It will be affiliated to the Cheshire County Bowling Association and unless the League Secretary is notified to the contrary, registered members of the KFBL agree to their membership and contact details being kept in computer form in accordance with BGBR ;
1.2 It will be managed by a Committee elected at the AGM and consist of: President, Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, Competition Secretary, Social Secretary, and 3 league members who shall all serve a maximum of 5 years, although there will be no restriction on any officer seeking re-election for a further 5 year term;
The Committee will:
All greens of the member clubs to be within a 9 mile radius from the centre of Knutsford (Cranford Bowling Club);
All matches to be played in accordance with the British Crown Green Bowling Association “Laws of the Game”; and
To maintain even numbers of teams in each division, and, at the discretion of the Committee, the bottom 2 teams in Division 1 will move to Division 2, and the top 2 teams in Division 2 will be promoted to Division 1. Any new teas to be allocated to divisions by the Committee.
The aim of the league is to encourage new bowlers in conjunction with a social evening.
Players are to register for a team NOT a Club.
Players must start the season playing for the team for which they are registered, or for a higher team;
Players may only play for a team in a lower division, or the same division if after having played 4 games they have a minus average. There will be no restriction on a player from a lower team playing up to a higher division, or to a team the same division, BUT, if after 4 games they have a plus average in the higher division, they then cannot play in the lower division until their average becomes minus; and
The final date for registrations will be 1st July each year. After this date additional registrations will only be accepted for players who receive registration numbers from the BCGBA in the current calendar year.
All players to be given a handicap for all competitions which will be formulated by the Competition Secretary based on the Handicap Policy below which is also available on the public area of the website.
All players to be given a handicap and these will be applied to the individual, pairs, mixed pairs competitions as well as the Jack Brynning triples. Handicaps will be calculated based upon the start of the commencing season.
Individual handicaps will be calculated as follows:
Division 1 players will have a handicap of +2
Division 2 players will have a handicap of +6
Should the individual competition take place on a player’s home green in the Knutsford Friday Night League will result in those players handicap being reduced by two.
Any entrant who won the individual competition in the previous season will also have their handicap reduced by two.
In the event of one player having a minus handicap, it is up to that individual to choose whether to begin the match with a minus figure or alternatively, to bring their handicap to zero/scratch and increase their opponents handicap by an equal value.
Pairs and mixed pairs handicaps to be calculated as follows:
In accordance with rules 4.2 a) and b) and added together before being divided by the number of players to give the pairs aggregate handicap. Any reductions to handicaps will then be applied where applicable as follows:
Handicaps are reduced by 1 per person playing on their home green in the Knutsford Friday Night League.
Any entrant(s) who in the previous season won the competition to which they are a participant in the current season, will have their handicap reduced by 1 per individual to whom this rule applies.
In the event of one pair having a minus handicap, it is up to those individuals to choose whether to begin the match with a minus figure or alternatively, to bring their handicap to zero/scratch and increase their opponents handicap by an equal value.
Jack Brynning Triples handicaps to be calculated as follows:
Division 1 players will have a handicap of +2
Division 2 players will have a handicap of +5
In accordance with rules 4.4 a) and b) and added together before being divided by the number of players to give the teams aggregate handicap.
Any reductions to handicaps will then be applied where applicable as follows
Handicaps are reduced by 1 per person playing on their home green in the Knutsford Friday Night League.
In the event that a group of three have a minus handicap, it is up to those individuals to choose whether to begin the match with a minus figure or alternatively, to bring their handicap to zero/scratch and increase their opponents handicap by an equal value.
All teams will be 8 a side for league fixtures;
All matches, both league fixtures and competitions (at the discretion of the Competition Secretary); will be played to 21 up;
League matches to commence at 7.00pm, except matches in April and from 15th August will commence at 6.30pm (or earlier at the discretion of the Home Captain) where a green does not have lights;
Match players to be declared and entered on the team sheet no later than 45 minutes after the official start time;
Each player to play 1 team per evening.
3 jacks to be maintained during the match;
No practice is allowed to visiting teams;
Matches to be played on the fixture dates with the following exceptions:
Teams can mutually agree to play the match before the date shown in the fixture book;
The green is unfit before the start of play due to inclement weather;
A team cannot cancel a match because they are unable to field the required 8 players, (unless there are exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the League Secretary) they must play with the number of players available;
In the case of (b) , the home team Captain must, within the following 5 days of the fixture date, offer the away team captain a choice of 3 alternative dates that are not more than 28 days after the original published date.
The away team Captain then has 5 days to accept one of these dates.
The Home team Captain must keep the League Secretary informed of all developments.
If the match is not played within 28 days, the Committee will choose a date and order the match to be played on that date;
When a team is short, only 1 player may play twice.; and
The player playing twice must be drawn at random from the first 4 blocks. The first 4 players cards are to be placed face down and 1 card drawn by the opposing Captain, and that player will then play again in the second half of the match;
Should a match be rearranged, players who competed in the original fixture date are not eligible to play for a different team in the rearranged match. The penalty for breaching this rule is: The offending player will forfeit any points scored and the opposing player will be awarded 21 points;
Merit trophies to be won by the teams in each section with the highest number of aggregated points.
Greenage for league matches will be £2.80 per match and reviewed annually at the AGM;
Competition prize monies will be
Competition Entry Fee
The entry fee for all Competitions will be
The League to implement e banking
With support from the Comp Sec, host clubs will provide refreshments, cards and tapes and run the League Competitions, . Following receipt of the drawer, order of play and strike out times, the host will be responsible for ensuring continuous play.
Handicaps and entry fees will be applied
Individual Competitions: Maximum entrants 32 individuals.
Qualifying games: 2 games for new players and previous season’s players to have played 50% of league games to date of the draw at the discretion of the Comps Sec.;
Entries to be with the Competition Secretary 1 week before the date of the Competition for review at Committee meetings prior to each competition;
A substitute player is allowed to enter prior to the first game of the competition;
Competitions to be held on different greens in rotation except for Cranford and Oughtrington where parking is difficult at both greens;
Strikeout time when called;
A practice of 5 ends will be allowed for any player having a bye on the day of the competition;
Pairs Competition: Max entry 24 teams
Rules as for Individual Competition except pairs need not be registered with the same club.
Mixed Pairs Competition: Max entry 24 teams
Rules apply as for Pairs Competition except the pairs must be mixed, i.e. 1 female and 1 male;
Jack Brynning Triples Competition: Max 24 teams
Rules apply as per Individual Competition BUT entrants must be registered with same club
If any player who enters a competition and fails to appear after the draw has been made, and cannot give a valid reason for their non-appearance, shall have their handicap reduced by 2 points for the remainder of the season, when playing in any Competition. Clubs will be invoiced for all entries.