The Crawford Cup is an annual six bell competition for towers within the guild.
General
- The aim of the competition is to encourage good striking in Service bands, and to promote this through a friendly competition on six bells
- The cup shall never become the absolute property of any team.
The Final
- The Final shall usually be arranged on a Saturday in May.
- All teams competing shall have the opportunity to be represented at the draw, at the appointed time as advised to the district secretaries at least 4 weeks prior to the day of the final. Should the organisers wish to carry out the draw before the day of the contest this must be not less than 2 weeks prior to the contest date. Any team not ready to take their place as drawn shall ring after the team drawn last.
- Teams shall comprise ringers who regularly ring together as members of a band which serves a tower or cluster of towers. Up to 2 ringers may ring in the Team who do not normally ring as part of the tower or cluster band.
- Youth ringers (u19 on 31 August of the contest year) may enter up to 2 teams. The ringers in a team may be drawn from across a district or from across the Guild, and there is no requirement to enter a heat.
- The test piece shall be a true 240 of Minor or Doubles in any method(s). The 240 changes of the test piece shall be judged.
- Each team competing shall be accompanied in the tower by another ringer not associated with the team to assist with timing.
- A practice piece lasting not more than 2 minutes of ringing shall be allowed, after which the bells shall be stood. Then up to 2 minutes of rounds shall be allowed before going into changes for the test piece.
- No team member shall communicate with the Judge(s) during the competition and at each contest the decision of the Judge(s) shall be final.
District Heats
- Each district shall hold a competition to decide which tower(s) shall represent their district in the final.
- Each district should use the rules for the final as a guide but may depart from these rules in order that the competition has as wide appeal as possible, encouraging involvement and the betterment of ringing in their area. District organisers shall ensure that all teams are made aware of the local rules in place on the day.
- District and Guild boundaries should not prevent ringers from participating as part of a team.
- A team shall be eligible to progress to the Final if it complies with rule 3 of the Final.
- The highest placed eligible team from each district heat shall progress to the Final. If there are 6 or more eligible teams in a district heat, the team placed second may also progress.
- In the event that an eligible team is unable to take part in the final, the next highest placed team available from the district heat shall be invited to take their place.
- A band from the winning tower from the previous year’s final shall be eligible to form a team and compete in the final, irrespective of whether they enter the district heat. If this team enters the district heat, it shall not count towards the number of eligible teams in rule 5 above.