Will all players ensure that they have a completed system card, failure to do so may result in a director ruling going against them.  

1. Pairs League: The Pairs League will be run over a three weeks period from March.  Once again it will be run over five different weekday evenings to try and minimise the impact on club bridge. Full details will be published at a later date.

3. Competition Entry Procedure: The entry procedure introduced a couple of years ago once again worked well last season. As a reminder, the responsibility for confirming that a competition entry has been made and recorded is with the participating players. Entries to weekend one day events will close at the end of the preceding Sunday. By the end of the Monday preceding the one day event you must check that your entry has been received and registered on the county website. If your name is not on the list of participants on the website you will NOT be entered and if you turn up we would have the right not to allow you to play in the competition. Where neither member of a pair has web access, they should ring the Tournament Secretary no later than by the end of the Monday preceding the event, to check their entry has been correctly registered.

4. Championship Pairs:  After consulting the members, your Committee has decided to revert back to a one day competition, with a first session qualifier. The top 14 pairs will play in an all play all final over 26 boards during the second session, whilst the non-qualifiers will play in a plate competition.

5. Start and Arrival Times: The start time for the one day weekend events is 2pm, EXCEPT the Championship Pairs which will commence at 1pm. We request that members turn up for an event no later than 15 minutes before the official start time, and register their arrival. In this way we will know exactly how many participants we have and this will help the Director to start on time.

6. Championship Teams: The number of boards to be played in the semi-final has been reduced to 40, and in the final reduced to 48.

7. Inter Club Teams Open Event: Each club will be allowed to enter two teams in the Open Teams Event.

8. Charges for Junior Members:  Junior members will be charged half the standard rate for the one day events. There will not be any concessions for our other events. We will adopt the same definition of a junior player as that used by the EBU.

9. League Fees:  A one off fee will once again be requested for each team entering the County League and for each pair entering the Pairs League. The one off fee for each team or pair will include the table money for each round of the event. This will simplify the cash administration for each of these events.

10. Beck Cup: The winners of the Mixed Teams will not automatically qualify to be invited to represent the county in this invitational event. The county team selectors have now been given complete discretion as to who should be invited to represent Somerset in this event.

11. Victor Ludorum: The Cynthia Day trophy will be won by the player with the highest total of VL points.

12. Level 4: All county events will be Level 4.

The Michael Coda Cup and the C League in the County League are open to non-EBU and non-SCBA members.

Eligibility

Except for the above events, entries can only be accepted from EBU members.

Entry Conditions and Fees

Oral entries cannot be accepted. Entry fees are only refunded for withdrawals before the closing date if there are exceptional circumstances. Teams may consist of up to 6 players. However, in the Championship Teams and the County League, teams may consist of up to 8 players subject to the rules of eligibility.

Inter-Club Competitions

In the Teams of Eight and Club Championship competitions, where the entry fee is paid by the Club, the Club Secretary or Treasurer should send the entry fee of ₤4.00 per player to Bob Warrender at the time of entry.

Championship Teams of Four

The team captain should send the entry fee of £4 per player to Caroline Macpherson at the time of entry. (More info - click here)

County League

Arrangements should be made by the club secretary (or other club official) to send the entry fee to Bob Warrender at the time of entry. The club secretary (or other club official) must confirm that all members of each team being entered are bone fide members of the club.

The entry fee will vary according to the number of rounds to be played by the team in their respective leagues as shown below.

The number of team entries expected for each league and the corresponding number of rounds should be published on the website early August 2014. The entry fee paid during August should be based on the expected number of teams in the team’s respective league.  (More information - click here)

Percentage Pairs

The list of entrants from each Club and the monthly results should be sent to Eric Cummings email address: ecummings@solstice-uk.com

The entry fee is £3.00 per player and each club should send a single cheque to the County Treasurer for all of its entrants. 

Entries may be made directly on the SCBA Web Site or by post to Bob Warrender. Entry fees should not be sent with the entry. The entry fee will be collected on the day of the competition.

Payments by Cheques

All cheques should be made payable to Somerset Contract Bridge Association.

Charges on the day of Competitions

A charge of ₤10.00 per player will be made on the day of the event to cover the entry fee, tea and all other expenses. The charge will be reduced to ₤7.00 for anyone who does not want to take tea and has advised this exception in writing at the time of booking. Where the ₤3.00 entry fee has already been paid by a club for an inter club competition, or in the qualifier for the Championship Pairs Final, the charge on the day will be ₤7.00 per player or ₤4.00 for those not taking tea.

Starting Time

Weekend events start at 2pm.EXCEPT the Championship Pairs will start at 1pm.

Permitted Conventions Level

All events are Level 4

Late cancellation or failure to arrive in time for an event

 PLAYERS NOT GIVING 48 HOURS NOTICE OF CANCELLATION TO THE TOURNAMENT SECRETARY OR COUNTY DIRECTOR WILL BE ASKED TO PAY THE COST OF THE TEA ORDERED. 

Master Points

Master points for all county run events will be directly credited with the EBU. In some cases it may take just over a month for your EBU master point record to be updated.

If an SCBA affiliated club is running a heat of the Michael Coda Cup simultaneous pairs, it will be subject to the P2P rules for affiliated clubs. The P2P file created for the heat will need to be loaded on to the club section of the EBU website in the normal way. Master points for the club heat will then be directly credited to each member’s record by the EBU. Additional master points for the overall result will also be directly credited via the SCBA.

Errors in scoring and protest period

In Club Championship events or County events, where results are generally produced on the day, the period for correction of scoring errors is 30 minutes after the provisional score has been completed and made available for inspection.

If any result is subject to an Appeals Committee ruling, the 30 minutes protest time starts after the amended result is posted (Law 79C1).  However, any keying error by the Director may be corrected by Law 79C2 when scores are routinely checked and the Director and the Tournament Secretary are both satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the scoring is wrong.

Where queries are raised and double checking of results is required, the correction period is 48 hours after the official amended score has been confirmed as correct and advised to those concerned.

Other than for the Garden Cities Trophy, a player who is invited to represent the county within a pair or team for any of the following events must have:

(a)     declared primary allegiance to Somerset at the time the invitation is made, and

(b)    for EBU events the player must also meet the EBU’s primary allegiance requirements for the season.

Corwen Trophy  

The first three pairs in our Championship Pairs, who are eligible and have scored 50% or more in the final, will be invited to represent Somerset in  May at Birmingham. If any of these pairs are unable to play, a substitute eligible pair will be invited to represent the county provided they have scored 50% or more in the final. 

Pachabo Cup

The eligible team members of the winners of our Championship Teams will be invited to represent Somerset in June at West Bromwich. If any of the winning team is unable to play in the final, some or all of the eligible team members of the losing finalists will be invited to represent Somerset, either as a complete team or playing with some of the Championship team.

Beck Cup

The county selectors will invite a team of eligible players to represent Somerset at Oxford in April.

Garden Cities Trophy

The winners of our Club Team of Eight competition automatically represent Somerset in the Regional Final at Bristol in May from which the teams that qualify go on to the National Finals in June at Solihull.  Different and/or extra players may be selected at both finals but not if having played in the event for another club.

Tollemache Cup

The Tollemache is a prestigious EBU event and attracts the best players from each county. The Selection Committee takes into account performance in County competitions with particular emphasis on the Championship Teams of Four, the County League for Clubs, and the Pairs League, as well as the Victor Ludorum ranking list. The Selection Committee are also attaching considerable emphasis on performance in the Western League plus regional and national performances in both teams and pairs competitions. The selected team will represent Somerset in the qualifier in Birmingham

Club Championship Competition

All clubs entering the competition must be located within the SCBA’s geographical boundary, which covers the county of Somerset, and the areas of North Somerset and North East Somerset.

The Club Championship consists of 5 separate events, two teams and three pairs’ events.

Each event is ranked, so that club representatives only compete against others of a similar ability.

The Club Championship is likely to be won by the club whose representatives perform best in the three restricted ranking events.  

Current Holders of Overall Championship: Yeovil Bridge Club

The Club Championship will be decided on the combined results of the following 2 events open only to players below the rank of National Master on 1^st July 2016.

Inter Club Pairs

Date: Sunday 6^th November 2016 at Woolavington

 There is no restriction on the number of pairs per club for this event.

The Lundie Rees Cup will be awarded to the winners of the 3^rd stratum of this event.

Inter Club Teams of Four  

Date: Sunday 22^nd January 2017 at Woolavington.

There is no restriction on the number of team entries per club for this event

An individual is not permitted to represent one club in the pairs’ event and another club in the team event in the same season.

How the Club Competition is scored

Each competition will be run as an all play all event (numbers permitting) but will be stratified into 3 roughly equal sections using current NGS ranking once entries are known. The top ten places in each of the 3 sections are allocated Club Points. Ten Club Points are allocated to first place, nine to second and so on down to one Club Point for tenth place.

An individual club is allocated Club Points for their best performing representative team or pair in each section, but only if they finished in the top ten. For example if a club had three representatives in an event and they finished in the top three places, the club would only qualify for ten Club Points from that event. The Club Points for second and third place though would not be available to another club, so the maximum Club Points another club could qualify for would be seven from their representative’s fourth place finish.

The Club Points for each club are then totalled over both events and the Club Championship will be awarded to the club with the highest total Club Points.

Entry to both competitions should be made by the club secretary direct to the Tournament Secretary and it is hoped that the club will pay the entry fee of £3 per player either by cheque or direct to the SCBA account.

Non-affiliated clubs may enter teams/pairs so long as the players are members of the EBU but will not be eligible for the Club Championship.