League Management Committee – Minutes – 2014–15

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LMC Discussion and Meeting Held Over Weekend of 31st July to 2nd August 2015

The LMC meeting was to be held on the Friday with myself, Dave Griffiths, Maurice Hill, Drag Sudar and Chris Holt attending (apologies from Nick London). However, due to a family emergency, Dave was unable to attend. This meant that we didn’t have a quorum. However we were able to deal with most matters on the agenda by discussion. These were…

  1. Handbook Content
    1. E-cigarettes to be included in no smoking
    2. NCA League rule changes (a poll of those present on Friday was 3-1 that the change to rule C4 at the AGM could not be overturned by the LMC)
    3. Games for website (to be dealt with separately)
    4. Digital Clock usage notes (to be dealt with separately)
    5. Cut-off date for “voluntary” postponements to be end of 2015
    6. Various changes of club details
    7. Increase in ECF game fee to £2.50
    8. Ban on mobile phone use includes other devices like i-pads and tablets
  2. “Review of League Structure for the Future” including online survey. We discussed some ideas for Chris’ online survey, including:
    1. Larger or smaller divisions,
    2. 4NCL style groups,
    3. Summer League (possibly rapidplay),
    4. Knockout competition,
    5. Internet matches,
    6. Removal of the “first time control” (which would simplify use of digital clocks)
    7. Possible small increment on time (separate from above)
    8. Any further suggestions to Chris H by September please so that he can draw something up.
  3. Rule Change Procedure
  4. Review rule B4 re possible 3 teams involved, so “Where a club has two or more teams in the same division the first match(es) of the season shall be between them, with the return fixtures to be played by January 31st.”

There was some discussion of items 3 and 4, but nothing can be changed until the next NCA General Meeting, so these were “left on the table” to be revisited at a future full LMC meeting.

At the end of the evening it was agreed to extend the LMC into an email meeting over the weekend to allow a couple of matters that needed a vote to be dealt with. Those were…

  1. Formally accept the minutes of the last LMC meeting (which have been on the website since last year)
  2. Elect a chairman. Those present proposed for Maurice to continue in that role.

Both of these were endorsed by email.

Finally I include below the League Secretary’s report of decisions made during the season.

League Secretary/LMC Email Decisions 2014-15

  1. Several Mansfield fixtures had to be rearranged due to their venue not being available. All agreed by mutual consent, with some mediation from LS.
  2. LS decision to allow entry of Nottingham Central 3 to Division 5 to play a half season.
    2.1. Nomads 3 captain queried if their “new” away match could be switched as he had difficulty getting players on Tuesdays. I advised it was not possible to claim this, but it might be negotiated. He was not happy with this, which led to some heated debate. Eventually with the help of Dave Griffiths and Central it was agreed to move the game to the end of season.
  3. RS confirmation to levy the fine re the West Nottingham 5 default at University 3 on the club, despite captain offering to pay it himself when he apologised for missing the match somehow.
  4. Newark 2 v Nomads 3 board 5 game. There was a dispute that arose when Newark failed to name a player on the scoresheet after Nomads had defaulted the board. After discussing via email the various arguments put forward by the clubs, it was decided that Nomads claim should be up held.
  5. There was a decision to postpone the Gambit 1 v University 1 match at the request of University, agreed by Gambit, which resulted in difficulty finding a date to play the match. In the end it was played as the last game of the season.
  6. As a result of the issues that came up during the season, DS DG and myself reviewed the rules and suggested several tweaks to avoid similar issues in future, which were subsequently agreed (with one small change) at the RRM.
  7. As the LMC was unable to meet to confirm the league structure for 2015-16 it was agreed by email that the expected ups and downs would be implemented. (WB6 have dropped out, R&B3 have been added in their place in Division 5).

Steve Burke
League Secretary

NB. These Minutes have been circulated and revised, but will not be formally accepted until the next LMC Meeting.