Publicity Officer

[Paul Cooksey]

The BBC informed Lara (twice just to rub salt in the wounds) that they wouldn't cover the event since they were concentrating on sports this summer. They stated that officially chess was not recognised as a sport.

And they are correct.

Which makes this all the more impressive. Its not like Adidas even have anything to sell us. Did we establish how it came about?

[Paolo Casaschi]

The BBC informed Lara (twice just to rub salt in the wounds) that they wouldn't cover the event since they were concentrating on sports this summer. They stated that officially chess was not recognised as a sport.

Getting recognized officially as a sport would bring so many benefits to count. I'm amazed the ECF just gave up on the attempt.
You might complain as much as you want about FIDE, but at least they still aim to get recognition as a sport by the Olympic committee; while this implied a number of very odd decisions (like anti-doping tests at chess tournaments) this certainly helped many national federation to get sport recognition and all the benefits that come along with it.
It's probably not a goal that can be achieved in the short term, but if you don't even try...

If anyone supposed to represent direct members at the next ECF elections read this, that is the one thing I would ask from board candidates as ECF direct member.

[JustinHorton]

To be fair the ECF did try. They gave the as-a-sport campaign a very good go over several years and by the end it seemed to be dead in the water.

I am genuinely interested to know, though, who BBC Sport (assuming it was they) recommend we go to for coverage, if not them.

[John Upham]

The Marketing Director was contacted for help in promoting the British.
Eventually he gave some ideas.

An idea could be to run a daily Chess Boxing competition at the venue or one nearby.

Why not suggest that to Tim and maybe he will provide further support for the Championships?

[Roger de Coverly]

Getting recognized officially as a sport would bring so many benefits to count. I'm amazed the ECF just gave up on the attempt.

The legal definition of a sport goes back to the government of Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain who defined it as involving physical exercise. Changing this appears to require an Act of Parliament. Despite that, there are numerous private examples where chess is classified as a sport, even in the UK. Competitive recreation would be a better description.

I'm less clear that being a sport is the advantage you might think. Not only do you have the arbitrary WADA regulations, but I'd suspect all sorts of other worthless requirements, compulsory insurance for participants perhaps.

[Andrew Farthing]

Getting recognized officially as a sport would bring so many benefits to count. I'm amazed the ECF just gave up on the attempt.

The ECF did not just "give up". There are specific rules prohibiting an applicant for recognition as a sport from re-applying for a number of years. Any attempt in the last few years would have been instantly rejected as invalid for this reason.

[JustinHorton]

I'm less clear that being a sport is the advantage you might think. Not only do you have the arbitrary WADA regulations, but I'd suspect all sorts of other worthless requirements, compulsory insurance for participants perhaps.

It has various advantages in Spain: one is that it means it gets covered in the sports pages of most newspapers, and another is that it receives a portion of sports funding. Personally I don't think either of those would necessarily follow in the UK, which has a rather different cultural climate and a rather different way of organising sport. I do think it would be a good idea, though, since chess really does fall through the cracks in the UK.

[Roger de Coverly]

one is that it means it gets covered in the sports pages of most newspapers,

The on-line Guardian sports page has chess between Boxing and Cycling under Other Sports.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport

So there's informal recognition and has been for years.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Getting recognized officially as a sport would bring so many benefits to count. I'm amazed the ECF just gave up on the attempt.

The ECF did not just "give up". There are specific rules prohibiting an applicant for recognition as a sport from re-applying for a number of years. Any attempt in the last few years would have been instantly rejected as invalid for this reason.

When is the earliest that the ECF could theoretically reapply?

[Andrew Zigmond]

Going back to the original issue and forgive me if I'm being thick here but shouldn't the first priority of the promotions and publicity department (whatever you choose to call it) be to ensure that the ECF's flagship event gets the maximum publicity possible. Ben has had the courage to admit failings but to a degree it isn't too late; now that the championship is in full swing surely we can look for newsworthy results in a daily basis and make sure local media are aware (for example I'm trying to make sure that the Yorkshire press know that a lad at York University drew with one of the country's top players - that is a story).

[benedgell]

I've sent an email to the various local BBC outlets about the British Championships. I know Lara has tried previously without success, but I figure the more people send information about the event, the greater the chance of it being mentioned.

I'm aware of Jonathan Hawkins, Charlie Storey etc amongst local interest in the Championships, but are there any local players in other events such as the junior championships?

[Andrew Zigmond]

Every player will be local to somewhere. I'm not sure whether we're talking specifically about publicity for the championships, the ECF or chess in general (the three ultimately all feed into each other). We need to be realistic; we're not going to get massive coverage in the mainstream media so we need to look at ways to raise the profile of chess any way we can - and it's going to be a pretty thankless, unrewarding task for whoever is trying to do it.

[JustinHorton]

one is that it means it gets covered in the sports pages of most newspapers,

The on-line Guardian sports page has chess between Boxing and Cycling under Other Sports.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport

So there's informal recognition and has been for years.

In the case of the Guardian it probably helps that the online Sports Editor, Sean Ingle, likes chess. As did the Sports Editor until a couple of years ago of the newspaper, Ben Clissitt (now at the Telegraph).

[David Robertson]

In the case of the Guardian it probably helps that the online Sports Editor, Sean Ingle, likes chess. As did the Sports Editor until a couple of years ago of the newspaper, Ben Clissitt (now at the Telegraph).

It may help. But it probably isn't the reason Chess continues to feature. That will come down to their readership data. Apparently more people read the chess columns in the Daily Telegraph and in the Observer than read the Op-Ed in either paper. My source? In both cases, the columnists themselves in conversation on the matter over breakfast one Sunday morning at a recent 4NCL weekend.

[Michele Clack]

Our local papers will publish articles about our chess club members exploits in the sports pages. We had good publicity last year when Tom Robinson got placed in one of the graded competitons. Mind you the photo that Brendan O'Gorman took of him was so good I wasn't surprised when it got really prominent coverage. It now adorns our Facebook page. Sorry to hear that Brendan isn't there this year. Is anyone else taking pictures that they don't mind clubs using anyone know?