Surrey County Bridge Association

Rules and Regulations for the Lady Rose Cup and Plate

1. General
   A Knock-out competition for teams of four. Up to six players may be nominated and play in any one match including the final. All team members must be paid up primary members of Surrey and each player must play at least one third of the boards in the match to qualify for master points.
   
   Before playing in any match, up to and including the semi-final, a maximum of two extra players (not more than eight players in a team), must be nominated to the Knock-out Secretary.
   
   In the Lady Rose Cup the 4 teams that reached the previous years semi-final will be seeded, one in each quarter.
   
   
2. Dates for Matches
   Matches should be played in Surrey (old boundary) or at any Affiliated Club outside Surrey or at a private residence within a three mile radius of an Affiliated Club.
   
   Matches should be played within the scheduled periods, following Surrey guidelines for arranging matches. The home team should offer at least three dates, not all in the same week, and include a weekend date if requested. Any difficulty in arranging a match should be notified to the Knock-out Secretary at an early stage. The Knock-Out Secretary may grant an extension of a few days.
   
   The Knock-out Secretary is empowered to award results for matches that have not been played taking into account the circumstances in each case. If a team fails to arrange a date for a match, or cancels without valid reason, the team concedes the match. The organisers may impose the penalty of non-entry on members of the defaulting team in the next season.
   
   If there is a valid reason for cancelling a match, the match should be re-scheduled.
   
   
3. Late Arrival
   If a team is 45 minutes late, or 90 minutes late having notified late arrival, the match is awarded to the non-offending side. If a member of a team is present within 45 minutes of the starting time, that is an indication that the whole team intends to arrive and constitutes 'notification' within the meaning of this clause.
   
   After 30 minutes of late arrival, whether notified or not, the match is reduced by 2 boards and for each further complete 15 minute period the match is again reduced by 2 boards. The maximum number of boards that can be removed is eight (which occurs after 75 minutes of late arrival). The non-offending team is awarded 3 IMPs per board.
   
   
4. Play
   In the first two rounds each match shall consist of 32 boards or 28 boards by agreement and be played in two stanzas of 16 boards (or 14 boards) or with the agreement of the captains in 4 stanzas of 8 boards (or 4 stanzas of 7 boards). Pairs change opponents after each stanza and scoring is by IMP’s. If the scores are equal after 32 boards (or 28 boards) have been played, a further 4 boards should be played to break the tie. For subsequent rounds the match shall consist of 32 boards.
   
   No correction of scores is permitted after both captains have agreed the result. The winning captain must inform the Knock-Out Secretary of the result within the next three days.
   The Lady Rose Final only will consist of 48 boards played in 6 stanzas of 8 boards. The winner of the toss chooses “odds” or “evens” (sets 1,3 & 5 or 2,4 & 6 stanzas) to have seating rights) If the scores are equal after 48 boards have been played, a further 6 boards should be played to break the tie.
   
5. Fouled boards
   a) any number of fouled boards should be replayed if the result of the match without them could not be known to any contestant: and any number of fouled boards in excess of one should be replayed even if the result of the match without them could be known to a contestant.
   b) Only if more than one board is fouled in the last stanza, can substituted boards be played.
   
   
6. Systems and Conventions
   Systems and conventions permitted by Level 4 Licence as set out in the current EBU Conventions handbook may be played in the Lady Rose Cup. Only systems permitted by Level 3 Licence may be played in the Lady Rose Plate.
   
   
7. Refreshments
   The home team is expected to provide light refreshments.
   
   
8. Lady Rose Plate
   Any team which loses its first match is automatically entered for the Lady Rose Plate which runs on the same line as the Lady Rose Cup, except the final, which will be of 32 boards. Teams not wishing to play should inform the Knock-Out Secretary.
   
   
9. Master Points
   Green Points will be awarded for each match won according to EBU rules for major county teams events. No green points are awarded in the Plate.
   
   
10. Smoking Regulations (as per Surrey AGM 1993 )
    In all Surrey competitions held in clubs or private homes, in addition to the published rules at the venue, any player may request that there shall be no smoking at the table at which he/she is playing.
    In matches played in private homes, it is the duty of both captains to indicate the likely wishes of their team in this matter when arranging the match.
    
    
11. The winners of the Lady Rose will represent Surrey in the Pachabo.