Captain My Captain

[John Upham]

Having attended various clubs AGMs there would appear some difficulty in finding sufficient Team Captains for individual League teams.

(I am not including 4NCL in this discussion).

May I ask if there are clubs who have an overall Team Manager who selects players for each of the clubs teams but who does not feel compelled to attend matches in person?

Might this approach reduce the burden on clubs to deal with the perennial

"If we cannot find a team captain then that team will not be entered" or words to that effect?

Are any Leagues contemplating reducing the number of boards per match?

One of our Leagues is considering going from 6 to 4 boards to help clubs create viable teams.

Four players is closer to a "cars worth".

[Andrew Zigmond]

May I ask if there are clubs who have an overall Team Manager who selects players for each of the clubs teams but who does not feel compelled to attend matches in person?

Yes. I held this role in Harrogate for some years and may well take it on again in September (although I'd rather captains came forward for the A and B teams - hopefully they don't read this forum). Since 2013 I've generally been C Team captain (with a break in the middle) despite work commitments preventing from playing more than once in a blue moon. I don't do this to be a martyr - it's primarily so I can keep the team active for any juniors who might wish to play, not for the benefit of those players who could be captain if they wanted to (although generally my efforts are appreciated).

I suspect it may actually be quite common.

[IM Jack Rudd]

At Barnstaple, we have someone who serves as team selector for all the club's teams, whether or not he's going to be playing.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Don't many leagues require someone to handle 'admin' and disputes on the night? That normally falls to the team captain, though sometimes it is handled by others. In most leagues I have played in, the captains swap team lists on the night, for example. It can help to have things set up in advance, in case captains are late, and/or to have a deputy, or someone experienced to step in if needed.

Agree that it can help to have sets of teams managed centrally for a club to help make team selections efficient, especially if a club has lots of teams in different leagues and different divisions of leagues, and the league(s) have rules that limit what people can play for which teams. Sometimes this can be handled by team captains coordinating, but you often still need everyone to be aware of the rules and how best to manage a club's resources (in this case, its players).

[John Upham]

Don't many leagues require someone to handle 'admin' and disputes on the night?

Indeed they do.

It is possible that the Team Manager could nominate a team players to take on that role for the duration of the match.

Perhaps they would need to be familiar with the Laws of Chess and the League rules?