Minutes of the League Management Committee Meeting at Wigston on Monday 22 March 2010

Present: Jim Bingham, Walter Dehnen, Iain Dodds, Jim Miller, John Pattinson, Mike Thornton.

1. Apologies

Apologies were received from Brian Foreman, Sean Hewitt, Alan Jex, Julie Johnson, David Reynolds, Mike Salisbury.  Jim Miller took the Chair.

2. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 November were accepted.  All the matters arising were covered by subsequent agenda items.

3. Membership and Constitution of LMC

JM reminded members that he and Alan Jex would both be standing down at the AGM.  It was felt that the League Secretary's job could possibly be divided into two or three parts – (a) League + League Cup organisation, plus preparation of the Handbook; (b) Summer Cups, and (c) [possibly separately] organisation of the September/October charity evening, to which Sean Hewitt had previously made major contributions.  Mike Salisbury and Iain Dodds had both expressed interest in running the summer competitions.  Mike Thornton agreed to stand as LMC Chairman, while continuing in his present roles as Fixtures Secretary, and Jim Bingham agreed to consult another Braunstone player on the possibility of sharing the League Secretary's work.  JM reported that one LMC member had suggested that the Committee should be replaced en bloc, but without suggestions as to replacement members or their roles! He also reported that, in agreement with Sean Hewitt on behalf of LRCA Ltd, he had asked Spinney Hill if they would host the two AGMs on or about Wednesday 26 May: this meant that the current LMC had two months in which to sort out the League Secretary's role.  It was also felt that the new LMC should look urgently at the constitution of the committee, with a view to giving the Chairman and Secretary fixed terms of office (possibly renewable).  A period of three years, for example, might attract more candidates for such roles compared with the present perception of an open-ended commitment.

4. Summer Cups

It was agreed that the Chapman/Birstall Cup matches should be played if possible using Fischer-style time limits, structured so that there was no fixed end-time to the games.  All clubs would be encouraged to use this approach, but such matches could only take place with the agreement of both clubs.  JM undertook to consult Sean Hewitt about the time limits used in other LRCA events, and also to examine the position re low-cost digital clocks that could be used in such matches.  It was suggested that the introduction of the new time limits might require a change to the handicap rules, but it was pointed out that not all matches would be Fischer-style ones, and that in other ways the current handicap system had worked well.  It was also agreed that the maximum total grade for Wylie Cup matches should be raised to 700 points, as several clubs found the current total too restrictive to allow the participation of all the players available.  The Harrod Cup should be run in its present format.  It was noted that the previous system of charging a flat rate fee for all teams meant that in effect ECF member clubs were subsidising non-ECF member clubs, so it was agreed with the assent of Jim Bingham that the fees for 2010 should be £6 per team for ECF member clubs and £12 for teams from non-member clubs.  As in previous years the aim would be to run these events with break-even finances.

5. League Business

JM reported on the demise of the Spinney Hill 1st team from Division 2, and its consequences.  It was noted with concern that the current rule 6, giving the team's remaining opponents 5-0 victories by default, could be regarded as unfair to some other teams in the Division: some had already played Spinney Hill 1 twice, while Wigston 3 had not played them at all.  It was also noted that if 5-0 defaults were recorded for the SH1 remaining matches, their default total for the season would greatly exceed the 19 games prescribed in Rule 9, which states that a defaulted match also attracts game defaults.  So on the basis of Rule 9, the SH1 results should be regarded as void.  JM agreed to look at the two possible scenarios, i.e. with the SH1 results up to now retained in the League table, and with such results removed completely.  It was also noted that in such (hopefully very rare) situations there is a possible conflict between Rules 6 and 9, and that this problem should be resolved before next season.

In relation to a separate but dispute between two teams in Division 3 it was noted that Sean Hewitt is acting in place of the League Secretary.

6. Barred Players

LMC members discussed at length an issue that had arisen out of the collapse of Spinney Hill's 1st team, but is also of general importance.  Rule 16(iii) states that a player who has played for a team three times (not on the lowest normal board) becomes a barred player for the team below.  MT stated that he had always felt that once a player had been barred under this rule, he remained barred for the rest of the season, i.e. could not be unbarred again in the normal way.  LMC members agreed with this, but felt that exceptions might arise occasionally.  If, for example, a club or team attracted a brand new player with a higher grade than any existing players, clubs would expect that all the other players would move down one place.  Since the new player would become a barred player for the team concerned, this should lead to the unbarring of a previously barred player, even one who had been barred under Rule 16(iii).  However it was felt that such an unbarring could only occur once the new strong player had actually played for his team, otherwise the system would be open to obvious abuse.  MT also noted that occasionally and by accident a player became barred because he played above an unbarred player, e.g. because of a mistake by a stand-in captain.  It was agreed that in such cases of genuine error it might well be right for that player to be unbarred again if the club requested it.

JNM – 23 March 2010