Are late nights detracting from our sport

[Royboy]

More and more players on the Isle of Man are complaining about late nights with matches in one-court halls finishing at 1am or later. We play the best of three to 15 points with setting and there are 2 women's doubles, 2 men's doubles and 4 mixed doubles.

Would a 5x7 scoring system shorten the night and still keep the interest or should we be playing two games to 15 points no setting and the total points scored deciding who wins?

What formats do other leagues play ?

[rachyuk]

Hi Roy,

We play three pairs, two games to 15. Half a point per end won. So the total number of points per match is 9.

However the downside is that you can draw a match and draw individual games. So, counting the points sounds like a better result to me! We start games at 7pm and have to be out of the hall by 10pm (time for the bar!)

5 games to 7 will potentially reduce the playing time by up to a third!!

[NigelDiplock]

I play in Kent and sometimes have similar problems (we play 3 pairs, all playing against each opposing pair - 9 matches of the best of 3 games to 15 points - very traditional!).

I found an intersting format being played in Shropshire - have a look at www.helec.co.uk/bnbc, click on 'league', then 'rulebook'. In their 'mixed' league they have teams of 4 players, each playing one level doubles and two mixed, a total of 6 matches. They have the possibility of drawn games, but I wouldn't find this a problem. Anyone out there playing this format and can comment?

[rachyuk]

In the Hampshire League 'Hybrid', We play 9 games, but we play two level and one mixed (with 6 players)...and in other leagues around us here in the South East, I know they tack on a singles game aswell!

One thing I will say for the village/church hall one court venues (I learnt to play badders in a village hall!!) Often the caretaker or key holder is flexible about locking up times and will, if they see the last game going on at 11:00pm, hang around a bit.

I played at a sports centre last week where all the games went to best of three and the sports centre staff dismantled the rest of the hall around us at bang on 10:30pm....It was very off-putting!

[settlebc]

In The Craven& District League, we play one game to 21 (3 pairs each playing each - 9 games in the match). A match on one court will usually take less than 3 hours.

[pj101]

My partner and I even made the local paper as the match in our previous "home" venue (one court church hall) went on and on...I believe seven of the nine matches played went to a third decider and many of these games were 17-16! Thankfully we now have two courts in a modern sports centre and the matches are over in about 2-3 hours.
Press cutting is actually on our clubs website if you are interested! www.hitraisers.com/badminton