The Inter-County Leagues National Final was conceived by Graham Jepson, who ran the event for the first five years of its existence.  We are very grateful for the work he has put in during these years, but he has now decided to pass on the reins.  I have undertaken this responsibility in a personal capacity (i.e. although sanctioned by the English Bridge Union, the organisation of this event has nothing to do with the EBU).

The event is a one-day teams-of-eight event open to the champion counties of each division of the five Regional Inter-County League Teams-of-Eight events:

The Northern Bridge League;
The Midland Counties League;
The Eastern Counties League;
The Western League (South West);
The Metropolitan Cup (South Eastern Counties).

Each of these regional events has a slightly different format, but the common feature is that they all consist of three divisions, with every county generally having one team in each division (i.e. there is no promotion / relegation, but every county ‘A’ team competes in Division 1, etc.)

The National Final consists of three events (divisions).  Division 1 (or 'A' Division) is contested by the five champion teams of the respective 1st divisions of the Regional Leagues.  Similarly the five Division 2 champions (county ‘B’ teams) and the Division 3 champions (county ‘C’ teams) compete within their own categories.

The 2016 finals will take place on 10th July at Coventry Bridge Club
(Coventry & North Warwickshire Sports Club, Binley Road CV3 1HB)

Approximate Timetable:

12.00 – Coffee and tea
12.30 – Session One (24 boards)
15.30 – Meal
16.30 – Session Two (24 boards)
19.30 – Finish

The entry fee is £180 per team of eight.  This includes Tea / Coffee on arrival and the meal in the interval.

Each Division will be divided into two sections, e.g. "Red" & "White" in the 'A' Division. Counties have one team-of-four in each section, a North-South pair and an East-West pair.  North-South pairs will be stationary throughout the day.

In each session a full American-Whist-type movement will be run within each section, with four six-board rounds; i.e. each county will play six boards against each other county.  After the interval, the two East-West pairs in each team-of-eight swap sections, so that by the end of the day every pair will have met eight different opposing pairs, two from each county. Counties will have completed a 12-board match against each other county.

New for 2015:
Scoring is by 'Cross-IMPs', converted to Victory Points:  Each N/S pair compares their scores with both of their E/W team-mates.  Thus on each board there are four IMP comparisons.  The IMP scores are added together for each 12-board match, and converted to VPs using the latest recommended VP scale ('WBF discrete').

Prizes will be awarded to the top two teams in each division, to the approximate value of £15 per player for the winners and £10 per player for the runners up.

As of 2016, this event will be fully Green-Pointed, with awards for matches won as well as a bonus to the leading team(s).  The precise scale will be published shortly.

The entry fee is £180 per team of eight.

Please be aware that, although sanctioned by the EBU, this is not an EBU event.  If paying by cheque, please make it out to me, Ian Mitchell, NOT to the EBU.  If you wish to pay by bank transfer, I will happily provide the details.

The event is intended to be a non-profit-making venture (except inasmuch as the TDs on the day are paid at 'Union Rates').  Before 2015, the venture has struggled to break even, partly due to rising venue costs, and despite raising the entry fee the previous year.  The move to Coventry Bridge Club reduced the costs, not only because of the venue itself.  As a result there was a significant surplus, which I donated to charity as I had promised to do.

The amount saved is not quite enough for me to be able to reduce the entry fee back to its pre-2015 level, but I might come to some compromise, or I could spend a little more on prizes.  My preference would be for the latter.  Additionally, one of the 2015 players suggested that rather than donate any surplus to charity, I should set it aside to guard against future rises in costs.  I would welcome any further feedback on this.

Update, August 2016

The 2016 event made a surplus of just over £100, despite the loss of one team.  In the absence of any further feedback on the latter point of the previous paragrpah, i shall put this amount aside, to set against potential future losses.  There is a strong possibility that the Metropolitan Cup will not happen this year, which could have a devastating effect on (the finances for) next year's event.