By-laws
HUNTERS HILL BRIDGE CLUB BY-LAWS
February 2025
PLAYING SESSIONS
Playing time per session (excluding breaks) is set at approximately three hours.
The minimum number of boards to be played in a teams session is 24.
The minimum numbers of boards to be played in a pairs session is:
2-board rounds (15 minutes) - 24 boards
3-board rounds (20 minutes) - 27 boards
4-board rounds (25 minutes) - 24 boards
5-board rounds (30 minutes) - 25 boards
The above minimum numbers do not apply to supervised or novice sessions. These sessions will be conducted at the discretion of the director but bearing in mind the ABF rules concerning the awarding of masterpoints.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEES
The membership year is a calendar year. Membership fees are:
New and Renewing Home and Associate Members $60
Life Member $0
The Club will pay annual ABF and NSWBA levies for all Home Members.
All new members are subject to approval by the Committee. Members’ table fees may be applied upon receipt of an application form and payment of the relevant fee. Applicants may, subject to the discretion of the Committee, be eligible to enter qualifying or club events as members before being formally approved as members at a meeting of the Committee.
Annual fees are due to be paid by December 31st each year. In accordance with the Constitution, a person ceases to be a member of the Club if the person fails to pay the annual subscription within one month after the subscription is due, at which time visitors’ table fees will apply.
If a Home Member fails to renew by March 31, the Club will not re-register the player with the ABF. If the person has not become a home member of another club, the ABF number will become inactive.
TABLE FEES
Pairs Events: The table fees per player for pairs events other than the State Mixed Pairs (Qualifying) and the State Open Pairs (Qualifying) events are:
Member $12
Visitor $14
Concession* (members only) $8
Red point events – a surcharge of $2 will apply
*The Concession rate is available only to members who are in receipt of a Commonwealth Age or Veteran’s Pension and who have provided their Centrelink number to the Committee. This concession does not extend to Health Care Card holders or Seniors Card holders.
Teams Events: For 3 week teams events, table money of $168 per team applies ($14/player/week) and is payable at the first session. For a 2 week event, the upfront table money is $112.
DIRECTORS’ FEES
Fees are to be reviewed by the Committee annually.
STATE AND NATIONAL QUALIFYING EVENTS
Entry conditions must comply with NSWBA and ABF tournament regulations.
Only a pair/team comprised entirely of Club members can be put forward to represent the Club at finals. The Club will pay the entry fee for such members. Non-members may play but are not eligible to represent the Club and will not receive sponsorship to the finals.
In the normal course, sponsorship is based on the results of the qualifying sessions. However, the Club reserves the right to take other factors into account.
The Committee is not obliged to sponsor a team/pair which did not win the qualifying event, but it may elect to do so at the discretion of the Tournament Secretary.
When the Club has paid the sponsorship fee to a final, it is fully expected that the qualifying team/pair will attend. If attendance at the final is not possible, the Committee must be advised with as much advance notice as possible to allow another team/pair to benefit from the sponsorship.
REGULATIONS FOR ALL MULTI-SESSION EVENTS
Club pairs events are walk-in events for each session.
In a teams event, a full round robin is desirable.
Teams events will not proceed unless 6 or more teams have registered at least one week before the first session. After this deadline, registration of other teams will be accepted at the joint and/or several discretion of the Director and the Tournament Secretary.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Subject to the Director’s requirements, a person may substitute in more than one pair/team.
Entrants to those qualifying events which are not conducted as walk in events are expected to attend all sessions. However, substitutes are permitted as set out below. The Director should be advised of a substitution as early as possible and must be advised in writing before play begins at the relevant session.
Rules for substitutes are as follows:
Teams:
4-member team – 2-session event -1 substitution
4-member team – 3-session event -2 substitutions
5-member team – 2-session event - no substitutions
5-member team – 3-session event -1 substitution
6-member team - no substitutions
Pairs:
2-session event - no substitution
3-session event - 1 substitution
The Director and Tournament Secretary are jointly and/or severally authorised to permit any substitute of approximately equivalent standard (according to the ABF masterpoint scheme, the ABF ranking scheme, partnership experience and any other relevant criteria). The Director is not an eligible substitute.
In exceptional circumstances, the Director and Tournament Secretary may, jointly and/or severally, relax the substitution rules upon request by an affected pair/team.
FINDING A PARTNER
Partners can be sought by contacting a Session Representative and/or through the Partner Finder on the Pianola website. If these endeavors are unsuccessful and a player comes to a session without a partner, the Director may sit in, but only at the Director’s discretion. No such provision exists for teams events.
The Director should not participate in any event other than a green-point event.
LATE ARRIVALS
Late arrivals will be accommodated at the discretion of the director. However, late arrivals will generally not be accommodated if this would result in a sit out.
APPEALS
An Appeals Committee is appointed to consider appeals against the posted results of an event. Any such appeal must be lodged within 24 hours of the official score being made available for inspection. The grounds for any appeal must be clearly stated.
EXPENDITURES
No member of the Committee, acting alone, may commit the Club to new expenditure of more than $400.
CLUB TOURNAMENTS AND PRIZES
The following events can be won by Hunters Hill Bridge Club members only. A member must be formally accepted by the Committee before the start of an event. Others may play and earn masterpoints but cannot claim a title. Cups and prizes are distributed at the annual awards presentation.
Club Pairs Championship $200 + Honour Board
Club Teams Championship $200 + Honour Board
Hunters Hill Cup $200 + Engraved Cup
Carolyn Molloy Pairs $200 + Honour Board
Annie Grenside Cup $200 + Engraved Cup
John Fisher Award $100 + Honour Board
Deb Bennett Memorial Prize $200 for pair/$100 for individual.
The Annie Grenside Cup was first awarded in 1979 to the Hunters Hill pair with the best score at the Club’s annual congress. Annie Grenside (nee Shiffman) was the Club’s first Director. It is now awarded to the best-placed Hunters Hill team in the annual congress.
The John Fisher Award was set up in 1994 to reward regular attendees at the Club. It derives from the use by the ABF of some of John’s cartoons in a calendar, the quid pro quo being the establishment of the award. Currently, the award goes to the member with State Master status or below (as at the beginning of the year) who earns the most green points from Club events during the course of the year.
The Deb Bennett Memorial Prize was established in 2014. It is dedicated to the memory of a long-standing member, with the intention of encouraging newer players to enter competitions. The format of this event will be decided by the relevant Director on a year-by-year basis.
Hunters Hill Bridge Club Committee, February 2025