Clubs don't fork out anything.Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote: I really like the idea of everyone who plays competitive chess in England being a member of the ECF, but not if it means clubs have to fork out vastly more money.
What clubs do is collect money from players, and pass it to the ECF (via their league or county). This is what happens now, and it is what will happen in the future whether the charging scheme is per player or per game.
Unfortunately, the timing of this membership change coincides with the withdrawal of the government grant - which represents 1/3 of the ECF's current total income. With VAT to add on top of game fee or membership, the ECF will need to collect 40% more from players than they do now to maintain the current activities.
I suspect that many people are falling into the trap of comparing this years ECF game fee costs with the proposed membership costs. Because of the withdrawal of the government grant, this is not a like for like comparison.