4NCL - The Four Nations League

2008/2009 Season

Dates and Venues

Rounds 1 and 2

4th/5th October 2008
De Vere Venues, Sunningdale
Divisions 1 and 2

18th/19th October 2008
De Vere Venues, Sunningdale
Division 3

Rounds 3 and 4

6th/7th December 2008
Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island
Divisions 1, 2 and 3

Rounds 5 and 6

17th/18th January 2009
De Vere Venues, Sunningdale
Divisions 1 and 2

7th/8th February 2009
De Vere Venues, Staverton Park
Division 3

Rounds 7 and 8

21st/22nd March 2009
Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island
Divisions 1, 2 and 3

Rounds 9, 10 and 11

2nd to 4th May 2009
De Vere Venues, Staverton Park
Divisions 1 and 2

2nd to 4th May 2009
Barcelo Hotel, Daventry
Division 3

The Hotels page on the website gives further information on the various venues.

Entry Requirements

All entries, whether for existing teams or for new entrants, need to be received, together with the appropriate entry fee and confirmed team lists, by Thursday 31 July 2008.

Entries should be sent to Mike Truran at The Old Farmhouse, 7 Church Street, Ducklington, Witney, Oxon, OX29 7UA. A copy of the team lists should be sent to Neville Belinfante (contact details on the "Arbiters" page of the 4NCL website).

Entry fees are as follows:

Div 1	First teams Ł300	Second, third etc teams Ł350
Div 2	First teams Ł275	Second, third etc teams Ł325
Div 3	First teams Ł150	Second, third etc teams Ł175

Please make cheques payable to '4NCL' and send along with your entry to Mike Truran at the above address.

As usual, entry fees entitle teams to nominate up to 16 players (Divs 1-2) and 12 players (Div 3) in their team lists. Nominated players taking team lists over 16 (Divs 1-2) or 12 (Div 3) in total will be subject to the usual registration fee.

Registration fees (Ł5) and wildcard fees (Ł10) remain at the same level.

Prizes

The prize fund for the 2008/2009 season will be Ł9,900, made up as follows:

Div 1	First Ł3,600	Second Ł1,800
Div 2	First Ł1,800	Second Ł900
Div 3	First Ł1,200	Second Ł600

Other

The format for the 2008/2009 season will be as follows:

Divisions 1 and 2 will comprise 16 teams each.
Divisions 1 and 2 will comprise two preliminary pools of eight for the first seven rounds, with the two pools in each division of broadly equal strength as determined by the Management Board. The top four and bottom four teams in each preliminary pool will form two final championship/promotion and relegation pools respectively. With regard to the teams in each final pool, only matches played between themselves during the first seven rounds will be carried forward to the final pools (i.e. matches played by teams against teams in the other final pool during the first seven rounds will not be carried forward).
Four teams will be relegated from Division 1, four teams will be promoted from Divisions 2, four teams will be relegated from Division 2 and four teams will be promoted from Division 3.
Division 3 will be a Swiss format (similar in structure to the current Division 4, i.e. six players per team, no gender requirement etc).

You are recommended to read the rules for the 2008/2009 season carefully. PLEASE NOTE IN PARTICULAR the changes to team list submission deadlines and also the new default rules, which include (a) financial penalties for defaults and (b) the requirement for teams with a poor default record in the 2007/2008 season to post a bond which will be used to defray opposing teams’ costs should those teams continue to default games in the 2008/2009 season. We will contact the teams to which (b) will apply individually.

It would be helpful if team captains/managers of entering teams could check their contact details in the "Team Captains" section of the 4NCL website and confirm that they are shown correctly. Please notify Peter Sowray of any updates required.

If entering teams would like a link to their own website from the 4NCL website, please let Peter Sowray know.

Queries

If there are any points that you wish to discuss further then please get in touch with Claire Summerscale or Mike Truran, contact details for whom can be found on the "Management Board" page of the 4NCL website.