Competition Rules

COMPETITION RULES

(Revised March 2026)

The Association shall organise and run competitions in Singles, Pairs, Triples, Fours and Senior Two Wood Triples, or as shall from time to time be agreed at an Executive Meeting, and such competitions shall be the responsibility of the Hon. Competition Secretary

Competition entry forms shall be issued to all affiliated clubs by the Competition Secretary and returned on or before the stated date. Failure to comply will result in the disqualification from the championship of the offending clubs' players. Affiliated clubs shall advise the Competition Secretary of their finalists. All entries into the County Competition shall be finalists in their open club competitions or a specifically nominated 'County' competition. A minimum of four entries per club competition is required to qualify into the County Competition. If there are less than four entries in any club qualifier, then only one entry to County Competition can be made

A player may only enter each of the competitions from one club. If a player wishes to take part in more than one 'feeder' competition then he must nominate, at the beginning of each season, which competition is to be valid as a County Competition entry. A player who takes part in more than one
competition, and does not register his nomination, will be ineligible to take part in County Competition

Any Player, who will not be available for the Finals Day, unless involved in a National Final, shall withdraw from the Competition at the earliest opportunity

The format for each competition is as follows: 

Singles:                                             21 shots 

Pairs:                                                 18 ends 

Triples:                                             18 ends 

Fours:                                                18 ends 

Senior Two Wood Triples:         18 ends

All 18 end games will have a time limit of 3.5hrs

The challenger in each round will choose the venue for the match and be responsible for arranging it and will offer to his opponent THREE dates. One such date must be a Saturday or a Sunday and the other a weekday, Monday to Friday inclusive (excluding public holidays). Other days and times may be offered if agreed by both players or teams. Within three days after receipt of such offer the opponent is either bound to accept one of the said dates or concede a walk-over

If the challenger fails to make contact either within two days of the closing date of the previous round, or - in the case of the first round - before 12 days of the closing date of the first round, he then forfeits the privileges of a challenger and his opponent then becomes the challenger. He will then offer two dates as above within two days

Competitors who have not played a tie before the round completion date will be eliminated from the competition, unless they have received the specific consent of the Competition Secretary to continue.

Within 24 hours after a tie is played the winner shall notify the Competition Secretary of the result by email or WhatsApp only and attach a copy of the completed scorecard showing: - 

The full name and surname of players

Name of Clubs 

The Championship title

Date of the tie 

The signature of each competitor (or skip in a team game) 

If email is not available, then telephone message or phone call to Competition Secretary is acceptable giving the same information, and the scorecard should be kept by the match winner

In a singles game the challenger shall provide a marker

Green fees are payable for all ties up to, but not including, the   finals, at a rate to be determined by the host club and shall be shared equally between the challenger(s) and opponent(s)

Any disputes shall be referred to the Competition Secretary whose decision shall be final 

In all ties, the team shall consist of players who are entered on the club entry form, thereafter only one player may be substituted provided he/she has not played in that club qualifying event. It is expected that the team will revert to the entered players. Only the player who has already acted as a substitute may play, if necessary, in that team in subsequent ties. The name of the substitute who played shall be notified to the Competition Secretary when the result of the match is submitted. No substitutes are permitted in the Singles Competition 

Where substitution takes place and an award is won, this will be made to the player(s) taking part in the final game and shall be recorded in the Association records in the order in which the names appear on the score cards except where mutually agreed by all players in that game. One additional replica is to be provided by the Association to finalists of the Pairs, Triples, Fours, Senior Two Woods Triples and Mixed Pairs, when a substitute has unavoidably had to be used in the final

A player or team failing to attend within fifteen (15) minutes of the allotted start time shall forfeit the tie

All ties (other than Finals) will be played in greys, but players are permitted to wear coloured shirts and shorts in accordance with E.I.B.A. regulations. All players must wear the same coloured or white shirt. No mixing of outfits is allowed. A penalty of £10.00 shall be payable by the club if any player/players are in breach of this Rule. Note - a white rink jacket or sweater does not breach this rule when worn over a coloured shirt

The finals will be played in whites or registered club colours   with coloured or white shirts as above

Senior Two Woods Triples Competition 

This Competition shall be open to all male persons who have reached the age of 60 years on 1st October preceding the date of the first round of the competition

EIBA 2026/27 Rule update

For 2026-27 all National Individual & Team Competitions will be played using side re-spots. This will mean that there will be no dead ends. If a jack in motion passes completely outside the boundaries of the rink of play or rebounds to distance of less than 20 metres from the mat line, the jack shall be re-spotted. If the jack passes outside the side boundary of the rink it should be placed on a pre-arranged spot on the rink which is 2 metres from the front ditch and 1½ metres to the left or right of the centre line, on the side that it left the rink of play. If a bowl is on the re-spot, the jack will be placed as near as possible to the bowl without touching it, between the spot and the centre of the rink. If any other bowls are in the way the jack will be placed as near to that without touching it and the centre of the rink. In other words, directly between the 2 spots without touching a bowl