Minutes of the League Management Committee Meeting at Syston on Monday 5 June 2006

Present: Jim Bingham (Chair), John Dawkins, Iain Dodds, Pete Harrison, Sean Hewitt, Julie Johnson, Jim Miller (Secretary), Steve Wylie.

1. Apologies

Alan Jex, Cyril Johnson, Mike Thornton.

2. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 May 2006 were approved.

3. Matters Arising

JNM reported that John Pattinson (Thurnby) and Graham Hewitt (Littlethorpe) had agreed to become co-opted members of LMC for the year 2006-7.  Richard Davis (Spinney Hill WMC) had declined.  It was noted that the LRCA President and Secretary were able to attend LMC meetings, but were not technically full members, so it was agreed that the 2007 AGM should be asked to agree to a constitutional change to rectify this anomaly.  Meanwhile it was further agreed that Jim Bingham, John Dawkins and Pete Harrison should be co-opted for 2006-7; and that, by the publication of these minutes on the LRCA Web site, one further volunteer for co-option should be sought.

4. League Rules 2006-7

JNM summarised the responses received from clubs to the proposed changes: it was noted with great satisfaction that 13 clubs had replied to the consultative paper, which also included the proposal for an open rapid-play tournament.  All the proposed changes (including the rapid-play tournament idea) had been overwhelmingly endorsed by the clubs, except the proposed time limits for Option B games.  LMC members agreed that, in principle, it was reasonable to ask Option B players to play at a slightly higher rate than Option A players up to the first time control, but accepted that changes should be incremental, and that the amendment proposed by the Braunstone club should be accepted for 2006-7, and re-visited next year.  This provides for an Option B time limit of 40 moves in 80 minutes or 45 in 90 minutes.  An advantage of this change would be that all players under Options A and B (and in the Chapman and Birstall Cups) would have 2 minutes per move up to the first time control.  Braunstone had also pointed out that the second Option B time limit of 6 moves in 15 minutes was quite inappropriate (and had long been so!), and it was agreed that this should be changed to 5 moves in 10 minutes.  These changes were agreed unanimously.

5. Any Other Business

JNM reported a comment or complaint from a team captain that it was an unnecessary burden to enter players' grades during electronic results submissions – could the grades be provided automatically once a player's name had been entered? After discussion it was agreed that the main value of the grades was at the time of the match itself; re-entering them electronically was not really essential.  Printed and electronic results sheets would allow the insertion of A (adjudication) or F (rapid-play finish) for each player, so that such preferences could be monitored more closely.

6. Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting would be on Monday 3 July at Syston, the main items of business being the allocation of teams to Leagues for 2006-7 and some more detailed proposals for the new rapid-play event.

JNM – 6 June 2006