Please Note: All IATF organizations may adopt their own attendance policies regarding league attendance and forfeits. If they choose to do so, it is up to their league runners, match officials, or venue management to communicate any and all differences in comparison with the IATF’s recommended policies to their players.
1. Attendance
1. All players are subject to a 1.5 hour limitation on late arrivals on a league night, or the need to leave early:
1. The league will accommodate lateness of up to 1.5 hours after official league start time;
2. Players that need to leave early must commit to staying at least 1.5 hours after official league start time;
3. If a player arrives more than 1.5 hours late into the official league time, thus breaking the 1.5 hour rule, then their opponents may leave at that 1.5 hour mark and the absence will count against the late player – not the player who was on time and decided to leave early having completed all other matches;
4. If a missed match is not successfully completed by the end of Week 7, then the latecomer would receive a forfeit loss.
2. On the other hand, if a player leaves less than 1.5 hours from league start time, and before finishing their matches, or accommodating late comers who arrive within the 1.5 hour rule, then that player becomes responsible for all matches missed and will be marked absent.
3. Exceptions may be given to the 1.5 hour rule but only with the consent of that player’s opponents that night, as well as with League Runner approval.
2. Absences
1. All players may miss 1 week of regulation play per season without notification and make up those matches over the following weeks:
1. Players may miss additional weeks of play with a minimum notice of 1 week;
2. This does not apply to week 7 however, as there are no further weeks to make up matches;
3. Players that miss week 7 will forfeit any unplayed matches.
2. Players that miss more than 1 week of regulation play without advance notice will forfeit all matches scheduled during additional weeks missed:
1. i. Notice must be given in time to play matches that will be missed during the week prior to planned absence;
1. i.e. If Player ‘A’ will be missing week 6, then they must notify their League Runner with enough advance notice to play those matches on week 5, with the 1.5 hour rule remaining in effect;
1. ii. Matches that will be missed due to advance notice may be distributed over the weeks prior to, and after, the scheduled absences.
3. Forfeits
1. Players that win by forfeiture without play will receive the standard 2 points per win and their average score thrown that week will be applied to that match:
1. This average includes all matches thrown that week, whether originally scheduled, or made up from other weeks.
2. The player who receives the forfeit loss will earn 0 game points, but their average score per game played will remain unchanged.
3. In the event that two players miss a single scheduled match on the same or separate weeks, and it cannot be made up by the end of regular season play, the following are possible outcomes:
1. If Player A misses a match during week 6 but has provided proper absence notification, moving the match to week 7, and their opponent is present week 6, but misses week 7 without proper notification, Player A will receive the forfeit win and Player B receives the forfeit loss;
2. If Player A misses a match without absence notification on week 6, and Player B is in attendance week 6 and has provided proper notification they are going to be absent on week 7, Player A, regardless if they are in attendance week 7 or not, will forfeit the match as they did not provide proper notification and Player B will receive the forfeit win;
3. If Player A and Player B both miss a match scheduled on week 7, then both players will forfeit that match and receive a forfeit loss:
1. This also applies if both players missed an earlier scheduled match that was then moved to week 7, and both miss the rescheduled match.
4. The present player who receives a forfeit win may request the option of ‘forfeit with play’ to allow them to play out the forfeited match against a random opponent.
1. This match will be considered an automatic win, regardless of points scored within the match but those points will count towards a player’s season.
2. A league runner or match official may deny this request based on time limitations during a given league night.
4. Playoff Attendance
1. If a player that has made the playoffs is not present for competition, then all players below their rank move up one position in standings:
1. i.e. if the player in 15th place is not competing, the player ranked 16th now takes the 15th place position and 17th place moves up to 16th place, etc.
2. If a competing player is attending but arriving late, then the tournament continues on schedule and the player will forfeit their first match if they do not arrive on time, thereby moving them to the B bracket:
3. If the same competing player is not on time for their B bracket match, then they will forfeit that match and are out of playoffs competition.
4. For playoffs, the 1.5 hour allowance for lateness does NOT apply.