Chelmsford and District Badminton Federation

League Rules

1. The government of the leagues shall be vested in the executive committee.

2. The leagues shall provide for competitions as agreed at the AGM.

3. Entry into the leagues shall be available to any club affiliated to the federation. Notification of desire to enter the leagues must be logged on the CDBF website by 31st July in each year with particulars of sections in which it is desired to participate. Each club shall be permitted to enter one or more teams for any or all of the sections. The entry fee will be decided at the AGM and must be paid immediately after logging in the entries.

4. Feathered or cork based plastic shuttles of approved regulation pattern and speed shall be used in all league matches.  First division matches must be with feathered based shuttles.

5. Fixtures between clubs shall be mutually arranged between the respective club match secretaries.

6. Clubs shall exchange clear instructions as to the venue, number of courts, number of pairs required at starting time, starting time and type of shuttle to be used.

7. All matches shall be played as best of three sets of 21 points. The side winning a rally adds a point to its score. At 20 all, the side which gains a 2 point lead first wins that game. At 29 all, the side scoring the 30th point wins that game.

8. The minimum court time provided for a 9 game match shall be 5 hours, and for a 6 game match 3.5 hours.

9. Matches should start no later than 15 minutes after the agreed start time. Where two or more courts are used, and if requested by the home team, two pairs from each team should be ready to commence play within 15 minutes of the agreed start time. Any offending team shall forfeit a winning event from the final score. This claim must be made before play commences. If the match starts on time any unfinished games will be divided. No match should continue after 11.00pm unless both team captains agree.

10. In the event of an undecided match, the matter shall be referred to the referees who, if undecided, shall pass the matter on to the executive committee.

11. Matches should only be cancelled and rearranged due to adverse weather conditions or unavailability of courts. Any team cancelling a match for any other reason should forfeit the match in which case the opposing team will be deemed to have won unless both clubs mutually agree to arrange another fixture date.  A charge should be made by the Home club to the Away club for £32 to be paid towards the hire of a new fixture date if the Home team agrees.

12. In a 9 event match, if the winning team gains 6 or more events they receive 3 points and the losing team 0 points. If the match score is 5-4 the winning team receives 2 points and the losing team 1 point.

13. Teams that play with the regulation number of players will gain an extra 1 point. Any team playing with less than the regulation number of players will not gain this extra point.

14. The allocation of teams into divisions shall be arranged by the executive committee.

15. Every league game must be completed by a date agreed at the AGM unless sanctioned by the executive committee.

16. The result of all matches shall be endorsed by opposing captains. The Home team is responsible for inputting the Match results on to the website within 3 days of playing.  If this does not happen then the Away club can input the scores.  Each club should check the results that have been entered. If a match has to be re-arranged then the new date should be entered by the Home team on to the website at the time of the re-arrangement. Points may not be awarded if the result is significantly late.

17. Players are responsible for keeping their own match scores which should be verbally stated after every point played. Non playing 'scorers' may be requested by either team and provided by either team. The 'scorers' are not allowed to umpire any game. Any disputes arising during a game should be resolved by the players at the time of the dispute.

18. Each season, each affiliated club shall add the names of their players on to the website consisting of bona-fide members of that club before the end of the 2nd week of September.

19. Members joining a club after the submission of the club list must be registered on the website before they are allowed to represent that club.

20. Any club having more than one team in any section shall submit a list of nominations to fill their "first" team before either team plays any match. Also if a club has two teams in the same division of any League these matches should be played before Christmas.

21. During a season no player may play up more than twice in a higher nominated team (this will include playing up from the Knockout Plate to the Shield) then revert back to a lower team except with the discretion of the League Secretary in consultation with the Referees. Re-nominations will be allowed at the discretion of the League Secretary in consultation with the Referees.

22. If any club shall tie for any position in the final league tables by virtue of winning the same number of league points, then matches won and if necessary rubbers won, games won then aces won shall be used to determine placing.

23. The referees will be arbiters of whether the shuttles proposed by any club comply with the international rule on the speed of shuttles. Speed testing may be conducted as detailed in the BA of E rules.

24. Leagues will be arranged in the following categories:

1. Open: all individuals irrespective of gender identity or sex at birth will be eligible to compete

2. Ladies: only players whose sex at birth is female will be allowed to compete

3. Mixed: partners must be of a different birth sex

1. Players may only play for one club within each league category, i.e. Mixed 6, Mixed 4, Open 6, Open 4, Ladies 4 and Ladies 6. Example: A player cannot play for club A in Mixed 6 Division 1 and club B in Mixed 6 division 3. A player may play for club A in Mixed 6 and club B in mixed 4.