ECF Finance Council Meeting 23 April 2022

[Angus French]

Rolling Membership proposal. 2 scenarios:-
a) current non member plays numerous league games during 2021-2022. Takes out Bronze in June 2022 which will expire after 31 May 2023. Plays numerous league games between Sep 2022 and May 2023 for free as now a member?

b) current non member buys Bronze today until 28 Feb 2023. Next season plays 4 league games in March 2023.
League receives bill in the summer as player not a member? Are we now requiring club secretaries and/or captains to keep a record of the exact date their players' ECF memberships expire?

Good points.

On (a), presumably the switch to rolling memberships would take place immediately after the end of the membership year under the current system. Thus a membership taken out in June 2022 would cover the period September 2021 to August 2022...

It seems to me that (b) could be a serious issue. I should think there would be quite a risk that players and clubs are caught out and they won't be happy if, as a consequence, they are penalised with a charge for game fee. Extra ongoing work by clubs to avoid this eventuality wouldn't be welcome either. The current system may not be entirely fair but it does have the virtue of simplicity.

[NickFaulks]

Well, if there is a difference between the Governance Committee and the Board then this ought to be made clear to Council

I was referring to that.

If there was a difference and they cleared it up, there is no reason for Council to be given chapter and verse, just the final agreed version.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Regarding the changes to rules governing direct membership representatives I do find the "must be the same category of membership" rule unnecessarily restrictive. While each metallic category corresponds loosely to a specific type of player (club, congress, international) there are some who are forced into a higher category through expediency; the example of a bronze player who entered a single congress is one and in my case occasionally my grade pushes me into FIDE rated categories obliging me to go gold.

However I am delighted that board members will be prevented from acting as membership representatives as I consider this to be an abuse of power. At the same time the reforms do not go far enough. We need a system whereby ECF members can register their vote through a secure portal (as happens with many organisations) with the votes being cast accordingly. If this isn't possible under company law then the voting figures should still be declared in advance of the meeting, leaving direct membership representatives needing to give a very good reason if they choose to cast their votes otherwise.

[Roger de Coverly]

Regarding the changes to rules governing direct membership representatives I do find the "must be the same category of membership" rule unnecessarily restrictive.

Despite reelection there would be a perception that as a seasoned and titled international player and organiser one of the Silver reps has far more in common with those required to be Gold members than those required to be Silver.

[Angus French]

We need a system whereby ECF members can register their vote through a secure portal (as happens with many organisations) with the votes being cast accordingly. If this isn't possible under company law then the voting figures should still be declared in advance of the meeting, leaving direct membership representatives needing to give a very good reason if they choose to cast their votes otherwise.

I think that is going too far. Members representatives are representatives, not delegates. They should however be accountable to those they represent and report back to them on how they voted and why.

[Andrew Zigmond]

So in other words we simply have another set of council votes supposedly representing a constituency that can simply be hoovered up for political purposes. It is true that there is a difference between representatives and delegates and the former would still have their place, perhaps serving to raise issues from individual members with the board and find a resolution.

It is not beyond the wit of anybody to find a system where individual members can be balloted. It should be run by a third party for transparency's sake. It may not be binding at this stage but it would be something.

[Angus French]

So in other words we simply have another set of council votes supposedly representing a constituency that can simply be hoovered up for political purposes.

No. Representatives can still and should be accountable to their constituents. (And who would want to put in the effort to be a robot delegate?)

There's also the point that a representative can be informed by and take account of what is said at a meeting.

[Dragoljub Sudar]

Rolling Membership proposal. 2 scenarios:-
a) current non member plays numerous league games during 2021-2022. Takes out Bronze in June 2022 which will expire after 31 May 2023. Plays numerous league games between Sep 2022 and May 2023 for free as now a member?

b) current non member buys Bronze today until 28 Feb 2023. Next season plays 4 league games in March 2023.
League receives bill in the summer as player not a member? Are we now requiring club secretaries and/or captains to keep a record of the exact date their players' ECF memberships expire?

Good points.

On (a), presumably the switch to rolling memberships would take place immediately after the end of the membership year under the current system. Thus a membership taken out in June 2022 would cover the period September 2021 to August 2022...

It seems to me that (b) could be a serious issue. I should think there would be quite a risk that players and clubs are caught out and they won't be happy if, as a consequence, they are penalised with a charge for game fee. Extra ongoing work by clubs to avoid this eventuality wouldn't be welcome either. The current system may not be entirely fair but it does have the virtue of simplicity.

I've misunderstood how the Rolling System will work for league games. I have been advised by our CEO (thanks Mike) that league games will only be covered in the season in which the membership is bought or renewed.

For the vast majority of us who buy or renew membership early in the season nothing will change.

However it might cause some confusion when someone buys membership later in the season as his or her 'congress year' will not be in the same months as the league season.

For example if someone buys ECF silver membership in Jan 2023 only his or her league games played between Sep 2022 and June 2023 will be covered but all his or her congresses until Dec 2023 will be.

[Roger de Coverly]

For example if someone buy ECF silver membership in Jan 2023 only his or her league games played between Sep 2022 and June 2023 will be covered but all his or her congresses until Dec 2023 will be.

What are they expected to renew as in September 2023, assuming they are continuing to play in Leagues and other "Bronze" competitions?

[Ian Thompson]

b) current non member buys Bronze today until 28 Feb 2023. Next season plays 4 league games in March 2023.
League receives bill in the summer as player not a member? Are we now requiring club secretaries and/or captains to keep a record of the exact date their players' ECF memberships expire?

I've misunderstood how the Rolling System will work for league games. I have been advised by our CEO (thanks Mike) that league games will only be covered in the season in which the membership is bought or renewed.

For example if someone buy ECF silver membership in Jan 2023 only his or her league games played between Sep 2022 and June 2023 will be covered but all his or her congresses until Dec 2023 will be.

The explanatory notes, but not the proposal, say that you have to take out a membership by 30 June to cover league games for the preceding 12 months. That makes things more complicated for leagues than your example above.

If a league has a season that runs from October to May, and has a requirement that everyone playing in it be an ECF member, a player taking out a membership in June 2022 satisfies its requirement to be an ECF member for the whole of its 2022-23 season, but won't have an exemption from game fee for the 2022-23 season. How is the league to deal with that if it wants to avoid the risk of getting a game fee bill from the ECF?

[Dragoljub Sudar]

A very good question, well presented.

Have the proposers thought through all the potential issues? Has there been any consultation with leagues?

[Angus French]

b) current non member buys Bronze today until 28 Feb 2023. Next season plays 4 league games in March 2023.
League receives bill in the summer as player not a member? Are we now requiring club secretaries and/or captains to keep a record of the exact date their players' ECF memberships expire?

I've misunderstood how the Rolling System will work for league games. I have been advised by our CEO (thanks Mike) that league games will only be covered in the season in which the membership is bought or renewed.

For example if someone buy ECF silver membership in Jan 2023 only his or her league games played between Sep 2022 and June 2023 will be covered but all his or her congresses until Dec 2023 will be.

The explanatory notes, but not the proposal, say that you have to take out a membership by 30 June to cover league games for the preceding 12 months. That makes things more complicated for leagues than your example above.

If a league has a season that runs from October to May, and has a requirement that everyone playing in it be an ECF member, a player taking out a membership in June 2022 satisfies its requirement to be an ECF member for the whole of its 2022-23 season, but won't have an exemption from game fee for the 2022-23 season. How is the league to deal with that if it wants to avoid the risk of getting a game fee bill from the ECF?

The explanatory note also seems to say that a rolling membership would run for 12 months from the start of the month in which it's acquired. Two questions:

1) Shouldn't this be stated up front in the proposal paper?

2) (Following on from Ian's comment), wouldn't a league player acquiring a membership in June be covered for league games played both in the just-finished or -finishing season (say from October 21 to June 22) and for leagues games in the following season up until the end of the following May (say from October 22 to May 23)? If yes, does this mean that league-only players would only need acquire a membership every two years?

[Dragoljub Sudar]

No Angus. This is the point. If a non member buys membership in June it will only cover the season just gone.

The following season he or she would still have to renew membership that June to cover that 2nd season.

Once a player's rolling membership is out of synch with the league season it does get a bit messy.

A simple solution in this example is for the club to ask the player to give them the £18 rather than buy membership. The club pays the ECF bill for the season just ended. The player can then take out ECF membership in September so that his or her rolling membership's months are in synch with the league season.

If the new player is only playing league chess this is the simplest solution all round. If they also play in congresses then it's in their interest to buy membership straight away. Clubs will just have to keep a record of anyone who buys membership later in the season.

[Mick Norris]

Is it possible for Bronze membership to run September to August, but have Silver/Gold over 12 months, or is that too complicated?

I don't mind checking once for bronze membership, but more often might be a pain

[Roger de Coverly]

Is it possible for Bronze membership to run September to August, but have Silver/Gold over 12 months, or is that too complicated?

from
https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... ership.pdf

A case in point is the proposed new student membership scheme, which we
would like to market as soon as possible after April’s Council meeting to students but which
would in the absence of a rolling membership year arrangement effectively need to be held
over until the new membership yea

I would have thought a "student" membership most naturally fits into an academic year framework, so starting 1st September or 1st October.