Is this the way to proceed?-NCCU ?

[Charles W. Wood]

Most readers will be aware of my thoughts on recent events therefore theres no point going over them.

In the debate about the North splitting from the ECF and the NCCU proposals I never imagined the following would happen.

I wrote to the NCCU Secretary pointing out that in my opinion the proposal on the table to be discussed and voted on at the NCCU AGM in June is unconstiutional as presented. Rightly or wrongly thats the view and others hold.

Thereafter followed a number of exchanges between myself and the secretary the content of which related for the most part to Clevelands position and proceedures to be followed. I tried to be proffessional by keeping to the points but sadly that tone was not reciprocated.

The NCCU Secretary does not agree with me as his right but failed to answer fundemental questions such as ; which counties had been consulted before the proposal had been submitted because Cleveland certainly had not. Apparently the NCCU wants to disaffiliate from the ECF and wants other counties to do the same, well as far as I know the CCA and the other counties in the north are the NCCU? I made it clear that the CCA would not be pushed/bounced into making decisions in response to a knee jerk reaction. We would be happy to look at a properly produced plan and consult our members.

Not to labour all the points the bottom line is that the NCCU secertary took it upon himself to circulate those e mail exchanges to all the Northern Counties representatives and officials without asking me. This is totally unacceptable behaviour when the e mails relate almost entirely to Clevelands position.
Is that the sort of behaviour we can expect of an organisation that wants us to completely split away from the ECF. In all my dealings with ECF officials this has never happend before and one can draw conclusions why it was done. I guess in future any communication be it letter,e mail or telephone wil have to be declared private and confidential.

The NCCU secretary says I am wanting to put obstacles in the way of change he presumably thinks I am happy with the ECF as it is- readers can make their own mind up what my position is, I think its very transparent.

Sadly I find this occurence unpleasant and unacceptable. I could be minded to think better the devil you know than the one you dont!

*I fall off my chair* That means.... Oh...... Erm...... I'm gob smacked. Lost for words, I'm sure you are as well Ernie.

It can't happen, the vote is bad to start with, but adding an email convo circulated is very bad form. I'm bringing up the issue tonight at the Bradford & DCA AGM tonight. I hope the proposal is pulled before it goes any further. But I apologise where needed and I believe Ernie should get an apology too from the person sending round personnal correspondance.

[Charles W. Wood]

I have sent a formal complaint to the President of the NCCU requesting I get an apology from the NCCU due to its sec acting in the manner he has on behalf of the organisation. Currently it does appear that the NCCU is effectively one person, the Secretary so I doubt any apology will be forthcoming.

Good luck, I hope you get the conclusion you need. The idea that the NCCU could seperate from the ECF just as (I feel) the ECF is on the verge of real change. Well its a strange situation. And would instantly destroy, Chess for Schools and the drive for chess as a sport (Which I hear on the grape vine is doing better than normal). If the unthinkable happened everything piece of work I have on my desk is instantly written off.

When does it go to vote?

[William Metcalfe]

As 1 off clevelands reps i have to agree with ernie here we can not make a rashed decision i put out a email yesterday saying we need a 12 month discussion to see what the players want.The NCCU can and should only do what its members want decisions this large can not be taken by a few reps .

[Charles W. Wood]

You ask a very good question Charles. The NCCU AGM is 14th June. On one hand the NCCU Secretary, who is actually the promoter of the proposal says it s the start of a process through discussion then says if all agree a vote can be taken at that meeting. Thats very clear to me. Indecent haste for something so radical.

If the promoter wants to stimulate debate & discussion thats good but to submit it as a proposal to be discussed at an AGM and possibly to be voted on by the County reps is very different and that is what I cannot accept. The CCA reps will not have a mandate to vote on the proposal. In due time the CCA members, not me, not any reps the members will be given the opportunity to discuss properly thought out transparent plans before agreeing to be part of a process leading to the possible demise of the National organisation.

I can see whats going on here some kind of Blackmail, a shot across the bows of the ECF - do what we want or we break you by getting the north to break away. I can see the NCCU want to be able to say to the ECF' we had a meeting and are starting a process of change leading to us breaking away from you but the way this has been handled is not the way to do it. A calm calculated process of consultation is the way to go about this then and only then have a vote.

In view of recent events the motives are understandable but the methodology is deeply flawed. I cannot be party to a campaign of change which says the ECF does not do things correctly then expect me to go along with something that is not dealt with correctly.

It may well be in the not too distant future the Norths future may be detached from the ECF and unless the ECF changes very soon I will be party to that campaign so long as its orchestrated proffesionally and as long as I remain Chair of the CCA we will do things correctly. Our AGM is on 4th June , the members may think I am out of step, fine if they do they can vote me out.

I suspect Charles that this is making me public enemy number 1 in some areas of the North! or is that number 2 behind Gerry?

I think that your stance is based on good form. Public Enemy no 1, no! The ECF have had a shake up and have some issues to sort out in the October Meeting, the NCCU is, as you say, going about this the wrong way. A small part of Yorkshire, Bradford & DCA, see the ECF as a part of their opperation. Leeds, I believe, feel the same. This makes a rash jump into the unknown dangerous, I hope the ECF don't call their bluff. No international players ever again. And not one major project on the books.

Now I have a question, how realistic is it that the NCCU would get this vote through? I spend 14 hours a day, on the Chess For Schools project, if this split type vote is going to stop any chance of one set landing on my door step school, well what would you do?

[William Metcalfe]

At this moment in time zero chance i would say.But if in 12 months time if the ECF is still a shambles or worse still a bigger shambles then it might happen.
Like i stated in my previous reply this is not something that can be forced through we need to have a 12 month consultation with countys,clubs.players just like bill orouke did when we set up the original nms scheme the outcome was something that was universally accepted across the north even yorkshire players signed up to it