2010 Annual General Meeting

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Mick Norris
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Mick Norris » Sun Oct 17, 2010 10:04 pm

Matthew Turner wrote:Carl,
More than 10% of the votes were cast by a member of the Papua New Guinea Chess Federation. There are a lot of members of the ECF Council who are never seen at chess events. I just don't think they represent the 'average' chess player.
Clearly Mick doesn't fit into this category. His points about Malcolm Pein are all very sensible. However, one can put various spins on the points he raises
Malcolm will appoint an alternate to attend meetings

1. Malcolm cannot be bothered to turn up and he is not going to do a proper job

2. Malcolm is very busy promoting chess, organising the Classic and hopefully the World Championships in 2012. However, he is so committed to the ECF that he will be employing somebody to assist with his NED role.

I think most chess players would be prepared to override some misgivings to bring Malcolm Pein into the ECF fold.
Matthew

Rupert Jones is NCCU President, who he plays for internationally is irrelevant

Obviously, the NCCU would be better if it admitted the MCF in time to elect me President in future!

The "average" chess player doesn't care about the ECF, BCF or MCF

You seem to be being obtuse - we voted against Malcolm as NED, but many of us would support him within a different role in the ECF
Last edited by Mick Norris on Sun Oct 17, 2010 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Gavin Strachan
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Gavin Strachan » Sun Oct 17, 2010 10:05 pm

I have seen recently on several threads the phrase "he is one of the good guys" mentioned referring to several individuals. Who are these good guys and how do you get your name off the bad guy list? Can I have a copy of the good guy list and if they are really ultra good do they get beatified? Is it some 4NCL team "The Good Guys"?! Final question, is there an ECF Good Guy committee with a good book and a bad book (or/and slightly mirky unsure as of yet book)?

Ljubica Lazarevic
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Ljubica Lazarevic » Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:10 am

Gavin, you've got too much time on your hands...

shaunpress
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by shaunpress » Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:44 am

Matthew Turner wrote:Alex,
"This isn't FIDE"
Quite right, Rupert Jones only had two votes at the FIDE elections (Papua New Guinea and the Proxy for New Zealand).
Are you stating this as a fact?

Matthew Turner
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Matthew Turner » Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:40 am

Mick,
You are quite right when you say
"The "average" chess player doesn't care about the ECF, BCF or MCF"
and in a way that is the point.

However, a lot of chess players care about the things Malcolm Pein is involved in
Chess magazine
Daily Telegraph column
The Chess Classic
The (possible) World Championships in London
Support for the Olympiad Team

Surely then it is imperative that we bring Malcolm into the ECF. Yes you might prefer that he does this job or that, but they were not options. At the moment Malcolm was standing for the post of Non-Executive Director. It is a massive disservice to the ECF that he was not elected.

andrew martin

Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by andrew martin » Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:23 am

Whilst I agree that Malcolm could be of inestimible use in the ECF framework I would strongly advise him to stay out. That vote is GOOD for him .The way the ECF is run is so stifling that he could easily get bogged down in the quagmire. Its not a fault of individuals that the system needs to be completely overhauled I should add. Nobody is to blame. Let us say that time has been the culprit. The world is changing but the ECF has not kept pace.

Trefor Owens
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Trefor Owens » Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:49 am

In my opinion a shocking decision!


I strongly believe that the only fair thing to do would be to replay Saturday’s events*
Cheers
Trefor


*Piquionne clearly scored a valid goal

William Metcalfe
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by William Metcalfe » Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:36 pm

Can somebody please tell me how the Cleveland Rep voted on this issue the Cleveland rep is Mr G Walsh ex ECF President
I am speaking here for myself and not the NCCU which i am now president of

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John Upham
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by John Upham » Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:51 pm

William Metcalfe wrote:Can somebody please tell me how the Cleveland Rep voted on this issue the Cleveland rep is Mr G Walsh ex ECF President
I hope you are not suggesting that your representative might have sought direction from the organisation he or she represents.

This is not the way Council works William.

Please write out one hundred times : "My representative knows best and must be left alone in peace."
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David Pardoe
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by David Pardoe » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:02 pm

It seems that Malcolm has more than enough on his plate, and doing a fine job in promoting chess in the UK.
The knit picking over peoples credetials is not really helpful. We are very lucky that such people willingly give of there free time to attend these meetings.
I`ve said before that the ECF is too `South centric`, and is under represented by the northern chess community at board level. I strongly favour having some additional regional directors...at least 2 or three for the North, 1 or more for the East, and 1 for the south west (at least), added to the current list, so that these areas can be heard & represented. We also need to see more ECF meetings in the north...Sheffield, York, Manchester, etc.
I see the ECF as a facilitating body, not necessarily as some kind of `cash cow` which props up all sorts of chess endevours. I see it having the role of trying to ensure the smooth operation of all the various `branches` of chess...not as the `big brother` body playing at some kind of grand `fat controller`. Its in that vien that I see the BCF as a potentially far more important `Flagship` and influential organisation for UK chess. But such a body would be there to allow and encourage the constituent membership (the real power houses in the land) in an `unbrella` capacity...as Ive said previously.
Sean said earlier about support for the e2e4 & 4NCL...maybe an additional `events` director for these initiatives (and congresses generally), would not go amiss. We must be cautious not to use these very valuable events as battering rams to drive change, with wild threats of ex-communication if things dont always go smoothly. Good communications are vital at all levels.
I was intregued by the points about NED responsibilities...approving renumeration...? If only the hard working people could get some renumeration...its just not feasible in organisations like the ECF...the rewards all come from the fruits of good works..... long may this continue.

Junior chess...schools chess..free sets, etc. Can we not use our `chess networks` to help with distribution issues...maybe delivering sets to `Congress pickup points`, county match pickup points, or even ECF meetings...for collection and onward distribution. Maybe the ECF Office could assist with planning and logistics, using various key organisors to provide linkups to co-ordinate things.
Many other points to work on, if we are to avoid the mediocracy of a semi-detched `little england`. Plenty to work at....!!
Many still feel the `closure` of the BCF (on its 100th birthday..centenary), was an ill conceived hatchet job...the one real signifant vote of the `membership`, (43% in favour of retaining the BCF Flagship, I think), was ignored & just swept under the carpet, many might feel.
But...we are where we are....... CJ rules ok
BRING BACK THE BCF

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John Upham
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by John Upham » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:07 pm

Ernie Lazenby wrote:The Cleveland rep spoke to me
At least your rep consulted you! That is a major improvement compared with some others I will not mention. :shock:
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Roger de Coverly
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:20 pm

David Pardoe wrote: I`ve said before that the ECF is too `South centric`, and is under represented by the northern chess community at board level. I strongly favour having some additional regional directors...at least 2 or three for the North, 1 or more for the East, and 1 for the south west (at least), added to the current list, so that these areas can be heard & represented.
I think you will find that both the ECF constitution and the legal framework for companies limited by guarantee precludes the ECF having a board of directors of many more than the existing number. As it's a national chess body, directors should not be regional advocates.
David Pardoe wrote:Can we not use our `chess networks` to help with distribution issues
I'm sure this would have been possible. However the distribution of chess sets starts with someone making chess pieces by putting plastic into a moulding machine. As far as anyone is aware, the manufacturer only had limited success with this over the whole lifetime of the project.

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:23 pm

David Pardoe wrote: I`ve said before that the ECF is too `South centric`, and is under represented by the northern chess community at board level. I strongly favour having some additional regional directors...at least 2 or three for the North, 1 or more for the East, and 1 for the south west (at least), added to the current list, so that these areas can be heard & represented.
We don't have enough candidates for the Directorships we do have; we currently have nine Directorships and only seven Directors (including one from the North and two from the Midlands). If candidates from the regions want to be on the board, there's a Chairmanship and a Non-Executive Directorship up for grabs.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Alex Holowczak » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:25 pm

David Pardoe wrote:I strongly favour having some additional regional directors...at least 2 or three for the North, 1 or more for the East, and 1 for the south west (at least), added to the current list, so that these areas can be heard & represented. We also need to see more ECF meetings in the north...Sheffield, York, Manchester, etc.
They got rid of those some time ago, I gather. The ECF Council Meetings have to be in Birmingham and London. Given most of the current directors are from the South and Midlands, it makes sense to hold the Board Meetings there. The geographical distribution of the current Board:
CJ - no idea
AF - Worcestershire
LC - Staffordshire
AR - Middlesex
GC - Middlesex
SR - Surrey
PP - Cheshire
JW - Norfolk
So 2 from the Midlands, 3 from Greater London, 1 from the East, 1 from the North West.

It's difficult to vote for nothern candidates to be on the Board if none are standing to be elected.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2010 Annual General Meeting

Post by Alex Holowczak » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:27 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:we currently have nine Directorships and only seven Directors
We currently have ten directorships, eight of which are filled:
President
Chief Executive Officer
Non-Executive Chairman
Junior Chess & Education
Home Chess
International Chess
Marketing
Finance
Non-Executive A
Non-Executive B

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