ECF Finance Meeting

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
User avatar
Jon Tait
Posts: 149
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:31 am

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Jon Tait » Sat May 16, 2020 6:49 pm

Matthew Turner wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 9:30 am
I think rugby league is fairly popular in the constituencies that the Conservatives won for the first time at the last general election. If Jon Tait and the rest of Mansfield Chess Club put forward a submission for a grant to aid Community Chess, They might have a chance :D
Image
blog inspired by Bronstein's book, but using my own games: http://200opengames.blogspot.co.uk/

Simon Rogers
Posts: 2337
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:30 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Simon Rogers » Sat May 16, 2020 7:25 pm

Mansfield is not far north enough or close enough to the M62 to qualify as rugby league.
Although I know there are teams in Cumbria. I think Workington won the Challenge Cup one year.
From what I understand about the Toronto Wolfpack, they have a multi millionaire owner who has pumped big money to set up the club and race through the divisions to Super League and is now setting up two more franchises in New York and Montreal.
There is also a rugby league team now set up in Serbia called Partizan Belgrade linked to the football club and entered last years' Challenge Cup.
Getting back to the chess. All chess clubs surely provide something for the community, especially the junior clubs.
Many clubs have closed down due to falling numbers and increasing financial pressures.
I'm sure the government can afford £60,000 a year.

Simon Rogers
Posts: 2337
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:30 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Simon Rogers » Sat May 16, 2020 7:35 pm

Only joking about Mansfield, although they always seem to lose to the mighty Cod Army of Fleetwood Town FC.

Paul Cooksey
Posts: 1519
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 4:15 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sat May 16, 2020 7:37 pm

Simon Rogers wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 7:25 pm
I'm sure the government can afford £60,000 a year.
I'm expecting to be paying a lot more tax next year. Still, maybe.

What would you spend the money on Simon?

60k is an interesting number, since c.10k on grading and c.50k on international teams the ECFs two main things that are not supposed to be break even, if you ignore internal admin.

Nick Grey
Posts: 1838
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:16 am

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Nick Grey » Sat May 16, 2020 7:55 pm

Government supports ECF now - furlough.

Simon Rogers
Posts: 2337
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:30 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Simon Rogers » Sat May 16, 2020 8:29 pm

Yes, I agree. I am expecting tax to go up massively next year. Particularly fuel duty, which has been frozen for many years. Probably alcohol, and tobacco aswell. Possibly an increase in car and sugar tax.
We had a woman in her thirties, joined our club last year from the Ukraine. She was a Candidate Master when she was a junior. She was shocked that there was no government funding for chess unlike the Ukraine and the rest of Europe.
What would I spend the money on?
Without thinking much, grassroots chess is struggling.
So I would fund both adult and junior chess clubs.
Over here we have no Blackpool chess club in the Blackpool and Fylde League. That closed down along with many other clubs.
A number of junior clubs across the north have folded.
The increase in Public Liability Insurance hasn't helped.
We also need money to advertise to encourage more people to join chess clubs.
I also heard the ECF after losing the funding, reduced staff. Which hasn't helped. Perhaps the money could pay for more staff.

John Reyes
Posts: 674
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:51 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by John Reyes » Mon May 18, 2020 10:05 pm

One of the things the ECF would need to look at is the Membership fees and how it would work if we do stay in lockdown?

I know football club have offer to give a rebate, but maybe the ECF should look at either extended the 2019-20 cut off time to maybe till 31st dec 2020
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

Simon Rogers
Posts: 2337
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:30 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Simon Rogers » Tue May 19, 2020 1:16 pm

The alternative view is that those of us that can afford it, still pay the same amount in membership fees to keep the ECF going rather than requesting a rebate.
However I do understand, a lot of people will lose their jobs due to the Coronavirus crisis and a rebate will help them a lot.

J T Melsom
Posts: 1294
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:12 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by J T Melsom » Tue May 19, 2020 1:43 pm

The problem is the bills haven't gone away for the ECF or the venues that host the clubs. And its a fair question to ask how much chess members have actually lost. I suspect that many Bronze members will have played most of their chess by the time clubs closed. Many Gold members will have missed out on 4NCL weekends which may be the primary reason for purchasing that class of membership, but its still modest compared with the rest of the costs of that weekend - a rebate would scarcely cover a drink in some of the hotel bars. As a club I don't think we will offer rebates but we will take the economic situation into account when setting fees for next season, but our fees will have to take into account our need to meet charges from the county and the venue.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5821
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue May 19, 2020 2:40 pm

"I suspect that many Bronze members will have played most of their chess by the time clubs closed. Many Gold members will have missed out on 4NCL weekends"

It's less of an issue for gold members as membership is compulsory if you have a FIDE rating or you are a FIDE arbiter, and there could be issues if you lapse, assuming we ever play OTB again.

J T Melsom
Posts: 1294
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:12 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by J T Melsom » Tue May 19, 2020 2:53 pm

As a Gold Member myself I suppose I should have remembered the link to rating, but to be honest if I'm not playing then the rating is irrelevant just frozen at the date I stopped. I was looking at it purely from the personal perspective of the short-fall in expected games played.

Mick Norris
Posts: 10329
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Mick Norris » Tue May 19, 2020 3:20 pm

I don't think Gold membership would be the main problem; Silver membership is only relevant if you have congresses to play in, so may be the one to suffer the most; I guess lots of Bronze members only join to play League chess (and some for county chess), so may not renew until that is possible

Of course, if the ECF were relying on game fee income rather than membership, the situation would be worse
Any postings on here represent my personal views

John Reyes
Posts: 674
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:51 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by John Reyes » Tue May 19, 2020 3:52 pm

As the Silver Rep member this might be a talking point etc, but so far the ECF has not mention yet what is the plan and also if there is going to be a virtual meeting.
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

Reg Clucas
Posts: 602
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 3:45 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Reg Clucas » Tue May 19, 2020 8:39 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Tue May 19, 2020 2:40 pm
It's less of an issue for gold members as membership is compulsory if you have a FIDE rating or you are a FIDE arbiter, and there could be issues if you lapse, assuming we ever play OTB again.
There are no issues if you lapse, you simply join again (or upgrade) the next time you want to play in a FIDE rated event.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5821
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: ECF Finance Meeting

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue May 19, 2020 9:34 pm

"There are no issues if you lapse"

I think there might be from an arbiter point of view... You're probably right from a playing point of view.