The Howard Stevens Bowl was presented to the Club in 2004 by Howard Stevens. Howard was key member of the club having been a long serving committee member, Chairman, A-Team Captain, LCBA League Representative and Club Steward.
It was originally called the Bradgate Bowl and was renamed to the Howard Stevens Bowl in memory of Howard after his death in 2015. Howard actually won the trophy for the first six years from 2003 until 2009 consecutively.
Howard’s vision for this competition was for it to be presented to the top player at the club. He didn’t want just another trophy to play for on a club night, nor did he want a competition where you had to qualify to play in a final. The competition schedule at Bradgate is quite full and fitting another one in would be tricky. So Howard asked Steve Wright to come up with some sort of result based on the performance throughout all the competitions.
Players earn ranking points for the finishing positions in each of the competitions. The multi-week competitions carry more ranking points than single week competitions, which in turn carry more ranking points than the handicapped competitions. The top eight places in each competition get ranking points.
The ranking factors for the competitions is as follows:
| Competition | Type | Ranking Factor | Max Ranking Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradgate Plate | Best 3 of 4 weeks | 20 | 200 |
| Patterson Pots | Pairs | 15 | 150 |
| Tyler Trophy | Best 3 out of 4 weeks | 20 | 200 |
| Charity Pairs | Handicapped Pairs | 5 | 50 |
| Davis Trophy | Men's Pairs | 15 | 150 |
| Robson Trophy | Ladies Pairs | 15 | 150 |
| Roger Bird Trophy | Seeded Teams of Four | 10 | 100 |
| Hercock Trophy | Best 4 out of 10 weeks | 20 | 200 |
| Jubilee Trophy | Seeded Teams of Four | 10 | 100 |
| Thompson Trophy | Handicapped Pairs | 10 | 100 |
| Bradgate Cup | Most improved pair | 5 | 50 |
Although the Charity Pairs is a handicapped competition, it only gets half the ranking points that other handicapped competitions gets. This is because we have a North/South winner and an East/West winner.
Both teams competitions are treated as handicapped competitions as pairs don’t get to choose their team mates. This is done to balance out the relative strengths of the teams. In the Roger Bird Trophy, there is a random draw with the top players being seeded to prevent them being drawn as team mates. In the Jubilee Trophy, pairs are matched based on their performance over the 10 week Hercock Summer Trophy, with the top pairs being matched with the bottom pair and so on.
The ranking factors for the positions is as follows:
| Position | Ranking Factor |
|---|---|
| 1st | 10 |
| 2nd | 8 |
| 3rd | 6 |
| 4th | 5 |
| 5th | 4 |
| 6th | 3 |
| 7th | 2 |
| 8th | 1 |
So to calculate your ranking points for a competition you simply multiple the ranking factor for the competition with the ranking factor for your finishing position.
FAQ
- What happens if there is a tie in a competition? – We share the ranking points
- What happens if there is a tie for first place in the Howard Stevens Bowl? – We try and split the tie by the highest with a different partner that season.
- What happens if somebody places twice in the Hercock Summer Trophy? – They get half the ranking points for the second placing.
- Do you get ranking points if you play with a visitor? – Yes
- Do visitors get ranking points? – No
- What happens if a visitor becomes a member? – The get the ranking points for competitions they play in whilst they are a member, but not when they are a visitor.
- What happens if they join part-way through a multi-week competition? – They get the ranking points. It is their membership status at the end of the competition that counts.