League Rules


It is the clubs’ responsibility to read the following rules and failure to have read the rules will not exclude a club or member from the obligations set out below.

1. Entry into the league shall be restricted to clubs affiliated to the LBA and Badminton England.

2. All clubs and members are subject to The Badminton England Code of Conduct which includes but is not restricted to:
BADMINTON England Equality Policy.
BADMINTON England Safeguarding & Protecting Young People policy.
BADMINTON England Codes of conduct for players, coaches, volunteers, officials and parents.
Any breaches of this code will be dealt with according to the Badminton England Disciplinary Procedure.

3. The arrangement of teams in divisions shall be presented to the Committee of the LBA by the League Secretary at the earliest opportunity after the 1 September each year, and shall be in accordance with the wishes expressed at the Association’s AGM.

4. Arrangements will be determined by the previous year’s results, but a Club shall not have more than two teams in any one division.

5. The Teams finishing top shall be promoted, the teams finishing bottom shall be relegated in each division, subject to rule 19i. However, at the League Secretary’s discretion, more than one team maybe be promoted should a vacancy occur in the division above.

6. Subject to the prior approval of the LBA Committee, a League entrance fee in respect of each team entered in the Leagues and an individual registration fee in respect of each registered player shall be proposed annually by the Association’s Honorary Treasurer at the Association’s AGM.

7. There shall be four separate league competitions; Mens, Ladies, Mixed and New Hall. These shall be regarded as four quite separate League competitions for the purpose of these rules.

8. Matches shall be played between 1st October and 30th April, unless an approval is sought and given by the League Secretary.

9. Any affiliated Club wishing to enter a team/teams for the League must give notice to the League Secretary before 1st September in any year.

10. Any affiliated Club wishing to withdraw a team/teams from the League must give notice to the League Secretary before 1st September in any year, otherwise it will be liable for the fees for that year.

11. A fixture meeting shall be held in September for the benefit of the Club Fixture Secretaries (CFS) to arrange fixtures for the season. The current year league arrangement will be issued to the CFS prior to the meeting to allow for email/telephone arrangements to be pursued between clubs.  

12. A fine of £25 will be imposed on any affiliated Club not represented at the fixtures meeting by a club member. Any club breaching this rule which has not previously arranged fixtures in accordance with rule 11 will be expected to accept fixture dates subsequently given by their opponents.

13. The League Secretary shall be provided with a fixture list of all matches before a match is played. Clubs failing to comply shall automatically forfeit all their matches played before their fixture list is received by the League Secretary.

14. Payment of the entry fee for teams must be paid to the LBA before 1 October each year.

14a. Only those players registered with the LBA League Secretary and Badminton England may take part in any League competition. Players may be registered at any time during the season but their registration must have reached the LBA League Secretary before they take part in any match, (a written acknowledgement plus a LBA player number is issued by the LBA league secretary) otherwise the games must be awarded to their opponents. The appropriate fees must be paid to the LBA within 7 days to make the registration valid.

15. A club may report to the LBA Committee that a named player has left owing money. Should the Committee agree that the debt is valid, the named player will not be eligible to register for another club at any time in the future, until the outstanding debt has been satisfied.

16. No player may represent more than one club in a League competition (see rule 7) in a single season, except by permission of the League Secretary, if it is considered that a particular exception to this rule should be made.

17. At least four players must play in order to constitute a team in a recognised match. A fixture where both teams have only four players is not a recognised match.

18. A club entering two or more teams in any one League competition shall comply with the following rules:

18a. In the Ladies and Mens Doubles competitions, four players shall be nominated for each team, except the one in the lower or lowest division. In the Mixed Doubles competition, the nominated players must comprise 2 ladies and 2 men.
These names must be sent to the League Secretary before any match is played.

18b. These nominated players must play for the team they are nominated for, or a higher team, during the season.

18c. If the Club fails to indicate its nominated players by the first match the League Secretary will select four players and will notify the club accordingly.

18d. If a nominated player, for any reason, fails to play, or is unlikely to play in three matches out of the first five then it is the Club's responsibility to contact the League Secretary and nominate another player.

18e. In the event of an unsatisfactory, or no reason being given for the change in 18d, then the League Secretary can retrospectively nominate an alternative player either in place of, or in addition to, the existing nominated players.

18f. If applicable, all rubbers won in a lower division by the newly nominated players in 18e, will be awarded against him/her.

18g. The maximum number of matches a player can play in any league competition is 12. If a player plays more than the maximum allowed, then all rubbers he / she plays in subsequent matches shall be awarded to the opposition.

18h. A player that has played more than twice for a higher team/ teams shall not play for a lower team.

18i. If two teams of the same Club are in the same division, the home and away matches must be played as the first matches of those teams in the season.

19. Matches shall comply with the following rules:

19a. All league matches shall be played with cork-based shuttles, feather or synthetic flights, and conform to Law 3 of the Laws of Badminton (as issued by Badminton World Federation (BWF) with regard to their speed.

19b. All first, second and third division matches to be played with feather shuttles only, with the exception of the New Hall League, in which, the second division is exempt.

19c. The order of play for League matches is as follows, unless agreed otherwise by both sides. The HOME SIDE is listed first throughout. 1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 3, 2 v 1, 3 v 2, 1 v 3, 3 v 1, 1 v 2, 2 v 3.

19d. It is the HOME team’s responsibility, at the Annual Fixture Meeting, to inform and agree with the away team, the starting time and the number of courts to be used.  A maximum of 15 minutes should be allowed to warm up before the 1st games. A rubber can be claimed if a pair is not ready to play at the agreed starting time or when a court becomes available in the sequence of matches shown in Rule 19c.

19e. Any rubbers not completed before the finishing time in a match will be awarded to the away team providing that the away team has fulfilled all other requirements above (19a -19d).

19f. The result of all matches shall be sent to the league Secretary within 21 days of the match being played. It is the responsibility of the WINNING team to do this and failure to comply shall lead to their rubbers being deleted from the final score. The 21-day time limit shall apply, EXCEPT FOR MATCHES PLAYED AFTER 17TH APRIL. THE RESULTS OF THESE MATCHES MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE 7TH MAY.

19g. In the event of any team withdrawing after 30th September, all matches played shall be void.

19h. A club may request a postponement of a match once arranged, giving reasons to their opponent for the request. It is at the absolute discretion of their opponent if they wish to agree to the postponement or claim the match accordingly. This does not apply to non-availability of hall or extreme weather, when requests for postponements must be accepted. In the event of postponement both clubs must inform the league secretary in writing within 21 days of the original fixture date giving reasons for the postponement.

19i. If a conceded match, or a match awarded against a club as in rule 19h, has a direct bearing on promotion or relegation, then the offending team(s) results will be declared void.  The offending team(s) will therefore finish in the final relegation position(s).

20. Points not covered by these rules shall be determined by the League Secretary, subject to confirmation by the LBA committee.

Rules applying to the LBA Hall League Only


The rules applying to the Ladies, Men’s and Mixed Doubles shall apply except as follows:

1.  All fixtures shall be arranged by the League Secretary before the start of the season.

2. Fees
The annual League entrance fee shall consist of a fee for each team entered in the League, proposed annually by the Association’s Honorary Treasurer at the Association’s AGM.
Any affiliated Club wishing to withdraw a team/teams from the Hall League must give notice to the League Secretary before 1st September, otherwise it will be liable for the annual League entrance fee.

3. Rules of Play
A team shall consist of three ladies and three men. The format will be as follows:
Two ladies doubles, two men's doubles and five mixed doubles rubbers, in the format and order shown on the score sheet.
Unfinished rubbers shall be void and match points awarded on rubbers completed.
Where a club enters more than one team the nominated players shall be two ladies and two men.
Rubbers shall consist of two games to 21 points, with no setting.
All division 1 matches to be played with feathered, cork-based shuttles.

4. Promotion/Relegation
A match result where each team scores nine games constitutes a draw.
The order of the season’s final results tables is decided on the basis of 2 match points for a win and one match point for a draw. In the event of a tie-on match points, matches won, games won and game points are taken into account in that order.