• All the teams from the 2019 season will be taking part in the 2020 season.
• Kings Nits have changed their name and are now call International Brigade.
• Steve has taken over captaincy of the Coach & B-yonce from Rory.
• A new team joins the league - Lion's Pride - based at the White Lion.
• The Shoulder of Mutton have until 29/02/20 to confirm membership in the 2020 league.
• The two divisions format will continue for the 2020 league.
  Division 1 will have 8 teams and Division 2 will have 7 teams should the Shoulder of Mutton join. If not each division will have 7 teams.
• Cup and Plate competition will be a straight knock-out. Any byes will be drawn at random.
• Clarification was requested about balls dropping without contact. A resolution was decided upon, "the 5 second rule".
• Singles tournament format will be looked at the beginning of next year.
• A updated draft of the rules was presented and feedback was requested.

Registration

• The following teams were confirmed to have registered in advance of the meeting: Baastafarians, Black Stars, Coach & Horses, Dad’s Army, Golden Stars, White Lion Cubs and White Lionesses.
• Registration was received at the meeting for Coach & B-Yonce, Kings Head, Kings Nits, Vikings and White Lions.
• A request to join the 2019 season was received from a new team. The request was accepted. The team are to be known as The Rose and will be based at The Rose.

Team Amendments

• Baastafarians advised that their team had moved venues from The Woolpack to Kings Head, and further advised of a change in their team name to Disastafarians.
• Dad’s Army advised that their team had moved venues from The Woolpack to The Rose.

League

• White Lion Cubs and White Lionesses were confirmed to have been relegated from Division 1 to Division 2 following the results of the 2018 season. Black Stars and White Lions were confirmed to have been promoted from Division 2 to Division 1.
• Division 1 for the 2019 season was announced as comprising Black Stars, Coach & Horses, Dad’s Army, Golden Stars, Kings Head and White Lions for a total of 6 teams.
• Division 2 for the 2019 season was announced as comprising Coach & B-Yonce, Disastafarians, Kings Nits, The Rose, Vikings, White Lion Cubs and White Lionesses for a total of 7 teams.
• As a result of The Rose joining, it was advised that the 2019 season would see 3 teams be eligible for promotion from Division 2 to Division 1 at the end of the season.

Cup

• Advice was sought from meeting attendees as to the format of the Cup/Plate for the 2019 season. It was decided to retain the group stage into knockouts format, albeit one group would comprise 4 teams instead of 3.

Rule Amendments/Clarifications

• A suggestion was put forward by Norwich Bar Billiards to abolish the rule which limits a player to playing the same shot more than 3 time in a row, and instead to introduce an alternative rule which would limit a player to potting both balls off the break-off shot a maximum of 3 times in a row. Following discussion, the motion was defeated however it was agreed to amend the existing 3-shots-in-a-row rule so that it only applies to the break-off shot only and will no longer apply to general play.
• Prior to the meeting, a suggestion was received to amend the rules so that when multiple pegs fall in the same shot, the foul incurred would be that of the first peg to fall rather than that incurring the highest foul. This was raised for discussion with meeting attendees during which Norwich Bar Billiards advised that this was indeed how the game used to be played but that the rules were changed a few years ago. After being put to the vote, it was decided not to amend the rules and to retain the current rule, i.e. the highest foul is incurred when multiple pegs fall.
• Prior to the meeting, two requests were received in respect of balls resting against pegs, one for clarification of the existing rules (this request was also echoed by several attendees of the meeting) and one to request a rule amendment. This was discussed with meeting attendees during which Norwich Bar Billiards advised that the existing rule was that pegs are reset at the end of a players turn regardless of whether any balls are resting against them. The amendment request was to allow pegs with balls resting against them to remain where they stand at the end of a players visit, i.e. to only reset pegs which don’t have balls resting against them. Norwich Bar Billiards advised that this was indeed how the game used to be played but that the rules were changed a few years ago. The proposed amendment was discussed with meeting attendees and put to the vote, the result of which was to retain the existing rule, i.e. that pegs are reset at the end of each players visit even should they have balls resting against them (with those balls being returned to the trough).
• The final shot/double-off was raised by meeting attendees again this year, the main issue being that players could technically win a match with a foul, e.g. if both the cue ball is potted and the 100-peg falls. At this point, the opportunity was taken in the meeting to gauge the understanding of attendees with respect to the end-game rules, specifically around how teams deal with a player’s break going into the double-off. It turns out that some teams bank a player’s break at the point the backboard is placed down just prior to the double-off, while other teams played that the break continues into the double-off shot. Norwich Bar Billiards clarified that the rules state that a player’s break going into the double-off shot is only banked once the double off-shot has been played (and only if the double-off shot played is deemed to have been a legal shot, i.e. no foul has been committed). With this clarification and the subsequent realisation that that this would potentially cut down on the number of times the 100-peg may be considered a favourable option for the double-off shot, it was decided to leave the rules concerning double-off shots unchanged but to review this again midway through the season.
• The positioning of the black and red pegs during a frame was also raised. The rules state that the black peg should guard the 200 hole while the red peg should guard the 100 hole, though it is recognised that some teams prefer to play this the other way around. The rules will be amended to state that placement of the black and red pegs will be the decision of the home player.
• Finally, it was acknowledged that the version of the rules on the Norwich Bar Billiards website had not been updated since 2014and consequently included several rules which have since been amended or further clarified. Norwich Bar Billiards confirmed that a new version of the rules is in production and will be released soon.

Trophy Presentation

• 2018 trophies were presented. The Division 1 shield was awarded to Kings Head. The Division 2 trophy and the Cup were awarded to Black Stars. The Plate was awarded to White Lions.

Summary of the Annual General Meeting for Norwich Bar Billiards to discuss the new 2017 season

Thank you to all who came along to the AGM on 01/03/2017. There was a good crowd of people and some good discussion (and some good beer, of course).

We will add the full minutes to the website in due course but for now I think the three biggest standout points were as follows:

1. White Lion Cubs and White Lionesses in play-off match this month to decide Division 1's sixth team.
2. The league welcomes The Ship Inn at South Walsham who were voted in by the vast majority of attending teams. We are now twelve teams over six venues.
3. The Plate tournament will be retained but Cup/Plate matches will be played over one leg instead of two with the first team drawn being at home. Deadlines will be in place for each round.

We are currently in the process of working on fixtures and will issue these shortly. The 2017 season will commence from the start of April. As always, many thanks to everyone involved in playing the game of bar billiards and making this league the success it is :-)

Summary of the Annual General Meeting for Norwich Bar Billiards to discuss the new 2016 season

League

Discussions were had around league format and content, and the following were agreed:

1. 2016 league to commence in April once registered teams have been confirmed.


2. Two division format to be retained.


3. Should only four teams start the 2016 season in Division 1, a pre-season play-off will take place between the team who finished 4th place in Division 1 in the 2015 season and the team who finished 3rd in Division 2, to determine a fifth team for Division 1 for 2016 and to ensure a more even split of teams across divisions.


4. New teams will join Division 2.


5. Two-up/two-down promotion/relegation format to be retained, subject to point below.


6. Number of teams within each division to be kept as even as possible. If the 2016 season commences with five teams in Division 1 and six teams in Division 2, there will be an additional promotion play-off at the end of the season between the teams who finish 3rd and 4th place in Division 2 to give a total of three teams to be promoted. This means that, in the case of an uneven number of teams taking part, the split of teams by division will be weighted more to Division 1 allowing space in Division 2 for any new joiners.


7. Match format of six singles frames and three doubles frames to be retained. No changes to result scoring/points mechanisms.

Cup

Discussions were had around the format of the next cup. The general consensus was that teams exiting the cup early had gaps where they had no matches. As such, format changes were agreed to increase the number of matches playable. The following were agreed:

1. The cup will continue to run concurrently with the league rather than running after the league has finished.


2. We will continue to ignore division placement for cup purposes with all teams being eligible and considered equal.


3. Knockout format will be retained. Any play-off matches required will be drawn randomly.


4. The cup format will be amended from matches being played over one leg to matches being played over two legs: home and away, with the exception of the cup final which will be played over one leg at a neutral venue.


5. Plate (subsidiary cup) to be introduced for teams that exit the cup during either the prelim or first round stages.


6. Cup (and by association, plate) matches that finish drawn on frames will go to a penalty shoot out rather than points scored.

Rules

Updated rules will be published on the website prior to the start of the new season. The following points were discussed in the meeting and will be reflected in the new rules:

1. Clarification requested to rule 4f re balls falling into pockets without being hit first by another ball.


2. Rule 4h re disturbing and resetting pegs is incorrect and will be amended.


3. Section to be added to clarify the rules position for two or more balls “wedged” over a hole together, preventing said balls from dropping.
4. Section 7 re specifics of the league season to be significantly updated to reflect amendments to the league and cup seasons stated above, and to reflect additional points below.


5. Rules currently in place regarding teams playing with fewer than six players were not followed by teams during last season and were not enforced by the League. Following discussion at the AGM, it has subsequently been agreed to relax these rules to align with how teams have actually being playing. Rather than legislating for it, it will now be left up to individual teams to decide whether they are happy to play against teams with fewer than six people, and if they are happy for players to play more than once so as to prevent frames being forfeited. The decision will ultimately rest with team captains, though team captains are free to raise any concerns with the League should they feel that any teams are abusing this system.


6. Discussions took place around matches being completed within timeframes, and cancelling matches. Majority consensus was that teams would like to remain in control of and be given freedom to arrange matches between each other. With that in mind, the League will issue a fixtures list as normal but suggest that this be used as a guide by teams. Teams are free to play matches earlier (or later) as it suits them, but are responsible for ensuring that they play all their matches before the league/cup cut-off dates.

AOB

Additionally, the following were agreed:

1. It was requested that teams be provided with each others contact details. With that in mind, the League will collate a list of two mobile numbers for each team (team captain and nominated alternative contact), and will make this list available to team captains and nominated alternative contacts prior to the commencement of the 2016 season.


2. In response to requests at the AGM, a meeting will now be held annually prior to the start of each season, and team representation at the meeting will be deemed as team registration for the season.