Rules of the Annual Pivot Knock-Out Cup Competition
| 1 Entries | |
| 1.1 | Clubs which are members of the League may enter any number of teams. |
| 1.2 | A captain must be nominated for each team and his address and home and daytime phone numbers must be sent to the League Secretary with the entry. |
| 1.3 | Entries must be made to the League Secretary by mid-May (the actual closing date will be announced during the League AGM each year). |
| 1.4 | An entry fee (to be determined by the Committee) will be charged for each team and is payable with the entry. |
| 2 Teams | |
| 2.1 | A team may consist of any number of players but only four players may take part in any one match. |
| 2.2 | No player may play for more than one team. |
| 3 The Draw | |
| 3.1 | The draw will be made in May, pairings for the subsequent rounds being determined by the position in this draw. The lower numbered team in the draw will be the home team. |
| 3.2 | There will be no seeding. |
| 3.3 | The rounds must be completed by the dates specified by the Committee when the draw is published. |
| 3.4 | In the event of a match not being completed by the published date, the Committee reserve the right to award a result. If practical, the Committee will contact the captains involved before reaching a decision. If it is clear that one team is primarily to blame for the delay, the Committee will award the match to the non offender. Otherwise, the winner will be decided by lots. |
| 3.5 | To avoid unnecessary Committee intervention, if a match is to be played
in the last week before the round completion date the home captain
must advise the Results Secretary of the scheduled match date as soon
as possible. Similarly, captains who are unable to organise a match before the published round completion date should inform the Results Secretary of the circumstances as soon as possible. Captains wishing to claim a match are likely to find the Committee more sympathetic towards their case if they have kept the Committee informed of any problems arranging the fixture. |
| 3.6 | If a match is drawn (see rule 5.2) and a replay is therefore required, the replay should, if possible, be played before the end of round date. If this is not possible, one additional week will be allowed in which to replay a drawn match. |
| 3.7 | If a replay cannot be arranged within the time frame specified in Rule 3.6 then the original home captain must inform the Results Secretary as soon as possible. At the Committee's discretion, the result may be awarded as under rule 3.4 or, in exceptional circumstances, a small additional extension may be allowed. |
| 3.8 | If a replay is arranged for later than one week prior to the round completion date, then the original home captain must inform the Results Secretary of the scheduled replay date as soon as possible. |
| 3.9 | At the Committee's discretion, a "plate" competition may also be run. All teams eliminated in the first round of the main competition will automatically be entered into the plate competition. |
| 3.10 | The rules for the plate are the same as for the main competition. The draw for the plate is implicit from the main competition draw with the losers of first round match 1 playing the losers of match 2 etc. |
| 4 Matches | |
| 4.1 | Matches will consist of 24 boards. The team captain plays eight boards in partnership with each member of his/her team. The two tables share the eight boards. The two captains oppose one another at the same table throughout the match. |
| 4.2 | If required, the home captain must announce his/her pairings and their seating for the first eight board round before the away captain decides his/her pairings and their seating. The away captain must announce first for the second round. |
| 4.3 | For each pairing a fully completed convention card must be available. |
| 4.4 | Only those systems and conventions currently specified by the English Bridge Union to have a General Licence may be used. |
| 4.5 | Should one or more player(s) be delayed for an acceptable reason and the match start late, the team captains may agree to play a reduced match of either 21 boards (in three 7 board sets) or 18 boards (three 6 board sets). If the captains cannot agree a reduction in the number of boards, a 24 board match must be played. |
| 5 Scoring | |
| 5.1 | Scoring will be by IMPs. One IMP constitutes a winning margin. |
| 5.2 | If the scores are equal after 24 boards then six additional boards will be
played (as three two board rounds). If the result is still a draw, a replay
must be arranged as soon as possible. In the replay, the venue is at the
discretion of the captains but the requirements on the home captain of
Rule 4.2 revert to the original away captain. See also Rules 3.6 et. seq. regarding the scheduling of replayed matches. |
| 5.3 | Scores can be compared after 8, 16 and 24 boards. |
| 6 Arranging matches | |
| 6.1 | Arranging match dates will be left to the team captains. The home team captain must offer three dates to the opposing captain to ensure the match is played by the required date. The dates must be in at least two different weeks and at least two different weekday evenings must be offered. |
| 6.2 | The home team can require that both of the playing rooms be designated a non-smoking room and shall inform the opposing captain accordingly when agreeing the arrangements for the match in accordance with Rule 6.1. |
| 7 Results | |
| 7.1 | The winning captain must inform the Results Secretary of the result within within 48 hours of the match, either by sending a result card or by utilising any alternative means which has been provided by the Results Secretary for this purpose (for example, the web-based results service). |
Revised by League Committee Aprl 1985
Revised by League Committee July 1992
Revised by League Committee & AGM Aprl 1993
Revised by League Committee Jan 1998
Revised by League Committee Jun 2003