ENGLISH AMATEUR BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

Kindly and generously sponsored by Mr. Eric Gratton for the Herbert Beetham Trophy.

Competition Rules

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

1. The closing date for the 2007 championship will be 30th September 2006. Contestants shall be notified of their playing arrangements in early November 2006. The preliminary matches will take place on Sunday 26th November 2006.
2. It will be the responsibility of the regional organiser to send all results, score sheets and referee's tournament expenses forms to the Tournament Co-ordinator as soon as possible after the games have been completed.
3. Seedings shall apply in preliminary groups at the discretion of the committee.
4. The preliminary rounds will be played in regional groups, each group producing the appropriate number of qualifiers who will then advance to the Intermediate stage.
5. Each region shall play its Preliminary matches on a ROUND ROBIN format. A Round Robin group will ideally consist of three or four players. Each game in the group shall be played on time format of ninety (90) minutes per game. The winner of the group shall be decided firstly, by the player/s with the most game wins. In the event of players tying on game wins, the player/s going forward shall be those with the highest aggregate points difference in all matches in the group, if players tie on points aggregate, the players involved in the tie shall play a decider on time duration format of 30 minutes.

INTERMEDIATE STAGE

1. The 32 Regional winners will enter the Intermediate Stage as 8 groups of 4 players being drawn on a countrywide basis.
2. All Intermediate Stage matches will be played on neutral tables on the Round Robin format of one and a half hour time duration games.
3. The matches will take place on Sunday 18th February 2007 at venues to be arranged.
4. The Competitions Committee will ensure that no player is drawn to play a previous opponent and that no group will contain more than one overall loser from previous rounds.
5. The Intermediate Stage will produce 16 players to compete in the Final Stages.
6. Matches will be on a round robin timed format of 90 minutes games.

FINAL STAGES

1. Final Stage matches will be played on a time format of 4 Hours (2 x 2 hour sessions).
2. The last 16 players (2 winners from each of the previous Intermediate Stage groups) will be drawn on a straight draw and progress to decide the eventual Champion:
• Saturday 3th March 2007 (16 to 8) at 'Sealand Leisure', Sealand, Nr. Queensferry.
• Sunday 4th March 2007 (8 to 4) at 'Sealand Leisure', Sealand, Nr. Queensferry.
• Saturday 17th March 2007 (Semi-finals) at 'The Whitworth Centre', Darley Dale.
• Sunday 18th March 2007 (The Final) at 'The Whitworth Centre', Darley Dale.

See the 2005/06 Tournament Calendar for more information.

3. Entry Fee £20

4. PRIZE MONEY:

   • Winner: £250
   • Runner-up: £150
   • Semi-final losers: £75
   • Quarter-final losers: £50
   • Last 16 losers: £25
   • High Break: £50
   • Total Prize Money £1000

5. RANKING POINTS: The awarding of ranking points for the championship will be allocated in the following manner:

   • All entries: 5 points.
   • Regional Group Qualifiers: 10 points.
   • Intermediate Group Qualifiers: 15 points.
   • Quarter-finalists: 22½ points.
   • Semi-finalists: 30 points.
   • Runner-up: 40 points.
   • Winner: 50 points.

6. The Association both requires and expects that all entrants shall fulfill their playing obligations at all stages of the championship as a common courtesy to all concerned.

7. Further guidance on E.A.B.A. membership or any other aspect of the championship, and requests for additional entry forms please contact: Steve Crosland (01943) 863883; Derick Townend, (01423) 563469.