BGA Council Meeting 2022-01-20

Held at: ZOOM conference call

Meeting started: 19:30

Present:

• Andrew Ambrose-Thurman (AAT)
• Mohammed Amin (MA)
• Toby Manning (TM)
• Peter Rootham-Smith (PRS)
• Stephen Tweedie (ST)
• Richard Wheeldon (RW) (late entry due to missing the ZOOM invite details)
• Colin Williams (CW)

Note - actions raised during this meeting and action updates are recorded on the outstanding actions list rather than directly in these minutes

1) Apologies

There were no apologies for absence.

2) Previous Minutes

The previous minutes were accepted as accurate.

3) Committee Reports

3.1 President's Report - This was discussed. It was agreed that a decision on any appeal over the recent Pandanet match should be left to Andy Taylor as team captain. CW agreed to see if any lessons could be learned for the contents of the Tournament Organisers handbook.

3.2 Youth Committee - This was discussed. A typo was noted where a date had been omitted.

3.3 Tournaments - The Terry Stacey trophy questions were discussed. Proposal 1 was voted on and passed with 4 for and 1 abstention (as an interested party TM did not vote on proposal 1). Proposal 7 was amended so that only BGA members can gain Terry Stacey points. Proposal 2-7 were voted on and passed nem con.

(At this point RW joined the meeting)

The plans for the 2022 Congress were discussed. It was agreed not to book or reserve rooms on a paid basis until after we see what happens in the affiliation meeting next week. CW also agreed to check the risk involved in an unpaid room booking by an affiliated club, in that could it be 'bumped' very close to the day. On that basis the current preparation for the congress was authorised to proceed.

The handover of the Pair Go tournament was discussed. TM took an action to canvass possible candidates for running this in the future.

Qualification rules for the 2022 Championship were discussed, and the proposal for 2022 was voted on and agreed, with the amendment that the GoR rating could be taken from either the new or old algorithms. A proposed name change away from the 'Candidates' was defeated.

3.4 Clubs & Membership - An update was provided which included progress on negotiating discounts for members. It was agreed that discount codes would be advertised on the website in the members area, and that suppliers can put the code on their advert in the BGJ if they want. It was suggested that AAT contact Tony Atkins about setting up a blank web page for AAT to edit.

The offers from JIGS (Jena International Go School) were discussed, and it was agreed it should go to the Player Development Committee (when a person is appointed).

Guo Juan's Internet School; want to help but cannot easily manage discounts. One possibility is if they give the BGA a selection of vouchers the BGA could issue them to members as requested.

3.5 Governance - An update on the preparations for possible incorporation was given. A vote was taken and the start of the consultation was approved. TM will initiate this shortly.

3.6 Finance - A verbal update was issued. The annual accounts are in preparation, and look broadly healthy at the time being. RW said nothing specific needed raising for discussion at this meeting. The EGF membership fees for this year are roughly £1,000, an expected increase from what used to be about £400.

3.7 Publications - Nothing to be raised at the moment.

3.8 Technical - ST is spending some time getting up to speed with a view of the longer term strategy, and will have more to report at the next meeting.

4) Tournament Levy Review

The proposal for reviewing the levy was discussed. It was noted this may mean a period of running at a deficit for a few years, but given our reserves level and the need for action post-Covid this was seen as acceptable in the short term. A vote was taken and was passed with one vote against.

5) Collusion in Tournament Games

A discussion was held on what the BGA policy on collusion, or throwing games should be. It was agreed that the BGA policy is that tournament players are expected to try to win their games, by playing to the best of their ability. The Governance Committee will add this into the proposed Code of Conduct.

The possibility of maintaining a list of 'suspects' was discussed and rejected. instead it would be handled through the public and open complaints procedure. Governance Committe to consider how this will work in these instances.

6) BGA Kit

It was agreed in principle that clocks and sets should be kept together, though clocks alone may be wanted for some tournaments. More work is needed on the proposal, and it will be brought back.

7) BGA Loan Kits

Due to technical issues it was impossible to have a discussion on this with AAT on-line. It was agreed to have a separate ZOOM session with CW/PTM/AAT on this.

8) BGA Policies

The examples of the new policies on the web site were mentioned. Feedback to CW on the look of the policy pages was requested.

9) Outstanding actions

The list was reviewed. Updates were noted to be made later.

10) AOB

MA gave an update on the state of the T Mark Hall Foundation closedown.

There was a debate on the value of having physical membership cards. It was noted only 6 people in the BGA did not have an e-mail address. The current cost of issuing the cards (and old tri-fold sheet) is about £200 annually. It was agreed that membership cards would not generally be issued in future.

No other AOB was raised.

11) Date of next meeting

A Doodle will be issued for a meeting in March.

The meeting closed at 21:59