ICCF Elections

[Austin Lockwood]

Hi Mickey,

What benefits do the non-NF organisation gain from joining ICCF direct rather than through a NF?

Membership of a NF and affiliation to ICCF serve different purposes and are not mutually exclusive. SchemingMind is a UK based correspondence chess club and a member organisation of BFCC with the same voting rights as other member organisations of the NF, a relationship to which we are wholly committed.

A partnership with ICCF as an affiliate (Josef has made the distinction very clearly above, perhaps his comparison with the relationship between ICCF and FIDE is a good one) would serve a different function; I don't envisage a conflict of interest.

Would such organisations therefore use the ICCF rating system and playing rules?

Absolutely not!

Best wishes,
Austin

[Alan Borwell]

Originally Posted by Josef

Dear Austin,

In one of his Forum postings, Alan quoted some paragraphs from the draft Outline Duties which only should come into force after the new Executive Board has been elected in Spain this year, i.e. from 1.1.2008. As there are three new positions in the EB (in fact, one old-new), it might be possible that the responsibilities still could be re-directed or modified.

Nevertheless, as far as I know, it was always a duty of the Membership & Services Director, formerly General Secretary to deal with member organisations (including recruitment of new members), whereas the ICCF President's responsibility was to represent ICCF towards the external organisations and clubs. Of course, it is for President to appoint his "liaison officers" for particular partners, such as Alan Borwell to FIDE, when necessary and appropriate.

I share your apprehension that it's almost certainly too late to write your proposal for 2007, as there are only a few weeks remaining to the begin of Congress, and the deadline for all reports and proposals to be submitted to Congress expires on 15th September. In spite of that, I personally would be happy to see some Congress discussions on this issue just this year.

Good luck to you, and good luck to SchemingMind!

Josef

Dear Josef and Austin,

Whilst a framework now exists (Statute 2.9), I believe it would be helpful to have a debate at the Congress in Spain about an actual application, even if provisional, so we can establish some principles and procedures for handling such an application, or future ones, in a reasonably speedy timescale.

Therefore I would encourage you Austin, to write to the ICCF President with your ideas and thoughts as to how you feel an affiliation of SchemingMind with ICCF, could be mutually beneficial.

Kind regards,

Alan

Thanks Austin,
Let me please start by stating that I appreciate your reply but am still a little vague as to the benefits that SM would expect from an affiliiated status that they do not get via the NF membership. As you will know from previous messages I am not negative to the idea of non NF membership, however I remain very aware that we should not contirbute to the decline of an NF under the present system.

For example, if SM had 1000 members and paid an affiliated fee to ICCF, then I would expect SM members were now members of ICCF also. Thus those 1000 members would be removed from the count of NF members and therefore lead to a reduction in fee for the NF, all very good. But what happens when the NF has no members because SM, BCCA, BCCS etc all have taken up the offer of affiliated status, or are we intending that such status will not be open to the likes of BCCA?.

I also wonder if perhaps when a club affiliates, will they declare the nationality of their members so that a proportion of the fee may be reimbursed to an NF who may have lost the opportunity to received some income from a players membership?.

I guess the key question is "what does affiliated membership" mean in terms of services etc. It is an interesting area with many questions.

Just thoughts that may already have been dealt with.
Best Wishes,
Mickey

[Austin Lockwood]

Hi Mickey,

The difference between BCCA and SM is that less than 20% of SM members are qualified to play in BFCC events or to represent England in ICCF events (although I would argue that actually all members benefit indirectly by association).

I guess the key question is "what does affiliated membership" mean in terms of services etc. It is an interesting area with many questions.

That's a question for Congress; however I would imagine that delegates would be unwilling to vote for a solution which threatens their NF membership. In my opinion, affiliation is more likely to be concerned with technical innovation, development and promotion than it is with getting individual members into ICCF tournaments... but who knows?

All the best,

Austin

Thanks Austin,
As always you are helpful when asked, much appreciated. I was also thinking of the International element of SM, IECG, IECC etc. and how ICCF would approach that issue, for example would affiliates gain a right to enter teams into the Olympiad etc. No need to reply for now, I imagine there will be a debate at Congress about this.

Mickey