Can anyone report what the turnout and general standard was like at their county restricted tournament this year? I'm curious to see what effect (if any) the rally points system had on the turnout. In Northumberland we had 7 in MS, no LS, 7 pairs in MD, 5 pairs in LD and 8 pairs in the mixed. Certainly the worst numbers I've seen before. Durham I hear had 2 pairs in the MD!
Excuse my ignorance, but Restricted means what exactly? Does it mean only inter-County players can participate? Or is it everyone else except those players?
A county restricted tournament is a tournament where only players from that county can participate. This can include any standard from top England players, through to club players, as long as they are eligible to represent the county whose tournament they are entering
Although Eligibility is quite open. The easiest way to enter any restricted is to become a member of a badminton club within the county of the restricted you wish to enter. There are no place of birth or previous representation restriction AFAIK.
At the weekend I was talking to someone who entered the Essex Restricted tournament, and from what he was saying it sounds like the turn out was quite good.
I think its a little more complicated than that. You can obviously only play for one county in any one season, and I think as soon as you either play in the county restricted or a county match you are tied to that county for the season. As far as I know it then goes by birth and residence. You can always play for the county in which you were born in, and you can play for a different one if you have lived there for a period of time. Even if you then leave that area you can continue to play for that county until you decide to play for another one. We have some people in Northumberland who now live in Durham but can still represent Northumberland because they were either born here or used to live here.
I am not sure about tie-in with regards to playing for county after the restricted. I was only commenting on entering a restricted tournament.