In addition to Law of Sport of Bowls and HKLBA bye-law, League panel follows a series of practice and policies to manage the league competitions.
These practice and policies are summarized below for bowlers easy reference.
| Details | ||
| 1 | Entry fee | Premier League (3 teams) – 4000 per side Triples league (3 teams) – 2200 per side Mixed Fours (3 teams) – 2900 per side |
| 2 | League format | Premier league – 3 teams per side Fours in 18 ends with 2 bowls per player Triples league – 3 teams per side Triples in 16 ends with 3 bowls per player |
| 3 | Preparation of league fixtures | No league games on public holidays Fixture has to be fixed 40 days in advance, otherwise LCSD will cancel the pencil booking and release to public Club having more than 1 side in same division will have their direct matches playing first. Special request (e.g. exam period, bowling trip, company event) for reschedule submitted in the entry form will be handled. |
| 4 | Time for fixture approval and confirmation | No advance booking before fixture approval |
| VP League will issue a mail to declare the time of fixture approval, such that public green booking starts. <reference> | ||
| 5 | Home/Away ratio | For Single round-robin league, the acceptable ratio is normally within 2 games. |
| Not a preference for double round-robin league. <reference> | ||
| 6 | Public green usage priority | It defines which side has the right to play on original fixture dates. Lower priority sides have to reschedule their games. <reference> |
| 7 | Auto allocation (for home side only) |
If Saturday afternoon green is full, games will be allocated to other slots in following order depending on green availability: |
| Men: Sat night >> Sun pm >> Sun am >> Sun night >> rearrange | ||
| Women: Sun pm >> Sun am >> rearrange | ||
| No women games will be auto allocated in the evening. | ||
| Opt out choice is available for home side only<reference> | ||
| Clubs can apply opt out, but not for individual side. | ||
| Private club can have separate allocation period, but must be defined in the entry form. | ||
| 8 | Prefer day for reschedule game | Will take home side preference if both sides fail to agree. <reference> |
| 9 | Postponed game offers | Offers should not overlap and all in one day <reference> |
| Game date is Day 0 of the 22 days offer. <reference> | ||
| 10 | Reschedule game confirmation | The mutual agreement is in effect once it was confirmed by both captains. An approval mail will be issued afterwards as a communication proof. League panel will only reject invalid agreements (e.g. more than 22 days, change of venue). |
| Home side can start green booking as long as the agreement is valid and in effect, no need to wait for HKLBA approval mail. <reference> | ||
| 11 | Neutral green | Any green not being the home green nor away green is a valid neutral green <reference> |
| 12 | Public green provision and incomplete match | 4 hours is reasonably sufficient for a league game.
If booking is 4 hours and the game cannot finish, no penalty. However, if the booking is less than four hours, penalty will be imposed. <reference> After booking hours, the game will stop and postpone immediately, unless the rinks are available to continue the match. If the subsequent booking is a league match, finish the incomplete end and postpone. If the end burns during the extended period, the match will stop immediately.<reference> |
| 13 | Thunderstorm | If both sides mutually agree, the match can be continued |
| 14 | Extreme weather | Can consider postpone if reach 35oC or below 8oC |
| If both sides mutually agree, the match can be postponed outside this range <reference> | ||
| 15 | Heavy green | can consider postpone if pace of green is outside 9 to 18 seconds |
| If game postpone, the challenge side will be responsible for any additional green fees. <reference> | ||
| 16 | Game continuity | Game will continue if green is open |
| 17 | Rink assignment | In a resumed game, use original rinks as much as possible, draw for new rinks only <reference> |
| 18 | Substitute | Maximum one substitute per rink. HKYDT seconded player treated as normal player. |
| If two players in one team are not available in a resumed game, use one substitute plus one BLANK player. | ||
| 19 | Result capture | If a substitute is used, capture the player who played most number of ends <reference> |
| 20 | Score cards | Kept by clubs in hard/soft copy. |
| VP League will advise to destroy the scorecards after the season. | ||
| 21 | Registered player | The registered players list is in effect once a side starts its 4th match. <reference> |
| No change of registered players after the 4th match starts. | ||
| 22 | Transfer of player | Case will only be considered on extremely rare situation. So far, no successful application since 2008. <reference> |
| 23 | Prize money | 40% of collected entry fees goes to prize money, while 60% goes to LBA income/fund <reference> |
| Prize money allocation: | ||
| 55% for champion side, 35% for runners-up, 10% for champion team. | ||
| 24 | Prize eligibility | Players must play at least 1/3 of games |
| Premier League Per side winners – max 16 (3 teams), | ||
| Triples League per side winners – max 11 (3 teams), | ||
| Mixed Fours per side winners – max 15 (3 teams) | ||
| 25 | Promotion/ relegation for more than two sides | Adjustment to make up number of sides for each division in a new season, more than two sides may be promoted or relegated. <reference> |
| 26 | HKYDT Secondment | Clubs can apply to loan YDT players only when they are less than 9 players in premier league, or 6 players in triples league. The loaned players will make up the side with minimum players, and the league game can continue as scheduled. |
| All constraints of current bye-law remain unchanged: | ||
| – max 3 players per side, max 1 player per rink, loaned player cannot play skip | ||
| – cannot be an ex/current HK squad member | ||
| – the application should arrive at least 3 days in advance notice | ||
| – no specified player, selection of player by YDT coordinator. | ||
| – an administrative charge of $150 per player. |