Times Fantasy Football - Terms & conditions

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. THE GAME:

The Times Fantasy Football competition 2008/2009 (the "Game") will run on the Times Online website (www.timesonline.co.uk/fantasyfootball) from 14th July 2008, when it opens for registration, to the completion of the final Eligible Fixture, currently scheduled for 27th May 2009. Eligible Fixtures are those played in the English Premier League, Scottish Premier League, Champions League and UEFA Cup during the 2008/2009 season only starting with the first Eligible Fixture on 16th August 2008 and ending with the completion of the final Eligible Fixture on 27th May 2009. Qualifying rounds for the Champions League and UEFA Cup are not Eligible Fixtures. Matches played during the opening weekend of the Scottish Premier League (9th and 10th August 2008) are not Eligible Fixtures.

2. ENTRY GENERAL:

Entry to the Game is £3 per team. No payment is required for transfers, loans or captain changes. Entrants may also incur their own time and costs (if any) of accessing the website. The Game is only open to those aged 18 years or over at the time of registration and is open to any eligible person residing in a country where the Game is not prohibited or otherwise unlawful. Failure to observe these requirements will mean that any potential winning entry is invalid and all winnings will be forfeited. Employees of the Promoter, its associated, affiliated and subsidiary companies, and their families, agents and any person connected with the Game are excluded from entry. Entrants may have a maximum of ten (10) team entries in total in the Game. Entries in excess of this will be void and not eligible to win a prize but will still be charged for.

3. ENTRY DATES:

The Game opens for entries on 14th July 2008. To guarantee maximum points-scoring and prize-winning potential, valid confirmed entries must be received by the scheduled start of the first Eligible Fixture on 16th August 2008. Entrants are responsible for verifying the exact kick-off time for the first Eligible Fixture on August 16th 2008 and ensuring their entries are made in time. Entries may be made after this time until the closing date on midnight 15th May 2009. Entries made during the Game will only score points from the next Eligible Fixture after entry has been validly submitted.

4. ENTRY ROUTE:

Entries to the Game may only be made via the Times Fantasy Football website at www.timesonline.co.uk/fantasyfootball. Entrants will be required to register and include a user id (entrant's email address) and enter a password which will be required for future logins. Entrants are advised to keep their login details safe and these should not be disclosed to any other person.

5. PAYMENT FOR ENTRY:

Payment of £3 per entry may be made with a valid credit / debit card via our secure payment site.

6. ACCEPTANCE:

Entries correctly submitted via the website and registration page and for which the £3 entry fee has been successfully transacted will result in an email acceptance message being sent to the address supplied during registration (provided that the entrant has supplied the correct address). Entrants should be aware that the ISP or server from which they have entered the Game may have 'firewalls' prohibiting receipt of such confirmation emails. Entry into the Game is an entrant's acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Game. The Promoter will not be liable for any failure of receipt of entries.

7. SELECTING YOUR TEAM:

Entrants will be required to select a team of 11 players from the Game player pool. Entrants must first decide on a team formation and can choose from 4-4-2 (goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 strikers), 4-3-3 (goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 strikers), 4-5-1 (goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 5 midfielders and 1 striker) or 3-5-2 (goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 5 midfielders and 2 strikers). One player must be nominated as captain. Up to the start of the first Eligible Fixture on 16th August 2008, entrants may change their team formation as many times as they wish using the transfers and loans facilities as set out in clause 10. After the start of the first Eligible Fixture entrants may still change their team formation but such changes will be limited in accordance with Clause 10. To change a team formation, entrants should click the Team Formation button on the website.

Entrants will have a notional player budget of £100M with which to select 11 players from the player pool. Each player has a value in the Game and the budget of £100M may not be exceeded but entrants may have teams of lesser value. Player values will not change during the Game and are applied for the purpose of the Game only and may not reflect real life values. The Promoter will not enter into correspondence about player values or the basis on which these valuations are derived and applied. New players may be introduced during the Game and should players included in the list move to clubs outside those involved in Eligible Fixtures and therefore be no longer eligible to score points, it is the responsibility of the entrant to use transfers or loans to remove these players from their team. There is no restriction on the number of players from any one club but players cannot be duplicated in the same team. Once a valid team with a value of no more than £100M has been selected, entrants must nominate a team captain. A team must have a captain at all times to be valid. Entrants wishing to participate in the Game but not wishing to personally make a team selection may click the auto select button and this will generate a randomly selected formation, team and captain. Entrants may make changes to an auto select team using transfers, loans, formation changes and captain changes in accordance with clause 10. Once any entry has been accepted, a team will score points based on the performance of its players in their real life, Eligible Fixtures.

8. TEAM NAME:

Entrants must choose a name for each team entered up to 20 characters long. The Promoter reserves the right to reject any team name that in its sole judgment is inappropriate or offensive. In such a case, the Promoter reserves the right to rename the team in the surname of the entrant or to apply such other name as the Promoter deems appropriate.

9. MINI LEAGUES:

Entrants may also form or enter Mini Leagues in which they may additionally play in a league against friends, families and colleagues. Mini Leagues must have a minimum of five teams participating to be eligible and an entrant may not have more than one team in any Mini League. There is no maximum number of teams in a Mini League but a different entrant must have entered each team. Mini Leagues will be invalid if they include teams that are identical to each other or if each team has not been entered by a different entrant. An entrant is a single individual. Entrants to a Mini League will participate for the Mini League prizes and will also be eligible for any other Game prize. The Mini League prizes will be awarded to the Mini Leagues with the highest average points based on the scores of the five top-performing teams in a Mini League at the end of the Game. Mini Leagues can only be created after a team has been successfully registered. To create a Mini League, entrants should click the Start Mini League button after they have successfully registered their team in the Game. Entrants must provide a name for the Mini League in accordance with the same conditions set out for Team names in clause 8 and once the Mini League has been created, a unique PIN for the Mini League will be provided and this, along with the Mini League name, in exactly the format that it was entered should be passed to friends, family and colleagues to enable them to join the Mini League. Entrants can use the Send to a Friend facility on the Game site to advise friends, family and colleagues of their Mini League details. The creator and original entrant to a Mini League will be deemed to be the Mini League Chairman and will be eligible for the Chairmen's' League prize. This will be awarded to the Chairman of a valid Mini League whose individual team scores the highest number of points during the Game and tops the Chairman's League in which all league Chairmen will automatically participate. Only one entry per entrant is permitted into the Chairmen's League and this will be the entrant's team in the first valid Mini League entered by a Chairman and only Chairmen of leagues that are valid in accordance with the Mini League rules will be allowed to enter the Chairmen's League. The closing date for creation of and entry to a Mini League is 31st October 2008.

10. TRANSFERS, LOANS, FORMATION CHANGES AND CAPTAIN CHANGES:

Entrants may make as many changes to their starting XI, formation and captain as they wish up to the start of the first Eligible Fixture on 16th August 2008 and such changes will not count as transfers, loans or changes to captain.

From the start of the first Eligible Fixture until the final Eligible Fixture of the season (currently scheduled for 27th May 2009) changes will be limited as follows: entrants will have the opportunity to make up to, 20 transfers, 5 loans, 5 changes to captain and unlimited changes to formation provided always the 11 players in the team constitute a valid team in accordance with these terms and conditions.

Transfers: A transfer removes a player from a team to be replaced by another on a permanent basis or until the entrant makes further transfers. Transfers are immediate and new players will score points for a team from the next Eligible Fixture after the transfer has been successfully completed.

Loans: A loan removes a player from a team to be replaced by another on a temporary basis. The duration of a loan will be equivalent to four matches of the loan player's real life club and for the purpose of loan duration, real life club matches will include Eligible Fixtures regardless of whether the loan player plays in those matches or not. At the end of the four-match loan, the loan player will automatically be removed from the team and the player he replaced will return. In the event that other transfers made by the entrant prevent the players return because of excessive budget or team formation, the entrant's team will play with ten scoring players only until such time as the entrant makes loans and transfers to rectify the budget or formation. Similarly, if more than one loan player is due to return and this will cause the £100M budget to be exceeded or the formation is breached, all returning players will be excluded from scoring until the entrant rectifies the player budget and team formation. In the event that an Entrant has used all available transfers and loans and is unable to make changes to incorporate the returning player, the Entrant's team will play the remainder of the Game with less than 11 players.

Captains: A captain change transfers the captaincy to another player within an Entrant's team. Where a captain is transferred or loaned out of a team, the player replacing him will assume the captaincy without the loss of any captain change opportunities.

To make a transfer, loan or captain change: Entrants should click the 'transfer player' or 'arrange a loan' player link on the Game site. Entrants will be given the opportunity to change their formation at this point to accommodate transfer and loan players but if they choose not to do so then they must make transfers and loans keeping the same formation. Entrants will also have the opportunity to change their team captain. Transfers, loans and team captain changes are immediate and will score points for a team from the next Eligible Fixture following a valid change. Players involved in matches in progress will not score points until the next Eligible Fixture. Where the kick off times of Eligible Fixtures overlap e.g. 2pm kick off and 3 pm kick off, transfers, loans and captain changes relevant to the later kick off will only be valid to score points in that Eligible Fixture if they were successfully transacted before the kick off of the earlier Eligible Fixture.

11. SCORING POINTS:

Only players that appear in the player pool, are in the entrant's valid team at the start of a match and play in Eligible Fixtures will score points in the Game. The official data used to verify scoring will be the public data available on the English Premier League website, Scottish Premier League website, Champions League website and UEFA Cup website and will be administered by GFM Holdings Ltd. Assists will be assessed and awarded by the Game's judging panel. The Promoter will not enter into any correspondence regarding the allocation of player points. For each Eligible Fixture for their real life club, players will score points on the following basis:

All Players:

Player in starting line up: +3 points
Substitute appearance: +1 point
Goal scored: + 6 points
Assist: + 2 points
Yellow card: -3 points
Red card (2 yellows scores one red): -6 points
Own goal: -6 points
Missed penalty: -4 points

Defenders & Goalkeepers:

Clean sheet (played full match): +6 points
Clean sheet (played part match): +3 points
Goal conceded: -2 points
Penalty save or miss (goalkeepers only): +4 points

Captains' Points:

Captains are awarded double points. Where a captain scores negative points, these will be halved and in the event that this leads to half point calculations, these will be rounded down in the entrants favour e.g. if the captain scores -5 points, this will be halved to -2.5 and this will be rounded down to -2.

Eligible Fixtures abandoned, for any reason, will not count for the purposes of scoring in the Game and only Eligible Fixtures will score points in the Game. Where Eligible Fixtures include extra time, this will count in the Game for the purpose of scoring but penalty shoot-outs will not. Assists will be assessed and awarded by the Game's judging panel and the Promoter will not enter into any correspondence about such decisions. Scores will be updated in line with Eligible Fixtures on the Game site at www.timesonline.co.uk/fantasyfootball.

12. PREMIER PLAY:

Premier Play is a separate game. Entrants to the Game will exclusively be eligible to participate in a free-to-play predictor game every weekend. Premier Play has one prize of £500 per game. Entrants may make one Premier Play entry each weekend for each team that they have successfully entered into the main Game. Up to ten Eligible Fixtures will be selected for the Premier Play game each week. The Promoter at its sole discretion will select the Eligible Fixtures for inclusion. Selected Eligible Fixtures will be listed under the "Fixtures" section of the Game in advance. Entries for any Premier Play weekend will close at the start of the first Eligible Fixture listed in that weekend's Premier Play game. The first Premier Play weekend will be the weekend of 16th and 17th August and there will be 34 Premier Play competitions during the season with the last Premier Play competition on the weekend of 23rd and 24th May 2009. There will be no Premier Play competition on weekends where international fixtures and domestic cup competitions mean that seven or less Eligible Fixtures are played in the English Premier or Scottish Premier Leagues. Premier Play can be accessed through the Game site only and entrants will be randomly allocated four fixtures from selected eligible English Premier League and Scottish Premier League fixtures played on Saturday and Sunday only. Additionally, entrants will be randomly allocated two players from each allocated fixture, one from each team. Entrants must use skill and judgement to predict whether each allocated fixture will be a home win, draw or away win and must predict the correct score of each fixture. Entrants will also have to allocate a Premier Play Captain from the 8 players allocated from the four fixtures. All 8 players allocated will score for the Entrant. Once Entrants' predictions for a Premier Play weekend have been validly submitted, they cannot be changed. In the event that an Eligible Fixture is postponed for any reason, no points will be scored for that match.

Scoring Points:

Correct prediction of home win: +3 points
Correct prediction of draw: +5 points
Correct prediction of away win: +7 points
Correct score prediction: +10 points

Player scores: These will be awarded in accordance with player scoring in the Game (see clause 11) and the selected Premier Play Captain will score double points in accordance with the player scoring in the Game.

13. LEADER BOARDS:

Leader boards for the Main Game and Mini Leagues will be updated on the Game site on a regular basis throughout the Game including after any Eligible Fixtures have been played. Results for Premier Play weekends will be updated on the Game site on Monday following a Premier Play weekend. Entrants will also be able to view their personal point's tallies, Mini League points tallies and positions in all three leader boards on the Game site. Chairmen will be able to view their performance and position in the Chairmen's League.

14. PRIZES:

End of Game Prize: The Entrant whose team accumulates the highest number of points after completion of the final Eligible Fixture will win £50,000. The entrant accumulating the second highest number of points will win £5,000 and the entrant whose team accumulates the third highest number of points will win £2,000. If two or more teams share a place, the prize pool will be made up of that place, plus the number of prizes below that place as is represented by the number of tied teams less one (as limited by the number of prizes available). The prize pool will then be shared equally between the tied teams. For instance, if there are two teams tied for second place, the prize pool will be made up of the prize for second and third added together, then divided by two. If there are two teams tied for the third prize this will be divided by two.

Mini Leagues: No prizes are offered to the winners of individual Mini Leagues. A prize of £15,000 will be awarded to the best performing Mini League overall in our League of Mini Leagues. The prize will be awarded to the Mini League with the highest average based on the scores of the five top-performing teams in a Mini League including all Eligible Fixtures. The Mini League with the second-highest average score based on its top five teams will be awarded £4,000 and the Mini League with the third highest average score based on its top five teams will be awarded £2,000. If two or more Mini Leagues share a place, the prize pool will be made up of that place, plus the number of prizes below that place as is represented by the number of tied Mini Leagues less one (as limited by the number of prizes available). The prize pool will then be shared equally between the tied Mini Leagues. For instance, if there are two Mini Leagues tied for second place, the prize pool will be made up of the prize for second and third added together, then divided by two. If there are two Mini Leagues tied for the third prize this will be divided by two.

Chairmen's League: A prize of £5,000 will be awarded to the Chairman of a valid Mini League whose individual team has accumulated the highest number of points out of all the Chairmen, after the last Eligible Fixture has been completed. Only one entry per entrant is permitted into the Chairmen's League and this will be the entrant's team in the first valid Mini League entry made by any Chairman when setting up a Mini League and only Chairmen of leagues that are valid in accordance with the Mini League rules will be allowed to enter the Chairmen's League. If two or more Chairmen share first place, the prize pool will then be shared equally between the tied teams.

Premier Play: A weekly prize of £500 will be awarded to the entrant whose predictions in a Premier Play weekend score the highest number of points. Thirty-four £500 prizes will be awarded during the season starting on the weekend of 16th and 17th August 2008, with the final £500 prize being awarded to the entrant whose predictions accumulate the highest number of points on the weekend of 23rd and 24th May 2009. In the event that more than one team is tied for the highest number of points scored over a Premier Play weekend, a tie break will be enforced. The tied entrant whose Premier Play entries have scored the cumulative highest number of points for Premier Play games for the season to date will be awarded the prize. This will be the cumulative total of all the entrants Premier Play teams if the entrant has entered more than one on any weekend. If the prize position is still tied, the prize will be awarded to the tied entrant with the highest individual scoring team in the Main Game for the season to date. Additional Tie Break: In the event that any Premier Play game remains tied after the specified tie breaks, tied entrants will be asked to enter an additional tie break. Tied entrants will be asked to write a letter from an imaginary club Chairman sacking the team manager in no more than 100 words. This must be submitted by a specified deadline and will be judged on the basis of humour, relevance, entertainment and originality by a panel of judges selected at the Promoter's discretion. The decision of the judges shall be final and binding.

15. CONTACTING WINNERS:

Final positions in the Main Game, League of Mini Leagues and Chairmen's League will be announced on the Game site within seven days of the completion of the final Eligible Fixture of the season following which the winners will be notified in accordance with clause 16. Premier Play winners will be announced on the Game Site each Monday and winners contacted within 7 days of such announcement in accordance with clause 16. In the event of tied entries for the Premier Play prize after specified tie breaks, tied entrants will be contacted within 7 days of the final Eligible Fixture on a Sunday. In the event that any Premier Play tie break participant cannot be contacted within 7 days or fail to participate in any additional tie break within the specified time, then the opportunity to win a prize will be forfeit. In the event that an additional tie break is not necessary, winners will be contacted within 7 days of the completion of the Eligible Fixtures and will also be announced on the Game site.

16. AWARDING PRIZES:

Prize winners will be personally notified via the contact details provided at registration. The prizes will be awarded to the registered winners only. All prizes will be paid by cheque. The Chairman of prize-winning Mini Leagues will be notified and the prize awarded in the name of and to the registered Mini League Chairman only. No alternative prizes are available and in the event that a prize winner cannot be contacted within 3 months of the final Eligible Fixture the prize will be forfeited. Prize winners agree to participate in such publicity as may be required by the Promoter, which may include photographs and the inclusion of their names and geographic area of residence in any editorial publicity. The prizes set out in these terms and conditions are available at the date of publication. If events occur that render the Game itself or the awarding of these prizes impossible due to circumstance beyond the control of the Promoter, then the Promoter may make variations to these prizes at its sole discretion.

17. LIABILITY:

In respect of the operation of the Game and interpretation of these Terms and Conditions, the Promoter's decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into unless an Entrant complies with the Complaints Procedure (see clause 20). The Promoter and its subsidiary, associated and affiliated companies do not accept liability for lost, corrupted, damaged, unclear, delayed or otherwise invalid entries. Proof of sending or transmission of an entry shall not be proof of receipt or acceptance of an entry. The Promoter and its subsidiary, associated and affiliated companies do not accept liability for technical, hardware or software failures of any kind or lost or unavailable network conditions which may limit or prohibit the opportunity to participate in the Game. The Promoter reserves the right to amend and/or waive these Terms and Conditions or any part thereof at any time and entrants agree that no liability shall attach to the Promoter as a result thereof, and that the exercise of such discretion shall not result in any compensation or payment being payable or paid to any entrant. It is a condition of entry of the Game that these Terms and Conditions and the scoring rules and the latest promotional and explanatory copy which form part of these Terms and Conditions are accepted as binding and that the entrant agrees to abide by these Terms and Conditions. If there is any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and any other promotional or explanatory copy, these Terms and Conditions shall prevail. Except for death or personal injury caused by their negligent acts or omissions, the Promoter will only be liable to any entrant for any loss or damage which is a responsibly foreseeable consequence of a breach by the Promoter of these Terms and Conditions. The Promoter will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by it, its employees or agents in circumstances where (i) they are not at fault for errors or inaccuracies, or (ii) the loss or damage is not foreseeable to the entrant and the Promoter, or (iii) the loss or damage is a business loss or the losses were caused in the course of business, including losses relating to lost data, lost profits or business interruption.

18. COPYRIGHT:

Intellectual Property Rights means trade marks, service marks, trade names, design rights, domain names, copyright and moral rights, patents and any other intellectual property rights (save for rights in know-how), in each case whether registered or unregistered and including applications for the grant of any of the foregoing and all rights or forms of protection having equivalent or similar effect to any of the foregoing which may subsist anywhere in the world. All Intellectual Property Rights in the trade marks THE TIMES, THE SUNDAY TIMES, TIMES FANTASY FOOTBALL, TIMES PREMIER PLAY and associated logos are owned by Times Newspapers Limited. Copyright in the Game rules, the game mechanics and the scoring system is the sole property of the Promoter or a subsidiary, associated or affiliated company of the Promoter. Single copies of the Game rules may be copied or printed off by each entrant solely for their use in connection with the Game but otherwise no information or material relating to the Game may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior written consent of the Promoter.

19. GENERAL AND HELP:

The Promoter will make reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of the Game information in The Times newspaper and on the Website and to update such information on a regular basis, but does not guarantee that such information will be accurate or up-to-date at all times. If you have any problems in accessing details about your Team or any other details regarding your entry/entries, or any general queries please click the contact us button on the game site. Alternatively, you can call the game helpdesk on 0870 1267 552. Calls are charged at National Rate, 8p a minute from a BT landline. Calls from other networks and mobile phones may be higher.

20. COMPLAINTS:

The Game rules will be interpreted in accordance with English law and the entrants agree that all claims they may have arising from their participation in the Game which they may bring against the Promoter will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. The Promoter reserves the right to refuse to accept any entry if at its sole discretion the entrant has not complied with the Game Rules or if the entrant has in the sole view of the Promoter contravened the spirit of the Game. If any provision of the Game Rules proves to be illegal or unenforceable, this shall not prevent the remaining provisions continuing in full force and effect.

In the event an Entrant has a complaint about the Game or the service received in connection with the Game then initially the Entrant should contact 0870 1267 552 (calls charged at national rate) or contact us using the "Contact Us" facility available on the Game website and seek to resolve the matter on an informal basis. However, if the matter cannot be satisfactorily resolved then a formal complaint may be made using the following procedure:-

1. If you have a complaint then please get in touch with us by 0870 1267 552 (calls charged at national rate) or contact us by using the "Contact Us" facility available on the Game website or by writing to us at:

News Promotions Limited
Customer Liaison - Times Fantasy Football
PO Box 4001
Colchester CO2 8FW

Providing details of your complaint and contact information.

2. Email complaints will receive a return email to confirm receipt and will confirm that the Fantasy Games Department will be dealing with it.

3. Phone complaints may be dealt with at the time or you will be advised if your complaint requires further investigation and referral to an alternative person.

4. If you make a written complaint you will receive a response within 7 days of the complaint. If your complaint requires further investigation and referral to an alternative person, you will be advised of this within that time.

5. What happens next? Where a complaint requires further investigation, every effort will be made to complete the investigation within 14 days of receipt. After which we will contact you with the findings, recommendations and any proposed actions. If we cannot resolve the problem or, if you are not happy with the outcome, your complaint will be escalated to Times Online Commercial Manager. If the matter still cannot be resolved then it will be referred to the Times Online, Online Publisher.

21. PROMOTER:

News Promotions Limited 1 Virginia Street London E98 1RL.