12/10/2022
So the dust has settled and the muscle pain has set in on another edition of ChampionsBowl. We want to thank all of you and our wonderful hosts for another successful tournament. It is still a beautiful sight to see all of our top athletes from around the continent come together in one venue to find the best club team in Europe.
With that being said, we are aware that improvements can and should always be made. And that’s why we want to ask captains/coaches to fill out the official feedback form, which will be sent soon, so we can hear about the things you liked and disliked so that we can take these into account as we start planning for the next edition in the coming months.
A major issue raised this year (as discussed clearly in the captains’ meeting held on Friday night) is the issue of rosters. For those not in attendance this year, we would like to briefly re-clarify the issue and the solutions going forward to avoid any further confusion. The spirit of ChampionsBowl is, and always has been, to find the best club team. Therefore, the rules have always stated that you must be registered to play with the team and federation you intend to play the tournament with. (For example, if you intend to play with the Smurfs from Spain, you must be officially registered with team Smurfs and the Spanish federation.) This is supposed to prevent any teams from bringing “guest” players.
However, it was a heartbreakingly common case this year that teams had registered players (some very last minute) who have never, and likely will never, play with said team during the domestic league. In effect, they used a loophole to fill squads with guest players.
To clarify, in order to play at ChampionsBowl with an invited team, you MUST have played the league with that team. Of course, there are exceptions (including but not limited to rookies starting/people moving home and transferring clubs between seasons) that are legitimate reasons. In these cases, the committee must be informed case by case in order to sign these players off. However, cases such as short term transfers simply to play in the tournament, or registering with two teams/federations break our rules and will not be accepted. The rules around rosters are being considerably tightened in the rule book to prevent any future issues surrounding guest players going forward.
As said at the meeting, we appreciate the teams who got in contact with us prior to the event to seek advice on rosters and those who stuck to the rules of the tournament. We hope this open clarification to all those who follow the ChampionsBowl page will prevent further confusion going forward on the issue of rosters. We appreciate it is an issue and it is being dealt with to ensure the integrity and fairness of the tournament.
Thank you,
CB Committee
