ECF Rolling Membership

[Paul Cooksey]

There is a new item on the new Rolling Membership Scheme on the ECF website: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/rolling ... roduction/

It says: "There will be no change to local league rating arrangements for Bronze members – so under rolling membership people joining or renewing as Bronze members before the end of a league season will still in effect be buying the right to have their league games rated for that same season (and not for part of the following season as well)."

Is it clear to anyone if this is the case for all membership categories for leagues?

So for example, is a Gold member renewing in January 2023 considered an ECF member for the league season 22-23 but not the league season 23-24? If so, assuming league seasons run Sep-May, we have the slightly odd situation that people are members in Sep-Dec 23 and can play in tournaments but the league needs to decide if it will take the risk of letting them play games in Sep-Dec 23 which might be eligible for game fee without knowing if they will renew in 24?

[Roger de Coverly]

So for example, is a Gold member renewing in January 2023 considered an ECF member for the league season 22-23 but not the league season 23-24?

The same issue would apply to Silver members as well. There was a reason why the ECF scrapped anniversary renewals when it went for universal membership.

In the example given, membership for league purposes ceases either on 31st August 2023 or on December 31st 2023 (or 31st January 2024). But which is it? A similar problem would apply to the 4NCL.

[Mike Gunn]

Logically the same rule would apply for Silver and Gold members playing in annual leagues as for Bronze members. I wouldn't think many clubs insist on ECF membership before allowing members to apply in league teams, they will (at some point) chase people up to join as they do now. I really don't see the problem here.

[Roger de Coverly]

Logically the same rule would apply for Silver and Gold members playing in annual leagues as for Bronze members.

What you are saying is that for playing in Leagues, Gold and Silver membership terminates on August 31st regardless of when it started. What about FIDE rated leagues?

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's the old problem: leagues want to work on a basis of discrete seasons and tournaments want to work on a basis of a continuous rolling calendar, and trying to meet the institutional needs of both simultaneously causes issues.

[Angus French]

Logically the same rule would apply for Silver and Gold members playing in annual leagues as for Bronze members.

What you are saying is that for playing in Leagues, Gold and Silver membership terminates on August 31st regardless of when it started. What about FIDE rated leagues?

I think it needs to be stated when the league season is deemed to finish... is it 31 August or is it some other date? And what about leagues - summer leagues for example - which straddle the cut-off date: what will be the membership requirements for those?

[Ian Thompson]

There is a new item on the new Rolling Membership Scheme on the ECF website: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/rolling ... roduction/

It says: "There will be no change to local league rating arrangements for Bronze members – so under rolling membership people joining or renewing as Bronze members before the end of a league season will still in effect be buying the right to have their league games rated for that same season (and not for part of the following season as well)."

Is it clear to anyone if this is the case for all membership categories for leagues?

The ECF website has been updated to answer the question. It now says "There will be no change to the Game Fee arrangements in events requiring only Bronze membership (local leagues and club internal events) ...".

[Roger de Coverly]

The ECF website has been updated to answer the question. It now says "There will be no change to the Game Fee arrangements in events requiring only Bronze membership (local leagues and club internal events) ...".

I don't think that was really the question. Put another way, if someone joins as a Gold or Silver member on 1st January 2023, it's clear that this membership expires on 31st December 2023.

In a manner of speaking Gold and Silver membership includes Bronze membership, but when does that expire? Is it 31st August 2023 or 31st December 2023?

[Mike Gunn]

The key date was always June 30th (the end of the grading year). The ECF then counts up games played in each competition in the previous 12 months and issued invoices as appropriate. Summer competitions which straddled June 30th always required 2 ECF memberships (before and after June 30th) if more than 3 games played in each section.

Rolling membership applies to tournaments (and other non league stuff) but for leagues we have the old system. I can see why that can be confusing but once you grasp that (for leagues) things are almost as they were then it's quite easy to understand.

[Ian Thompson]

I don't think that was really the question. Put another way, if someone joins as a Gold or Silver member on 1st January 2023, it's clear that this membership expires on 31st December 2023.

In a manner of speaking Gold and Silver membership includes Bronze membership, but when does that expire? Is it 31st August 2023 or 31st December 2023?

I think it's perfectly clear that the bronze membership benefit of free rating of non-FIDE rated league games applies to a season with fixed dates that are unrelated to the membership period. What's not 100% clear is what that fixed season is. In the absence of any statement on this I think it can be assumed to be 1 September to 31 August, as before. What's also not clear is what happens with a league that straddles the cut-off date, although I assume the answer is that whatever has applied in the past with a fixed membership year continues to apply.

For FIDE-rated leagues it's less clear. Pay to Play and Game Fee says "N.B. If the League/event is FIDE-rated then the requirements at (1) above take precedence", but does that mean the requirements in 1. replace the requirements in 3., or are in addition to them? I would assume they are intended to be in addition to them.

[Roger de Coverly]

I think it's perfectly clear that the bronze membership benefit of free rating of non-FIDE rated league games applies to a season with fixed dates that are unrelated to the membership period. What's not 100% clear is what that fixed season is.

The ECF have therefore introduced a permanent headache for club secretaries and league financial controllers for any player who joins as Silver or Gold under rolling membership and plays repeated seasons in leagues as their renewal date will always come partway through the winter league year.

[John Upham]

Received today:

Dear members
We’re delighted to be able to confirm that rolling membership has now gone live. This means that people joining or renewing part-way through the season will no longer have to pay a full year’s subscription for membership that extends only to the end of August. Instead, joiners and renewers will now receive a full year’s worth of benefits from the beginning of the month in which they subscribe – benefits that include the ECF’s magazine ChessMoves delivered to your inbox every month, access to JustGo Rewards offering thousands of discounts from well-known online and high street outlets, and discounts from Chess & Bridge on a comprehensive range of chess products.
Please note the following —
1. There will be no change to the Game Fee arrangements in events requiring only Bronze membership (local leagues and club internal events) – so under rolling membership people joining or renewing before the end of a league season will still in effect be buying the right to have their league games rated for that same season (and not for part of the following season as well).
2. We have put in place a manual workaround for people who want to upgrade their membership during the season as the membership system does not currently have the functionality to allow this to be done automatically. The way the system will work is that in the first instance you will need to pay the full membership fee for the new membership level, following which you will get a refund within the next one or two working days for the unspent portion of your old membership level.
Very best
The English Chess Federation

[Mike Gunn]

I think it's perfectly clear that the bronze membership benefit of free rating of non-FIDE rated league games applies to a season with fixed dates that are unrelated to the membership period. What's not 100% clear is what that fixed season is.

The ECF have therefore introduced a permanent headache for club secretaries and league financial controllers for any player who joins as Silver or Gold under rolling membership and plays repeated seasons in leagues as their renewal date will always come partway through the winter league year.

As I point out im my previous post there is no "permanent headache" (no mor than there ever was) because the basic situation for leagues has not changed!

[Ian Thompson]

The ECF have therefore introduced a permanent headache for club secretaries and league financial controllers for any player who joins as Silver or Gold under rolling membership and plays repeated seasons in leagues as their renewal date will always come partway through the winter league year.

They will know that the games of any Silver or Gold member with a membership expiry date before 1 July will be liable for game fee. That's not significantly different from the old arrangements where everyone had to be a member by 30 June. So long as the LMS being used can give you a list of all players and tell you the expiry date of each ones membership that's no more of a headache than it was before.

The issue is for clubs or leagues that require players to be ECF members to play to ensure that the club/league doesn't incur game fee for them. You can't now enforce that unless you say players have to renew their membership before playing, so someone with a renewal date in, say, March would have to renew that in September for a typical winter league, assuming the ECF membership system allows that.

[Mike Gunn]

Somebody with a renewal date in March:

(a) who renews ... is a member in June so no problem

(b) who doesn't renew (e.g. because they have stopped playing) then they won't be a member in June so the the league would become responsible for games played when they were active.

The number of cases of (b) will be quite small and (in my experience) the ECF applies discretion and waivers in cases where leagues appeal. One obvious case is where a league member dies before taking out ECF membership.

I still feel this is not an enormous problem!