Roger de Coverly wrote
Which is my point really. The framework administrator will get an incomplete list of players "connected" with clubs in the county, as will the club treasurers and secretaries. I can see the point that someone joining the ECF as Gold member might wish to do so as a "one stop shop" when entering an e2e4 Congress. The point of them continuing to renew through e2e4 is less obvious, particularly if they don't have an intention of entering any more e2e4 Congresses.
If you look at it from a club secretary or treasurer viewpoint, it's relatively easy to monitor the daily ECF list as to whether your players have renewed or not and to nag them to do so, or otherwise decline to select them for teams. If their membership status is potentially scattered over one of several FOs, you really don't have a clue as to their status. The same applies to a League Controller, if they were being expected to monitor compliance with a closed shop, or not more than x games rule.
Every organisation does, of course, have its own individual peculiarities, but based upon what is happening within Essex, I do not see there as being huge problems.
Prior to 2012/13 there have been two conditions for a player to participate in the Essex League.
(a) The player must be registered with the League Secretary. Clubs submit registration lists prior to the start of the season, and can add names as the season progresses.
(b) The player must be an individual member of the Essex Chess Association. The Treasurer sends an invoice to each club based on the registration lists. The clubs have the opportunity to edit this list by removing players not on the barred list who are now not expected to play, and then make payment for the adjusted invoice total. At the end of the season a supplementary invoice will be issued for any additional players who have turned out for the club.
For 2012/13 conditions (a) and (b) are in effect unchanged. There is an extra condition:
(c) The player must be a member of the English Chess Federation unless they play in three or fewer matches.
This will be dealt with in a precisely analogous way to (b). Registered players not currently shown on the membership list downloadable from the ECF website as ECF members will be invoiced for but the clubs will have the opportunity to remove names if, for example, a player is expected to fall within the 3 game concession and does not wish to become an ECF member. There will also be the opportunity to upgrade membership category (the default assumption will be bronze, but all levels of membership will be available). Compliance with the 3 game rule will be monitored, and supplementary invoices issued as required.
My view is that this is not exactly rocket science: others might think it is cumbersome. Time alone will show who is right.