RULES

Lewes & District Toad in the Hole League

Rules (Updated Oct. 2017)

A. Match rules

§  Each match consists of seven games - four singles games, two doubles games, and one team game for four players.

§  Each game is worth ONE point to the winners – i.e. four points are available for the singles, two for the doubles, and one for the team game.

§  All games are best of three legs. The Home team would always name their player(s) first. There would then be a toss of a coin (or similar fair method), the winner to decide in which leg to go first. Players go first in alternate legs. The third leg need not be played if it is 2-0. If it is 1-1, another toss will be made for the final leg.

§  In Cup matches, there will an initial toss of the coin before the Singles matches to decide who will name their player first, with subsequent games alternating, and again before the Doubles and Team, if required.

§  The rules of each leg are – four toads, 31 down, first player throws two toads, second three, then 4 each. Once score required is less than four, one toad is played per point needed, and an exact number is required to finish. (Four toads in the hole does NOT automatically win the leg.) Any player may choose not to throw all of their toads in any turn.

§  Any toad which hits the back board or falls to the floor cannot be a scoring toad under any circumstances. However, such a “dead” toad CAN influence the play of another valid toad – e.g. by knocking it into the hole to increase its score, or, indeed, by knocking it into the back or off the table to invalidate its score.

§  If at the start of a game a player inadvertently throws more toads than permitted, the first toads thrown shall count (as if the extra toad(s) had not been thrown).

§  If a player busts but still has a spare toad, s/he can throw the last toad to LOWER their score.

B. League rules

The Committee has evolved over the years, and now consists of the 5 officials, (Chairman, Treasurer, Fixtures Sec, Competitions Sec and Webmaster). They have been empowered by the members at the AGM to take any appropriate actions for the benefit of the League. Extra members will be co-opted onto the Committee in situations where a wider representation would be desirable. The Committee will contact teams until they felt they had sufficient numbers and teams would try to send a representative if asked.

Also, the Committee are empowered to deal with repeated (or extreme) rude, abusive or violent behaviour by either teams or individuals in an appropriate manner, up to and including points deductions, relegation and suspension/expulsion from the League. All such players/teams have a right of appeal to an expanded Committee.

Reporting of results

The results of each match must be sent to the fixtures organiser by BOTH captains, who should also retain a written copy of the scores in case of query. The result must be received by the end of the Wednesday following the match. All results should either be texted to 07961645959, or emailed to lewestoadleague@hotmail.co.uk

If this does not happen, points will be deducted for repeat offenders.

Postponements and re-arranged matches

If any team is unable to play a match on the original date for any reason, the captain of that team must contact the other team giving at least 48 hours’ notice. The match must then be re-arranged to be played as soon as possible. Details of any matches which are being re-arranged as above must be sent to the fixtures organiser by the end of the Wednesday following the original scheduled date. All re-arrangements, but not necessarily the matches, must be made within 4 weeks.

Failure to give notice

If a team fails to give the required notice of a requested postponement or fails to arrive for a match, they will be warned and lose 5 points for repeat occurrences. The match is still expected to be played at a future date, but if no convenient date can be found, (and all discussion concerning this should be copied to the Fixtures Sec), then the result will be decided by the Committee, considering efforts made by both teams, their current form, etc

If a team turns up without a minimum of 4 players, for whatever reason, they should play all matches, as if the missing person(s) was scoring 0! So, with 3 turning up, 3 singles matches would be played, the 4^th one conceded (although it could be played as a friendly for the 4^th player, who would chose his/her opponent but no 8s would count for the substitute person). After the first doubles, the second doubles would be 2 against 1, with the 1 only getting 1 throw in a round, (eg a3, b3, a4, -, a3, b3, a4, -, etc, ie 2 throws against 1). Similarly in the team game, with 4 against 3, throw a1, b1, a2, b2, a3, b3, a4, a1, etc.

All incomplete matches should be reported to the Committee for them to award the points appropriately. It is wrong for teams involved, if it proved impossible to finish the match, to decide the outcome, as this might distort the final League positions.

League positions, promotion and relegation

The league positions will be determined as follows:

·         Number of GAMES won. Where this is equal between two or more teams, then

·         Number of MATCHES won. If there is still a tie, then (at the end of the season) -

·         The record between the two teams – i.e. the total number of games won adding together the home and away results.

·         If there is still a tie there will be a play-off to determine the league position if crucial for championship, promotion, or relegation.

Participation in the league implies acceptance of promotion and relegation between the divisions.

Player restrictions

No registration of players is required, but no player should play for more than one team in the league competition during a single season.  

However, as a part of opening up the cup competitions to non-league teams, we are allowing league players to play for a different team in the cup/plate competition structure.  As with the league competition – players may only play for a single team within the cup competition structure during a single season.  (ie a league player from team A could play for team B in the cup, but could not return to play for A if B were eliminated)