“Listen... some last minute rules change in a HIVE stepping competition...”

For many seasons, there have been two unwritten rules that I have followed to eliminate inactive players.
The first is the "five absences at the beginning of the season" rule. If a player is inactive in the first five rounds of the season, he or she is disqualified and replaced by another player from the waiting list.
The second rule is "more than 50% activity". This is the case this time. If a player is inactive for more than 50% of the season throughout the season, he is disqualified from the next season, but he actively participates in the current season until the very end, even though he previously achieved an activity level of <50%.
I see that I will have to include these two rules in the official regulations from next season, so that no one in the future will accuse me of bias and changing the rules at the last moment.

Way to go! You have completed another season of POLIAC