Brian Eley

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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:40 pm

"She states she made the ECF aware and received no reply."

Unfortunately, that is a fairly normal response to complaints of any sort. I have experienced the same "ignore them and they'll go away" behaviour, in chess (various organizations), cricket. hockey and work. It never works. One ploy when you're ignored is to tell people you were ignored and say this is proof you were right. (yes, I know it isn't, but it agitates the people who got the complaint.)

Tim Spanton
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Tim Spanton » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:26 am

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:40 pm
"She states she made the ECF aware and received no reply."

Unfortunately, that is a fairly normal response to complaints of any sort. I have experienced the same "ignore them and they'll go away" behaviour, in chess (various organizations), cricket. hockey and work. It never works. One ploy when you're ignored is to tell people you were ignored and say this is proof you were right. (yes, I know it isn't, but it agitates the people who got the complaint.)
I wished that worked with Ryanair

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:45 am

JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:52 pm
Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:26 pm
Yes. I have been told there were over 60 complaints against Eley.
This is an extraordinary number (though it is not unusua to have extraordinary numbers in such cased) and really this is why it would have been good to know whether anybody at the then BCF ever wrote so much as a letter to anybody about it.

Surely the 60 complaints were the evidence assembled by the Yorkshire police as they investigated whether there was a case to answer? Nothing the BCF could have influenced or known the content.

Mick Norris
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:46 am

JustinHorton wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:55 pm
Talking of which, I note this post in another thread.

Now without commenting on the particular allegations, this bit does tend to leap out at you.
She states she made the ECF aware and received no reply.
I would want to know if this is true, because - in good faith - a fair few people have been assuring me that things have changed since the events of this thread and such matters are taken much more seriously now. Well, one would hope so, but if it were correct that an ECF official didn't reply when made aware of allegations of sexual harassment, how would they have changed, exactly?
I think that with the splitting of that thread, you are not linking to the right place any more

There's been mention of the ECF Safeguarding Officer, I hope she is part of a positive change in the ECF
Any postings on here represent my personal views

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JustinHorton
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:56 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:45 am
JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:52 pm
Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:26 pm
Yes. I have been told there were over 60 complaints against Eley.
This is an extraordinary number (though it is not unusua to have extraordinary numbers in such cased) and really this is why it would have been good to know whether anybody at the then BCF ever wrote so much as a letter to anybody about it.

Surely the 60 complaints were the evidence assembled by the Yorkshire police as they investigated whether there was a case to answer? Nothing the BCF could have influenced or known the content.
I am sorry Roger, I am not grasping your point in the second sentence here
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Angus French
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Angus French » Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:14 pm

Mick Norris wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:46 am
There's been mention of the ECF Safeguarding Officer, I hope she is part of a positive change in the ECF
Er, the replies to Justin's emails from Julian Clissold weren't copied to the Safeguarding Officer (but were copied to others). Was the Safeguarding Officer involved in the responses which Julian provided?

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:23 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:56 am
I am sorry Roger, I am not grasping your point in the second sentence here

Why would you suppose the BCF had any more insight into the allegations against Eley collected by the Police than anyone else?


I could throw a conspiracy theory in if you want. Eley had been investigating the Keene - Miles affair and perhaps also the finances of the 1986 match and may have been uncomfortably close to establishing a cover-up. If the BCF did know something, it set the Yorkshire police on a hunt to discredit him. Someone would have blown the whistle to get police involvement.

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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:38 pm

Angus French wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:14 pm
Mick Norris wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:46 am
There's been mention of the ECF Safeguarding Officer, I hope she is part of a positive change in the ECF
Er, the replies to Justin's emails from Julian Clissold weren't copied to the Safeguarding Officer (but were copied to others). Was the Safeguarding Officer involved in the responses which Julian provided?
No clue Angus

Julian was the MCF safeguarding officer until the recent AGM, so he's got a great deal of experience in this area
Any postings on here represent my personal views

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JustinHorton
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:54 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:23 pm
JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:56 am
I am sorry Roger, I am not grasping your point in the second sentence here
Why would you suppose the BCF had any more insight into the allegations against Eley collected by the Police than anyone else?
I still think I may be missing something, but it is not the case that some of these cases were reported to named BCF personnel?

(I also wonder, since the question comes up, whether the police made enquiries with the BCF, what - if so - the BCF will have said and whether any such enquiry will have been documented by the BCF.)
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Angus French
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Angus French » Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:57 pm

Mick Norris wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:38 pm
Angus French wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:14 pm
Mick Norris wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:46 am
There's been mention of the ECF Safeguarding Officer, I hope she is part of a positive change in the ECF
Er, the replies to Justin's emails from Julian Clissold weren't copied to the Safeguarding Officer (but were copied to others). Was the Safeguarding Officer involved in the responses which Julian provided?
No clue Angus

Julian was the MCF safeguarding officer until the recent AGM, so he's got a great deal of experience in this area
Just to clarify, my post wasn't meant as a criticism of yours. It seems a good idea to me for the Safeguarding Officer to be the first person to contact.

J T Melsom
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by J T Melsom » Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:39 pm

Obviously if an organisation has a safe-guarding officer then it makes sense for that person to be contacted. But surely board members forward stuff which isn't within their area of responsibility? I am reminded of the time before the internet when my father sent a letter to Thomas Pakenham c/o The House of Lords and received a reply from Lord Longford returning said letter and explaining that he had opened it in error and advising on the correct titles etc. Given the familial links involved was it really so difficult to re-direct the letter?

[ I apologise for this digression, but I misread an earlier post and felt we were getting bogged down in a discussion about whether mail had been properly addressed].

Mick Norris
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:06 pm

Angus French wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:57 pm
Mick Norris wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:38 pm
Angus French wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:14 pm

Er, the replies to Justin's emails from Julian Clissold weren't copied to the Safeguarding Officer (but were copied to others). Was the Safeguarding Officer involved in the responses which Julian provided?
No clue Angus

Julian was the MCF safeguarding officer until the recent AGM, so he's got a great deal of experience in this area
Just to clarify, my post wasn't meant as a criticism of yours. It seems a good idea to me for the Safeguarding Officer to be the first person to contact.
No problem Angus, it seems we agree; my experience is that people might not find the right person to complain to initially, but it isn't difficult to pass it on to the right person as JT alludes to
Any postings on here represent my personal views

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Re: Brian Eley

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:35 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:54 pm
(I also wonder, since the question comes up, whether the police made enquiries with the BCF
My guess is that is almost as unlikely as it would be now.
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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:59 pm

I seem to recall that the police were said to be unhappy with the lack of cooperation from the BCF, but that is a possibly false memory of coverage when James Plaskett was complaining about the issue in "Chess" and I think one of the Sunday papers? I thought at the time that as the police let Eley go, they had a bit of a cheek complaining about other people...

Ian Thompson
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Re: Brian Eley

Post by Ian Thompson » Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:55 pm

A lengthy piece by Fiona Pitt-Kethley (Jim Plaskett's wife) on Brian Eley, see https://www.patreon.com/posts/strange-history-71470170 or https://ko-fi.com/post/The-Strange-Stor ... -P5P3ETECQ.

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