Agreement confirmed by representatives at the MCWG, June 2024; update confirmed by team managers, Nov24

1. For 2024-2025, there are the 8 counties taking part, and the format will be all-play-all 32-board head-to-head matches, converted to VPs.
2. Matches will be on the second Sunday of the month, September to March. Exceptions may arise if clashes emerge, and counties can agree on a different date for any match. The following exceptions are noted:
   1. September moved to the third Sunday to avoid Premier League.
   2. November moved to the third Sunday to avoid the Tollemache Qualifying Round.
   3. January moved to the third Sunday to avoid a F2F Midlands Congress.
3. Team Managers are asked to consider holding some matches face-to-face during the season; the choice is for the two team managers, with the default being online. Decisions on which matches are face-to-face need to be made at least three months before the match date.
4. Online matches will be played on RealBridge unless both participating counties agree to play on BBO.  The RealBridge costs will be met by the home team.  Where not enough RealBridge players are available, then teams may be reduced to four players if either Team Manager declares this to be necessary.
5. If a match is played on BBO no kibitzing will be allowed, and if it is played on RealBridge there will be no watching and if the match is made viewable through the kibitzing server, then a minimum of a 60-minute delay will be invoked.
6. If the match is played face-to-face, then the regulations and scoring (full cross-imps) and VP scale will be as used in the last face-to-face season.
7. If the match is played online, then the VP scale given below can be used (but the preference is to use full cross-imping, as in F2F matches, where this is practical)
8. The HOME team for any match is responsible for managing the game and for providing any necessary TD functions.  By agreement, the AWAY team can take on any or all of these – and the extent of that is for negotiation between the two team managers. Any TD-ruling on the day will be handled by the identified TD, but can be delegated, and should be delegated anytime a potential conflict-of-interest arises.  The fact of being a member of a team involved (different team, different table etc) does not in itself constitute a conflict-of-interest. If there is an urge to appeal against a ruling, the player/pair concerned should consult with their team captain, and the team captain will decide on whether or not an appeal is justifiable. If it is so deemed, then the two captains will agree on a TD from a County not involved, to whom to refer the appeal. That person’s decision is final.
9. The Dawes, Porter and Markham trophies will be awarded to the winners of the three divisions.
10. The winners of these leagues will be the Midlands representatives in any national league playoffs in 2025

The schedule for the current season is (first team is home team, DE=Derbyshire etc)

THE VP SCALES

Agreement confirmed by representatives at the MCWG, June 2023

1. For 2023-2024, there are the 8 counties taking part, and the format will be all-play-all 32-board head-to-head matches, converted to VPs.
2. Matches will be on the second Sunday of the month, September to March. Exceptions may arise if clashes emerge, and counties can agree on a different date for any match. The following exceptions are noted:
   1. November moved t the third Sunday to avoid the Tollemache Qualifying Round.
   2. January moved to the third Sunday to avoid the Midlands Counties Congress.
   3. March match moves to the Saturday before the second Sunday (avoiding Mothering Sunday).
3. Where either team asks for online, the match shall be online, but Team Managers are recommended to make two or more of their matches take place face-to-face during the season.  Reducing one of the matches to be team-of-4 is an accepted alternative to holding the match online.  Decisions on which matches are face-to-face need to be made at least three months before the match date.
4. Online matches will be played on RealBridge unless both participating counties agree to play on BBO.  The RealBridge costs will be met by the home team.  Where not enough RealBridge players are available, then teams may be reduced to four players if either Team Manager declares this to be necessary.
5. If a match is played on BBO no kibitzing will be allowed, and if it is played on RealBridge there will be no watching and if the match is made viewable through the kibitzing server, then a minimum of a 60-minute delay will be invoked.
6. If the match is played face-to-face, then the regulations and scoring (full cross-imps) and VP scale will be as used in the last face-to-face season.
7. If the match is played online, then the VP scale will be as given below (and the preference is to use full cross-imping, as in F2F matches, where this is practical)
8. The Dawes, Porter and Markham trophies will be awarded to the winners of the three divisions.
9. The winners of these leagues will be the Midlands representatives in any national league playoffs in 2024

The schedule for the current season is (first team is home team, DE=Derbyshire etc)

THE VP SCALES

Agreement confirmed by represenatives at the MCWG, 2 June 2022

1. This proposal is specifically for the next season. The season following that (2023-2024) will need to be agreed closer to the time.
2. For 2022-2023, there are the 8 counties taking part, and the format will be all-play-all 32-board head-to-head matches, converted to VPs.
3. Matches will be on the second Sunday of the month, September to March. Exceptions may arise if clashes emerge, and counties can agree on a different date for any match. The following exceptions are noted
   1. November moved to the third Sunday to avoid the Tollemache Qualifying Round.
   2. January moved to the third Sunday to avoid the Midlands Counties Congress.
4. Matches will be online by default but face-to-face wherever both counties agree to do that and a suitable venue is available.
5. Online matches will be played on RealBridge unless either (a) one county had declared pre-season that the county cannot field enough RealBridge players to take part, or (b) the two participating counties agree to play on BBO.  The RealBridge costs will be met by the home team.
6. <ADDED 01 Dec 2022>   If a match is played on BBO no kibitzing will be allowed, and if it is played on RealBridge there will be no watching and if the match is made viewable through the kibitzing server then a minimum of a 60-minute delay will be invoked.
7. If the match is played face-to-face then the regulations and scoring (full cross-imps) and VP scale will be as used in the last face-to-face season.
8. If the match is played online then the regulations and VP scale will be as given in the current MCL spreadsheet.
9. The Dawes, Porter and Markham trophies will be awarded to the winners of the three divisions.
10. The winners of these leagues will be the Midlands representatives in any national league playoffs in 2023.

The schedule for the current season is (first team is home team, DE=Derbyshire etc)

• Sep 11th : GL-DE      SS-NO      WA-LE      WO-OX
• Oct 9th :    DE-OX      LE-WO      NO-GL      SS-WA
• Nov 20th :  GL-SS      OX-LE      WA-DE      WO-NO
• Dec 11th : LE-DE       NO-OX      SS-WO     WA-GL
• Jan 15th 2023 : DE-NO      LE-GL      OX-SS      WO-WA
• Feb 12th : GL-WO      NO-LE      SS-DE      WA-OX
• Mar 12th : DE-WO      LE-SS      NO-WA      OX-GL

Please go to Patrick Shields (patrick@gcba.org.uk) for any clarification, corrections or suggestions.  Last updated 21 Jan 2024.

The basic style is as for BBO, but the concept of Match Arrangers is redundant, and here are the instructions for the Tournament Director of the day

1. The match is arranged with the HOME team at even numbered tables and the AWAY team at odd numbered tables.
2. The structure of the match is head-to-head matches with 4 rounds each of 8 boards, with a pre-loaded set of boards if the desire remains to play the same boards in all concurrent MCL matches.
   1. Patrick must know who the TD is to deliver the PBN file to them on the morning of the event.
3. The top division teams sit at tables 1-4, the second division teams sit at tables 5-8, the third division teams sit at tables 9-12.
4. Without using a RealBridge Configuration file, the following is the process
   1. Before the start of the second and fourth stanzas : pairs at every even numbered table must swivel 90 degrees before the next round is started.
   2. Before the third stanza : tables 2&4, 6&8, 10&12  must swap occupants.  The third round must not start until this is done.
5. If you are comfortable in using a RealBridge Configuration file, the sample labelled ORIGINAL below leads to the following process
   1. At the start of the second and fourth stanzas no actions are needed and pairs are automatically moved to the correct table - the HOME team will play against both opposing NS pairs in the first half, and the EW pairs in the second half.
   2. To switch opponents for the second half - before the third stanza starts (half time) - every table for the AWAY team must swivel by 90 degress. The third round must not start until this is done.
   3. The match score is derived by manually adding the two scores are the relevant tables.
6. Since RealBridge has enables team-of-8 matches we have an improved method which is encouraged and for which the configuration fiel appears below with the tag RECOMMENDED IMPROVEMENT.  The process for that is
   1. Players sit at the required table, and the system does all the player movements required. The match is (from a RB perspective) two rounds of 16 boards with change of opponents at the half way mark in each round.
7. The TD needs to download the XML-with-LIN results file and forward it to patrick@gcba.org.uk for the communal scoring sheet.
8. Final VP results will be entered into EBU League in the standard pattern; all counties will be liable for UMS charges on the same basis as previous years.
9. Where not specified here we follow (a) past MCL rules from https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwoq/bw.cgi?club=worcestershire&pid=display_page53 (b) EBU Sky Blue regulations.
10. RealBridge does not accomodate kibitzers by default - if they are wanted, please consult patrick@gcba.org.uk 

We noted also from Section 4,3.1 of the SkyBlue book on UNDOs :

• UNDOs are allowed in the auction for genuine ‘misclicks’ – a ‘misclick’ corresponds to a ‘mechanical error’, see Law 25A2. ....UNDOs are allowed even if partner has called as long as the situation has not got completely out of hand. ....

ON WHICH POINT WE HAVE RECENTLWY CLARIFIED (21 Jan 2024) that the MCOL position on UNDOs is that

• All organisers allow undo for mis-clicks in the bidding, and that is recommended in the EBU’s BlueBlue book and we (MCOL) have declared we will follow that.
• Some organisers allow undo for mis-clicks in the play but others do not.  Team Managers may agree with their opposite number to allow for obvious mis-clicks in the play (and if so they must tell the team).  If they do not make that agreement, then UNDOs in the play are not allowed.  In the play if UNDOs are allowed, lack of attention and playing too quickly do factor in, and if there is a sniff of that, then the UNDO should be refused. 

The lines below need to be saved as a .JSON file, tailored for the two teams name of those involved, and loaded as per Realbridge instructions.

===============

{
  "scoring_method": 17,

  "big_team_size": 8,
  "big_team_spacing": 1,
  "big_team_scoring": "ximps",

  "num_tables": 12,
  "team_names": [ 
    "DAWES Gloucestershire 1",
    "DAWES Gloucestershire 2",
    "DAWES Leicestershire 1",
    "DAWES Leicestershire 2",
    "PORTER Gloucestershire 3",
    "PORTER Gloucestershire 4",
    "PORTER Leicestershire 3",
    "PORTER Leicestershire 4",
    "MARKHAM Gloucestershire 5",
    "MARKHAM Gloucestershire 6",
    "MARKHAM Leicestershire 5",
    "MARKHAM Leicestershire 6"
    ],
  "match_assignments": [
    [ 3, 4, 1, 2, 7, 8, 5, 6, 11, 12, 9, 10 ],
    [ 4, 3, 2, 1, 8, 7, 6, 5, 12, 11, 10, 9 ]
  ],
  
  "num_rounds": 2,
  "boards_per_round": 16,
  "auto_compass_switch": 1,
  "scoring_break": true,

  "use_screens": true,
  "self_alert": true,
  "time_per_round": 3600,
  "time_display": 1

}

  
===================
The above JSON file lacks the table announcement that would be appropriate because on this website, all attempts at saving the data you need results in a conversion into something you do not want.  Please email Patrick at ctd@gcba.org.uk if you want a sample file with the table announcements.
 

The lines below need to be saved as a .JSON file, tailored for the two teams name of those involved, and loaded as per Realbridge instructions.

===============

{"name": "MCL : Gloucestershire vs Oxfordshire",
  "num_tables": 12,
  "vp_scale": 0, 
  "scoring_break": false,
  "scoring_method": 17, 
  "team_names": [ "OX 1A", "GL 1A", "OX 1B", "GL 1B", "OX 2A", "GL 2A", "OX 2B", "GL 2B", "OX 3A", "GL 3A", "OX 3B", "GL 3B"],

  "use_screens": true,
  "self_alert": true,
  "time_per_round": 3600,
  "time_display": 1,
  "boards_per_round": 8,
  "num_rounds": 4,
  "match_assignments": [
    [ 2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5, 8, 7, 10,  9, 12, 11],
    [ 4, 3, 2, 1, 8, 7, 6, 5, 12, 11, 10,  9],
    [ 2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5, 8, 7, 10,  9, 12, 11],
    [ 4, 3, 2, 1, 8, 7, 6, 5, 12, 11, 10,  9]
  ]}

===============

There are three possible VP scales which might occur in MCL matches.

• Where a macth is face-to-face we use full cross-imping within a team-of-8, obtaining 128 results which are totalled and then the 128-results VP scale given below is used.
• Where a match is online we use cross-imping within each foursome of the team-of-8, obtaining 64 results which are totalled and then the 64-results VP scale given below is used.
• If for any reason a team-of-8 is reduced to a team-of-4, then we imp up to obtain 32 results which are totalled and then the 32-results VP scale given below is used.

Note that the 128-result VP scale specifically takes account of the fact that multiple scores are obtained from each of the 32 boards played - but we have not applied that to the online 64-results scores as were there any mix-up in the board set-up (so that not all tables in a match played the same boards) we would have to hand-craft a VP scale for that.  That is less concerning now than it was in 2020 - so if desired that could be changed (but only if done before the first match).

Please go to Patrick Shields (patrick@gcba.org.uk) for any clarification, corrections or suggestions.  Last updated 10 Oct 20.

1. Matches are scheduled to be played on the second Sunday of the month.
2. Pairs of counties can agree to re-arrange matches but must agree this at least two weeks beforehand.
3. We have three divisions, labelled ONE and TWO and THREE, with the expectation that the best available team plays Division ONE, etc
4. Matches are of 32 boards played in four 8-board stanzas with an hour break after the first two sets.
5. Each team-of-8 will comprise two foursomes and each foursome will score separately with total IMPs being added together
6. If a county is fielding one team-of-4 only in any divsion, they must inform the oposition a week ahead (and the opposition can choose to field either one or two foursomes)
7. Each foursome will play two stanzas against each opposing foursome, swapping opponents after 8 boards
8. Each county will have up to 6 head-to-head matches going on (each 4 stanzas) and will either be the HOME or AWAY team for all matches that day.
9. The HOME captain is responsible for ensuring that Match Arrangers are assigned for each stanza.  The AWAY team can offer to supply MAs.  The Match Arranger who is setting up each stanza must be recorded it in the spreadsheet (HOME team space)
10. Set boards (named for match one MCOL-M1-1.lin through  MCOL-M1-4.lin) will be distributed on the day of the match to the match to the Match Arrangers.
11. If a county decides to avoid, or cannot on the day manage, the set boards no harm is done - random boards can be used but players will lack the opportunity for comparison with others.
12. Each team-of-8 (or team-of-4 if so agreed) must have one person designated as Captain
13. The two Captains of opposing teams must agree the 8 stanza scores and the total to which they add up, and ensure the record on the spreadsheet is correct.
14. The VP scale being used for teams-of-8 is the standard 64-board WBF Discrete scale (for which 20-0 needs 108 imps) - and if a team-of-4 is concerned, use the 32-board scale (for which 20-0 needs 77 imps)
15. Scores can be entered into the spreadsheet as they become available (but captains must still check and agree) - a read-only link will be made available to distribute to the team
16. Final VP results will be entered into EBU League in the standard pattern; all counties will be liable for UMS charges on the same basis as previous years.
17. Where not specified here we follow (a) past MCL rules from https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwop/bw.cgi?club=worcestershire&pid=display_page53 (b) EBU Sky Blue regulations.
18. <AMENDED 01 Dec 2022>  Counties must declare before their first match whether or not they will allow kibitzers at matches with which they are involved; kibitzers will be allowed where neither county so declares.

We noted also from Section 4,3.1 of the SkyBlue book on UNDOs :

• UNDOs are allowed in the auction for genuine ‘misclicks’ – a ‘misclick’ corresponds to a ‘mechanical error’, see Law 25A2. ....UNDOs are allowed even if partner has called as long as the situation has not got completely out of hand. ....

PART ONE - UPLOADING THE HANDS TO BBO

1. Check your email and make sure you have received the match boards usually two stanzas at a time (files with a name like MCOL-M1-1.LIN and MCOL-M1-2.LIN). Save these files somewhere on your system.
2. Login to BBO and Go to your “Account” tab and find the heading which says “Deal Archive” and click on that. ["My BBO" then "Hands & Records" on the Flash interface - ie the old, non-browser based version]
3. Press the “+” sign opposite “Select Folder” and then click on the “Untitled Folder” it creates and press the edit pencil and then change the name to M1 (or M2 …) and then click the tick. ["Create new Folder" on Flash and type in name]
4. DO NOT reuse a folder, as loading ADDS to what is in the folder rather than replaces it. If you have to restart create a new folder from scratch.
5. Selected the new folder (one click) and press “Import LIN” at the bottom (it sometimes take a minute to respond, sometimes a second click is needed). Use “Choose file” and then “Import”.
6. Close the pop-up box without looking at the hands.

You can now repeat for a second set of boards (a folder with a different name)
That’s what it takes.

You can click here for a set of instruction which includes screenshots if that helps you.

It would be a Good Thing to login to BBO in advance and check you can find all those buttons to press. Paul Gipson’s 3-minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEOTuNR1OBQ shows uploading the hands.

It's worth doing a trial to see if it all works for you. I have found the HMLT-5 interface a little flaky doing this but the FLASH interface dead easy. If you want a test file to try, email patrick@gcba.org.uk

PART TWO - CREATING THE MATCH

1. MATCH ARRANGERS need to have 100+ logins to BBO to have permission to set up matches.
2. First login and go to "Competitive" and then to "Team Matches"
3. If you don't see the option to "Create Match" you probably lack permission, and someone else must do this task; if you have it then click on it.
4. On this new screen, DO NOT hit "Create Team Match" until you have filled ALL THREE TABS in and checked them. You will need all 8 players online to complete, although you can proceed up to the last step in advance of that.
5. You have three tabs : first is labelled Identificationvand you can put "MCOL-D4" in the title and a sensible choice of names which identifies the teams
6. In the second tab (Options) : you can stop kibitzers if either teams has declared for non kibitzers, but generally allow them but unclick "kibitzers allowed to talk to players".
7. In the second tab : leave UNDOs ON and usually untick Barometer (it gives scoring visible as you go along, which can distract players, but it can be ON if both captains want that - please discuss).
8. In the second tab : set the number of boards (8 for each stanza)
9. In the second tab : click on "Used Saved Deals" and then press "Select Folder" and find the one with the right boards; click on it and then hit "Select" at the top right.
10. In the third tab : put in the players names - noting that the top is the first TEAM, and that BBO will move players to the right table as you start
11. ONLY NOW hit the "Create Team Match" button; if you haven't put in all the right names you might find anyone joining your match and that is a real problem!
12. If the setup goes wrong, look for your Director tab (bottom right), click that then on the game, and then take the option to cancel.
13. Don't hit "Close" until the match has been created, and if it gives you an error ("Someone refused") then simply pause and press "Create Team Match" again.
14. You can actually leave that pop-up around until the time comes for the second stanza, and then you don't have as much entry to do (just move 4 people and change the Saved Deals chosen).
15. At the end of the match, don't worry if it says it cannot deliver the scores - that's just because the servers are overloaded currently, and the results will come, and are accessible later through Hand Records (from the BBO home screen).

Two videos by Paul Gipson are worth watching : https://youtu.be/5kiuLfsQRIY, showing the proper method is brilliant, and the second https://youtu.be/RJ9SsLN68aA, explains how not to do it,and it explains how to cancel a tournament, which is via the Director tab!