UNDERSTANDING THE GREEN STAR SYSTEM
- by Marleen Collins -

My brief for this article it to explain to the unintiated how a dog can achieve
the title and honour of becioming Irish Annual Champion for its breed
and how this differs from the title of full Irish Champion.
(As an example, I will use one of my own breeds, the Pembroke).

Hopfully, this explanation will be easier to understand than a declaration from the Europena Parliament.
In Ireland a dog can only be awarded the title of Irish Cahmpion if it wins a total of not less
than forty Green Stars points provided one of the following conditions are included in the required total;

a) Four different wins of five points or more in the breed under four different judges.

b). Two wins of five points or more toghther with one win of ten points in teh breed under three different judges.

c). Three wins of five points or more in teh breed together with one group win under four different judges.

 

Two of the Green Stars must be won after the age of twelve months.
It is worth nothing here that Bearded Collies along with the other Collies, Corgies, Pyreneans etc.
are classified as belonging to the seventh group, the Pastoral Group (the working Group was split in two
some years ago as it was becomming too large).

AND WHAT IS A GREEN STAR I HEAR YOU ASK?

A green Star (GS) is a certificate won at an Irish Championship Show;
each Green Star carries a number of points, commensurate with the Green Star Index,
ranging from one to ten, which are determined by the number of eligable registered
dogs and/or bitches actually exhibited in the breed classes. In lay man's terms that means
that a Green Star is worth between one and ten points depending on
how many dogs were actually exhibited on the day.

This year the Irish Kennal Club have decided that if six Corgi dogs are exhibited,
then the Green Star for Corgi dogs will be worth five points (this is known as a "major"
and a dog needs at least four majors to become a champion - see above).

On the other hand, because there tends to always be more bitches exhibited at shows here,
then at the same show there has to be six bitches exhibited for the bitch Green Star
to be worth five points. (If only two bitches are exhibited then the GS value drops by one).
If eight bitches are exhibited on the day then the value of the bitch Green Star increases to six points;
if seven dogs are exhibited then the value of the Green Star increases to six points.

The value of the Green Stars keeps increasing in relation to the number of bitches and dogs
exhibited until a maximum of ten Green Star points is reached - thus twelve bitched and
above present on the day always give a Green Star value of ten points. Even the St Patrick's Day Show
which may draw an entry of twenty odd bitched is still only worth a maximum ten Green Star points.

I know that a lot of English exhibitors will be reading this article and daying to themselves -
"Gosh it must be dead easy to make an Irish Champion.... only five dogs present to make a major
GS and we show in classes ot thrity dogs over here. I must nip over to Ireland a few times".
But due to the geographical position of some of the Champion Shows in Ireland it is not
often hard to obtain the necessary "majors" that you require - as many English exhibitors
will testify it takes a lot more than the minimum four shows to make up an Irish champion.

The Irish System system also allows for a little sting in it's tail - if Corgi exhibitors suspect
that an exhibitor is a 'cert' to take the GS then they don't enter under that judge and thus
they deprive the dog or bitch of the precious points to make a major; in this way exhibitors
can put an end to corrupt judging as the Show committees, in theory,
should stop offering judging appointments to judges who get low entries.
Are you still with me! Good

Now we come to calculate the value of the Best Of Breed win.
The BOB always takes the higher number of Green Star points on offer in the breed
on that particular day. For example, lets pretend that on a particular day the dog GS
was worth only two points with the bitch GS worth eight points; if the dog goes BOB
his value increases from two to eight points (the bitch still keeps her eight despite being beaten for BOB).
If, on the other hand, the bitch goes BOB then the GS points remain as they were with the
bitch keeping her eight points and the dog remaining on just two.

This system allows for the occasions when, for example, a dog is having a 'run' of good wins
and the other exhibitors decide that they are not going to enter their dog just to
"get ot beaten" (sic) and so the GS points are low on the day;
by winning BOB the dog can pick up more points on the day.

Likewise, if a Corgi wins the Pastoral Group then it takes the highest number
of points awarded to any dag competing in teh same group for example, the BOB Corgi
can enter the group with only six GS points but when it wins the group its points value
increases to ten as it beat a Sheltie with a GS win of ten points.

As pointed out above, a dog may only use one Group win towards the title
of Irish Champion but all group wins during a year can be used in the race for the title,
Annual Champion. The title of Annual Champion is awarded annually in each breed
to the dog or bitch which has won the greatest number of Green Star points in its breed
with a minimum of thirty, to be won under not less than three different judges.

This paradoxically menas that it is possible for a dog or bitch to be Annual Champion
in the breed yet not have achieved the title of Irish Champion; this sometimes occurs in
numerically small breeds where dogs where can win many Green Stars
during a year, all worth less than five points.

To overcome this problem, a dog winning two consective Annual Championships is
awarded the title of Irish Champion. Each dog or bitch winning an Annual Championship
is entitled to put "20--" after its refistered name.

Therefore when you are studying a catalogue at an Irish Championship show and
you notice that a dog has (AN 01) after its name then you know that it was the
top winning dog in its breed under Irish Kennel Club rules in 2001.

I hope this article has helped the reader to understand the Irish Championship system;
I sincerley hope I have not put anyone off comming to Ireland to show their dogs.

I can assure you that anyone coming to Ireland will be receive a warm reception and,
as anyone who has exhibited over here will tell you,
our shows are relaxed, enjoyable and most importantly, FUN.