The Cork leagues

The season

League fixtures run from October to March. Clubs enter teams, and the results decide the tables. Whether teams meet home and away depends on how many teams are in the grade.

The winners of each mixed league grade go on to the Munster provincial rounds in April and the national finals in May, so a mixed team that wins its grade in Cork can still be playing in the summer.

Grades

Every player is graded, and teams are entered in a grade. From strongest to weakest:

• Premier, for players competing for national titles
• A, B and C, for strong club players competing at provincial opens
• D, E and F, for the middle of the club game, where most league teams sit
• G, for players of a reasonable standard who are still improving
• H, for players who know the game and are establishing themselves in competition
• Novice, for social and beginner players who do not play tournaments

The leagues

There are separate leagues for men's doubles, ladies' doubles and mixed, each run across several grades.

Entering a team

Clubs enter teams through their club secretary, on the team nomination form the county secretary sends out at the start of the season. Entries for 2026/27 close on Thursday 1 October 2026.

A mixed team costs €110 and a men's or ladies' team €80. The fee includes the cups: the Championship Cup and Handicap Cup for mixed teams, the Handicap Cup for men's and ladies' teams.

The doubles leagues, men's and ladies'

A team carries a panel of up to eight players of the same gender. Four of them play each fixture, and a team must field all four.

The four players are ranked one to four, and the ranking has to follow grade order. Your best-graded player is one, your weakest is four.

Four matches are played:

1. Players 1 and 2 against their 1 and 2
2. Players 3 and 4 against their 3 and 4
3. Players 1 and 3 against their 1 and 3
4. Players 2 and 4 against their 2 and 4

Matches one and two can run at the same time on two courts, then three and four. Every match is the best of three games to 21.

The team that wins the most matches wins the tie. Two-all is a draw.

The mixed league

A mixed panel is up to twelve players, at most six men and six women. Three or four of each play a fixture, and nobody plays more than two matches on the night.

Seven matches are played: one men's singles, one ladies' singles, one men's doubles, one ladies' doubles and three mixed doubles. With seven matches there are no draws.

Mixed matches must be played strongest to weakest, with any higher graded players above lower graded ones.

Arranging fixtures and sending results

Each club's fixtures secretary arranges fixture dates with the other clubs. The home club offers two dates, on different days of the week if its hall booking allows.

Once both teams agree a date, it can only be cancelled if both teams agree. A rearranged date can't be changed again.

On the night:

• Only players on the team's panel can play.
• Matches start at the agreed time.
• Matches can be played out of order only if both teams agree in advance.
• Once the team sheets have been filled in and swapped, they can't be changed.

Results go on a paper scoresheet. It must show:

• the club names
• each player's full name, as it appears on the team panel and affiliation list
• each player's Badminton Ireland number
• each player's grade
• the captain's signature

The winning captain sends it in. If the match is a draw, the home captain sends it. Take a photo of the completed sheet and send it to the county secretary on WhatsApp within 48 hours of the match, with your name and the competition, such as "Grade H men group 1". The number is on the scoresheet.

A scoresheet that's missing any of these details, or arrives late, isn't entered on Tournament Software. The match counts as "no contest" and neither team gets points.

Captains keep the paper copy of every scoresheet for the whole season.

League points and tables

A win is two points, a draw is one, a loss is none. When teams finish level, the order is decided by:

1. League points
2. Matches won minus matches lost
3. Games won minus games lost
4. Points scored minus points conceded

Walkovers and withdrawals go down as a win to the team that turned up.

Tables, draws and fixtures are on Tournament Software. In each league, the General tab has the table, Draw has the draw, and Matches lists the fixtures and their play-by dates.

Semi-finals and finals

How a grade finishes depends on how many teams are in it.

One section of three or four teams. The top two play the final.

One section of five to seven teams. The top team goes straight to the final. Second plays third in the semi-final, at second's home.

Two sections. Each section's winner plays the other section's runner-up in the semi-finals, at the winner's home. The two semi-final winners play the final.

Grades with more groups than that can have quarter-finals. In a section of seven, teams play each other once in the league, and the reverse fixture is played in the Handicap Cup.

All the league finals are played on one day, and they're only postponed if they clash with another badminton event. The teams share the shuttles in semi-finals and finals.

Walkovers

A team that gives a walkover must pay €100 for its second walkover and for each one after that, or be disqualified from the league. A team with more than two walkovers can't enter the Handicap Cup.

Who can play for a team

Players can always play above their grade. An F-grade player can turn out for an E team.

Higher-graded players play at the top of the team and lower-graded players at the bottom. A team that gets the order wrong gets no points for the match.

Playing down

Playing below your grade needs Council's permission, and it's for one grade lower at most. Only one exception is allowed per team, and the player will typically be given a points handicap, so they start each of their games at -4 or -6 instead of 0.

To ask, the club attaches a letter to the team nomination form explaining why. Requests close on 1 October and are decided at Council's league meeting. This season they're only approved in rare cases, such as when the player has no other team to play on in the club, or when it lets the club enter an extra team. The letter has to show this.

A player whose grade was lowered can't play down as well.

Playing for more than one club

A player's primary club is the one they're affiliated to Badminton Ireland with. Playing for a second club needs Council's permission, which isn't given automatically. The club attaches a letter asking for it to the team nomination form.

• Men's and ladies' leagues: a player can play for more than one club, but not in the same grade for two clubs.
• Mixed league: every club the player plays for must be listed on their Sport 80 account.

Age limits

Players must be at least 14 on 1 January of the season (1 January 2027 for the 2026/27 season) to play in the leagues. The mixed league has higher limits in the lower grades:

• Grades E and F: at least 16
• Grades G and H: at least 18

National graded tournaments use the same age limits.

Under-18s can play in the men's and ladies' leagues this season. They must be correctly graded before the leagues start, and Council reviews their grades through the season.

Appeals and fines

An appeal to Council must come with the scoresheet and a €50 fee.

Clubs are fined €50 for each cup they return without engraving or polish.