A knockout cup gives every team and player something to play for, even when the league title has gone. Here's how to run one alongside your league without it taking over your season.
Which cups to run
Most leagues settle on a few competitions each season:
- Team cup: played between league teams, often in the league's usual format, on weeks without league fixtures.
- Singles knockout: open to every registered player. This is usually the most popular.
- Doubles knockout: pairs from the same team, or any two registered players.
- Plate or consolation cup: for teams or players knocked out in the first round, so everyone gets more than one game.
Start with one or two and add more once you know how many free weeks your season has.
Making the draw
A knockout works most cleanly when the number of entries is a power of two: 8, 16, 32, 64. That's rare, so you'll usually need byes.
Working out byes
Take the next power of two above your number of entries, and subtract the number of entries. That's how many byes you need in the first round.
| Entries | Draw size | First-round byes | First-round matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 16 | 4 | 4 |
| 20 | 32 | 12 | 4 |
| 27 | 32 | 5 | 11 |
| 40 | 64 | 24 | 8 |
All the byes happen in the first round, so from round two onwards every tie is a real match.
Seeding or an open draw?
An open draw (names out of a hat) is simple and nobody can argue with it, but the two best teams might meet in round one. Seeding keeps the strongest apart until the later rounds, usually using last season's league positions. Many leagues seed only the top four, and draw everyone else at random.
Whichever you choose, make the draw in public, at a committee meeting or on a live stream, or publish it straight away. That avoids any suggestion of favouritism.
Deadlines for each round
Unplayed ties are the main reason cups stall. Set a play-by date for every round when you publish the draw, and put the dates in the league calendar at the start of the season.
- Allow two to three weeks per round for singles and doubles, which players arrange themselves.
- Fix a night for team cup rounds, as you would a league fixture.
- Say in your rules what happens to ties not played by the deadline. A common rule is that the player or team who offered dates goes through.
- The first-named player or team usually hosts, or chooses the venue.
Match length
Early rounds can be short, for example best of three or five frames for singles, so a large entry gets through quickly. Lengthen the matches for the semi-finals and final, when there's an audience.
Finals night
Many leagues play all their cup finals on one night at a neutral venue. It makes a proper event of it and brings the whole league together. To make it run smoothly:
- Book the venue early and check how many tables it has.
- Publish a running order, with doubles and singles finals between team frames.
- Appoint a referee for each final if you can.
- Have trophies on the night, even if prize money waits for presentation night.
Keeping track
With several cups and dozens of entries, the draw sheet quickly gets complicated: who's through, who hasn't played, which ties are overdue. Publish the draw somewhere everyone can see it, and update it as results come in.
In Interleague you can run as many cups and knockouts as you like next to your league. Enter a result and the winner goes through to the next round automatically, and the draw on your league's website updates with it. See competitions and the other features.
Setting up the rest of your season? Read the secretary's season checklist, or add cup rules to your league rules.