We operate competitions using the NSRA rules, with some local exceptions.

• At this time, we do not Implement NSRA Rule 5.2.1.1 in our County run leagues and competitions.

Privacy: competitors need to be made aware that their name, club and score will be visible to anyone browsing the RifleLeagues site. In many instances, this mirrors the situation with clubs who currently show results on their website. It will, however, be a condition of entering an HSBRPA competition that the competitor agrees and understands that their name and club will be visible. The RifleLeagues database is encrypted and all data such as email or postal addresses for both competitors and club officials is restricted and password protected. It is acceptable for a competitor’s initials to be used instead of first names, though clubs are asked to resolve any resulting name conflicts in some manner.

Scorers: Club Scorers need to have their own ID on the RifleLeagues System.

If your club participated in previous competitions and are using the same scorers to enter data then their ID’s and passwords will remain the same for the new competitions. If you have new scorers who didn’t participate previously, please set them up.

Averages: The reason behind this timing of entries is that RifleLeagues selects the average for previous competitors from the snapshot at the time of entry. We are therefore delaying the entry dates until Round 10 has been completed in the current season to provide the most consistent averages. Please also make sure that teams are selected according to the averages in RifleLeagues. Should you use a different average, make sure that RifleLeagues is updated and you are prepared to justify the change.

Labels: to give the clubs as much time as possible to sticker targets, the closing date for Round 1 is delayed by 2 weeks to coincide with the Round 2 close.

Shoot By Dates & Extensions: Stickers and associated materials are issued with a Shoot By Date which is 14 days earlier than the Round End Date. The objective of the Shoot by Date is to ensure that club scorers have sufficient time to both score cards and get scoring into RifleLeagues before the close of the Round. As there has been some confusion and inconsistency over the Shoot By Date, the rules are clarified as below:

Shoot-By Date

The Shoot-By Dates are printed on HSBRPA stickers and are the only dates the shooter should consider.  Cards must be shot by this date. Any cards shot after this date should be disqualified by the local scorer, unless an extension has been granted. Extensions can only be granted by HSBRPA discipline secretaries or their nominated deputies.

The Shoot-By date is not shown on RifleLeagues: what you see in RifleLeagues is the Round End Date (more on this below). The dates in RifleLeagues should not be used as a reference by the shooter, they should rely absolutely on what is printed on the official HSBRPA competition sticker.

Round End Date

The Round End Date defines the date by which scores must be entered into RifleLeagues. These are the dates shown on RifleLeagues. After this date, clubs will no longer be able to enter scores into RifleLeagues.  The delay between the Shoot-By Date and the Round End Date is to allow the local scorers time to score the cards and enter the results into the system.

Extensions

Extensions are granted to allow shooting after the Shoot-By date under exceptional circumstances only. Each request is judged on its own merits. We have to be fair not only to those who request but those who make the effort to shoot on time.  It does not matter if it’s for a team or individual competition.

The discipline secretaries are becoming increasingly concerned with the number of requests being received that are on the edge of the criteria. Therefore, to be fair and transparent to all, we will apply the following criteria when considering a request for an extension:

1. requests must be received in writing (email is preferred) by the appropriate HSBRPA discipline secretary or deputy before the end of the Shoot by Date as shown on the stickers;

2. the request must be for an exceptional circumstance;

3. requests must contain enough detail to allow us to judge if the circumstance is exceptional.

Regarding these criteria and based on past experience, we offer the following further notes and guidance.

• Please make sure everyone knows that the date printed on the stickers in red is the Shoot-By Date and is fixed, as far as they are concerned. They also need to be aware that this is 14 days before the dates shown on RifleLeagues - shooters need to ignore the dates in RifleLeagues, they are for the local scorers!

• Please encourage your members to shoot in advance, especially where they know their time will be limited, such as during holiday seasons. This avoids circumstances where something happens but can’t really be classified as exceptional, e.g. “...something cropped up at work...”. This can potentially happen to anyone and therefore, without more context, is hard to argue is exceptional.

• Requests have been made with very little information. If we can’t judge if the situation is exceptional, we can't grant it. We all understand that some circumstances may be confidential and we are not asking people to break trust, we just need enough information to be fair to all.

• Examples of exceptional circumstances include but are not limited to: bereavement, injury or illness, unplanned range closure and emergencies.  We will always do our best to be as flexible as possible, but recognising that we need to balance the needs of the individual with fairness to the rest of the league participants.

• The most important thing is, if in doubt get in touch. We are here to help, but we can only do that if we know what the problem is.  The earlier we know about a potential issue, the better chance we have to help you fix it.  If you contact us after the fact, it limits our ability to intervene - the rules bind us just as much as they do you.

Challenges: clubs have 2 weeks after the last Round-end-Date to submit any challenges. No challenges will be accepted after this date. The Competition Organisers will process any challenges in a timely manner so cards can be disposed of as soon as possible.

Target Retention: local scorers must retain all scored cards for the whole competition until advised by the Competition Organisers that they are no longer required. This is to allow for recalls and/or challenges of cards. The Competition Organisers will endeavor to inform local scorers that cards can be disposed of as soon as possible.