This would explain why the BDCL Management Committee meetings still have "ECF Board" in their agenda when referring to the report of their ECF delegate. I assumed that the person compiling the agenda had just confused Board and Council, but now I see that there was actually a reason for it!John Philpott wrote: The BCF Management Board was a much larger body than the ECF Board, and normally had 19 or 20 members. There were no elected NEDs as such, but seats were reserved for representatives of the seven Constituent Units (the five Unions plus Manchester and the London League) plus the two largest payers of Game Fee (the Birmingham and Bristol Leagues if I remember correctly). As these nine members of the Board were not elected by Council, I have excluded them from the following figures.
There were more Executive Directors than there are currently. Posts elected between 2000 and 2004 included the Director of Congress Chess, the Director of Women's Chess, the Director of Coaching and the Director of Grading (or Game Fee and Grading or Strategic Planning and Grading - the title varied). The 2001 AGM agenda included an election for the post of Director of Internet Chess, but no candidate was forthcoming. Previously there had been a Director of Management Services.
In the BCF then, it seems to me that the seven constituent units had far more power than they do now. Under the ECF composition, their votes are often fewer than some leagues and congresses. This would explain why the unions have the perception of only running their zone of the County Championship.
The Directors of Coaching, Grading, Women's Chess and Congress Chess are now Managers, but appointed by the Board instead, to report to a particular Director. So the roles still exist, and the jobs are still getting done. They just aren't on the Board!