Minutes of the League Management Committee Meeting at Syston on Friday 27 July 2007

Present: Alan Jex (Chair), Jim Miller (Secretary); Jim Bingham, Iain Dodds, Peter Harrison, Sean Hewitt, Julie Johnson, John Pattinson, Mike Thornton, Steve Wylie.

1. Apologies

Graham Hewitt, Cyril Johnson, Mike Salisbury.

2. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2007 were accepted as a correct record, and there were no matters arising.

3. League Rule Changes for 2007-8

3.1 Default time limit change for matches in Divisions 1 and 2: The proposal that, for matches held at venues willing to host 3-hour sessions, the 3-hour time limits should be the default arrangement, was discussed at length.  The main aim, to improve the standard of play, was not disputed, but concerns were expressed over the total length of the evening for teams travelling long distances, and the possibility that resentment in some away teams might lead to bad feeling between clubs.  It was also noted that the proposed change would mean that the away team would have to persuade the home team to agree to a shorter session, the opposite of the present situation.  On the other hand it was pointed out that the additional time involved was not more than 20 minutes extra; that "3-hour" matches often did not last the full three hours in practice, and that several other local leagues, many of them as dispersed geographically as ours, used 3-hour sessions.  The opinions of the nine clubs likely to be involved in D1 and D2 matches next season had been sought, but the outcome was inconclusive: 4 clubs were firmly against the change, and 3 in favour of it.  Two further clubs also favoured the change, but also felt that safeguards had to be built in where juniors and/or exceptionally long travel times might be involved.

After a very positive discussion it was agreed on the proposal of the Secretary that (a) the Rule would be changed for an experimental period of one year; but that (b) it would not apply if the away team contained one or more junior players, or if the travelling time (one-way) for the away team was 30 minutes or more.  It was agreed that the LMC would provide a list of 30+ minute journeys, using a route-planning Web site.

3.2 Other Rule changes: It was agreed that Rules 1-3 would require modest and purely formal changes to reflect the formation of LRCA Ltd; that the 10-minute penalty rule for substitutes would be abolished; that clubs should be asked whether they preferred a 7.15 or 7.30 pm start, this information to be included in the forthcoming Handbook; and that clubs should be reminded that both the barred player rules and the order of strength rules would apply where appropriate.  It was also noted that the consultation over the Rules had produced some other interesting ideas that should be studied further in 2008.

4. Any Other Business - League Structure

LMC had a preliminary discussion of an idea that had been raised informally at discussions after the AGM/EGM on 12 July.  It was suggested that many players performing in the lower Divisions [e.g. D4-D6] were not much interested in grades and formal matches, and thus that the structure of some or all of those Divisions might in future be loosened in terms of time limits, barred player rules, use of guest players and/or neutral venues, etc.  Very possibly players in such events would not wish or need to pay game fees, though they could be ECF-graded by becoming direct members, and local grades could also be estimated.  The overall effect would be to have two Leagues ("Major" and "Minor" perhaps), still under LMC auspices, but of very different character.  The main aim was to get more people, including juniors, to enter chess at a not-too-serious level, in the expectation that many of them would graduate to the higher Divisions.  The underlying principles of this idea were warmly endorsed by LMC members, but it was agreed that no significant changes could be introduced for 2007-8 in view of the absence of consultation with clubs, and the range of other changes that had already been put in place for the 2007-8 season.

5. Date of Next Meeting

It was agreed that, if it was necessary to hold another meeting to allocates teams to Divisions (which appeared to be very likely) the meeting would be at 7.30 pm on Thursday 16 August, hopefully at Syston: the deadline for the return of League applications had been set for Friday 10 August.  It was noted that some clubs had still to sign up as members of LRCA Ltd., and the Secretary promised to remind all clubs about this.

JNM – 30 July 2007