November 13th Mixed Pairs

[NigelS]

Nov 13, 2011 17:11:51 GMT Ros said:

There is a vital difference between the over 50s/60s/under 25s and the Mixed Pairs - the Mixed Pairs is an Open event, any pair of the appropriate gender can enter, whereas the others are restricted by age and therefore not Open events.

How does it get brought to the table at the AGM? Should I try to email Dave Alder? (I think I read earlier on this thread that he doesn't have internet access at the moment)

Agreed that there is a difference here Ros, however how would you go about awarding points for the mixed pairs fairly? At the risk of sounding sexist, in most pairs the male player is stronger than the female player, yet each pair would have to receive the same points each as they play as a team.

The same could be said of Bournemouth or the World Pairs which is why I was not too keen on them being ranking events either, but we compromised and reduced the points to a more appropriate level.

The problem is the mixed pairs is not a representative national event, no other national event has 50% ladies involved, so in my opinion making it a ranking event will be biased towards the lady players, especially the ladies players with strong male playing partners....

This is just my opinion however, and so to make a proper decision it is right that it be brought up at the AGM (these are the AEBBA rankings after all) and their discussions should be brought to the ranking commitee. If you email me Ros I will pass it on for discussion at the AGM. I would recommend that you come up with a points structure that you have in mind also.

PS I think it is a myth that giving out ranking points will encourage a greater entry, the mixed pairs has declined in recent years and I only believe that a county staging it with a large number of female players in that county is the answer. Given that we should ask Surrey or Sussex to stage it. Bournemouth is not the answer for me, not enough lady players are there anyway, and will they want to spend the evening playing a 2nd competition, and who would run it as Dave has enough to do!

[Ros]

I understand what you are saying about the Mixed Pairs, but anyone who was there the last couple of times would realise that the standard is very high - nobody can get 'carried' really, especially as the ladies break and follow on in all games.

So I would argue that Mixed Pairs is not likely to be skewed towards a weaker player any more than the two Open Pairs competitions.

Pretty much all the ladies that participate also compete in Ladies Opens - you might as well say that ladies shouldn't get ranking points in those - as the competition isn't as strong as in the ordinary Opens :o

As to how to award points if they were deemed appropriate, that's a tricky one, as the entries are lower than Bournemouth or Jersey and that should be taken into account.

I would suggest that the win bonus of 0.25 should be the same, but with points of 5,3 and 1 - going down to semi-final stage only, rather than the 7,5,3 and 1 of the bigger competitions. But in the interests of fairness and equality, the points should be increased to include quarter finalists if more than a certain number (24 or more?) enter.

Edit: I do agree that adding ranking points won't necessarily increase entries (although it can't hurt ;)) I also agree that ranking points should not be used as a way to increase entries in flagging competitions - my stance is more about fairness and equality.