By-laws
HUNTERS HILL BRIDGE CLUB BY-LAWS
February 2023
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 are:
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
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEES
Membership year is a calendar year
New and Renewing Home and Associate Members $40
Life Member $0
1. The Club will pay annual ABF and NSWBA levies for all Home Members.
2. All new members are subject to approval by the Committee. Formal approval may take up to a month. Members’ table fees may be applied upon receipt of an application form and payment of the relevant fee. In the interim, however, applicants will not be eligible to enter qualifying or club events as members until formally approved at a meeting of the Committee.
3. 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.
4. 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 at another club, the ABF number will become inactive.
TABLE FEES
Pairs Events
The Table Fees per player for Pairs Events other than State Mixed Pairs and State Open Pairs Qualifying Events are -
Member $12
Visitor $14
Concession* $8
*Concession rate is available only to those members in receipt of a Commonwealth Age or Veteran’s Pension who provide their Centrelink number to the Committee. This concession does not extend to Health Care Card holders or Seniors Card holders
Teams Events
For Teams Events a fee of $160 per team applies and is payable at the first session.
DIRECTORS’ FEES
To be reviewed regularly by the Hunters Hill Bridge Club Committee.
The Director should not participate in any event other than a green-point event.
STATE AND NATIONAL QUALIFYING EVENTS
To offset the cost of sponsorship to the finals –
· A surcharge of $2 per player per session applies to all Table Fees for State Mixed Pairs and State Open Pairs Qualifying Events
· A fee of $160 per team applies to all State Open Teams and Grand National Open Teams Qualifying Events
Entry conditions must comply with NSWBA and ABF tournament regulations.
Only a pair/team made up entirely of Club members can be put forward to represent the Club at finals. The Club will pay the entry fee for members who have been formally accepted by the Committee prior to the first qualifying session. 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, but the Club reserves the right to take other factors into account eg contenders’ overall support of Club events.
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. The Committee is not obliged to sponsor a team/pair which did not win the Qualifying Event but it may elect to do so in the absolute discretion of the Tournament Director.
REGULATIONS FOR ALL MULTI-SESSION EVENTS
1. Club pairs events are walk-in events for each session.
2. Subject to the Director’s requirements, a person may substitute in more than one pair/team.
3. In a teams event, a full round robin is desirable.
4. For all teams events, table money for all sessions is payable at the first session. For other events, the Director’s discretion applies.
These events will not proceed unless at least 12 pairs/6 teams have entered at least one week before the first session. After this deadline, registration of other players will be accepted at the discretion of the Director in conjunction with the Tournament Director. Tuesday evening requires only 4 teams or 8 pairs.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Entrants to these 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 is authorised to permit any substitute of approximately equivalent standard (according to the ABF masterpoint scheme, the ABF ranking scheme, partnership experience or other relevant criteria). The Director is not an eligible substitute.
In exceptional circumstances, the Committee may 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 are unsuccessful and a player comes to a session without a partner, the Director may play in. No such provision exists for teams events.
APPEALS
An Appeals Committee is appointed to consider appeals against the posted results of an event. Any such appeals 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 (non-recurrent) in excess of $100.
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: $100 + Engraved Cup
Carolyn Molloy Pairs: $100 + Honour Board
Annie Grenside Cup: $160 + Engraved Cup
John Fisher Award: $100 + Honour Board
Deb Bennett Memorial Prize: $100
The Annie Grenside Cup was first awarded in 1979 to the Hunters Hill pair with the best score at the Club’s annual congress, which was run as a pairs competition at the time. 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 as a “Clubman award” i.e. it was aimed at frequent attendees at the Club’s ordinary events, based on green points earned at such events. 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 (*) status or below at the beginning of the year (which runs from 1 October for this purpose) who earns the most green points from the Club. There is a prize of $100 and the winner’s name is added to the honour board.
The Deb Bennett Memorial Prize Individual Competition. Inaugurated in 2014, this competition 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 Committee on a year-by-year basis.
Hunters Hill Bridge Club Committee, February 2023