VNEA Rules

In addition to the league rules, the BROKENCUE.COM pool league has guidelines for handling situations not covered in the rulebook. The guidelines are as follows:


USAGE OF SPARE PLAYERS

1) Every effort should be made to find a spare who is not already playing on another team.

2) If a spare *is* already playing as a regular member on another team, that player should be marked as "Guest" and statistical credit would apply to the Guest user, not to the spare (if a player inadvertently gets credited for both matches, let us know and we'll fix it). Using a spare who is already playing is a last resort, but this is a better solution than not having a player at all.

3) There is no limit to how many spares can be used on a team in any given night. In fact, in some divisions, where there has been an odd number of teams available, an entire Guest Team is made up of spares. Again, this is a whole lot better than sending players home, not having played at all.

4) Players can qualify as a spare for the year-end tournaments, providing they have played a certain amount of games. This comes in handy, as some teams may lose a player due to extenuating circumstances and therefore need a spare.

5) No team should have to play with a missing player and take 10-0 losses. Every effort should be made to ensure that all player positions are filled. Even if it means using a "Guest" player who is already playing on another team.

Spares, generally speaking, are used so that eveyrone has an opportunity to participate. Some players travel from far to play in the league. We are sure that most players would prefer to play against spares than to go home without playing at all.


ASSIGNING HANDICAPS FOR SPARE PLAYERS

Handicaps are assigned by the league organizer and are based on the organizer's assessment of the spare player's skill level. If the league organizer is not familiar with a spare player and what his/her skill level is, the organizer will assign a base handicap of 10. The organizer may, at his/her discretion, assign a handicap based on opinion put forth by trusted and objective league members who are familiar with the spare player's skill level.


MARKING HANDICAP AND NAME OF SPARE PLAYERS

It is the responsibility of the team captain or scorekeeper to put the assigned handicap and the FIRST AND LAST NAME of the spare player on the scoresheet. If the handicap is not marked, it will be entered as a 10, no matter what handicap was used by the teams. If the first and last names are not included, the spare's scores will be entered using a generic player name such as "Guest."


SCORES MARKED WHEN A TEAM DOESN"T SHOW UP

All team captains should do what they can to let both the league organizer and the opposing team captain know if their team will not be able to play. If there is plenty of advance notice, the opposing team may be willing to reschedule the match. A blatant "no-show," with no warning, will be handled differently. The team that did show up, the "show team," will have all games marked as a 10-6 win against the no-show team. There are a few reasons we handle it this way. First, our detailed stats system relies on data derived from scoresheets. We cannot just assign 5 and 0 round points to the show and no-show teams respectively. The rounds are determined by scoresheet data. Furthermore, assigning automatic 10-0 scores for each game gives too much advantage to the show team. This would give them an unfair boost in both the team and player standings. The compromise is to assign wins with the most common score we see in league play, that being 10-6. This still gives an advantage to the show team, but not nearly as much.


(more to come)