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What are APN-Leagues?

Your local APN-League (see club list below) is your first step towards pool stardom! You can enter a local league for only �35 (payable in 2 instalments). Table time is free on league nights so this works out at less than �1/hour table play with a chance of winning your money back and much, much more! You will compete against other local like-minded players in a handicapped 9-ball league administered by APN *. All you have to do is turn up on your league night, find your opponents for the evening (2 matches per night, fixtures provided by APN), play your matches and give your scores to the host venue. You can then track your progress online at www.apn-leagues.co.uk. For those of you not on the internet a copy of the latest league tables and fixtures will also be made available at the hosting venue.

There are 3 sessions per calendar year in APN-Leagues; Jan-Apr, May-Jul, Sep-Dec. You can play in as many or as few leagues as you like in your quest to qualify for either our Regional or National Championships.

*Exact length of league determined by player numbers (max. 12 weeks, see structure below)

Amateur vs Professional

APN-Leagues is strictly for amateur pool players, to simplify the amateur vs professional debate please refer to the list (below) of banned players on the these grounds.

Regional and National Championships

If you should win a local league � and with it, a healthy amount of prize money, you will automatically qualify for the APN National Amateur 9-Ball League Championships (�5000 minimum guaranteed prize fund, minimum �1000 to the winner � no entry fees!), to be held later in the year. Place highly in a local league (see structure below) and you might qualify for your Regional Championships, a prestigious tournament that also acts as a last chance qualifier for the National Championship Finals*. There are 10 Regional Championships held around the UK, from which the 4 highest placed players qualify for the National Finals.

The National Amateur 9-Ball League Championships 2007 brings together all the league winners from the 3 sessions from around the UK together with qualifiers from the 10 Regional Championships for the biggest amateur 9-ball tournament ever in the UK. Over 250 players will fight it out to be crowned APN National Amateur 9-Ball League Champion 2007.

*If the same player should either a) win a league more than once in a calendar year or b) attain Regional Championship qualification criteria more than once in a calndar year, his/her (Regional/National) place will go to the next highest non-qualified player in that league. Please note; Prize money is not affected by this type of scenario.

How do I get involved?

For details of where your nearest league is (and what day of the week), simply find your nearest club from the list below, pop in and get yourself an application form from behind the bar, fill it in and hand it to a member of Rileys staff together with the first instalment of �17.50. (The remainder - �17.50 is due on week 3 of the league)

The deadline for all application forms is Friday 5th January 2007.

All leagues start the week beginning Monday 15th January 2007. On your first league night (Start time 7.30pm) you will be issued with a complete fixture list, an APN-Leagues membership card, and a copy of our league rules in full.

Handicapping

As with any sport there are players of different abilities. APN-Leagues do not want to turn potential players away just because of their ability. We want players to compete on as level a playing field as possible.

It also allows players for different regions to compete together.
Having a handicapping system also helps to eliminate the same players winning over and over again. As APN-Leagues is about amateur pool we believe that as every player has put in the same amount of money each player should have just as equal a chance to win some back.

How Does the New System Work?

Gone is the previous Hi-Run system, where players only had to pot a certain number of balls in order to win a rack. All APN-Leagues matches are a race to 9 racks, under the new system higher ability 9-ball players will have to give a number of racks start to lower ability players based on the difference between their handicaps.

The system still works on a numeric scale and runs from 1-6. 1 is the lowest ability players and 6 the strongest.

1-2 = Beginners
3-4 = Intermediates
5-6 = Advanced

To find out a rack start the lowest ability player takes their handicap away from their opponents to give a difference. This difference is the number of racks awarded to the lower ability player at the start of the match.

Example: Player A is a 2 handicap and Player B is a 5 handicap. The difference between the two players is 3. 3 racks start would be awarded to player A in this example.
When players have the same handicap they now just play off scratch, which means longer matches and more pool!

How is a Starting Handicap Awarded?

The starting handicap is awarded in one of two ways.

1. Previous APN-Leagues players

Any player that has played APN-Leagues before will be awarded these handicaps:
Old Handicap 3-4 = New handicap 1
Old Handicap 5-6 = New Handicap 2
Old Handicap 7-8 = New Handicap 3
Old Handicap 9-10 = New Handicap 4
Old Handicap 11-12 = New Handicap 5
Old Handicap 13-14 = New Handicap 6

2. Brand new players to APN-Leagues

Brand new players will be awarded their starting handicap in these 3 ways:

1.    Prior knowledge of the players by the APN-Leagues team
2.    Prior knowledge of the players from within the hosting club
3.    All other players will initially be awarded a handicap of 5 - and then will have up to four matches whereby APN-Leagues and clubs can change it based on league performance.

How Do Handicaps Change?

By playing regularly players will improve their ability (or worsen!). This means that handicaps can and will change. They will only change during these times; the first 2 weeks for a new player (4 matches) and at the end of a session for all other players.

To move up a handicap a player will have won more than 60% of his/her matches.
To go down a handicap a player will have lost more than 60% of his/her matches.

If you have any questions regarding the handicap system please contact us or put a post in our player forums at www.apn-leagues.co.uk.

APN-Leagues Calendar for 2007-2008

League Session 1
15th/22nd January 2007 � 9th/15th April 2007

League Session 2
23rd/29th April 2007 � 9th/15th July 2007

League Session 3
3rd/9th September 2007 � 26th/2nd December 2007

Regional Championships (All venues TBA)
1-2 December � North West, Scotland, South West/Wales
8-9 December � South Manchester & Sheffield, South East, North East
15-16 December � North London, South London
22-23 December � Midlands, South Central

National Championships (Venue TBA)
4-6 January 2008

Participating Clubs

Scotland
Rileys Aberdeen (Chapel Street)
Rileys Glasgow (Ledard Road)
Rileys Greenock
Rileys Kirkintilloch
Rileys Stirling

South East
Rileys Basildon
Rileys Colchester
Rileys Hastings
Suzy Q Maidstone
Route 66 Southend
Rileys Stanford-Le-Hope

South Central
Rileys Bournemouth
Rileys Bracknell
Rileys Brighton
Rileys Guildford
Rileys Oxford
Rileys Reading

North London
Rileys Harlow
Rileys Luton (Park Street)
Rileys St Albans
Rileys Stevenage
Rileys Victoria
Rileys Walthamstow
Rileys Watford (147)
Rileys Wealdstone
Rileys Ipswich
Rileys Norwich

South Manchester & Sheffield
Rileys Crewe
Rileys Rugeley
Rileys Sheffield (Mansfield Road)
Rileys Stafford
Rileys Stoke (Hanley)
Rileys Stretford
Rileys Chesterfield
Rileys Barnsley

Midlands
Rileys Coventry (Hertford Place)
Q Bar Leicester
Rileys Leicester
Rileys Northampton (Gold St)
Peterborough Q Club
Rileys Rugby
Rileys Birmingham
Rileys Derby (Babington Lane)
Rileys Mansfield
Rileys Nottingham
Rileys Solihull
Rileys Wolverhampton

North West
Rileys Blackpool
Rileys Bolton
Rileys Lancaster
Rileys Manchester
Rileys Oldham
Rileys Preston
Rileys Wigan

South London
Rileys Clapham
Rileys Croydon (Frith Road)
Rileys Lewisham
Rileys Shepherds Bush
Rileys Sutton
Rileys Twickenham

North East
Rileys Doncaster
Rileys Hull (Alfred Geller St)
Rileys Leeds
Rileys Rotherham
Rileys Scarborough
Rileys Stockton
Rileys Sunderland

South West and Wales
Rileys Cardiff (City Road)
Rileys Exeter
Suzy Q Gloucester
Rileys Newport
Rileys Weston-Super-Mare
Rileys Yate

League Structure & Qualification criteria*

League Structure & Qualification criteria
League Size	Qualifiers for Regional Championships	League Structure
6-8	2nd Place	1 conference
9-12	2nd and 3rd place	1 conference
13-24	Runner-up + losing semi finalists in playoffs	2 conferences. Top 4 from each conference qualify for seeded playoffs (straight KO).
25+	2nd-8th Place (7 players)	4 conferences. Top 4 from each conference qualifying for seeded playoffs (straight KO).

Banned Players

The following UK based players are banned from competing in APN-Leagues as APN consider them to be Professional players.

Banned Players
Player	Reason
Daryl Peach	WPC/IPT
Kevin Uzzell	WPC
Imran Majid	WPC/IPT
Raj Hundal	WPC/IPT
Andy Worthington	WPC
Pat Holtz	WPC/IPT
Michael Valentine	WPC
Steve Higton	WPC
Lee Chenman	WPC/IPT
Steve Davis	WPC
Steve Knight	WPC
Anthony Ginn	WPC/IPT
Roxton Chapman	WPC
Tommy Donlon	WPC
Tony Drago	WPC/IPT
Kevin Smith	WPC
Carl Morris	IPT
Karl Boyes	IPT
Brian Saleh	IPT
Jayson Shaw	IPT
Ben Davies	WPC/IPT
Mick Hill	IPT
Darren Appleton	WPC/IPT
Craig Osborne	WPC
James Kay	WPC
Rico Diks	WPC/IPT
Ricardo Jones	WPC
Chris Melling	WPC/IPT
Phil Harrison	IPT
Neil Raybone	IPT
Rob McKenna	IPT
Jimmy White	IPT
Ronnie O'Sullivan	IPT
Plus any Top 128Main Tour Snooker Player	.
Plus any other Top 16 IPA Tour player	.

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