Association Croquet National Inter-Club Events - Conditions (updated Dec 24)

• The AC Inter-Club Championship Tier 1
• The AC Inter-Club Championship Tier 2 (Mary Rose)
• The AC Inter-Club Handicap Championship (Longman Trophies)
• The AC Inter-Club for Federation Teams (Secretary's Shield)
• The Short Croquet Inter-Club Competition

1. These competitions are open only to Croquet England Affiliated clubs. The players must be Individual Associates of Croquet England, and playing members of the clubs they are representing.
2. An individual may play for the same or different clubs in different competitions during a season, but in any one competition may not play for more than one team.
3. Clubs may enter a second team in any of the competitions (only in particular circumstances for the Secretary's Shield - see calendar entry). If two teams are entered, they must be designated Team A and Team B, and Condition 2 above will apply.
4. If a club wishes to play all of its home matches at another club, it must register this fact at the time of entry.
5. Teams shall consist of four players, and must meet the handicap restrictions given for the event. Attention is drawn to CA Tournament Regulations H1 and P5 regarding handicaps.
6. The draw will be published on the Croquet England website and circulated to the clubs concerned on the date specified in the relevant calendar entry. As far as possible, the draw for each event will attempt to reduce travelling in the early rounds.
7. Dates by which rounds must be completed, will be published at the same time as the draw. Matches may not be played after the deadline date without the specific approval of the Director (in advance). Approval will not be given unless the Director is satisfied that this is justified and will not adversely affect the following round.
8. The final of each event will be played on (or by) the date specified in the calendar entry at a neutral venue to be determined by the Director. While this allows for some flexibility, the final will be held on the date specified if the finalists are unable to agree a date between themselves. The relevant Directors must be informed of the arrangement beforehand so as to be able to organise trophy presentation. The Court and Equipment Hire fees for the final will be paid by Croquet England at the rate agreed between the Director and the host club.
9. The position in the draw will not indicate home or away. In each round of the competition, the venue of the match between two clubs shall be the reverse of the previous encounter between those clubs in that competition. Where no history is recollected, the venue shall be decided by the toss of a coin (if necessary, by the Director). A match played on neutral ground forms no part of the history. If one of the clubs has fewer than two regulation-size courts available (see the Laws for Short Croquet) then that club must play "away", except that clubs with undersized courts may have them approved for competition-use on application to the Director before the start of the competition. Double-banking may be used.
10. It is up to the clubs playing each other to arrange mutually convenient dates for the matches. Make contact as early as possible, to give time to negotiate a suitable date and for making arrangements (the member designated as the club organiser for each competition should ensure their contact details are accessible via the CqE Directory). Try very hard to agree. If you fail to agree a date, follow this procedure:
    1. The home club identifies three dates on which it can host the match. These should be at weekends unless both clubs are content to play on weekdays. If the away team is able to play on one of these dates, then that date should be chosen.
    2. If it is not possible to agree on a date, each club identifies one preferred date (which may not be a date from step (a)). This should be a weekend unless both clubs are content to play on weekdays. The toss of a coin should be used to choose the date.
    3. If neither club has courts available on the chosen date, then clubs arrange and pay for a neutral venue (Croquet England will not pay lawn fees other than for the final; this includes when the expected home team cannot provide courts on the date that has been determined by the above process).
11. Where possible the host club should provide a referee.
12. Prior to the start of each match, the Captains will exchange team lists, with the players listed as A, B, C and D. The listing will be in handicap order, the lowest handicap first, except for The AC Inter-Club Championship which will be in DGrade order, with any individual not appearing in the rankings being inserted into the list in order of handicap. Where two or more players have the same handicap the Captain may choose their order, which must then apply for the whole match. The sequence of play will then be as described in the calendar entry for that competition.
13. The match must be completed in one day. Time limits should be imposed if necessary by agreement between the Captains, either before or during play, to ensure this. A maximum time limit is compulsory for the Longman, Secretary's Shield and Short Croquet. Attention is drawn to Tournament Regulations T1 Permitted Time Limits.
14. In order to ensure that a result is achieved in a single day in the case of bad weather, shortened games may have to be considered for the second session. If the second session has begun but has to be abandoned, then only the scores of completed games count for the result. If the second session has not started, or no games have concluded, the result is taken from the first session games only. If fewer than three games have been completed, or if the scores in a curtailed match are level, and there is no possibility of further play in any outstanding game to complete it, then, unfortunately, the toss of a coin is the only means of determining the winner (see 15 below, which allows for postponements assuming the away team is prepared to travel again; if so, this will be a new match and no games will be carried forward from the abandoned match). In an abandoned match, any completed singles game counts for handicap and ranking purposes, so full results should be submitted with the reason for abandonment.
15. A match planned within three days of the due date that has to be cancelled owing to exceptional circumstances outside the control of the teams may be played within seven days of the cancellation, but the Director must be told within 24 hours of the cancellation and give approval.
16. The winning club is responsible for reporting the results of each match by email to results#croquetengland.org.uk - this report will then reach the Croquet England Office, the news editor of the website, the editor of the Gazette, and the people who maintain the Ranking Systems. The information required is:
    1. the competition
    2. the club names
    3. the match score
    4. the date played
    5. the venue
    6. the detailed game scores (compulsory for Inter-Club Tier 1 and Tier 2 (Mary Rose), helpful for Longman Trophies, Secretary's Shield and Short Croquet); the correct format for reporting scores is set out at Reporting Results and News.
    7. a short report (if available), which will be put onto the Croquet England website, and may be considered for inclusion in the Gazette.
17. In exceptional circumstances, the AC Tournaments Committee reserves the right to take whatever measures they feel necessary to stage and manage the event.

Joel Taylor