Rev: 24/11/2008
Note: Following is a guide for shooters and organisers relevant to the NSW City Vs Country series. It should be used in conjunction with:
- National Rulebook,
- Hosting State Event guide
- Any other guide relevant to the course of the weekend.
Many sports run City Vs Country events. This discipline simply followed that tradition. It is based on shooters gathering at one common range and grouping into teams based on their SSAA membership. Then, the top shooters of each team have their scores combined and compared to the rival team. The highest scoring team wins.
This event was conceived in 2000 between Noel Cross and David Waters. Following on from Silverdale Vs Mudgee events, they spoke about idea’s to increase SSAA participation in this great discipline and attract shooters from all over NSW to represent their region while giving members more exposure to state type championships. There were many reasons why this should go ahead, but at the end of the day, it was all about fun and meeting new or old acquaintances.
The City Vs Country event is completely different in both concept and competition. This is as much an event for individuals as it is a team event. Teams however are the main theme of this competition.
Unlike some team events, the CvC teams are not pre-made, but simply based on your membership region. Simply showing up puts you in a team, but you don’t have to worry about letting the team down. The aggregate scores used to decide the winners only come from the top shooters of each team. This caters for everybody such as those that participate for fun, or for serious competition.
Any level of shooter in NSW can come and compete for their region without the worry of letting their side down. Any new shooter gets the privilege to shoot for a state team at the same time as competing in a state championship event without it feeling like anything more than a club shoot.
The idea was conceived by the late Noel Cross, from Mudgee, and David Waters, from Sydney, during the year 2000. It stemmed from what started many years prior when Silverdale would visit Mudgee for club rivalry and fun competition. As with many things, times change, conditions change, people move on, etc, and these visits had gotten lost. It was decided that efforts be put forth to regenerate the past.
After the first visit under this team, word had gotten out to shooters from other clubs who expressed interest in attending future events. How could we bring other clubs into this Silverdale & Mudgee battle? Wanting to increase this competition to accommodate these new participants, first thought was to make this a club’s challenge type event. The best scoring city club Vs the best scoring country club. Not being able to guarantee club numbers, finally the decision was made to open the City Vs Country to the WHOLE STATE, and each shooter from various clubs combined to shoot together. The current CvC format was born.
Now a few events have pasted, it is clear this is becoming a competition to rival the NSW State Championships. People are coming to have fun, shoot, represent their region with pride, and most importantly, get out and meet new people with common interests. The CvC has certainly turned the page to a new chapter.
Initially, the CvC format was to run the “main core” events plus novel local matches that everybody wasn’t used to but would thoroughly enjoy. Formatting the weekend took a lot of thought. What was going to set this weekend apart from the rest? Running both Standard and Modified Iron sight matches was considered a must to maximise attendance and provide a shoot that would make people want to come for more reasons that “it’s just on”. A scheduled 2-day event took care of that.
Silverdale shooters wanted to shoot the silhouette match that they knew and were used to shoot when visiting Mudgee. After deliberation between the groups, the infamous CvC service rifle silhouette match became a reality. This match was considered to be the major draw card for the weekend event.
There are infinite reasons why any and every shooter should participate in this event beyond what has already been mentioned. Some of the other reasons:
- grade card maintenance,
- accumulate Hall of Fame points,
- shooter of the year points,
- accumulate points for the State Teams selection,
- proficiency awards,
- participation and competitor awards,
- practice and experience,
- social reasons and exercise.
For many competitors, the time spent socialising is equally important as the time actually shooting. Every effort should be made to have a successful event on all levels of competitor preferences.
The CvC gives clubs the ability to hold a championship event on a state level. Apart from raising revenue for the hosts, hopefully this also spreads the experience of hosting/running state events and hopefully attracts shooters from new regions and/or new ranges, which will increase exposure of this great discipline.
Shooters are asked to be good sportsman and enjoy the event. They may be required to assist in scoring, patching and range set up and therefore, all participants should be organised and ready to go at all times.
Hosts are asked to give participants a thorough briefing of the schedule and advise what will be asked and required of the competitors during the event.
Ranges should be equipped and updated with all the necessary tools, equipment and rules to handle all the advertised events. All rules and procedures for the event should be in accordance with the national rulebook and NSW by-laws.
Range should be a minimum of 300m in distance and capable of firing at all ranges up to 300m in various shooting styles and positions (off hand, sitting/kneeling, prone etc).
Being that the CvC has a silhouette component plus many other target applications, it is required that the range have a Silhouette facility that can handle around 5 sets of targets at any one time.
The range and targets should be set up on Friday for practice and zeroing during the afternoon.
The CvC is based on iron sight rifles of both “standard/as-issued” and “modified” classes as defined by the national discipline rulebook.
The CvC championships team event is strictly based on standard/as-issued firearms (refer to rules for team criteria).
The CvC individual’s competition has 2 components catering for both standard and modified firearms. Shooters may participate in 1 or both classes. It also recognises 2 gun aggregate winners run over the course of the weekend. All of these are individual competitions, not events.
The following list represents classes of firearms that are used during the CvC carnival over the course of the event,
- Rifle Class A, B, C - Standard/As Issued - Iron Sights
- Rifle Class H - Modified - Iron Sights
It is up to the discretion of the hosts if they wish to run local, non-championship, supplementary events, which may also include firearms of other classes. If this is the case, then clear indication should be advertised so diligent shooters are aware of what to expect and prepare.
Inaugural running of the City Vs Country challenge (teams event) was a single day competition based on standard/as-issued rifles. The 2nd day was supplementary to the CvC championships for individuals wishing to make a weekend out of the trip away. Modified rifle events were run on this day as it was seen as a “practice/fun day”.
In current times, the CvC weekend has grown and evolved to incorporate competitions for both “Teams” and “Individuals” as follows:
To keep in line with tradition, the team’s event remains a single day competition based on the aggregate of Standard/As-Issue firearms. Competitors are grouped into “City” or “Country” teams based on their SSAA membership (see rules).
Matches that make up the CvC event are taken from the National rulebook and any local events that are considered reasonable to the equipment used. Matches may change from year to year, but definitely the 3P-Core event must remain part of the schedule, as grade card maintenance is considered very important.
This competition is for all individuals who participate at the CvC event. It is in addition to the main championship, being a teams event, and is all considered to be part of the CvC carnival.
Winners, however classified, are awarded in a minimum of 3 areas as follows:
- Aggregate of standard/as-issued firearms,
- Aggregate of modified firearms,
- 2-Gun aggregate of both the above.
The CvC has included matches for both Standard/As-Issue rifle, and Modified rifle.
The following matches are recommendations only based on what is considered standard for NSW competitions. It is up to the host club what matches will be run, likewise up to the competitors if they are willing to support the schedule. Host clubs should consider and advise the SDC before setting the final event schedule.
The CvC championship (Std rifle team event) should, wherever possible, offer:
- Warm up at 300m or other,
- 300m deliberate
- 3 Position Core Event (at least for grading)
- Rapid Fire B (very entertaining event)
- Silhouette (the main event match)
(Note: Since 2003, the CvC silhouette match has been named the “Noel Cross Memorial’ match which the CvC will retain while this match is hosted by Mudgee)
Other matches may be added at the discretion of the hosts provided they are reasonably within the limits of the firearms and do not detract from the discipline.
Modified matches were originally added as Sunday events to increase the attractiveness and offer more reasons for travellers to attend the CvC event. These matches have now become part of the CvC carnival for individual competition and now a 2-Gun trophy award exists for the standard & modified aggregate winner.
Typically, modified rifle events have just duplicated that of the standard rifle events without the local silhouette match. Events of the past for modified rifle have run on the Sunday and included matches such as:
- morning warm up,
- 300 Deliberate,
- 3P Core
- Rapid Fire B
- Action M
Like for standard rifle, other matches may be added at the discretion of the hosts provided they are reasonably within the limits of the firearms and do not detract from the discipline.
This has always been a weekend event.
This competition is always run over 1 day and has normally been the Saturday. It is for Standard/As-Issued firearms only.
This is an offspring of the CvC competition and is shot in 2 parts with Std//A-I rifle Saturday and Mod rifle Sunday.
All rules for this competition are in accordance with the national discipline rulebook and NSW amendments and by-laws. Rules here after are additional to this event only.
After some interim idea’s that formed the basis of the event, concerns arose over how to form the teams. What criteria would be used? People have multiple places of residence and work; therefore the region a shooter represents is based on NSW SSAA branch membership.
A border could not be put around “the city” as it would be hard to know how far north, south or up the mountains the city line goes. After correspondence with other enthusiasts of the early era, there was the impression that numbers would stack heavily against City and that the City boundary should go from Newcastle to Wollongong, out to Blue Mountains covering everywhere in between. Coincidently, this basically represents the Sydney Branch (No.1).
In conclusion, any member of SSAA Sydney Branch (N1) is automatically a City Shooter representative without exception. All other/remaining NSW branch members only represent the balance of NSW. Special exception to this rule is that in addition to Branch N1 members, Newcastle (N2) and Illawarra (N13) branch members MAY be required to shoot for City to balance numbers if seen as “reasonably” appropriate by the SDC, SDCA and event disputes committee.
SILHOUETTE MATCH (Local match)
This match is shot along the lines of a typical silhouette match with the following exceptions:
Rounds 30 total
Time 20 minutes total
Score 100 points (possible)
Course: 100m – Chickens - 5 rounds prone - 5 points per knock down
200m – Pigs - 5 rounds prone - 5 points per knock down
300m – Turkeys - 5 rounds prone - 5 points per knock down
400m – Rams - 5 rounds prone - 5 points per knock down
Remaining 10 rounds left to be used for any silhouettes missed / left standing
- 4 points per knock down for any targets using next 5 rounds,
then - 3 points per knock down for any targets using final 5 rounds,
When this event first started back in 2001, the only other state based event that ran in NSW was the State Championships. Shooters wanted more shooting within NSW that they could travel to. Hence, the CvC delivered that and began life as a half-annual event (shot twice in 1 year).
Come 2002, other clubs joined in running “big” competitions and the CvC was reduced to an annual event. This change resulted in shooters being even more motivated to attend the event.
Like any state shoot, there are many achievements for all shooters to aim for when participating in state matches and events. Although self-satisfaction and simply enjoying shooting is the main reason to participate, for many it’s all about travelling to other clubs / ranges and meeting new people. Let’s not forget the practical reasons also like earning Hall of Fame points, maintaining your grade card, or shooting for proficiency awards.
- State perpetual shield for aggregate winners by class and grades, that recognises both teams and individuals.
- aggregate winners by grade for both Std and Mod,
- 2-Gun aggregate open winners 1st - 6th
- winners by grade for Noel Cross Memorial match (if at Mudgee)
The host club by way of entry fees must cover trophy costs. They should be engraved to correctly recognise the event and what they were awarded for. Consultation with the SDC prior to finalising the trophy list should be made.
Note: Unlike other the NSW State Championships, the modified rifle matches ARE shot in grades as per the shooters grade for Std Rifle.
Annual Competitor patches for the event will be made available along the lines of the current design used for past shoots. An optional header patch may be purchased by the competitor at an additional fee.
Results for past events may be found at in the RESULTS section of this web site.
CVC Patches & Medals
