[<<] [>>] by Samir Patel
1st February (CqE Official News)

Tournament Regulations 2025

Croquet England's Tournament Regulations apply to all Calendar Fixtures included in the annual Fixtures Calendar.

The Regulations are structured into a number of sections. These are outlined below, with a summary of the substantive changes made for the 2025 playing season. The full regulations are published on this website, and contain a more complete summary of changes from the previous edition.

• I: Introduction. This section now includes a summary of terms used throughout the Regulations.
• C: Clubs and Other Tournament Organisers. This includes requirements if tournaments are to be included in the fixtures calendar, together with the rules for how places in oversubscribed tournaments are allocated. There have been a significant number of changes to this section for 2025, and in particular the procedures for dealing with entries. These are described below.
• F: Formats for Events. This sets out in detail how tournaments should be organised. It's clearly relevant to Tournament Managers, but if you've ever wondered how a tied block should be decided, or how a draw and process works, you'll find those details here. Changes for this year have sought to bring greater consistency between regulations for different types of events.
• H: Handicaps. This section invokes the guidance and procedures relating to the Association and Golf Croquet Handicapping Systems, and sets out the powers of a Tournament Handicapper.
• L: Approved Laws/Rules Variations. Whilst we play the games as set out in the WCF AC Laws and GC Rules, there are times when modifications are required. The 2025 edition makes permanent the AC trial relating to Alternate Stroke Doubles, the use of video to support refereeing (for both Association and Golf Croquet) and provisions for resolving Advantage GC games which finish on time.
• M: The Tournament Manager. This regulation sets out duties and powers of the Tournament Manager. The main changes for this year are to make more explicit the responsibilities relating to safeguarding and to adjust for GC the thresholds for lateness before penalties apply.
• O: Officials. This is where the requirement for all tournaments to have a Tournament Director, Manager, Handicapper and Referee are set out. The Tournament Director's responsibilities are set out in detail in Regulation O4.
• P: Players. This section will be of most relevance to those wishing to enter tournaments, and covers eligibility to compete, conduct (which as well as a reference to Croquet England's Code of Conduct includes restrictions on doping, gambling and smoking), the procedure for entries, conditions of play, player's obligations in relation to correct handicaps, and conditions for holding and returning trophies.
• R: Referees. These invoke the WCF Refereeing Regulations for Croquet England events. They now define which matters an Association Croquet Assistant Referee is permitted to deal with.
• T: Time Limits. This regulation defines the conditions for imposing time limits, and also the standard time limits that apply if alternatives are not defined by the manager.

Substantive Changes for the 2025 Playing Season

The changes of substance made since the 2024 edition are as follows:

• Addition of a terminology section I(b).
• C1(c)(1): Updated to recognise that results can be submitted via Croquet Scores. An email submission is still required to provide other information and to act as confirmation that the manager is content that the Croquet Scores record is complete.
• C1(c)(4): Updated to reflect the replacement of paper Trophy Forms with email confirmation.
• C2: As notified in the 2024 edition of these Regulations, a review has been undertaken prior to the 2025 season of the titles for events. This has resulted in a number of changes, including the removal of 'First-Class' and the addition of 'Series' as reserved words in event titles.
• C3, C4, C5: As notified in the 2024 edition of these regulations, the Executive has conducted a review of variations to allocation procedures and event titles. It has also taken into account some other issues with allocation to Doubles events which arose during 2024. This has resulted in a re-write of much of Regulation C3, and new Regulations C4 (Singles) and C5 (Doubles). The increased length arises from a desire to make these Regulations easier to use and interpret, and hence reduce errors in application.
• F1(b): Retitled so that it applies to all unseeded events, and clause (4) added to include adjustments in such events to avoid players receiving multiple byes, in addition to previous provisions.
• F2: Updated to reflect the new terminology in I(b) and in particular the new definition of 'match' which now includes single-game contests. Where possible, the regulations have been aligned across AC and GC regulations.
• F2(c): Net Hoops removed as a criteria for resolving tied extra-turn GC blocks.
• F2(c): Best Losers regulation (formerly F2(c)(5)) removed because of concerns about its efficacy. This may be reviewed for future years.
• F8: A new regulation to define the Burridge Swiss format.
• L1(a)(3): The Alternate Stroke Doubles trial has been made permanent, so this regulation has been modified to permit Alternate Stroke Doubles to be played by one or both sides of a game or match.
• L1(b)(1): Updated to reflect that Advantage Play is no longer a trial. The updated regulation covers any GC events simply described as "handicap" and makes it clear that either Extra Turn or Advantage Play is permitted, but not mixed in any single event.
• L4: The trial use of video to support refereeing has been made permanent.
• L7: New regulation to cover the resolution of Advantage Play games that finish due to time limits. A number of consequential changes have been made to F2(g).
• M1(l): Retitled 'exceptional circumstances' to better reflect its scope, and the interests of the competition explicitly added. Safeguarding requirements moved into a new paragraph M1(k).
• M2(d)(4): The threshold for first-offence lateness to incur a penalty has been modified to [AC: 60 minutes] [GC: 30 minutes].
• P3(e): Modified to remove the historical approach of including one of more stamped addressed envelopes with postal entries should confirmation of receipt be required. Most entries are now made through the Croquet England website, which provides immediate confirmation, and most clubs now confirm by email the minority of entries received by another route.
• P4(f): Added requirement for single-banked GC for both sides to use scoring clips. (In double-banked games, one or both sides must use scoring clips.)
• R(b)(2): Expanded the description of AC Assistant Referees to set out which matters that they are qualified to deal with.

Procedures for Dealing with Entries

Regulation C3 has been largely re-written, and separated into three regulations: General Provisions for dealing with entries in C3, and the various different methods for allocating places for over-subscribed events in C4 for Singles and C5 for Doubles. The principal changes to practice are:

• The reductions in Dynamic Grade for allocation purposes in GC events for players with little recent play have been removed, pending further review.
• C3(a)(1). A new concept of Allocation Deadline has been introduced. It is the day before the Allocation Date, and is the last day for getting entries in before allocation. The Allocation Deadline, rather than the Allocation Date, is now shown on the Fixtures Calendar List view.
• C3(a)(2). The Allocation Date is now recommended to be between 8 and 12 weeks before the event, but may not be before 15 February.
• C3(a)(4). For seeded events, it is now recommended that the draw be no earlier than 3 days before the event. This is a requirement for GC Series events.
• C3(b)(1)(A). For events where allocation is by Dynamic Grade (DG), new players who don't yet have a DG should be given a proxy DG, equal to the trigger point index for their handicap (found on all handicap cards). If they don't yet have a handicap either, the proxy DG is 900.
• C3(c)(2). There is a new recommendation for any drawing of lots to be witnessed.
• There are additional provisions clarifying how doubles pairs and single entries are treated when dealing with entries in C3(e)(1) and (4), C3(g) and C3(i)(4). In addition, two pairs, each with one Under-25 player, can now get priority entry. However, if both players in the first Under-25 pair allocated are under 25, only one pair gets priority entry. See C4(a)(3)(C), C4(b)(3)(C), C4(d)(1)(C), C5(a)(3)(C), C5(b)(3)(C) and C5(d)(1)(C).
• C4(a) and C5(a). There are new allocation arrangements for the AC and GC Open Championships in both singles and doubles. A Minimum Game Requirement of EITHER 5 (for AC) / 10 (for GC) ranked games in the last 12 months OR 15 (AC) / 30 (GC) games in the current and 3 preceding calendar years will apply. Places will be allocated by the highest DG achieved in the last 12 months or (if none) the last recorded DG. However, 1 place for Singles and 1 pair for Doubles will be allocated by the Selection Committee, and the Minimum Game Requirement need not be met for that. An updated Selection Policy and Procedures should be published by the end of March.
• C4(b). Allocation provisions for GC Series events are now included, unchanged, in the Tournament Regulations.
• C4(c) and C5(c). Open events (i.e. those played level, without any handicap or grade restrictions on entry) are allocated by DG, unless the Tournament Programme states otherwise. If they are called Championships, they must be allocated by DG (see C4(b) and C5(b)).
• C5(b)(5). Whenever places for Doubles are allocated by DG, 1 pair should be allocated by the Selection Committee (for Croquet England events) or the Entries Secretary (for club events).
• C4(d) and C5(d). It is now specified that all other events (i.e. neither Series, Championship or open, and therefore including handicap play events and those played level but with a maximum or minimum handicap or grade) are allocated by drawing lots, unless the Tournament Programme states otherwise.

New optional provisions for clubs to use if they wish are now included in C4(e) and C5(e). These may not be used for Championship or Series events. They include allocation by handicap, reserving places for club members, and pairing single entrants for doubles events earlier or later than the usual time (which is on the Closing Date). Clubs may of course still use bespoke provisions of their own.

Further details of the changes made, and the reasons for them, can be downloaded from the news item of 3 November 2024.