At the English Pool Association AGM on 16 March 2019, members voted to relax restrictions so players could compete under both World Rules and Blackball Rules up to and including County level.
The decision took immediate effect. Players who had been suspended or banned from EPA competition specifically because they had played Blackball were to have those sanctions lifted.
What did not change at that stage
The March decision did not change the separate policy applying to players competing on the IPA Tour. That distinction is important when reading the 2019 governance timeline.
September 2019 widened the change
Later that year, an EPA EGM on 7 September approved a broader removal of restrictions based on players using alternative rulesets, competing in events run by other organisations or taking part in other associations.
Read the September 2019 player-restrictions decision and the earlier historical EPA policy on IPA Tour players. The wider evolution of playing standards is documented in the Pool Rules archive.
Historical governance record: originally published 17 March 2019.