Norwich Bar Billiards

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Summary of the Annual General Meeting for Norwich Bar Billiards to discuss the new 2020 season

Summary of the Annual General Meeting for Norwich Bar Billiards to discuss the new 2019 season

Registration Team Amendments League Cup Rule Amendments/Clarifications Trophy Presentation

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.