It is the responsibility of all members to ensure that our politeness and fair play are maintained. Members are therefore invited to help by using the Incident Reporting system to advise us of any incident that appears to be wrong or unfair.
An incident is something that has happened. It could be anything that has happened
Types of incident include but are not limited to:
• Impolite behaviour, rudeness and bullying.
• Disconnections and deliberate quitting.
• Something going wrong, or just something irregular, at the table requiring a TD to advise and possibly rule on.
• Anything at all that may give you cause for concern.
However, for technical problems we would ask you to contact Member Support directly, and for difficulties in arranging matches for the Special Competitions we would ask that you send a Sticky Note to SpecialComps.
A member submits an incident report using the Form to be found at https://www.bridgeclublive.com/members/EthicsSystem_MembersIndex.asp
If you decide to submit an Incident Report, please do not hold up play at the table while doing so. It is recommended to create an Interim Incident Report as explained at https://www.bridgeclublive.com/BCL_IIR.asp
An email should be received within an hour confirming it has been received.
Within a few days, though often within 24 hours, a member of the Incident Team will review the incident report and start to take any action that may be appropriate.
We have wide range of ‘tools’ to enable a fair resolution of any kind of incident. We have chat records, bidding and play records, membership records and other related information as well as technical resources. We have the services of professional Tournament Directors and experienced bridge consultants – all or any of these may be involved in the decision-making, where necessary.
In normal circumstances, most Reports are resolved within 14 days of being submitted and many are resolved within 24 hours.
The administrator’s reply to a report will be added to the Report for the member to see. This reply is not available to any other member except that TD rulings are sent to all the players affected.
At that time, an automatic mail goes out to alert the member that a progress report is on the file and is available to be read.
We have broad guidelines that we use when making rulings. Of course, we are flexible and we also listen to explanations. Our main criteria are that everyone should be able to enjoy a pleasant game of bridge without fearing any sort of unpleasant or unethical behaviour.
All reports are kept on file so that we can become better aware of those who repeat offences having been previously advised.
Generally speaking, the details of the original report are not disclosed to the other members.
Any request for a ruling and score adjustment is made in the normal way via an Incident Report.
It is normal to inform your opponents of your intent to seek a TD ruling before leaving the table, but this is not at all essential. It is helpful, but again not at all essential, to seek agreement on any facts that might be disputed. Please try to avoid the expression “I’m reserving my rights”. Few understand its meaning, your singular right to ask for a ruling exists without you needing to reserve it, and the expression is often seen as intimidating. The time limit to ask for a ruling is 48 hours after the board was played.
The Tournament Director has access to bidding, play and chat records as well as players’ SSDs and SSD Extras. The SSDs are of immense assistance to the TD as they provide evidence of a partnership’s agreements and it is strongly recommended that all partnerships have SSDs and SSD Extras completed as fully as possible. The TD may contact players for further information before making a ruling.
When an event is deemed to be in the category of 'Serious Ethical Issue', it will be handled separately via the procedures set out under serious ethics investigations on the Bridge Club Live web-site.
Our aim is that everyone enjoys the online game and the club facilities.
Different incidents require different responses. If something has gone wrong, we take intent into account, and we do try to believe the best of people. Contrary to what many believe, most players don’t deliberately set out to do anything they shouldn’t. We often send out friendly e-mails with advice on procedure.
Generally where we believe a member has been rude or disruptive or has perhaps in some other way broken our Club Terms of Membership or Code of Conduct, things start to get more serious and this will be reflected in our e-mail to the offender, and if we believe that a member really should know better, we may proceed beyond a warning and apply a sanction.
Most sanctions are of suspending a member’s membership for a period of time. In some circumstances we may offer to reduce or cease a suspension if the offender is prepared to convey a sincere and meaningful apology to an offended member.
In more serious circumstances, we terminate a member’s membership.
What is important to note is that we do consider each incident on its merits and we look at incidents from all sides. Our Incident Database allows us to check previous history and sanctions against any offender, and we take this into account when assessing any possible further sanction.
In our playing rooms we do not use robots and neither do we make robotic judgements. We often consult with administration colleagues when making judgements.
When a membership is terminated as a result of an Incident Report or of non-compliance with our Club Rules discovered in any other way, there will, as stated in the Terms Of Membership, be no refund of membership fees.
There are no rights of appeal against any decision by the BCL Management team with the sole exception that, in accordance with The Laws of Duplicate Bridge, appeals may be made against bridge rulings by our Tournament Directors.
Please write to the TD if you do not understand or if you disagree with an explanation of a ruling. If you remain unsatisfied, the TD will discuss the possibility of appealing and advise a time limit which will be at least 24 hours from that time. If you then wish to appeal, the CTD will arrange for this, even if it was he who gave the original ruling. For most rulings, he will appoint a single referee who is a member of a national panel of Tournament Directors, and the referee would consult and poll as he sees fit.
Both sides will have an opportunity to put their evidence before the referee (or committee). The result of the appeals process shall be considered final.
If the CTD considers that the referee (or committee) is likely to view the appeal to be frivolous, he will advise the potential appellant and then require a deposit of £30 (30 pounds sterling) for an appeal hearing, which will be forfeited in addition to a scoring fine (25% of a top, or 6 IMPs or 1VP) if the appeal is deemed frivolous by the referee (or appeal committee). The deposit should be made within 3 days of being advised by the CTD by using the Menu Item [Subscriptions/Members Shop/Miscellaneous] and making the deposit there. Please upload the shop reference number to your appeal when you have made the payment.
Once work has begun on your request for an Appeal, you will be contacted as necessary by the CTD. Please allow several days as it involves many people and do not be concerned if there is no more 'news' for a while.
If a genuine apology is made to the player/s concerned, via email or sticky note before Bridge Club Live is involved, then that will make a huge difference to the overall severity of the offence, so if you do realise the error of your ways, please act before Bridge Club Live has to!
For your information, all reports are kept on file and help to form a picture based on ‘history’.
Members who 'abuse' the Comment Boards will be barred from participating in this activity of the club.
Ours is a membership club and our rules are for the benefit of all - to enable everyone to enjoy a pleasant and friendly atmosphere. By choosing to be a Bridge Club Live Member, you are accepting our Club Rules and Incident Administration.
Where a member is or has been involved in any ethics issue and elects to close their membership account, we do NOT refund membership fees.
Where a member has their membership terminated as a result of an ethics or behavioural issue, we do NOT refund membership fees.
If a member has been expelled or suspended but opens a new account, the new account will be terminated without refund of membership fees
Page updated on 30 June 2020
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