Dunfermline Bridge Club

Rules

Title

The Club shall be called Dunfermline Bridge Club (the Club) and is part of the Dunfermline Tennis and Bridge Club Limited (DT&BC).

Rules and Bye-laws

Without prejudice to anything in the Memorandum and Articles of DT&BC, the following shall be the rules and bye-laws of Dunfermline Bridge Club.

Object

The object of the Club shall be the advancement of the game of bridge in Dunfermline and District by encouraging and promoting the playing of bridge and the provision of playing facilities for the members under the auspices of the Scottish Bridge Union (SBU).

Management

The management of the Club shall be vested in a Committee authorised to incur expenditure, admit members and deal with other aspects of running the Club not specifically reserved for decisions of an Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Club.

Committee

The Committee shall consist of four office bearers, a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and up to six Ordinary Members of Committee, all of whom shall be full members of the Club.

The Secretary and Treasurer and the Ordinary Committee Members shall be elected at each AGM.  The President and Vice-President shall be elected to hold office for two consecutive years, after which: -

• The President shall stand down as an office bearer but may offer him or herself for election as an Ordinary Member of the Committee;

• The Vice-President shall become the President and a new Vice-President shall be elected at the AGM.

The President shall act as Chairman at all meetings, both General Meetings and meetings of the Committee, and in his or her absence the Vice-President shall act as Chairman.  The Chairman shall have a casting vote as well as a deliberate vote in the event that the vote is tied.

In the event that there are more nominations for any position than there are places for that position, the election shall be held by secret ballot.

The Committee shall have power to co-opt members of the Club as required and to form sub-committees and create working parties as necessary.

There shall be a Competitions convenor and Match Point Secretary appointed from within the Committee.  The convenor shall be responsible for posting notices, on both the notice board and website (NB all further references to posted or made available shall relate to both the notice board and website), of competitions in good time and shall be the person to whom any queries regarding the competitions are made.  The Match Point Secretary shall be responsible for buying and issuing the Match Points.

Meetings

The Committee shall meet at least four times a year to discuss general business of the Club.

At meetings, five members of the Committee shall form a quorum, at least one of whom shall be the President or Vice-President.

General Meetings

An AGM shall be held in late August and a notice to that effect will be posted at least 28 days beforehand.  Until, and unless, Monday evening sessions at the club are resumed, the day on which the AGM is to be held will alternate between Tuesday & Thursday evenings.  in the event that Monday evening sessions are resumed, the day on which the AGM is to be held will revert to revolving through the normal playing evenings in reverse order, i.e. Thursday, Tuesday, Monday, as before.

An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) may be called at any time by decision of the Committee, or by written notice signed by at least 20% of the membership.

The following items will be available to all members at least 14 days prior to an AGM:

1. The draft minutes of the previous AGM;

2. The draft minutes of any EGM held since the previous AGM;

3. A summary of accounts to 31 July;

4. An agenda of the items to be discussed at the AGM.

Two tellers shall be appointed at the beginning of General Meetings to count the votes and report the result to the President for him or her to convey the result to the members present at the meeting.

Joint Management Committee meetings of DT&BC

The committee shall appoint two representatives from the committee, who would normally be the President and Vice-President to sit on the Joint Management Committee.

The representatives shall promote the interests and wishes of the members of the Club while always having regard to the interests of the DT&BC as a whole.

Amendment to the Rules and Bye-laws

Any proposal to alter the Rules and Bye-laws of the Club must be discussed at either an AGM or at an EGM held for that purpose.  Any proposal must be included on the Agenda for that meeting.

A proposal to amend the Rules shall require the approval of the majority of members present.

Minutes

Approved minutes of each Committee Meeting shall be made available for inspection by members.

The unapproved minutes of the AGM, and any EGM, shall be made available for inspection by the members no later than 28 days after the AGM or EGM. 

Bridge events

Normal bridge evenings are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  The Committee shall seek approval of the Joint Management Committee to use the Club at any other time for playing or other purposes.

There shall be a rota of Tournament Directors made available to members. 

When there is to be a draw for partners or teams for a competition, the draw will be dealt with by two people.  One person will be responsible for the draw and the other person will be responsible for keeping a record of the draw.

Honorary Members

A member of the Club becomes an Honorary Member when proposed by the Committee and agreed at an AGM.  An Honorary Member pays no Club membership, SBU fee or table money fees but retains voting rights.  However, an Honorary Member shall pay any additional competition fees imposed by the SBU.

Subscriptions and Finance

The annual subscription is determined at the AGM of DT&BC in March each year.  In addition to the annual subscription each member shall pay the current SBU subscription as determined by the SBU.

The annual subscription shall cover the period from 1 April to 31 March of the following year and shall be due on 1 April.  The amount of table money shall be proposed by the Committee, subject to agreement with the Joint Management Committee, and put to members at the AGM or an EGM for approval.  If the SBU fee has been shown to have been paid elsewhere or separately, only the amount of the Club’s annual subscription shall be payable.  The membership of any member failing to pay his or her subscription by 31 May following the due date shall lapse and he or she shall be required to pay the visitor table money.  No-one may represent the Club or play in Club competitions unless they are paid up members.

Visitors and guests shall pay the normal table money plus £1.

Bridge club players who are full members of the Tennis Club do not have to pay Bridge Club membership fees in addition to their Tennis Club membership fee but must pay the SBU annual subscription. 

The Committee shall have the power to raise finances for specific projects as agreed by the Joint Management Committee.

Only paid up members of the Club may vote at an AGM or EGM.

New members joining the Club after 1 November in any year shall pay a proportion of the annual membership fee calculated by reference to the length of time between the date of joining and the following 31 March.  Additionally, the full SBU fee shall be payable subject to paragraph 1 above.

The financial year of the Club shall be from 1 January to 31 December to fit with the financial year of the Tennis and Bridge Club Ltd.  The Summary of Accounts for the AGM shall provide the details of income and expenditure for the year ended 31 July prior to the AGM.

The Committee shall control the finances of the Club on behalf of DT&BC.  Any changes to the arrangements of payments between the Club and DT&BC should be formally agreed by the Joint Management Committee.

The Club’s bankers shall be the Bank of Scotland, Bothwell Street, Dunfermline.

All Club funds shall be administered by the Treasurer, who will account for them to the Committee.

All funds raised by or on behalf of the Club will be applied to further the objectives of the DT&BC and for no other purpose.  This will not, however, prevent the payment in good faith of reasonable and proper fees to professional and technical advisers or the repayment to members of the Committee or of any other member of reasonable out of pocket expenses.

No member shall have any financial interest in the Club.

District competitions

The Club shall participate in the SBU East District leagues as the Committee sees fit.

Members shall be invited to play in the teams each year.

Teams shall be selected by the Committee, together with the appropriate current team captain, at a meeting of the Committee and teams’ captains held in August each year.

The selection of players for each team shall be done in order of the ranking of each team within the SBU East District leagues, with the highest ranked team being selected first, followed by the second highest ranked team and so on until all of the teams have selected their players.

Once the players for each team have been selected, the players in each team shall elect their team captain for the forthcoming season.

Any proposed changes or additions to the teams should be notified to the President, who should confirm any changes before such changes are notified to the League Secretary.

Club Competition Rules 2023/24

The competition year will run from September 2023 to June 2024.

Club competitions are open to all Club and Honorary Members.  Visitors and non-members may play in the Aardvark, Finlay Stalker and Andrew Carnegie competitions.

On all Club competitions only Club and Honorary Members may qualify for a prize, except for the Andrew Carnegie Trophy.

The TD will use the appropriate Mitchell or Howell movement for one or two night pairs competitions depending on the number of entrants.  Except for the Autumn and Christmas Hat Night competitions, Mitchell movements used should produce one winning pair. 

The TD on Aardvark and Finlay Stalker competition nights will use the appropriate Mitchell or Howell movement.  It is not necessary to have one winner per event.

The Autumn and Christmas Hat Night pairs competitions should have a Mitchell movement producing winners for both North/South and East/West.

24/26 will normally be the minimum of boards in circulation.

Pairs and Individual competitions will be scored by Match Points.  Team competitions will normally be scored by IMPs converted to VPs on each evening.

The Club Committee reserves the right to vary the conditions set out below if circumstances make it necessary and empower the TD to do so if in his/her opinion it is needed.  Rules for specific team competitions are given below but please note they are subject to change if authorised by the TD.

Aardvark

A Match Point pairs competition played over 10 rounds on the 3^rd Tuesday of every month with the best 6 rounds to qualify and count.  The December heat may be played on the 2^nd Tuesday of the month, subject to the date of the Christmas Hat Night.  Non-members and visitors will be most welcome but will not qualify.

Finlay Stalker

A Match Point pairs competition played over 10 rounds alternately on the 3^rd Monday or Thursday of every month with the best 6 rounds to qualify and count.  Non-members and visitors will be most welcome but will not qualify.

Autumn Hat Night – Bob Robertson Trophy

A one-night Match Point pairs competition played on the 2^nd Tuesday in October.  Club and Honorary Members enter the competition individually and a draw for partners will be made before play.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.

Dunfermline Tuesday League

A teams of four competition to be played on each of the first Tuesdays in October, November and December.  Entries should be made in pairs, and where possible, each player should be available for each of the Tuesdays.  The teams will be drawn from the entered pairs before play on the first event.  Substitutes are permitted.  Teams must at all times include at least 50% of the original entered team.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.  Scoring will be by IMPs converted to VPs.

Veitch Pairs

A Match Point pairs competition to be played on the last Tuesday in January.  All entrants must have played in the Dunfermline Tuesday League, including as a substitute.

Club Individual Championship

An individual event played over one night using simple systems to be played on the 2^nd Wednesday in February.  Entries may be limited to suit available movements.  Would be competitors should be aware that there may be an earlier start subject to the numbers to ensure that all players play with and against everyone else.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.

Andrew Carnegie Trophy

A two-night Match Point pairs competition to be played on the 2^nd and 3^rd Mondays in March.  Non-members and visitors from Fife are eligible to play in this competition and are also eligible to win the trophy and any prize money.

Club Ballot Teams of Four

A one-night Teams of Four event to be played on the first Monday in March.  Entered pairs will be balloted to produce the Teams of Four.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.  Scoring will be by IMPs converted to VPs.

Club Mixed Pairs

A one-night Match Point pairs competition to be played on the first Thursday in May.  Each pair should consist of one male and one female club or honorary member.  However, same sex pairs can play in the event but are ineligible to win the competition or any prize money.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.

Bill King Handicap Trophy

A one-night Match Point handicapped competition to be played on the second Tuesday in May.  The handicaps applied are calculated automatically by Scorebridge based on each player’s average percentage score in all pairs events for which the player has scores in the twelve-month period from 1 May to 30 April.  The most recently calculated handicap is applied at the time of scoring.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.

Club Pairs Championship

A two night pairs competition to be played on the first and second Thursdays in April.  All players must be available to play on both nights.  In such circumstances that any player is unavailable for the second night, a substitute should be found by that player or his/her partner.  Non-members and visitors are not eligible to play in this competition.

SBU National & District Events

Players must be SBU members to play in the following events. 

Additional table money of £1.00 per player is payable with the remaining additional table money being subsidised by the club. 

Visitors may play in these events subject to them being SBU members and paying the full amount of additional table money.

ED Simultaneous Pairs

A one-night SBU East District event to be played on Monday 7 November 2016.  All participating clubs in SBU East will play the same boards.  The pair with the highest percentage in SBU East District will be the winners.  Club Local Master Points will not be awarded as District Local Master points will be awarded.

SBU Autumn Simultaneous Pairs

A one-night SBU National event to be played on Tuesday 25 October 2016.  All participating clubs in Scotland will play the same boards.  The pair with the highest percentage in Scotland will be the winners.  National points will be awarded to the top 1/3^rd pairs.  Club Local Master Points will not be awarded.

SBU Bobby Allan Simultaneous Mixed Pairs

A one-night SBU National event to be played on Thursday 26 January 2017.  Each participating pair must have one male and one female player.  All participating clubs in Scotland will play the same boards.  The pair with the highest percentage in Scotland will be the winners.  National points will be awarded to the top 1/3^rd pairs.  Club Local Master Points will not be awarded.

Easter Pairs

A one-night National SBU pairs competition to be played at the club on a suitable night during March.  The pair with the highest percentage in Scotland will be the winners.  National points will be awarded to the top 1/3^rd pairs.  Club local Master Points will not be awarded.

Cowan Cup

This is the SBU East District Pairs Championship.  Heats in clubs must be held by 22 January 2017.  If held, the Dunfermline heat will be on a Tuesday evening.  Winners from club heats will be eligible to play in the final at the Carlton Bridge Club on Sunday 5 February 2017 at 1pm.  The entry fee is £6.00 per pair for both the heats and the final plus table money.  In the event of a heat being played, the additional table money will be partly subsidised by the club as stated above.  The final costs will be met by the individuals who play in the final.

Membership

The Committee shall have the power to admit new members to the Club.

The Committee shall have the power to suspend or expel members.

Membership of the Club shall not be completed until any subscription fees have been paid.

A member on payment of entry money and/or subscription thereby submits him or herself to the Memorandum and Articles of DT&BC and Rules and Bye-laws of the Club, both as to restrictions enjoined and penalties imposed, and on these conditions alone is entitled to the benefits and membership of the Club.

Membership of the Club is open to everyone regardless of his or her gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age.

General rules

Any suggestions or complaints regarding the Club shall be submitted in writing and handed to the Secretary or any member of the Committee and will be considered at the next Committee meeting.

The Club accepts no responsibility whatsoever for the property or belongings of any member or visitor whilst on the premises of the Club.

Mobile phones should be switched off or silenced prior to the start of play.

Playing rules

1. Players should be seated 5 minutes (10 minutes if Bridgemates are in operation) before the time of commencement of the tournament as stated in the diary.  Players seeking to join the tournament after the 5 or 10-minute rule shall only be allowed to play at the discretion of the Tournament Director.

2. The Tournament Director shall have the final decision as to the movement played, the number of boards to be played and the number of boards which an odd pair will sit out.

3. The Tournament Director shall try to ensure that a minimum of 24 boards should be played by the majority of players and no more than four boards sat out.

4. No table may be booked.

5. Seating arrangements on Monday and Tuesday evenings will be allocated in order of arrival at the club.  N/S seating preferences will be given first to non-mobile players and the director for the evening.  All other seating will be allocated by the person taking the table money in order of arrival of the players, starting with 1 E/W (Table 1 N/S will be allocated to a non-mobile player or the director for the evening). Players may change their seating allocation with the other pair at the same table subject to absolute mutual agreement.  This does not include tossing a coin or any other manner of determining the outcome where one of the pairs does not mutually agree to the change.  The only exception to this rule is if a non-mobile player arrives after the seating arrangements have been made and would otherwise have to sit E/W.  In those circumstances the director for the evening should request that a N/S pair volunteer to change to sit E/W.  Should there be no volunteers the director for the evening will select a N/S pair to sit E/W. As Thursday evenings usually have a Howell movement, players may start where they wish, subject to non-mobile players and the director having fixed seating where possible within the restrictions of the movement.

6. North is responsible for the placement of boards at all times and the accurate completion of the travelling score slips or Bridgemate entries if used.  E/W are responsible for checking that the entry made by North is correct.  In the event of an irregularity all players may be liable.

7. The board in play must remain on the table in the correct direction at all times.

8. Play is subject to The Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge as adopted by the SBU.

9. The Tournament Director’s rulings on disputed matters or irregularities must be accepted at the table.  However, players may appeal against a ruling made at their table, in writing to the Committee.

10. Post mortems are time wasting and may be heard at other tables.  Hands in play should not be discussed during the tournament.

11. Club championships and competitions are open only to Club members.
     
12. The Tournament Director may impose a time limit of 7 minutes per board.  In the event of slow play the offending pair(s) may be liable to a score fine or a board not started bidding by 5 minutes before the end of the round may not be played.  The Tournament Director shall determine whether any score fine is applicable and whether any unplayed board may be played at the end of the evening.  The Tournament Director’s decision is final.