Barry's Blog 17

I am recently back from Brighton, having spent both weekends and a few weekdays there. This year the Hilton Metropole seemed to be trying very hard. I have had a number of complimentary emails and broadly speaking people seemed to have a good time. Interestingly, especially bearing in mind that numbers seem to be dropping every year, the numbers at Brighton have held up very well indeed. A number of people have commented on the excellent atmosphere at the Congress this year.

It was good to have many visitors from overseas, including many Irish players who were using the tough competition in Brighton as a warm up for the upcoming World Championships. They also took away a lot of prizes!

Our competition staff and tournament directors run a logistically difficult event over ten days, with consummate skill. Not many people will know that our major events at Brighton are the largest "single field" events run anywhere in the bridge world (according to the world's number one tournament director); something to be proud of for all that help run and organise it.

I was particularly happy that we ran the Really Easy Congress during the midweek; around twenty tables played over two days; in some cases people were playing in their first Congress after only having played for six months, which I think is great for them and pretty good for the future of Bridge, but we need lots more of them, that's for sure. The feedback as the people were leaving was excellent: "I had a wonderful time, will be back next year"; "I can't wait for the next time"; "Perhaps we can try the not-so-easy Congress!".
To follow this up we will be running a "Really Easy Weekend" next April and we will soon have a website for newcomers called "ReallyEasyBridge" which should be very helpful for those concerned.

During the period in Brighton we ran another Partner Teacher training course and it is pleasing to see this programme gaining traction, with many more courses planned for the next twelve months.

The consultation over the Board's proposals continues and is now producing some very constructive input. The consultation period has been extended to allow for revised proposals (yet to be provided) to be given enough time for sensible comment. I know some people were upset at the tone of my last blog, but frankly it was necessary. Things are much better now, I am pleased to say.

There is an online survey in progress at the moment regarding Announcements and Alerts, but that closes on August 31st. Please try and complete it before it disappears.

Barry's Blog 15

By now most of you who take the time to read my blog efforts will also have seen the Board's proposals for the future of the Union. I am delighted that many members have responded positively but, of course, some have not.

What I am going to try to do in this blog is to explain some facts, from my perspective, which is wider than most because I see things from both sides of life - as an EBU member and an EBU employee involved with the people who are determining the future policy of our 77 year old organisation.

As a member; I am on a good day an average club player; time permitting I play at a few different clubs. The major problems that I see are the behaviour of players and the ageing of the membership. At the ripe old age of 56 I am frequently one of the youngest people in the room. This is, I am often told by our members, because there are not enough young people entering the game. At the time of writing we have just 243 members under the age of 25 on our books, that is less than 1% of our membership.

So I ask why that is? I learned to play card games from my parents and grandparents. It was thus not a big stretch to learn the rudiments of bridge at a relatively young age. I did little with that for many years until I was no longer working, when doing something taxing with my brain became very important. I will pose a question to all of those parents and grandparents out there; how many of you have taught your offspring to play bridge or something similar? I was astonished to discover only recently that many (perhaps 30% of) EBU affiliated clubs proudly announce on our web site that junior players are "not welcome"!!!

As a manager and employee of the EBU; what does the EBU do to encourage new entrants to our game? The answer is, not enough. We just do not have the staff resources or the funds, so we are reliant, in the main, on volunteers. Guess what? Getting volunteers is not as easy as it used to be. There are some wonderful examples for us all; for example, Dave Bessant (who was recently presented with an EBU award) from the Isle of Wight has, totally as a volunteer, put bridge onto the curriculum for all schools on the Island. There are many others too, who do a great job in their local areas.

However, as the work is voluntary, and volunteers come and go, the results are patchy. What we need is more money so that we can spend it on developing our game for future generations. As things stand at present if you are under the age of 50 it is hard to see who you will have available to play against at a club in twenty years!

As an EBU employee, apart from my staff in Aylesbury, I work very closely with many people who give their time, for no remuneration, to carry out remarkable work for bridge. They spend time ensuring that competitions are provided, that the game in England is ruled well (yes, I know you will not all agree with that, please don't email me!), that Tournament Directors are trained; teachers are trained and so on. Some of these people work much longer hours than I do and receive nothing back for it - except frequent and ill informed criticism from a small minority of members who think they know better, yet only infrequently do these people offer constructive comments.

What the Board is attempting with its new strategic proposals is a root and branch change to the manner in which the EBU engages with its members and its clubs; in order to do that they have proposed that all members who play in EBU clubs will be EBU members. This is the way that the most successful bridge organisations in Europe work. They are all increasing their membership numbers - ours steadily decline year after year. The status quo is defunct.

If every player who currently plays at EBU affiliated clubs were to continue to do so, as an EBU member after the changes, it would mean that the EBU would have something like 75,000-90,000 members. At that level of membership it is highly likely that the additional table fee we are presently estimating would be very significantly less than 30 pence per session. Please remember this is not a major fund raising exercise. Extra revenue raised will be used for immediate investment in support of members, clubs, teachers and students; not for the payment of exotic expenses or bottles of wine - just for the development and promotion of bridge in England.

What I am asking every bridge player who plays in our clubs to do is to look beyond themselves and ask, "Can I help the future of this game that I enjoy so much?" If the answer is yes, then I beg you to consider the Board's proposal positively. If the answer is no, then I doubt there is much that I or the Board can say or do to change your mind. If you have some constructive comments to make this would be a great time to pass them on, so that the Board can consider them before it is too late.

Please, please, please "look to the future, or there will not be one"...

Barry's Blog 16

The last few weeks have been a time of huge interaction between members, clubs and counties of and in the English Bridge Union - due, of course, to the proposals for change put forward by the EBU in June.

This has been a very stressful time for me and others involved in responding to the very many requests for clarification and to the small, but vociferous, number of people who feel that it is necessary - for reasons I just cannot understand - to attack personally the motives and integrity of the people involved within the Union in this process.

These proposals for change come out of a process that was put into place in 2005, well before I arrived in Aylesbury to take up my position. During the time from 2005 until the proposals were made to the Union's Shareholders on June 6th, 2007 many people were involved in researching the wants and needs of members and clubs. Various clubs, up and down the country were visited to ascertain what they needed to grow; many people not connected directly to the Board of the Union participated in the many discussions that took place during that period.

This culminated in the proposals being placed before the membership in June. Please remember these are proposals; they are not being foisted upon the members without any opportunity to consult in the widest sense possible. Even though the consultation is only seven weeks old we have had numerous constructive suggestions for improving the proposals. The process of consulting Counties has now begun and we hope that by the AGM in October, or shortly afterwards, we will have had enough time to consult with everybody, absorb the suggestions for change and put the measure to a vote.

This brings me back to those people who feel it necessary to doubt the motives of those involved in the production of these proposals. I have rarely seen such bad mannered, ill-informed and potentially libellous statements as those made by some of these people. I wish I could publish the emails concerned; I know that most of you would be outraged.

Apart from me, as a paid employee and Company Secretary of the Union, all of those involved in the development, production and follow up on the proposals are volunteers, many of whom work as long hours as I do for the sake of the Union. These proposals may not be to everybody's liking, (although I must say that very many members have expressed that they are acceptable to them) but they were proposed for discussion and to engender a new culture for the EBU. It is necessary to bring the organisation into the 21st Century, to learn the lessons from those bridge organisations around the world that are so much more successful than we are, at all levels, and to elevate and maintain the game of bridge in England.

So, before another member suggests financial benefits for the Officers of the EBU being a motivation, before another member suggests that there is some hidden secret reason for these proposals, before another member writes an abusive email attacking the veracity of an individual, please remember that these are just PROPOSALS, proposals that have been made for the benefit of bridge in England and for no one's personal gain.

Indeed, we could all just let each day roll on, one after the other, as has happened for years with the EBU without consideration for the future. We could report at each successive AGM that the numbers are down again and return back to preside over another year of the same.

Or, and it is a big "or", we can listen to our members, act upon their wise comments when provided and then change the EBU for the better. No one is being "coerced" no one is blackmailing anybody. These are just two of the crimes that we are being accused of.

Listening to our members is the uncharted territory I would like us to conquer, not the previously uncharted territory of abuse that causes people such distress.

Barry's Blog 14

I am not going to dwell on what has happened in a year, mainly because it is never enough, but June 5th will be my first anniversary with the EBU. For me, the time has gone very quickly; quite honestly, I believe it has taken me most of this time to get to grips with an organisation that is somewhat calendar driven: Year End Congress, Easter Festival, Schapiro Spring Fours, Brighton Summer Congress etc. Now that I have been through a cycle I have no more excuses!

The year has seen some changes, hopefully for the better, but it has just been a start.The next twelve months will certainly see more changes being suggested and implemented.

Continuing the seasonal theme, if you were a club standard tennis player and someone offered you the chance to play Roger Federer in the first round at Wimbledon you might think that would be you out in the first round. Well, because of the unusual, but extremely clever format of the Schapiro Spring Fours, probably the only tournament of its type in the world, you have to lose TWICE before you are out. Thus you could play the equivalent of Federer in the first round and Murray in the second. Even then, you don't go home, instead there are two further tournaments!

This year's Schapiro Spring Fours (named after the late Boris Schapiro, one of England's best ever players, and sponsored by his wife, Helen), attracted around 48 teams over the Spring Bank holiday. The reason that I have mentioned it is that I believe that it is a tournament that should be frequented by many more players who are not in the top category. At this event it really is possible to play world class players in a great environment in Stratford upon Avon and is one where everyone can enjoy top class bridge and even enjoy getting thrashed! Watch out for it next year.

As I have mentioned before, we are considering how we can increase competitions available for lower ranked players. The Bracketed Teams in Kent in March was our first, and very successful attempt at something new. Watch out for future innovations, which we will, of course, advertise here on the website.

Coming up during the midweek of the Brighton Summer Congress we will again be running the "Really Easy Congress" and I strongly recommend newcomers to congress bridge to come and try a session or two at this thoroughly easy going event. Details are available on our web site.

I am still receiving a lot of communications from members of all levels on the subject of bad behaviour at the table ranging from North/South pairs not welcoming their visiting opponents to partners arguing with each other while opponents are around. This type of behaviour problem is now so endemic that we really must do something about it as newcomers are being lost to the duplicate game when they experience this type of behaviour. In the June edition of English Bridge you will find an article about BB@B one year on. The article will also list the penalties that will be applied for breaking the best behaviour policy. As happens in other countries with "zero tolerance" policies, I would very much like to see clubs adopt the policy as well, although in England this is, of course, a matter for each club to consider.

June 6th will see the next Shareholders meeting; at this meeting the Board will be placing a new strategic proposal before them for consideration at the AGM in October, prior to making it available to all members via the web site the same day. There will be wide consultations on these proposals between June and October.

To quote the motto of my favourite football club - "To Dare is to Do".

Barry's Blog 13

In my brief time here at the EBU it has become clear that the EBU has, over the years, provided too little to its core membership, and its clubs. We have spent much of our time developing our good reputation for running tournaments and congresses.

We are, therefore, concentrating our attentions on the delivery of meaningful and helpful services to our clubs and the mass of the members of the EBU that are not regular tournament players. As a result, it was decided by the Board a few months ago that we should create two new posts - these are a Club Liaison Officer and a Communications Officer.

We are well advanced in the hiring for both positions and I would expect them to be filled within the next three weeks.

The duties of the Club Liaison Officer will include the fundamental task of being an accessible and visible face of the EBU to its affiliated clubs; most of whom have never seen anyone from the EBU at their club. The CLO will visit as many clubs as is practicable and will be available for consultation with club committees or management and its members, before hopefully playing and thus meeting many of those present at that session. This will help the CLO cultivate a wealth of knowledge about clubs and their needs, helping them overcome any problems they may face. The CLO will also work with our County colleagues to get as much coverage within the country as possible. The CLO will also be working with our Communications Officer to help us increase the visibility of bridge clubs in the community. Together they will compile a new electronic club newsletter and web forum, to allow interaction of the EBU membership online.

The CLO will help us develop valued services especially helping clubs develop through the Focus on Value education project and the Partner Teacher scheme.

Partner Teachers and Partner clubs are beginning to move forward and the first Learn and Play clubs are now being formed. Indeed next month a new club is being launched in Kent with some novel publicity. I expect that this will feature in a future article in English Bridge, so more later.

We have now run two courses for Partner Teachers, and have trained some brand new EBUTA teachers as well as adding to the skills of a number of existing teachers who are considering becoming full Partner Teachers. The next course is due to be run during the week of the Brighton Summer Congress. We have room for more attendees; please contact click here for more information or click here to email Lisa Miller who will be pleased to help you.

More "new beginnings" include our new Editor for English Bridge, Elena Jeronimidis, who brings many years of experience in the Bridge magazine field to us. She is full of ideas and contacts that will help onward development of our members' magazine and build on the excellent work done by our departing Editor, Brian Cook, who we wish well in the future. Elena's first issue will be in August.

We are keeping a watchful eye on new technology developments in the bridge market and we are beginning the redevelopment of software used in our own congresses so that we can make increasing use of current technologies such as Bridgemate.

Lots of activity, lots to do...

Barry's Blog 12

At the end of March I got my first taste of representative Bridge. The Corn Cairdis ("The Cup of Friendship") is played for annually between a team from England and a team from Ireland. The competition was started to fill a gap back in the days when the Irish never participated in the Camrose home internationals - these days they win it!

Anyway, the team consists of a team from a club, a team from a county and an "officials" team - which is, of course, the only way that I could possibly creep into a representative team. The English team is picked by the EBU Chairman and he cast his net widely.

Being a "friendly" the arrangements for playing are, of course, very convivial. All visiting players are accommodated in private houses. The match itself was played in the University of Ireland, Galway so it was very nice indeed and served to make us feel important!

Each team plays its counterpart twice and the others once. At the end of the first day we had a lead of just four victory points which was VERY close. The second day started with all three of our teams winning their matches and we took what proved to be an unassailable lead, though it got severely trimmed by the end! The English now lead 9-6 in the series, breaking a string of three consecutive wins by our Irish counterparts. There will be a more detailed article in due course in English Bridge - there were several superb hands which are worthy of comment, though not by me!

Before we got to Galway my team, the Officials, first went to Dublin for a chat with the management team there and of course we played bridge in the evening in the superb surroundings of the Templeogue Bridge centre, which is part of the CBAI complex. Again, great fun; I was partnered with a very bubbly Irish International who was VERY tolerant of my overall play. Thanks Gilda - great experience for me!

I can confirm my overall experience of playing bridge in Ireland - something mentioned in a previous blog, as excellent. Everything just happens - without much ado about anything. Not one director call that I can remember in 80 hands of bridge!

Closer to home, we are again working on improving the implementation of the Best Behaviour @ Bridge policy brought in last year. We are trying to get standardised penalties published so that all players will be aware of what they are letting themselves in for if the “red mist” rises! It would also be nice if BB@B was adopted for use in all of our clubs but that is a matter for each club to consider.

I am pleased to say that the Bracketed Teams in Canterbury in March was a success. This first ever EBU "bracketed" tournament was run by the Kent Association as an attempt to vary their programme from the traditional Swiss Team/Swiss Pairs formula. Of course, not everyone was happy but most seemed to be, with the responses to a post tournament survey being conclusively in favour, at least of trying more. Forty six teams took part, with about a dozen people either brand new or fairly new to Green Point events participating, which was one of the main points of the new formula. I am fairly confident that the trial of such events will continue.

Finally, I have been given the green light by the EBU Board to do some more detailed work on a national player rating system to run alongside the well established master point scheme. This will be a long term project as it requires several things to be in place before it can come into being.

I will, of course, keep you updated on progress.

Barry's Blog 11

There are very many activities going on within the EBU, all intended to drive the organisation forward, and to explain to our members (and non members for that matter) what we are doing and why. I hear the word "communicate" many times a day. It is important to realise that we are doing things, not just talking about doing things as may well have happened in the past.

For example, we have run the first ever survey of EBU members; almost 20% of the membership responded, which is an incredible response. We will be utilising the responses received in many different ways. We will be running another online survey shortly to ask members for some (belated) views on Announcement and Alerts, the Orange Book, and the application of our Best Behaviour policy in clubs as well as in EBU events.

One of the activities that has been running for a long time in the background is the endeavours of one of our hard working, volunteer Board members who has been working, together with other mind sport organisations, for many years to try and get bridge accepted as a sport so that we can get access to government and lottery money and other financial benefits. It now seems that a recent Act passed by parliament means that, very shortly, mind sports clubs will be able to register as charities, giving many financial breaks to clubs in the area of VAT and council tax. When this all springs in to life we will work together with our clubs to ensure that we all benefit as fully as possible.

We were recently at the European Bridge League's seminar for all of the National Bridge Organisations in Europe. At this meeting we received presentations from the more "successful" organisations that have spent the last five years delivering the goods. As a result, the French have a membership of around 135,000 and it is growing and the Dutch has a membership of around 85,000. In Poland, where bridge is virtually the national sport, they get around 400,000 Euros each year from their Government.The Government money is usually forthcoming because of a measure of recognition given to Bridge in their countries that is only given to UK organisations that are recognised by the IOC as Olympic sports. That is why those organisations are flush with cash while we, relatively speaking, struggle. If we can get bridge recognised as a sport by the British Olympic Committee this would open the door to funding from areas such as the Lottery, something that has been available to the Olympic sports for many years.

I have been interested for some time in trying to find a way for the EBU to introduce a national rating system for Bridge players, in order to satisfy the demands of many members, who believe that while master points are fine for measuring  "lifetime achievement" they do not reflect current abilities. Once again, many European bridge organisations are there already with nationwide systems in place that rank their players. We are fortunate in having among our membership people with a variety of top ranking skills, including IT. I am having discussions with one of our members at present that could result in a National Rating System being run alongside the present master point scheme. While most of this is still in the early days of consideration, the basic method of working would be for all results to be fed through interface software, allowing the use of more or less any scoring programs, into rating software which would result in the players rating being adjusted according to the rating of all players at the table. The rating could easily be used for handicapping purposes as well as purely for interest. These updates would be made available overnight. A sub committee of the board is working on development at the moment and while it is far too early to determine exactly how this aspect would work, the current working hypothesis is that it would be a service provided free to EBU affiliated clubs for their EBU members; however in order to provide a ranking for those many players who may not be EBU members, perhaps we can have a strata of membership just to allow rating for the player/member. This group is also addressing membership management, allowing for different types of member in the future (e.g. Single/Household/Rating etc.). I will hopefully be able to expand on this initiative later in the year.

I have been fortunate enough to be invited to a number of clubs around the country where I am able to speak with ordinary members and the clubs officers. In the recent past I visited an unaffiliated club which was very interesting. While the club is unaffiliated, it is much more successful than many of the EBU affiliates nearby, and a number of EBU members play there. A substantial reason why this happens is behaviour, as it is often the case that these clubs are set up as a direct response to being confronted with aggressive experienced players in the affiliated club. The local teacher in this case, has taught, and is teaching hundreds of new bridge players and makes very sure that when they ask which club they should visit, they are guided to a club that will welcome them with open arms, rather than one that will make their first ever visit to a duplicate club their last. Surely there is a lesson to be learned by clubs with dwindling table numbers - speak to your local teaching fraternity and understand why clubs around you are succeeding.

I also visited an affiliated club set up and run by another hugely enthusiastic teacher; while it runs pretty much under the auspices of the EBU, they do not award master points; they seemed very interested in the rating concept so perhaps that may well be the way forward.

Finally, I am off this forthcoming weekend to play in the first "Bracketed Teams" green pointer that has been run in England. In this event, groups of 7 or 8 similarly ranked teams play a round robin format against all of the teams in their bracket. This inaugural event was expected to be of great interest to those many players who have never tried a green pointed event. I am delighted to say that quite a large number of team members registered to play have no green points to their name.

I suppose, following my usual practice, they will have after playing us on Sunday! I hope they enjoy it - I will, win or lose.