More Rules and Penalties on the European Bowling Tour
11/02/05
Late Cancellations and Penalty Points
Open Letter to all European Players
European Bowling Tour News
including an Open Letter to all European Players
Few days after the European Tenpin Bowling Federation has introduced "Special Playing Rules" immediately effective for the final two stops of the 2005 European Bowling Tour, ETBF Vice President Kim Thorsgaard Jensen has announced "a new set of rules" regarding late cancellations in tour stops effective for the 2006 EBT.
According to Jensen, who is also the organizer of the Brunswick Aalborg International, which is part of the EBT, "the penalty system is directed towards a group of players" ... that "ruin the economy for many organizers".
The new rules will allow the ETBF to suspend players from 60 days to life time from EBT stops. It also allows the ETBF and every EBT tournament organizer to charge penalty fees for violating those rules.
Jensen hopes the new rules will solve the problems "that we can avoid further restrictions and even more strict rules."
Scroll down this page to read the latest ETBF press release called "Late cancellations and Penalty Points", an open letter by the ETBF to all players and to download the latest European Bowling Tour Rules (as of October 31, 2005).
According to Jensen, who is also the organizer of the Brunswick Aalborg International, which is part of the EBT, "the penalty system is directed towards a group of players" ... that "ruin the economy for many organizers".
The new rules will allow the ETBF to suspend players from 60 days to life time from EBT stops. It also allows the ETBF and every EBT tournament organizer to charge penalty fees for violating those rules.
Jensen hopes the new rules will solve the problems "that we can avoid further restrictions and even more strict rules."
Scroll down this page to read the latest ETBF press release called "Late cancellations and Penalty Points", an open letter by the ETBF to all players and to download the latest European Bowling Tour Rules (as of October 31, 2005).
Late Cancellations and Penalty Points
By Kim Thorsgaard Jensen - ETBF Vice President
Late cancellations in tour stops have over the last couple of years developed from a rather marginal problem to a very serious problem with 40-50 late cancellations in the worst cases. The problem has become a real existential threat for many tournaments and might become an existential threat to the whole tour business if nothing is done.
The ETBF Presidium has had increased focus on the problem for many months and possible solutions, steps and actions have been discussed.
The most perfect solution will be a sophisticated and Internet based combined payment and booking system for all tournaments. We have therefore asked a company to investigate the possibility of developing such a system, its costs and its consequences. We can, however, not expect such a system to be up and running in the next couple of years.
In the meanwhile a new set of rules will be in effect as of stop 1 in 2006, including a system with penalty points, penalties and registration in cases of late cancellations.
Late cancellations are defined in three categories and penalty points are given as follows:
Late Cancellation Type A
Cancellation Type A happens if the organizer is notified by the player in a period of 14 days or less before the first day of the tournament until the day just before the first day of the tournament. The player will be given 1 penalty point and the organizer is allowed to issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than half of the maximum fee for a primary entry.
Late Cancellation Type B
Cancellation Type B happens if the organizer is notified by the player during the tournament, but before the qualification squad in which the primary entry was ordered. The player will be given 2 penalty points and the organizer is allowed to issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than the maximum fee for a primary entry.
Late Cancellation Type C
Cancellation Type C is defined as a "No Show", which happens when a player fails to appear without having notified the organizer or is notifying the organizer after the start of the qualification squad in which the primary entry was ordered. The player will be given 3 penalty points and the organizer is allowed to issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than the maximum fee for a primary entry plus the maximum fee for a re-entry.
If an invoice (A-C) is not paid latest 30 days after it was issued, the player will be given 1 penalty point more, regardless whether the voucher is paid at a later moment.
For late cancellations 1 penalty points will be given, but also for an illegal pull out in a tournament and furthermore from 0-4 penalty points can be given to players presenting improper behaviour like attacking equipment, attacking other players or officials and other similar, fortunately not very often, occurring happenings. The level of action will decide the number of penalty points given.
Penalty points will be accumulated over a three year period, where after points from the oldest year will be removed.
Each time a player is at or passing 4 penalty points, a penalty number is added to the player's total of penalty numbers and a penalty will be issued as follows:
- If the penalty number is 1, the player will be suspended for 60 days from EBT stops, counting from the day the suspension letter is issued.
- If the penalty number is 2, the player will be suspended for 90 days from EBT stops, counting from the day the suspension letter is issued. In addition the player will, through his federation, be invoiced by ETBF with a penalty fee of 300 Euro.
- For each time the penalty number is higher than 2, the suspension period will be 30 days higher than the suspension period of the previous penalty number. In addition the penalty fee will be 300 Euro higher than the penalty fee of the previous penalty number.
- A suspension of a player from the EBT will in principle never end as long as a player has not paid the penalty fee to ETBF.
Together with the introduction of these rules ETBF has prepared an open letter to all players, appealing to a better attitude when entering and/or cancelling tournament entries and with a future hope that we can avoid further restrictions and even more strict rules for late cancellations. This letter is attached for your convenience.
It is important for ETBF to underline that the whole situation and the unfortunate necessity to introduce the penalty system is caused by a minority of players. A vast majority of the players can meet the new rules in confidence, because they do not need to change the attitude they already have and most of them will most probably never get one single penalty point.
The penalty system is directed towards a group of players filling up the good and attractive squads for a long period, and by doing that preventing other players from entering and then ruin the economy for many organizers by cancelling their bookings (or even worst just stay away without notification), often with misrepresentation of the facts.
The ETBF Presidium has had increased focus on the problem for many months and possible solutions, steps and actions have been discussed.
The most perfect solution will be a sophisticated and Internet based combined payment and booking system for all tournaments. We have therefore asked a company to investigate the possibility of developing such a system, its costs and its consequences. We can, however, not expect such a system to be up and running in the next couple of years.
In the meanwhile a new set of rules will be in effect as of stop 1 in 2006, including a system with penalty points, penalties and registration in cases of late cancellations.
Late cancellations are defined in three categories and penalty points are given as follows:
Late Cancellation Type A
Cancellation Type A happens if the organizer is notified by the player in a period of 14 days or less before the first day of the tournament until the day just before the first day of the tournament. The player will be given 1 penalty point and the organizer is allowed to issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than half of the maximum fee for a primary entry.
Late Cancellation Type B
Cancellation Type B happens if the organizer is notified by the player during the tournament, but before the qualification squad in which the primary entry was ordered. The player will be given 2 penalty points and the organizer is allowed to issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than the maximum fee for a primary entry.
Late Cancellation Type C
Cancellation Type C is defined as a "No Show", which happens when a player fails to appear without having notified the organizer or is notifying the organizer after the start of the qualification squad in which the primary entry was ordered. The player will be given 3 penalty points and the organizer is allowed to issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than the maximum fee for a primary entry plus the maximum fee for a re-entry.
If an invoice (A-C) is not paid latest 30 days after it was issued, the player will be given 1 penalty point more, regardless whether the voucher is paid at a later moment.
For late cancellations 1 penalty points will be given, but also for an illegal pull out in a tournament and furthermore from 0-4 penalty points can be given to players presenting improper behaviour like attacking equipment, attacking other players or officials and other similar, fortunately not very often, occurring happenings. The level of action will decide the number of penalty points given.
Penalty points will be accumulated over a three year period, where after points from the oldest year will be removed.
Each time a player is at or passing 4 penalty points, a penalty number is added to the player's total of penalty numbers and a penalty will be issued as follows:
- If the penalty number is 1, the player will be suspended for 60 days from EBT stops, counting from the day the suspension letter is issued.
- If the penalty number is 2, the player will be suspended for 90 days from EBT stops, counting from the day the suspension letter is issued. In addition the player will, through his federation, be invoiced by ETBF with a penalty fee of 300 Euro.
- For each time the penalty number is higher than 2, the suspension period will be 30 days higher than the suspension period of the previous penalty number. In addition the penalty fee will be 300 Euro higher than the penalty fee of the previous penalty number.
- A suspension of a player from the EBT will in principle never end as long as a player has not paid the penalty fee to ETBF.
Together with the introduction of these rules ETBF has prepared an open letter to all players, appealing to a better attitude when entering and/or cancelling tournament entries and with a future hope that we can avoid further restrictions and even more strict rules for late cancellations. This letter is attached for your convenience.
It is important for ETBF to underline that the whole situation and the unfortunate necessity to introduce the penalty system is caused by a minority of players. A vast majority of the players can meet the new rules in confidence, because they do not need to change the attitude they already have and most of them will most probably never get one single penalty point.
The penalty system is directed towards a group of players filling up the good and attractive squads for a long period, and by doing that preventing other players from entering and then ruin the economy for many organizers by cancelling their bookings (or even worst just stay away without notification), often with misrepresentation of the facts.
Open Letter to all European Players
Aalborg, 31 October 2005
The European Bowling Tour has, since it started in 2000, developed from a small group of tournaments with rather low prize money to a much more business like tour with many new tournaments and much higher prize money.
Simplified in figures it can be expressed as follows: The tour has over seven years expanded from a tour with a total prize money of less than 200.000 Euro and an average prize money per tournament of about 20.000 Euro to a tour with a total prize money of about 1.000.000 Euro and an average prize money per tournament of about 50.000 Euro.
The European Bowling Tour has become an important tool in the visibility of our sport and by that the development of our sport, it is recognized by the bowling industry, more sponsorships comes in and the tour is also recognized far outside the European area.
The ETBF Presidium is fully aware of the fact that it does not stop with this. In the coming years there is a lot more to do to further improve the tour, to create a higher degree of uniformity, to attract more media and TV coverage and last but not least to attract sponsorships outside our own bowling circles. This can only happen in close co-operation with the tournament organizers.
The tour would be nothing without the players and the tour would be nothing without the organizers. They are the ones taking higher and higher financial risks as the demands from ETBF and the players grows and they are the ones to work for hundreds of hours to ensure that each stop is running as ETBF and the players expect a high class international event to run.
Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, a very costly and inappropriate habit has arrived among an - also unfortunately - growing group of players: late cancellations at tournaments.
Late cancellations are defined as:
- Cancellations two weeks or less prior to the tournament
- Cancellations when the tournament is running
- No shows without any notification
It adds up to more than 50 cancellations for one tournament in the worst examples, sometimes more than 25 % of the expected number of players entering. A few years ago this problem hardly existed.
The problem is now so widely spread that some organizers are considering to stop organizing; we all loose money as a consequence (also the players by getting lower prize funds) and in the long term it is a threat to the development of the tour and in worst case a threat to the existence of the tour.
The ETBF Presidium is therefore forced to introduce a system of penalty points, especially developed as a consequence of late cancellations. You can read more about this system at www.etbf.dk. In addition we are investigating a system for pre-payments at bookings and also considering further restrictions to bring this number of late cancellations down to a very low level.
The ETBF Presidium, however, does not want to introduce a situation where players are feeling controlled, penalised for nothing and restricted in their behaviour by adding stronger and stricter rules and regulations for participating in the coming years, at least not more than necessary to limit the problem.
We are therefore appealing to all players to co-operate with us, to change attitude as soon as possible and to understand that this is a very serious problem with a lot of negative effects, also for your self. The better the problem can be solved by understanding and a changed attitude the fewer rules and penalty policies we need to introduce.
Therefore players:
(1) Do not apply for spots in a tournament only if you think that you might want to participate. Order your spots when you know that you are going and that you indeed want to play in the tournament.
(2) Should it, after booking, be impossible for you to participate, then cancel your spots as early as possible and basically never late. In case of illness or injury make sure that you announce it to the organizer as soon as possible and make sure that you are getting another person (for instance a federation official) to confirm it, should there be any doubt or need for evidence.
Thank you in advance for your understanding, for your co-operation and for your time to read this message to all of you.
It is indeed a common interest for all of us to limit the problem of late cancellations!
Kind Regards
European Tenpin Bowling Federation
Kim Thorsgaard Jensen
Vice President
Click here to start the download of the complete European Bowling Tour Rules as of October 31, 2005.
Simplified in figures it can be expressed as follows: The tour has over seven years expanded from a tour with a total prize money of less than 200.000 Euro and an average prize money per tournament of about 20.000 Euro to a tour with a total prize money of about 1.000.000 Euro and an average prize money per tournament of about 50.000 Euro.
The European Bowling Tour has become an important tool in the visibility of our sport and by that the development of our sport, it is recognized by the bowling industry, more sponsorships comes in and the tour is also recognized far outside the European area.
The ETBF Presidium is fully aware of the fact that it does not stop with this. In the coming years there is a lot more to do to further improve the tour, to create a higher degree of uniformity, to attract more media and TV coverage and last but not least to attract sponsorships outside our own bowling circles. This can only happen in close co-operation with the tournament organizers.
The tour would be nothing without the players and the tour would be nothing without the organizers. They are the ones taking higher and higher financial risks as the demands from ETBF and the players grows and they are the ones to work for hundreds of hours to ensure that each stop is running as ETBF and the players expect a high class international event to run.
Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, a very costly and inappropriate habit has arrived among an - also unfortunately - growing group of players: late cancellations at tournaments.
Late cancellations are defined as:
- Cancellations two weeks or less prior to the tournament
- Cancellations when the tournament is running
- No shows without any notification
It adds up to more than 50 cancellations for one tournament in the worst examples, sometimes more than 25 % of the expected number of players entering. A few years ago this problem hardly existed.
The problem is now so widely spread that some organizers are considering to stop organizing; we all loose money as a consequence (also the players by getting lower prize funds) and in the long term it is a threat to the development of the tour and in worst case a threat to the existence of the tour.
The ETBF Presidium is therefore forced to introduce a system of penalty points, especially developed as a consequence of late cancellations. You can read more about this system at www.etbf.dk. In addition we are investigating a system for pre-payments at bookings and also considering further restrictions to bring this number of late cancellations down to a very low level.
The ETBF Presidium, however, does not want to introduce a situation where players are feeling controlled, penalised for nothing and restricted in their behaviour by adding stronger and stricter rules and regulations for participating in the coming years, at least not more than necessary to limit the problem.
We are therefore appealing to all players to co-operate with us, to change attitude as soon as possible and to understand that this is a very serious problem with a lot of negative effects, also for your self. The better the problem can be solved by understanding and a changed attitude the fewer rules and penalty policies we need to introduce.
Therefore players:
(1) Do not apply for spots in a tournament only if you think that you might want to participate. Order your spots when you know that you are going and that you indeed want to play in the tournament.
(2) Should it, after booking, be impossible for you to participate, then cancel your spots as early as possible and basically never late. In case of illness or injury make sure that you announce it to the organizer as soon as possible and make sure that you are getting another person (for instance a federation official) to confirm it, should there be any doubt or need for evidence.
Thank you in advance for your understanding, for your co-operation and for your time to read this message to all of you.
It is indeed a common interest for all of us to limit the problem of late cancellations!
Kind Regards
European Tenpin Bowling Federation
Kim Thorsgaard Jensen
Vice President
Click here to start the download of the complete European Bowling Tour Rules as of October 31, 2005.