Late cancellations

Late cancellations in tour stops have over the last couple of years developed from a rather marginal problem to a very serious problem with 40-50 late cancellations in the worst cases. The problem has become a real existential threat for many tournaments and might become an existential threat to the whole tour business if nothing is done.

Sometimes a player has valid reasons for a late cancellation. This includes for example illness and injuries. In these cases there will be no sanctions.

A new set of rules has been in effect since 2007, including a system with penalty points, penalties and registration in cases of late cancellations. Late cancellations are defined in three categories and penalty points are given as follows: 

Late Cancellation Type A

Type A means that the organizer is notified by the player in the period of 30 days before the first day of the tournament until 8 days before the first day of the tournament. The player will be given 1 penalty point and the organizer will issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than half of the maximum fee for a primary entry (€ 80,00). 

Late Cancellation Type B

Type B means that the organizer is notified by the player in the period of 7 days before the first day of the tournament until and including the last qualification day of the tournament, but before the qualification squad in which the primary entry was ordered. The player will be given 2 penalty points and the organizer will issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than the maximum fee for a primary entry (€ 160,00).

Late Cancellation Type C

Type C is defined as a "No Show", which means that a player fails to appear without having notified the organizer or if the player notifies the organizer after the start of the qualification squad in which the primary entry was ordered. The player will be given 3 penalty points and the organizer will issue a penalty invoice to the player with an amount of not more than the maximum fee for a primary entry plus the maximum fee for a re-entry (€ 280,00).

Invoice

When a valid penalty invoice is issued and the full amount is received by the organizer latest 30 days after the invoice was issued, the organizer will notify the EBT Administrator and all given penalty points for the tournament will be removed.

If an invoice (A-C) is not paid latest 30 days after it was issued, the player will be given 1 penalty point more, regardless whether the voucher is paid at a later moment.

For late cancellations penalty points will be given, but also 1 point for an illegal pull out in a tournament and furthermore from 0-4 penalty points to players presenting improper behaviour like attacking equipment, attacking other players or officials and other similar, fortunately not very often, occurring happenings. The level of action will decide the number of penalty points given.

Penalty Points and Numbers

Penalty points will be accumulated over a three year period, where after points from the oldest year will be removed. Each time a player is at or passing 4 penalty points, a penalty number is added to the players total of penalty numbers and a penalty will be issued as follows:

If the penalty number is 1, the player will be suspended for 60 days from EBT stops, counting from the day the suspension letter is issued.

If the penalty number is 2, the player will be suspended for 90 days from EBT stops, counting from the day the suspension letter is issued. In addition the player will, through his federation, be invoiced by ETBF with a penalty fee of € 300.

For each time the penalty number is higher than 2, the suspension period will be 30 days higher than the suspension period of the previous penalty number. In addition the penalty fee will be € 300 higher than the penalty fee of the previous penalty number. A suspension of a player from the EBT will in principle never end as long as a player has not paid the penalty fee to ETBF.