Clubs

Welcome to the home page for Clubs! This page includes news, and links to information, which is relevant to EBU affiliated clubs. We also produced a quarterly online newsletter for clubs - Club Management Focus - and past issues are collated here.

Useful information for club administration is available via the menu on the right, and in the Club Management Handbook. If further assistance is needed, please contact the EBU office, and we would be glad to help - postmaster@ebu.co.uk, 01296 317200. The services of the Club Liaison Officer, Jonathan Lillycrop, are available for those needing more specialist guidance.

We would be delighted to welcome new affiliations - more information is available lower down the page.

Free places on Club Teacher Training Courses

Affiliated clubs are able to have a representative attend EBED's Club Teacher Training courses for free once every two years. These courses are intended to enable members with a motivation to help bring more players in to the game - and specifically in to their club - to run lessons. See here for more information.

Club News

25 Sep 2020

National Handicap Championship Pairs

The National Handicap Championship Pairs is a national competition suitable for all members, taking place on BBO 4th October at 2pm, hosted by Virtual Clubs.

The special thing about it is that the results will be adjusted by applying a handicap based on each pairs NGS grade. Everyone will have a chance of winning simply by playing better than usual. Players will need to have their NGS visible.

For a full list of clubs taking part, visit the National Handicap Championship Pairs webpage. There will also be a national heat run by the EBU with an entry fee of BBO$6, for those whose local clubs are not running it.

10 Sep 2020

New Government Rules about Social Distancing

UPDATED 14th SEPT

The government announced on 9th September that starting on Monday 14th September, social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England. Although there will be some exceptions to this, none seem to cover the situation of any bridge clubs.

We announced then that this seemed to us to remove any doubt there may have been in our earlier advice to clubs about whether clubs can run any face-to-face games, and made clear that this will not be possible until such time as further changes or clarifications to the rules may be announced.

We have since then had our attention drawn to another two more recent government documents: the first says:

9 Sep 2020

New daily 9-high tournament on BBO

New! In order to provide a regular game for less-experienced players who work or are otherwise busy during the day-time, starting on Monday 14th September we will offer a new “Relaxed 9-high Tournament” daily on BBO at 7.30pm. It will have the same format as our popular 11am game: $1.50 for 12 boards, 8 minutes per board, no robots, aimed at novice-intermediate players with an NGS of 9 or less.

To register for the games, log on to Bridge Base Online -> Competitive -> All Tournaments and put “EBU” in the search box. You will be able to select the appropriate game from the list from about two hours before it starts.


New affiliations

We would be delighted to welcome any clubs to affiliate with the EBU.

You can read about the Benefits of Affiliation in this document.

There is also a series of articles from EBU Chairman, Jeremy Dhondy, in Bridge magazine in which he explains what the EBU is doing to help clubs, players, and the game in general, in England, and outlines the benefits of affiliating and supporting the national governing body. See here for all the articles - Bridge magazine articles - and in particular the reasons why he believes clubs should affiliate are covered in this article.

Since April 2010, the EBU has been funded through Universal Membership which means that anyone playing in an EBU-affiliated club (provided they are a member of that club) automatically becomes a member of the EBU and pays a small subscription amount each time they play.

If you are interested in affiliating your club and would like to discuss this further, please contact our Club Liaison Officer, Jonathan Lillycrop - jonathan@ebu.co.uk - who will be able to discuss with you the benefits of affiliation, and the process for doing so.

To affiliate, download and complete one of the following forms:

When you have affiliated your members will receive a Member's Pack to welcome them to the EBU. It includes a membership card, a new members' booklet (which can be downloaded here), and other information.

We hope affiliated clubs will choose to use the 'affiliated clubs logo'.

The EBU is always available to give advice and assistance to affiliated clubs - please contact us on 01296 317200, or send us an email, with any questions you may have.