Play-off format, 2006

We're now at that stage of the season when teams, and fans, begin to look hard at the league tables to assess their play-off prospects. I've already begun to receive requests for information and clarification, so it seems a good time to confirm, and explain, the format in each of the difference divisions.

The top eight qualify, and in the quarter-finals the highest placed team has home advantage over the lowest-placed qualifier, thus:

Quarter Finals		Semi Finals		Final @ NIA;
1/2 April		Home & Away
		8/9 & 22/23 April
1st	}
8th	}	1st or 8th	}
		v	}	_____________	}
4th	}	4th or 5th	}		}
5th	}				}
					}
2nd	}				}
7th	}	2nd or 7th	}		}
		v	}	_____________	}
3rd	}	3rd or 6th	}
6th	}

In both EBL1 and EBL2 the semi-finals are played over two legs, and the result decided on aggregate score (there can thus be no overtime in the first leg, but will be in the second if the teams are level on aggregate). Normally the team named first in the chart above, considered the higher seed, has home advantage in the second leg ... but often the availability of respective courts is the deciding factor!

In all cases if, for instance, the eighth placed team has knocked out the first-placed one in the quarter final, they take over their seeding (unlike in the BBL, where the semi-finals are played at the same place as, and on the day before, the Final; that allows them to pair the four participants according to final league placings).

In Women's Division 1 the format has changed slightly, so that only the top four qualify for the play-offs, which begin directly with the semi-finals. This seems an eminently sensible move at a time when there is such a disparity between the teams in the top and bottom halves of the table.

To enhance competition still further, the semi-finals are played as a "best of three" series, so the third game of each semi-final will only be played if the teams have each won one of the first two games. The lower-placed seed is at home in the first game (subject to court availability), with the higher-placed seed having home advantage in the second game and (if required) the third.

Semi Finals		Final @ NIA;
3-game series		30April
1/2, 8/9 and 22/23 April
1st	}
v	}	_____________	}
4th	}		}
			}
			}
			}
2nd	}		}
v	}	_____________	}
3rd	}

EBL Division 2 Women is fairly straightforward, with the top four from each of the two regions, North and South, qualifying for the quarter finals. They then play a single-game, knock-out quarter final, against a team from the other region, with the top two in each region having home advantage:

The draw is seeded in such a way that the only way that teams from the same region can meet before the Final is if one of them knocks out a higher seed in the quarter final. The semi-finals are single-game knock-out, with the higher seed (or team that defeated the highest seed in the quarter final) having home advantage.

Last year EBL Division 3 Men was very complicated, as there were three regions, which could not provide direct cross-overs, and to produce eight quarter finalists we had the complicated situation of the top two qualifying from each region, together with the two third placed teams with the best percentage records.

This year, with four regions, the format is much simpler, but there is an additional round before the quarter finals (the eighth-final, or first round) in order to accommodate FOUR qualifiers from each region:

Eighth Finals		Quarter Finals		Semi Finals		Final @ Bath Uni.;
11/12 March		18/19 March		25/26 March		9th April
1 North	}
4 Midlands	}	1N or 4M	}
			}	N1/M4/SE2/SW3	}
2 South-East	}	2S-E or 3S-W	}		}
3 South-West	}				}
					}	_____________	}
1 South-West	}				}		}
4 South-East	}	1S-W or 4S-E	}		}		}
			}	SW1/SE4/M2/N3	}		}
2 Midlands	}	2M or 3N	}				}
3 North	}						}
							}
1 South-East