CONSTITUTION OF THE BRITISH POLICE TEN PIN BOWLING ASSOCIATION

1.        The British Police Ten Pin Bowling Association (BPTBA) is the body governing all official police ten pin bowling tournaments, the competing forces and individual members.

2.        Each tournament shall consist of 9 games bowled as three, three game series in Singles, Doubles and 4 person team events.  

3.        Individual members are those members of the competing forces bowling section who are competing with their permission and are;

a.        Serving police officers
b.        Retired police officers
c.        Serving civilian employees employed by the Police Authority
d.        Retired civilian employees
e.        Ex police officers who have resigned from the force in good standing i.e. not dismissed or have criminal record etc.

4.        All police forces and in England, Wales and Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are eligible to compete in all police tournaments.

5.        The officials of the BPTBA shall be made up of;

a.        President
b.        Chairman
c.        Secretary
d.        Treasurer

6.        The officials will be made up of individual members and be elected annually at the AGM.

7.        All members are entitled to attend and participate in the AGM but there is only one vote per force on any proposal. The elected officials are not entitled to vote on their own behalf.

8.        There will be 8 tournaments held throughout the season at Metropolitan, Floating Tournament, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Strathclyde, Northants, Sussex, and West Yorkshire.
            In addition there will be a National Singles tournament the location of which will be decided at the AGM.

9.        The floating tournament will be decided upon at the previous years AGM.  Any successful force will be precluded from holding the event again until all other forces who wish to hold      events have done so. Forces wishing to hold the floating tournament must indicate their wish in writing at least one week prior to the AGM.

10.        Any other member of a forces bowling section who is not eligible under rule 2 can bowl in a tournament as a pacer at the discretion of the tournament committee. They are not eligible  for awards or OOM points.  The pacer score of 150 will count to the team total.

11.        If any force is unable to field a 4 person team then a combined police force team can be formed provided they are all members of their respective force, under rule 2.  The combined team will not be eligible for team OOM points but can win awards.

12.        It is for each tournament committee to decide what awards to present but they must include First, Second, Third in scratch and handicap sections for Singles, Doubles and Team events.  The awards for both male and female all events will be presented for First, Second, Third. A bowler cannot be awarded trophies in both scratch and handicap sections.  The highest award will be given but the scratch takes primacy so in effect 6 different bowlers or teams can win awards. (i.e. a bowler finishes 3rd scratch and 2nd handicap they will be awarded 2nd handicap, a bowler finishes 2nd scratch and handicap
they will be given the scratch award).

13.        Ladies can only win a singles handicap award in the ladies handicap singles.

14.        If in any section the scores are tied for any of the places there will be a last game count back (if handicap section to include the handicap for the game) to determine the winner.

15.        Order of Merit points are awarded to the top 16 males and top 8 females on overall scratch pinfall for each tournament. In the male section positions 1 – 5 will be awarded points of 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, positions 6 – 16 will be awarded points of 11 decreasing to 1.  In the female section positions 1 – 5 will be awarded points of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, positions 6 – 8 will be awarded points of 3 decreasing to 1.

16.        Order of Merit points will be awarded in both scratch and handicap team sections with the highest scoring force team only gaining the points. Positions 1 – 5 will be awarded points 20, 16, 14, 12, 10 and positions 6- 14 will be awarded points of 9 decreasing to 1.

17.        For both male and female OOM sections only the top five scores from eight events will count for the overall OOM total to determine the season OOM winner.

18.        For the team event all points awarded will be counted towards the OOM total.

19.        End of season OOM awards will be presented to First, Second, Third in the male and female and team sections.

20.        All forces are to pay a £1 levy per bowler per tournament for OOM trophies.

21.        Averages for tournaments are based on National Police average over at least 18 games. If a bowler does not have a police average then their highest league average over 21 games will be taken.  If no average produced then the bowler will bowl off scratch.

22.        Averages will be based on 75% of difference between the highest entering average rounded up to 200, 210, 220 etc and the bowlers average. Maximum handicap for male 50, female 60.

23.        The tournament average will change after each tournament, however for the Metropolitan and the floating tournament the previous season’s average will be used as 18 games will not have been bowled until after the floating tournament

24.        The National Singles tournament will be a scratch only tournament with a male and female section and open to all members.

25.        The PSUK singles entries for each region will be based on the previous year’s Order of Merit finishing position.  The highest regional competitor will qualify.

26.        The PSUK doubles entry will be based on the highest regional qualifying score from 3 tournaments, Sussex, West Yorkshire and Metropolitan.

27.        There will be no regional qualifiers held if all the competitors currently bowl under the auspices of BPTBA as rules 25 and 26 will apply.

28.        If a none BPTBA bowler wishes to compete at the PSUK Indoor games then a regional qualifier must be held allowing BPTBA bowlers to compete. The tournament winners will represent that region.