Arrangements for WBU Trials and International Events 2009/10

Open Trials

The Pre-Trial Pairs will be held on the weekend of 12/13th September 2009 in Mid Wales, limited to 16 pairs. The selectors will select who plays if more than 16 pairs apply. Those players exempt from the Pre-Trial Pairs will have been notified by Neville Richards. (The rules for exemption are in this previous notice about the trials.)

The venue is the Penybont Community Hall, which is adjacent to the Severn Arms Hotel, Penybont, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 5UA (tel 01597 851224?) on the A44 Rhayader to Kington Road.

Play will start at 12 noon on Saturday and 11am on Sunday. The details of the format will be finalised by the Selectors at their meeting during the weekend of the Welsh Foursomes when final entries will be known. The table money charge of £20.00 per player may be paid in advance by cheque or collected on the day prior to play. William Pink will direct and there will be around 90 boards.

Final Open Trials

These will be held over the weekends of 26/27th September 2009 in Newport and 17/18th October 2009. The pairs exempt from the Pre-Trial plus a number of qualifiers (expected to be at least 3) from the Pre-Trial will play in both weekends. For more details of these trials, see here.

These trials will be used to select teams for the 2010 Camrose, the European Open Team (Ostende, Belgium in June 2010) and the 2010 Commonwealth Games (India, Autumn 2010) - see the calendar for dates. Pairs who are also qualified for Ladies, Juniors or Seniors may be selected for those teams as a consequence of good performance in the Open Trials. See rules f. and g. below.

Seniors Trials

These will be held on the weekend of 21/22nd November 2009, probably in Mid Wales, to select teams for the Seniors Camrose and possibly for the European Seniors. See rules f. and g. below.

Ladies Trials

These will be held on the weekend of 12/13th December 2009, probably in Mid Wales, to select teams for the Lady Milne and possibly for the European Ladies. See rules f. and g. below. The Selectors have also set aside funding from their training budget to enable coaching to be held if required prior to the 2010 Lady Milne and European Championships.

General Rules

The following rules apply to the above trials :

a. Players must enter as pairs, using the form in the bulletin or by submitting names to Neville Richards by 31st August 2009 (this was put back from 31st July in view of difficulties in getting out the Bulletin), indicating their likely availability for European Championships 2010 and Commonwealth Games 2010, together with some other events such as the Nations Cup in Bonn and the Chairman's Cup in Sweden.

b. Each trial will be run as all-play-all pairs with Butler scoring.

c. The leading pair in each trial is guaranteed a place in the next trial or the relevant team with others selected based on performance in the trial and over the previous two years. The Selectors will give priority to regular partnerships in making such decisions.

d. The Selectors have noted that Wales is the only Home Country not charging for trials and have recommended the making of a small table money charge for each Trial weekend, £20 per player, as already made for the Pre-Trial Pairs. Those not enclosing any required entry fee with their entry form will be required to pay before the start of the trial.

e. The Selectors reserve the possibility of holding further trials for the European Championships and/or the Commonwealth Games if appropriate. Pairs would then be required to re-enter.

f. Players will receive grants for Home International events as follows :

For the Camrose, Lady Milne and Junior Camose/Peggy Bayer, to cover travel and Hotel expenses.
For the Seniors Camrose, there is no grant currently available, although this may be reviewed.

g. Players will receive grants for European/World International events as follows:

It is understood that WBU Council have determined that players will receive grants expected to be at least £500 per player for Ostende Open Team and £250 per player for the Ostende Ladies and Seniors Teams. The entry fees will also be paid, and provision made for captaincy and scorers where needed.

h. Further details of trials arrangements and results and funding will be announced via the WBU Website and notified to relevant players via e-mail.