AGM : 15 October 2011

[Adam Raoof]

I earnestly hope that CJ remaining in post does not result in another two long serving hard working stalwarts walking away. We have already lost one in recent weeks due to the fallout of 'Sheffield gate'
Perhaps bridges can be mended, I really hope so and we get back to pre Sheffield harmony and move on.

Perhaps Adam can explain the lack of the Presidents report, thats the issue this week.

I am not in a position to explain the absence of reports from other Directors, but looking at the list I know that lack of time is one possibility - not an excuse, but I know all of them are very busy.

[Adam Raoof]

"English chess is undergoing a new revolution. The re-emergence of Matthew Sadler, the inevitable assault on the GM title by Jonathan Hawkins, numerous titles for Michael Adams and many stupendous performances by juniors all point to a great future for our game at world level.
35 years after England first burst onto the international stage, we stand on the threshold of a new and thrilling chapter which everyone is deservedly excited to be a part of.
The members of the ECF board have continued to work tirelessly and selflessly and I want to thank them on behalf of everyone hunched over a chessboard anywhere throughout the land.
So many other people labour away for untold hours too and these unsung heroes deserve to be recognised too. England is surely the home of the weekend congress and those that work to ensure these events stay alive have provided the life blood of chess for many years.
Perhaps it is a personal fault to concentrate and celebrate the positives but that's what I want to do. I'm not afraid to confront, discuss and deal with difficulties but we have so much to enjoy in chess, that, in my opinion at least, is where our energies should lie.
CJ de Mooi"

[Mike Gunn]

There is no report there from me because I am not making one!

[Alex Holowczak]

There is no report there from me because I am not making one!

Well, that's one good reason, I guess.

[Jonathan Bryant]

A quick for the record:-

a couple of posts above attribute the following to me

"But is that the case? Only CJ knows for sure and he is still publicly silent. If he were intending to resign, the responsible thing to do would be to say so asap in order to give the Board the most time to find a successor."

but if you read back through the thread you will see that it was Jonathan Rogers who wrote that

(not that I disagree with it particularly, but I don't want to steal somebody else's words)

[Sean Hewitt]

There is no report there from me because I am not making one!

Even though you are supposed to?

[John Upham]

There is no report there from me because I am not making one!

Is it optional to provide a report?

Does that option apply to all board members?

Are West Ham playing at home or away or in a new stadium this coming Saturday? (I'm anticipating a potential need to answer matters of a governance type nature at the AGM).

[Mike Gunn]

Sean, I just turn up and chair the meetings! (Actually I do have a few other duties, but nothing that would seem to necessitate a report.)

Perhaps my report should just be a statement "I have nothing to report.", but that would seem to be a waste of electrons/ paper.

[John Philpott]

John Upham wrote

Is it optional to provide a report?

Does that option apply to all board members?

I cannot find anything in the rules requiring each director to provide an individual report. The Directors and Officers' Responsibilities Regulations state

The Directors, the Secretary, the FIDE Delegate, the Chairmen of the Standing Committees and all Managers and Officers work together under the guidance of the Council, to the general benefit of English chess and the ECF. They provide to the ECF Council annual reports, strategic plans and a financial budget.

This reads like a collective responsibility. In general I think that Directors should provide individual reports, but the Non-Executive Chairman seems like a reasonable exception. The shift away from bulk paper mailings in favour of downloadable reports was an appropriate step in the interest of economy, but has had an unfortunate by-product in that the discipline that previously arose as a result of papers needing to reach the Office to be printed and despatched by a particular date no longer applies.

John Upham wrote:

Are West Ham playing at home or away or in a new stadium this coming Saturday? (I'm anticipating a potential need to answer matters of a governance nature at the AGM).

West Ham are playing at home to Blackpool on Saturday. I happen to think that it is entirely my own business as to how I choose to spend my Saturday afternoons, but as this point has been raised I will draw attention to the following extract from my report to the April Finance Council meeting

Attendance of the Chairman of the Governance Committee at Council meetings
Item 8.7.2 of the minutes of the October AGM indicates “NB stated his desire for JAP to attend future meetings”. That is an entirely reasonable point of view, and one which I might well share in respect of another Chairman of the Governance Committee if I was an ordinary Council member. However, it is a wish that is likely to be fulfilled only rarely, and as it happens I will not be attending the present meeting.

By way of background, I will say that I am well into my third decade as a member of Council. I originally became involved by volunteering to become the delegate for the Essex Chess Association, and was for several years Chairman of the Finance Committee. Up to the time that I stood down from that post at the 2006 AGM my attendance record was close to 100%: even though there were many Saturdays when I would have preferred to be somewhere else, I regarded it as an integral part of the responsibilities of the role to make attendance at Council meetings a priority. However, I made a conscious break in 2006 and had no plans to hold further senior office with the ECF: I was delighted in 2007 to be made an Honorary Life Vice-President, which is normally associated with the individual concerned sailing off into the sunset.

I became Chairman of the Governance Committee in April 2008 as the direct result of a deathbed request by John Dunleavy that I should take over from him. When I was approached by Gerry Walsh I made it clear that while, out of respect for John, I was prepared to take on the role at least on a temporary basis and work diligently, I had regular activities on Saturday with my sons which I was no longer prepared to forego, and that my attendance on meetings could not be relied upon. As far as I was concerned, that was the basis on which I accepted the post, and I believe that I have kept my side of the bargain by the work that I have carried out behind the scenes. The “temporarily” has extended over a far longer period than I had anticipated because there is much that needs to be done and some interesting challenges emerging. At the Council meetings that I have not attended, I have appointed another member of the Governance Committee as my proxy, who should be perfectly capable of dealing with any Governance-related matters that come up.

However, the Chairman of a Standing Committee is ultimately the servant of Council, and I would be reluctant to stand for re-election if the view that I should attend meetings was not one delegate’s opinion but was a widely held view. I would therefore invite delegates to send me their thoughts on the subject at [email protected] so that I can reach an informed view as to whether it is appropriate for me to seek to continue in this role after next October.

.

The responses that I subsequently received to the last paragraph were unanimously in favour of my continuing, so I have stood for re-election, although as the actual numbers of views expressed were 1 in favour and 0 against it is probably inappropriate to read too much into this. As it happens I have decided to attend Saturday's meeting.

[John Upham]

I happen to think that it is entirely my own business as to how I choose to spend my Saturday afternoons,

I completely agree with you on this matter: I was merely enquiring.

I will be attending table tennis coaching this Saturday rather than attend the meeting.

In any case, I have no voting rights and is it therefore pointless for me to attend.

[Alex Holowczak]

In any case, I have no voting rights and is it therefore pointless for me to attend.

You mean British Chess Magazine won't be sending their paparazzi to cover it?

[Mick Norris]

Sean, I just turn up and chair the meetings! (Actually I do have a few other duties, but nothing that would seem to necessitate a report.)

Perhaps my report should just be a statement "I have nothing to report.", but that would seem to be a waste of electrons/ paper.

Mike

In the MCF, we are happy to accept "I have nothing to report" from our Officers (particularly the Disputes Committee), but not happy to get silence - however, your role seems not to need a report at all, so would suggest it is removed from the agenda

[David Robertson]

....(edited) See the "Appeal for Support" thread. I noticed that when quite a few posters proved to be unhappy about CJ refusing to publicly denounce RDK (and the apparent refusal of the Board to do so, and so on) David Robertson popped up to say that CJ would be resigning anyway - and then the thread rather dwindled through lack of interest. Not a bad outcome for CJ, that. But is that the case? Only CJ knows for sure and he is still publicly silent. If he were intending to resign, the responsible thing to do would be to say so asap in order to give the Board the most time to find a successor.

As far as I know, David Robertson is mistaken.

I wasn't mistaken at the time. My sources were impeccable: think 'horse'; think 'mouth'. But as Jonathan Rogers says above, "only CJ knows for sure". Presumably conversations have taken place meanwhile; presumably for the better. I know nothing more, save that 'the incident' is only one of several elements of interest to the welfare of English chess in the mix. I'd prefer not to be drawn further. Least said, soonest sorted.

[Jonathan Bryant]

"I'm not afraid to confront, discuss and deal with difficulties ....
CJ de Mooi"

In that light, I wonder if we could we have a response - from the president and the ECF as a whole - to the questions that I raise on the S&BCBlog today

Is the ECF confident that it knows the origins of the money that paid for Sheffield 2011?
Was the basis for awarding conditions for Sheffield agreed within the ECF beforehand? Is anybody other than CJ even aware what the criteria were?
Should the ECF be more forthright in ensuring that clearer boundaries are drawn between its officials' private business and public roles?


not to mention an explanation for the non-appearance of previously promised accounts and the discrepancies between the figures quoted for the money said to have been raised for the British Championships?


The Nosher simul tour has obviously been very popular and the British Championships this year was a great 'on-the-board' success. I don't believe, however, that the fact that a person has 'done some good', for want of a better phrase, means that we should give them a free pass for everything else.

For the record, I find the question of whether CJ de Mooi is standing for re-election or not - or whether he is re-elected or not - to be a bit of a side issue. What really matters is that the ECF ensure that everybody from the President, whoever s/he may be - downwards is accountable to the federation as a whole.

I understand why the events of the opening and closing ceremonies have attracted so much attention, but from the outside it seems that the underlying cause of both was that the president got/was given the idea that he didn't really have to consult anybody about much at all.

[David Sedgwick]

Reverting to the initial subject of this thread, my Report is now available at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=897 (as is the Report of Nigel Short as FIDE Delegate).

I've apologised to members of Council for the lateness of my Report. I'd like to make a similar apology to members of this Forum.