Competition cancelled

[Fyldewhite]

Competition every Wednesday at ours. End of season numbers drop off. Yesterday only 15 players went out and the committee have decided that the comp should be cancelled because they have a rule that says at least 16 must play for the comp to be valid.

a) Are they permitted to have this rule?
b) If they are, could the cards completed (some that would have resulted in deductions) be treated as supplementary cards?

Couple of those who played are very aggrieved as they will not currently be getting the cut they would have done if just one more person had entered. There were no other factors involved like weather etc, simply the low turnout

 

[rulefan]

If the comp has started it cannot be declared to be non qualifying because of the size of the field. There is no reason why fields can not be very small (even down to 1) as the system makes provision for it.

A cancellation prior to play would IMO be against the spirit of the CONGU system but there isn't a specific rule about it.

The cards cannot be used as Supplementary Scores unless the individual player registered as such beforehand

 

[Fyldewhite]

Thanks Rulefan, thought so. It was cancelled after the event, the 15 had gone out, come in, submitted their cards into the computer etc but because there were only 15 all was deleted. Bang out of order. I just thought the supplementary card route would maybe create a "middle ground" but if that's not an option they'll just have to argue the case I suppose. Do you know if the county would intervene in this sort of dispute if asked?

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Our Club has a similar rule, A comp needs at least 10 at our place, no one has ever questioned it's validity, just accepted it.

 

[drdel]

If they permitted the 15 players to Tee off then they already new it wasn't 16!!.

To change the status after the event when the participants have turned up and handed in their cards seems bang out of order.

If the cards exist then the 'County' should be asked to re-instate the result.

 

[rulefan]

Thanks Rulefan, thought so. It was cancelled after the event, the 15 had gone out, come in, submitted their cards into the computer etc but because there were only 15 all was deleted. Bang out of order. I just thought the supplementary card route would maybe create a "middle ground" but if that's not an option they'll just have to argue the case I suppose. Do you know if the county would intervene in this sort of dispute if asked?

The County would almost certainly get involved as they have in effect turned a Qualifier into a non-qualifier after the event.
I can't find the particular regulation/clause at the moment.

 

[Fyldewhite]

Just to explain....our comps entry consists of signing in on the computer, putting fee in envelope and away you go. So the number of competitors isn't known before the last card is taken out. It only "became" null and void (in their view) because it turned out only 15 had played later in the day.

I'm sure many clubs have minimum numbers to make the comp a valid comp and there's no objection to money being refunded and no prizes given but the scores, which were made and submitted in good faith should surely stand. Otherwise they are effectively failing to keep handicaps accurately.

Thanks for the replies. I will advise the players affected to contact the county if they get nowhere internally.

 

[duncan mackie]

Just to explain....our comps entry consists of signing in on the computer, putting fee in envelope and away you go. So the number of competitors isn't known before the last card is taken out. It only "became" null and void (in their view) because it turned out only 15 had played later in the day.

I'm sure many clubs have minimum numbers to make the comp a valid comp and there's no objection to money being refunded and no prizes given but the scores, which were made and submitted in good faith should surely stand. Otherwise they are effectively failing to keep handicaps accurately.

Thanks for the replies. I will advise the players affected to contact the county if they get nowhere internally.

We have no minimum for exactly this reason - but then again we do not run any Q comps on a roll up basis. This doesn't stop someone dropping out to leave a smaller than initially anticipated field and create it for us though...

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

We have no minimum for exactly this reason - but then again we do not run any Q comps on a roll up basis. This doesn't stop someone dropping out to leave a smaller than initially anticipated field and create it for us though...

We run a roll-up qualifying stableford every Saturday when there isn't another comp . Never noticed any minimum number of entries stricture.

 

[rulefan]

There shouldn't be minimum no qualifiers. The club is obliged to make competitions available to all in order to demonstrate that handicaps are realistic.
They certainly can't reverse a comp that has been played.
At least if it is cancelled before anyone starts, they have the opportunity to put in a supplementary.