New/Improved Tournament Regulations

Since the inception of the BCAPL, the BCAPL National Office has strived to codify, in The Official Rules of the BCA Pool League, as many of the formerly gray areas and fine details as possible concerning the rules. Before that, it was frequently only upon the whim of whatever head referee was on duty that your fate depended concerning the interpretation of any given rule. Now it is far more clear. The BCAPL has received an overwhelmingly favorable response to its efforts, and does not intend to rest on its laurels.

Over the last three years, we have put the same effort into codifying the previously mysterious world of tournament administration and event specific rules. The current result is the Tournament Regulations for the 2010 BCA Pool League National 8-Ball Championships.

All you have to do is take the time to read the Tournament Regulations - just a few minutes - and you will know where you stand concerning any number of potentially event altering rules and regulations. The dress code has been incorporated into the Tournament Regulations as well. We understand that the document is not perfect or totally comprehensive yet. There are still a few details in the Event Newsletter that are yet to be included.

You will notice a few changes in the dress code enforcement procedures for 2010, particularly in team play. For details, please refer to the Tournament Regulations at:

http://www.playbca.com/portals/0/2010_8-ball/10_Regs_NDC.pdf

There are also significant changes to the enforcement of score sheet substitution and line-up errors in team play. The BCAPL is recognizes that the game should be primarily decided on the table, and not by who has the best clerical skills. To be sure, there are still penalties to be incurred from improper substitutions, but not so much now from the simple act of getting players out of order by mistake.

Much of this information is duplicated in the "...Bans Ipods..." thread. It is time for that thread to die, as many of the earlier posts are no longer completely accurate. For the proper answer to event specific information, please refer directly to the Tournament Regulations.

In addition, please note that complete copies of the Tournament Regulations will be freely available at several locationas around the tournament venue, and that a complete copy will be provided to every team captain upon check-in. With those measures, combined with the link above where the document is currently posted, there is absolutely no reason any player should be able to lay a vaild claim to ignorance of the document before ther first match (see BCAPL Rule 1.1).

:smile:
Buddy Eick
BCAPL National Head Referee
BCAPL Director of Referee Training
Technical Editor, BCAPL Rule Book
bcapl_referee@cox.net

Find the Official Rules of the BCA Pool League here:

http://www.playbca.com/Downloads/Rulebook/CompleteRulebook/tabid/372/Default.aspx

* The contents of this post refer to BCA Pool League (BCAPL) Rules only. The BCAPL National Office has authorized me to act in an official capacity regarding questions about BCAPL Rules matters in public forums.
* Neither I nor any BCAPL referee make any policy decisions regarding BCAPL Rules. Any and all decisions, interpretations, or Applied Rulings are made by the BCAPL National Office and are solely their responsibility. BCAPL referees are enforcers of rules, not legislators. BCAPL Rules 9.5.3 and 9.5.4 apply.
* No reference to, inference concerning, or comment on any other set of rules (WPA, APA, VNEA, TAP, or any other set of rules, public or private) is intended or should be derived from this post unless specifically stated.
* For General Rules, 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball, and 14.1 Continuous: there is no such thing as "BCA Rules" other than in the sense that the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) publishes various rules, including the World Pool-Billiard Association's "World Standardized Rules" for those games. The BCA does not edit, nor is responsible for the content of, the World Standardized Rules. The Official Rules of the BCAPL is a separate and independent set of rules and, to avoid confusion, should not be referred to as "BCA Rules".
* Since 2004, there is no such thing as a "BCA Referee". The BCA no longer has any program to train, certify or sanction billiards referees or officials.
* The BCAPL has no association with the Billiard Congress of America other than in their capacity as a member of the BCA.
* The BCAPL has not addressed every imaginable rules issue, nor will it ever likely be able to, as evidenced by the seemingly endless situations that people dream up or that (more frequently) actually happen. If I do not have the answer to a question I will tell you so, then I will get a ruling from the BCAPL National Office and get back to you as soon as I can. If deemed necessary, the BCAPL will then add the ruling to the "Applied Rulings" section of The Official Rules of the BCA Pool League.

Craig_Dixon said:

...in [sic] sure i saw people playing in shorts, or cropped trousers ?

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Craig, if you saw people playing in shorts, it was for one of the following reasons:

• they were practicing in a section where no matches were being played (allowed)
• They were playing in a mini (sometimes allowed, as the BCAPL does not always maintain administrative control over the minis - but don't wager on it.)
• They were practicing in an area where matches were being played, and a referee had already asked them to finish their rack and move on;
• They were playing in a match out of dress code, but their opponent failed to call a referee and ask for enforcement before the match started.

Please refer to the tournament regulations for details concerning the last bullet, as enforcement procedures have changed for all events.

BCAPL referees are out of the pre-round/pre-match unsolicited dress code police business. The simple and valid reason is that it is impossible to enforce evenly across the entire tournament field.

At the same time, a loophole allowing teams to "hide" an out-of-code player has been closed. The dress code may now be enforced on any player in team play at any time up until their first game has started, regardless of whether the match has started. See Tournament Regulation D7.1-4 for details.

Women may wear sleeved dresses of conservative length (read - nothing shorter than midi/roughly knee length), capris or culottes.

:smile:

suprnva said:

This post got me curious so I just checked the player lists for the Men's Open division and there is a player from Germany and a few from Portugal. I guess either exceptions are being made or those players are from the USA or Canada and moved maybe?

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As I stated in my easrlier post, the Regs are not perfect yet, particularly concerning purely administrative matters.

Because the vast majority of players are of US or Canadian residency, the tax implications for the organization are severe if payouts are not thoroughly documented. However, the reference to only those two countries in the regs does not mean that they are the only country of origins allowed.

If there are objections to the laguage in E1.1, I'm sure the document can be amended as necessary to keep everyone happy.

watchez said:

Out of curiousity - who wrote the regulations, You as the technical editor of the BCAPL rule book, according to your bio?

When you write rules, you write them for the extreme situations, not just the obvious ones. A simple sentence stating 'Players outside of the US or Canada are not required to have a picture ID or Social Security card' would be all it would take. Then if Darryl Peach wants to sneak in on an Open Team and state his name is Phillip Smith, hey he is perfectly within his right cause he wouldn't have to prove it.

And one major rule you should put in - players of foreign nations should only speak English or not speak at all while their teammate or friend is playing. And you should put this rule in, stated in about 20 different languages so it is not missed.

Click to expand...

When you write rules, you also include a catch-all to protect your organization. In this case, it is called BCAPL Rule 1.45, Unsportsmanlike Conduct. So much for the "Peach" example above. However, that point aside, the requirement of regulation E1 to carry a photo ID does not depend on a players national affiliation, despite whatever problems the rest of the sentence may have (see below). All players are required to be able to prove their identity with a photo ID.

The language barriers/concerns have not gone unnoticed, and BCAPL referees at Nationals are breifed and trained in handling the situations and how to be alert for problems. It is not a perfect situation, but progress is being made. As far as your specific proposed solution, please e-mail Bill Stock at bill@playcsipool.com, and you may rest assured that your suggestion will receive consideration for next year's regulations. In preparing the 2010-11 edition of the BCAPL Rule Book, we looked at and considered over 200 individual suggestions from players, league operators, and referees, concerning everything from comma placements to major rule changes. I could not be more serious when I tell you that every suggestion is considered. However, unless it is mailed/e-mailed to Mr. Stock, it will not be seen.

As far as the eligibility goes, I noted earlier, and will now say for the third time, that the Tournament Regulations are neither perfect nor so comprehensive that they are the only document to be considered. Other documents freely available to every player continue to contain necessary regulatory administrative information. Also as noted earlier, the event brochure has some of that information, including half a page of detailed payout information for foreign contestants of any nation. That alone is justification to supplement/override Regulation E1.1, never mind the fact that the regulations were not even published until entries had been accepted from all over the world. If the issue continues to be of concern to you, please pm me and I will contact the National Office to ensure that a modification to E1.1 is published to be available before the tournament begins.

The content of the Tournament Regulations is the sole responsibility of the National Office of the BCAPL, and is coordinated by Bill Stock. I assist in writing them, but, as with the rules themselves, make no policy decisions.

Buddy