Roscommon County Darts League Rules 2023/24:
· The start date for the 2023-24 Hannon’s Hotel Roscommon County Darts League is Friday October 18th 2023.
· All panels must be named and have paid the players fee before the league starts. Absolute final time at which to add players is prior to deadline at 6pm Fri 18th October. Fixtures, team lists and rules will be available for all teams. The league website www.rosdarts.com will be used for this purpose. Teams should print off the information if required.
· Teams are allowed one emergency transfer, this must be completed prior to resuming after the Christmas Break.
· Any new player joining the Roscommon Darts League does so in the knowledge that they have, by default, declared to play for Roscommon at County level if selected. If a player already plays for another County, a signed transfer form should be presented to the committee prior to playing in the league.
· Eligibility to play for Roscommon County Darts Team is confined to as follows: You cannot play for any other county. All INDO rules re transfers, etc. will be followed. The core of the team will be players in the league or residing in Roscommon. Players outside this criteria will be added on invitation from the management only.
· Games will be played on Friday nights. There must be an open board available from 9.00pm on game nights. If a practice game is being played by the home team when the away team enters the venue, the home team will finish that game but open the board immediately after that game. There will be no further practice games on the main board and the visiting team will be given immediate access to the open board. Team lists are to be exchanged by 9.20pm at latest. These should be written up before arriving for the game. Any away team which arrives after 9.30pm at the venue will not have access to an open board. They will exchange team lists and start the game as quickly as possible.
· If a team is genuinely running late they are expected to contact the opposition captain. If games start late the home team must report this to the PRO (Gary Concannon) when sending in their results. If there are repeated problems with any team the committee will then decide whether any action should be taken.
· If a team wishes to cancel a game the captain of the team who wishes to cancel it must contact the Chairman (David Boyle) first. This must be done as soon as possible. The captain must provide reason (s) and details as to why they wish to cancel the game. If the reason (s) are not sufficient the game may be ordered to go ahead, e.g. a team with at least 6 players are expected to play or if a venue is unavailable but home advantage can be swapped over a game will be played.
· If the reason(s) are sufficient to cancel the game the Secretary will contact the opposing team to inform them. In this case the team who were willing to play on the night will give the opposing team two nights (one a midweek night and one a weekend night) in each of the following two weeks to fulfil the fixture. This must be done by 12pm Sunday on the week the fixture was to be played E.g. If Team B cancels on Team A for a fixture in the first week of November, Team A must offer to play a midweek and weekend night of their choosing in the second week of November and a midweek and weekend night of their choosing in the third weekend of November. If Team B refuses to play inside this timeframe they forfeit all points with a 9-0 win awarded to Team A.
· In the above rule 'within two weeks' means two weeks of league darts, i.e. Christmas Break, Intercounties and West Coast Challenge weeks do not count, although games can be played over these weeks if possible.
· Teams are only allowed to cancel one game to keep any backlog in matches to a minimum. Not having your best player is not an excuse to cancel a game, that is what panels are for.
· Game dartboards must be in playable condition throughout the league at correct height. All teams obtained new match dartboards on registration night, so board condition should not be an issue.
· An oche must be in place on game nights and be correctly fixed in place and measured correctly.
· The away team will throw for the Bull first to decide which team wins the darts in Games 1, 3, 5 and 7 on the night.
· 3 Games of Doubles, best of 3 legs and 6 Games of Singles on the night, best of 5 legs per game.
· If a team has five players on the night:
For Doubles:
Before teams are picked on the night, any of the five players who are non county players in that calendar year will be put in a draw. Whoever is drawn will play twice in the doubles.
If there are no non county players on the night, before teams are picked, any of the five players who are B County players in that calendar year will be put in a draw. Whoever is drawn will play twice in the doubles.
If there are no non county players, or no B Players on the night, before teams are picked, any of the five players who are A County players in that calendar year will be put in a draw. Whoever is drawn will play twice in the doubles.
Regardless of the above if 5 players are present, the sixth and final game of singles will be forfeited.
When teams arrive at the venue, captains will be made aware if any of the above applies, and all draws will be done prior to teams being picked.
· Any singles match which is not played (named player not present, insufficient players etc) will result in that singles match being forfeited with a 3-0 score.
· Teams with insufficient numbers of players must forfeit the final game of the night. They cannot choose which game to format
· There should be an option of a 10 minute break after game four, to allow players in the last three matches some warm up time. Teams should agree this prior to match starting.
· Team captains will be required to maintain the scores on the night, so that points and leg counts should be 100% accurate at the end of the League. At the end of each night both Captains will sign the score sheet making sure all details are accurate. Score sheets must be kept in good and readable condition. The Home Captain will return the results before Saturday afternoon.
· Scores and reports should be forwarded to the PRO (Gary Concannon), as soon as possible on Saturday, so results and reports can appear in the local papers. The Roscommon Darts Facebook Page and The League website www.rosdarts.com will be updated when this information is received.
· Any player, who while taking part in Roscommon Darts events, is involved in any incident which may be perceived to have brought the group into disripute may be asked to attend a meeting with the committee. Members of the team(s) will be invited to attend. Based on this meeting the committee reserves the right to suspend players from darts events withing the county for a period of time.
The League, Cup and Shield
· The League will be played on a home and away basis.
· The top team will be league winners.
· The top four teams will play off in the Cup semi-finals.
· The teams in 5th-8th position will play off in the Shield semi-finals.
· Should any number of teams be tied on points at the end of the League stages, positions will then be decided on legs won over the season. Legs against will next be considered. Following this legs won by each team over the two games they played during the leagues will next be considered before looking at legs against in both those games.
· In the unlikely event teams are level on points and legs won after all the above checks have been made, a play-off will take place to decide who advances. The play off shall take place at a neutral venue decided by a coin toss between team captains. The winning captain has the choice of venue, which must be from within the League.
· An open draw will decide the semi-final pairings, which will be a two legged match with aggregate scores deciding the winners. A play-off will take place on the night of the semi-final second leg if teams are level on points. One player from each team will play the best of 5 legs.
· All finals will be played on the same basis as league games.