All Ireland Schools Championships

 

Regulations

General

 

1. The Championships shall be played annually under the auspices of Irish Squash.

 

2. Two separate championships shall be held for school teams of boys and girls.

 

Eligibility to compete

 

3. The championships shall be open to Secondary, Grammar and National/Primary schools. ‘Repeat’ schools are not permitted to participate in the championships.

 

4. Qualifying events, which have been approved by Irish Squash, shall be held by each Provincial Association to determine which schools shall be eligible to compete in the final stages of the Championships.

 

5. One boys school team and one girls school team, per age category, from each Province shall be eligible to compete in the final stages of the Championships.

 

6. Where a Provincial Association is unable to enter its full complement of teams in the final stages of the Championships, this fact shall be notified to the Secretary, Irish Squash, 21 days prior to the commencement of the finals. The Junior Secretary shall then invite other Provincial Associations to enter additional teams to make up the full compliment of 4 teams in each age group for the Championships.  Each Provincial Association may enter one additional team only per age group in each Championship and, where necessary, lots shall be cast to determine which Provincial Association shall be allowed to fill a vacancy in the draw.

 

7. The date and venue for the final stages of the Championships shall be proposed to the Council of Irish Squash by the Junior Secretary and shall be included in the Calendar of Events to be published by the Council.

 

8. In order to play in these championships, a player must:

 

• Be a current student at the school

 

• Be under the relevant age on 28^th April of the current year.

 

 

9. A player may play for one team only for the purposes of this competition in a particular season.

 

10. Not later than 7 days prior to the commencement of the event, the Secretary of each Provincial Association shall send to the Tournament Director the names of schools entering the final stages of the Championships and the panel of players nominated by each school for its team(s). The Provincial Secretary shall confirm that all players are eligible to play for the school concerned in accordance with the rules set out herein.

 

 

 

Format of Final Stages of Championships

 

11. Teams shall consist of 3 players. Schools with mixed teams may only play in the boy’s section.

 

12. Teams shall play in ranking order.

 

13. Players must be properly dressed as laid down for the competition and players must wear approved eye protection.

 

14. A representative from each school shall accompany the team(s) at the finals.

 

15. A walkover shall be given against a player who is not available to go on court within 10 minutes of the scheduled start time of the match. Further walkovers shall be given for every 30 minutes delay.

 

16. Playing order of ties shall be 1, 3, 2.

 

17. All ties shall be played and shall be the best of 5 games.

 

18. Scoring shall be one point per game per tie, with a 5 point bonus being awarded to the winning team of each match. The winner shall be the team with the highest number of points.  The Championship shall be decided as follows:

 

Firstly by:                    Number of matches won;

 

If equal, then by:         Number of ties won;

 

If equal, then by:         Positive difference between games won and lost;

 

If equal, then by:         Positive difference between points won and lost;

 

If equal, then by:         The result between the teams involved.

 

If more than two teams involved, then by lottery.

 

 

19. Where the full complement of 4 teams per age group is not available to compete in the final stages of a Championship, the Tournament Director shall, with the agreement of the Junior Secretary, Irish Squash, devise an alternate format which shall give, as far as possible, an equal chance to each competing team.

 

20. The entry fee for the final stages of the Championships shall be determined by the Tournament Director with the agreement of the Junior Secretary, Irish Squash, and shall be payable by competing schools not later than 7 days prior to the commencement of the event.