the basis of eligibility of each player for the county. The Organiser may also add to his list of registered players at any time during the tournament, providing he does not exceed the stated maximum.
4. Priority will be given to entries from counties within the home area of the Croquet England.
5. Second priority will be given to counties that competed in the previous year, except for those covered by condition 2.6 below.
6. The Tournament Committees reserve the right to grant priority to a new team over a team that played in the previous year if that team did not manage to provide a full team throughout the previous year's event.
7. New entries from counties will be accepted if they satisfy all the requirements listed in these conditions. If the number of entries exceeds the number of available places in the event, a play-off will be held to allocate the available places. If suitable arrangements cannot be made for a play-off, the matter shall be decided by ballot.
8. The play-off/ballot shall include all of the new entries plus one or more of the bottom teams from the previous year. The number of teams from the previous year that will be included in the play-off/ballot shall equal the number of entries in excess of the maximum allowable.
9. Players who are used for the play-off teams that are successful in the play-off shall be deemed to have played for that county in that year, and thus may not return to play for a different team in the same year. This will not apply to players in unsuccessful teams, and the play-off match will not affect their playing records.
10. Entries for the following year will be allocated at the Autumn meeting of the appropriate Tournament Committee in the year prior to the event, and the entries regarded as closed. If all places are not taken, the committee may extend the closing date until the following Spring meeting, when any further entries will be considered. Should subsequent entries exceed the allowable number, the places will be allocated by either play-off or ballot between the additional entries only, thereby excluding the bottom team(s) from the previous year.
11. The Tournament Committees reserve the right to maintain the maximum permissible number of teams competing by inviting guest teams to enter on a one-off basis. The results obtained by a guest team will be used in the computation of places within a division, except that the guest team shall not be permitted to win. For the purpose of relegation (if applicable) or of any ballot for places in the following year, the team shall be deemed not to have played. Normally, guest teams will be open to any Croquet England members not playing for an official county team and will be designated as 'CqE-Select'. However, the relevant Tournament Committee reserves the right to allow other compositions of guest teams on a one-off basis, if considered appropriate, for that year only.
12. The Tournament Committees may, at their discretion, allow a team to compete that includes players who are not qualified to play for that county, in order to ensure that a full programme of games is maintained. The results obtained by a team using non-qualified players will be used in the computation of places within a division, except that such a team shall not be permitted to win either division and, for the purpose of relegation (if applicable) or of any ballot for places in the following year, the team shall be considered to be last in its division. Experience has shown that, owing to unforeseen circumstances, some teams have found that they are short of one player for one specific round and, to avoid the penalty of being considered last in the division for relegation purposes, the game has been forfeited. To permit opponents full play, teams will be allowed to use a guest player in these circumstances, at the discretion of the Manager and for one round only, without the 'last-place penalty'; the game will be deemed lost for scoring purposes.
13. Existing joint counties as defined in condition 3.1.5 are required to provide a list of all potential players with their provisional entry in the October preceding the competition; their submitted list must be fully comprehensive and they will not be allowed to add additional players before the event unless granted exceptional permission by the relevant Tournament Director beforehand. All players entered as such must be prepared to give an undertaking that, to the best of their knowledge, they will be available to play for the joint team in the following year.
14. In exceptional circumstances, the Tournaments Committees reserve the right to take whatever measures they feel necessary to stage and manage the event.

3. Qualifications

3.1 Counties

1. Definitions of counties within the home area are those provided by the Association of British Counties. This organisation has been specifically set up to maintain a constant definition of the traditional counties for every address in the UK. Further details may be found at gazetteer.org.uk/... In addition, the Tournament Committees have agreed that the Channel Islands shall continue to be granted county status.
2. Questions involving eligibility, and any problems arising from the change to a new county definition, should be referred to the Croquet England Counties Sub-Committee (see Footnote 1), which has been set up specifically to resolve any such matters, and whose decision will be final.
3. New county applicants must produce evidence that they can field a team of sufficient strength (based on handicap) to compete satisfactorily in the tournament without the inclusion of several players who have been regularly representing other counties. Failure to do so may lead to rejection of a new entry.
4. The present entry for the AC event is running at what should be considered as a maximum for the lawns available and, as such, any entries over and above the maximum of 22 will produce a play-off for the following year. As the date for the main event is relatively early in the season, the play-off date has to be even earlier and has been pre-season on the few occasions it has had to be used. Because of the difficulties of running such an early play-off, the AC Tournament Committee believes it has a duty to existing teams to ensure that any new entry will produce a competitive team. It will consider each new team list on its merits but, as a guide, feels that the sum of the handicaps of the lowest six players should be 12 or less.
5. The Tournament Committees will consider applications from dual counties where there is an insufficient number of players within each county to support individual entries. It is the Tournament Committees' declared intention that their aim is to work towards all entrants being of single-county status; to this end the conditions for eligibility were extended before the start of the 2013 season. Should either partner in a joint team find that it is able to raise a team on its own, then the partnership will be permanently dissolved.

3.2 Players

1. A player must be a registered Premium, Standard, Overseas or Young Person Individual Associate of Croquet England.
2. A player may qualify to play for a county through one of the criteria at a-e below (and note the clarification about permanent residency at f):
   1. Birth in the County, or having a parent whose birth was in the County.
   2. Present permanent residence (see f) in the County on 1 January of the year in which the tournament is to be held.
   3. Current fully paid, non-restricted playing membership of a club in the County for two years prior to the year in which the tournament is to be played. The club must be an Affiliated Club of Croquet England and, to claim this qualification, the player must have permanent residence (see f) in an adjacent county (residents in the county in question are already qualified under 3.2.2.b).
   4. Having a previous minimum of three years' continuous permanent residence (see f) in the County.
   5. Having represented the County in the event within the three previous years. If a player has not played for a county for more than three years and no longer resides in that county then, provided that he/she has not represented any other county in the event in the meantime, the County Organiser may appeal to the Tournament Director for the three-year period to be extended. The appeal will be heard by the Counties sub-committee, whose decision will be final.
   6. Residency at/near an educational establishment for the sole purpose of primary, secondary, or undergraduate education is not considered permanent residency.
3. No player is qualified to represent a (new) County if he/she has represented a different (old) County in the previous year unless:
   1. The new County did not compete in the previous year; or
   2. The old County is not competing in the current year; or
   3. The player's relocation in the country has negated qualification 3.2.2.b or 3.2.2.c above and he/she wishes to claim the birth qualification (3.2.2.a).
4. Should a CqE-Select team be raised to complete the playing programme, playing for such a team shall not affect a player's right to play for another county in subsequent years.
5. When submitting either the provisional entry or the final entry to the Croquet England Office or online, a list of potential players is always required. This list must include the eligibility criterion for each player. The criterion chosen should always be the first of the criteria listed in condition 3.2.2 that applies.
6. In the team list submission, each criterion should be referred to by its sub-clause letter, e.g. 'Birth in the County, or having a parent whose birth was in the County' will be A.

4. General

1. Each county shall appoint an Organiser and a Captain; these may be one and the same person. The Organiser shall be responsible for making the entry for the County, and shall be the County's nominated contact with the CA Office and Tournament Director prior to the event. He shall also be responsible for ensuring all team members comply with the entry qualifications. The Organiser's name and contact details will be published on the Croquet England website, and he shall be designated as the contact for any player who is qualified and wishes to be considered for a county. The County Organiser is required to have a functioning email address, as all normal correspondence on this event will be handled by email; each Organiser must inform the Tournament Director immediately of any change in email address. The Captain will be responsible to the Tournament Manager for all activities during the actual tournament.
2. Before each match the two opposing Captains will exchange, in writing, a list of players selected for the following round, including the handicap of each player.
3. There will be a meeting of Captains at all venues on the first day of the Tournament at 9.15 am prompt.
4. Play will commence at 9.30 am on all days unless otherwise notified.
5. The conditions of promotion and relegation in the two divisions of each competition shall be as defined in the specific conditions for each event.

Footnote 1. The Counties sub-committee consists of the Chairmen of the AC and GC Tournaments Committees and the Directors and Managers of the AC and GC Inter-Counties Championships.

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Ownership

Michael Town