Representation at worlds

Dan i was just asking what i think some people would be thinking but not have the balls to say if you look back a few messages ive already said i think £5 a month & a club fee sounds fair to me im just try to put forward what somepeople may think but never want to comment

    

FINALLY!

Is this actually going to happen though? We have had a lot of talking for a long time. When was the last AGM? When was the last time democracy ruled and the progression of British Armwrestlers was put at the heart of BAF decisions? Nothing has happened the whole time I have been around the sport.

So, I am glad we are talking about these things, but I have heard them all before! Will we see someone ACT?

TheDoctor wrote:

    

FINALLY!

Is this actually going to happen though? We have had a lot of talking for a long time. When was the last AGM? When was the last time democracy ruled and the progression of British Armwrestlers was put at the heart of BAF decisions? Nothing has happened the whole time I have been around the sport.


So, I am glad we are talking about these things, but I have heard them all before! Will we see someone ACT?

I dont think its a matter of people acting,i think more of raising funds and tackling cost issues bringing a more togetherness,i wouldnt like to see radical changes as for 10 years Neil has pretty much ran things single handed and all credit for that nobody else has piped up we have just sat back and taken it for granted,we all have ideas how we would personally change things but starting small and perhaps tackling the club fees and getting payments inplace would be a great start for now.
i no i would like to see more training days and comps and if people turned up without a doctors note and didnt pull i would ban them haha,coz it really gets on my tits when people duck it.pussys

Nick Hall i would like to hear your thoughts on this?????

I think it would be be benoffical to see numbers here,so we could gauge how much money as a country we could take in per year.

I know this isn't set in stone but if we base it on the discussion so far that £100 per club per year and £5 per month per armwrestler we could get rough idea.

If all the club coach's could say how many arm wrestlers in there club we could quite easily get a roundabout figure. Making the job of knowing how much to spend on ref's, world's, Europeans, nationals, shirts etc abit more realistic.

paul maiden wrote:

Nick Hall i would like to hear your thoughts on this?????

hi champ.been busy chap last few days. 

all the idea sounds good i am not a big writer,so hear go's

i think there should be more comps pro,novice,masters,supermatches training days  for pro & novices wrestles in the uk, cheaper entrance fees for the comp may be even for 12 month no trophies so the funds grow. so all the entrance money get put into a british armwrestling bank account to grow the fund there not many clubs or wrestler to build a lot of money in the uk asking for £100 for a club & £5.00 a month per member will build funds up but this will be very slow at growing, need to be a few meeting to sort this all out. plus i think the ref should be paid for there time as well, i have offered to pay keith &  dan , thats if dan can make it to rampape,for there time for reffing,it would be great to get t-shirts ,tracksuit for the comp abroad , news letters as well, plus i think there a few grants we could apply for, maybe even asking the national lottereyetcs.

I myself know that putting on a comp is a costly business.As for our comp in December the venue hire fee came from my own pocket,and i hope to recover the cost in entry fees etc so it is vital that the comp attracts a good level of support.I am fortunate that in working for the organisation that provided the venue in that i can negotiate a discount in the hire fee,as i really appreciate what Neil is doing for our sport and i myself feel i am making a contribution to our sport by putting this comp on,which would otherwise not happen if i was not doing this.Regarding being a member of the BAF i have heard that some people stopped registering because they got nothing out of it.I myself am seriously thinking of becoming a member of the BAF and feel it is worthwhile despite what others say. As i aim to make a contribution to our sport both as a puller and a comp promoter,as i ran a sucessful training day at Highgrove Leisure Centre which was well supported and i will almost certainly be doing another one in the near future.

Dan german armwrestlers do not pay 20 euros a month lol they pay 5 as they had all agreed which i feel is fair 10 is too much a nice thing that the getmans do also is EAF, WAF champions from germany get a " well done" gift from the fed tshirts paid ONCE if lost or wanting a new obe you pay no eaf waf fees only athlete reg works very well for them
Jo

I am moving next Friday but am hoping to get up to Rossendale on the Saturday because I want to be a part of these discussions.

All I am going to say is this. Before we get people and clubs paying we need to get a transparent and sound infrastructure. This means regular AGMs. Also, although AGM are chaired by a board they need to be a place where all members can be a part of discussions. This head of clubs only thing is BULL! Example, I am always being invited to attend AGMs for organisations I have shares in etc. If I am putting money towards this, no matter how small (like my very small amount in shares example) I expect to at least be invited to attend the meeting or if I can't attend at least a means to put items on the agenda.

There is a lot more to this than simply "yeh, let's finance this". I will not put my money into something where my money can easily be lost into someone's bank account. Are we willing to have such a transparent system? Will we have a financial report each year accounting for my hard earnt money? No matter how small armwrestlers deserve to know that there money IS being used to further the BAF.

This means that the BAF will have to have at least two completely independant people on the business bank account and no money can be moved from that account without both parties signatures. The names should be the President and the Treasurer AT LEAST. I would also expect that all financial decisions are made by the board and the general arm wrestling public should have notice of decisions made.

I could go on about this for ages but I wanted to make a point that moving finances around the community will require a HUGE cultural change because believe me, I will not be paying 1p a month without having these procedures in place and neither should anybody else. As soon as my money is involved in growth it becomes an investment and only a fool invests without having an idea of an acceptable ROI.

Here is another idea.

In order to compete under BAF rules an armwrestler must have been accredited by a club. That means that everyone that turns up to BAF events must be members of a club. So here is a fair idea. We set a price that all BAF clubs MUST abide by of £20 PCM. All BAF clubs must keep an up to date register of member's. I could create a very simple googledoc that we could all use to register our clubs and it's members with the level we have accredited them to. We would simple check them as attending training. From that £20 PCM the club will owe the BAF £10. That way the club has finances for organising local competitions and the BAF gets financed from it's members.

If you turn up to a competition and you have either not paid membership to a club OR are not current in your payments then you will NOT be allowed to enter the competition.

Again, this method would require transparent financial management at club level.

Hi Matt, i agree entirely that there needs to be transparency and from conversations I have had with Keith, and he has spoken to Neil, it seems that we will be looking to appoint a financial officer/ treasurer to look after finances where the whole elected board decides how to spend the money, I propose we use a paypal account to collect all monies paid, i don't agree that everyone should be consulted before money is spent though as this is why we elect officials, to make those decisions.
An AGM happens once a year and yes, everyone should be allowed to attend and everyone will be entitiled to see what is happening with the finances, but there might be times, like at worlds or Europeans that a congress is called where only club presidents are in attendance.

I absolutely agree that anyone wanting to pull a BAF sanctioned event such as novice, New years cup or nationals MUST be a fully paid up member of the federation if holding a British passport, there are however a number of active armwrestlers that don't hold British nationality therefore are exempt from paying federation fees, however, in the case of the Cambridge club, we would still have to pay a club fee but my non British members will have to pay a higher entry fee as they will not be members of the federation, same for any other club that has non British nationals.

In the case of some armwrestlers that train alone, Stephen Kirlew for example, being a member of a club is not essential.

Hi Jo, sorry, i had information saying 20 euros, either way i agree entirely, team kit is issued for free but replacements or additional kit must be purchased by the athlete.

Dan, speaking frankly, trying to accomodate everyone makes management IMPOSSIBLE. Whatever happens it will need to be accross the board. For example, right now work is causing me to be a lonely arm wrestler training here, there and everywhere. However, for ease of managing the process I would be willing to set up a standing order to my LOCAL club.

With a googledoc ALL BAF sanctioned club leaders would be able to see that I am fully paid and therefore should be able to train with any club in the country (work dependant). This would be incredibly easy to manage and therefore is more likely to work than everyone paying inn different ways and living by different rules.

Also, I didn't say that all should be present at every meeting just at the AGM and all decisions should be posted with a time scale for people to raise queries. This is basic democracy, it's nothing unusual. ie. If the board decide on a GB kit costing £50 per person that is fine, but once the decision is made and posted no funds should leave the BAF for 7-14 days so that people can question it.

All of these "rules" would also need to be put in a constitutional document so that the "board" can be held to account by the membership and removed if necessary. Again, basic democracy.

TheDoctor wrote:

Dan, speaking frankly, trying to accomodate everyone makes management IMPOSSIBLE. Whatever happens it will need to be accross the board. For example, right now work is causing me to be a lonely arm wrestler training here, there and everywhere. However, for ease of managing the process I would be willing to set up a standing order to my LOCAL club.

With a googledoc ALL BAF sanctioned club leaders would be able to see that I am fully paid and therefore should be able to train with any club in the country (work dependant). This would be incredibly easy to manage and therefore is more likely to work than everyone paying inn different ways and living by different rules.

Also, I didn't say that all should be present at every meeting just at the AGM and all decisions should be posted with a time scale for people to raise queries. This is basic democracy, it's nothing unusual. ie. If the board decide on a GB kit costing £50 per person that is fine, but once the decision is made and posted no funds should leave the BAF for 7-14 days so that people can question it.

All of these "rules" would also need to be put in a constitutional document so that the "board" can be held to account by the membership and removed if necessary. Again, basic democracy.

How difficult would it be to set your standing order up to pay directly to the federation, How a club raises it's funds to pay membership fees is up to them, for example, if you have 10 guys you ask for a tenner each, if it's 20 the cost is a fiver, this is a once a year cost, call it annual membership to the club.

So if I belong to a club say Cambridge and the club is paying £100 does that mean I pay nothing?

Or am I supposed to pay 2 organisations to be able to compete?

Also, we need to be careful that we do not discourage people from setting up new clubs. It's gonna be a good discussion

TheDoctor wrote:

So if I belong to a club say Cambridge and the club is paying £100 does that mean I pay nothing?

Or am I supposed to pay 2 organisations to be able to compete?

Also, we need to be careful that we do not discourage people from setting up new clubs. It's gonna be a good discussion

No, the club pays to be part of the federation and each individual pays too. How the club raises funds is entirely upto the president of that club, just remember, not everyone in every club is a British national.

As i have stated previously, every single sport you want to get into, you have to pay.
For example, in time the Cambridge club will charge an annual membership and any of the British guys from the club will have to pay to be part of the federation too. In the same way that my ex had to pay mat fees to train with her Aikido club and she had to pay to maintain her licence with the Aikido governing body she belongs to.
This applies to anyone joining, if they don't want to pay, they don't get to train or compete.

Good points put forward from Dan, Matt and Paul Maiden also like to hear views from more Armwrestlers.
Also well said from Andy and Joanne.

But I would like to say that as a club (Warriors) as been from 2 to 5 members and is recently at 2 again.
Myself and Paul Mitchell have in the last several months been travelling to train at other clubs as the only way for small clubs to progress is train with bigger clubs. But what I'm getting at is if we was to stay as a club (Warriors) then we woulld be paying an annual fee of £50 each where as a club with 10 members pay £10 each.

How is this fare ?

We would have to Amalgamate or Disband our club to reduce personal costs.

ive not posted here before but as a casual armwrestler whos been to a few comps and wanted to enter some more this takes the biscuit

have these figures been drawn up on the back of a fag packet???? reading this thread has been a bit of an eye opener!!!

£10 every month then pay £30 to enter a comp maybe once a year and if you arent judged by the organiser to have made a tiny foul on the elbow win a £3 plastic trophy beating one other person????? why should people who just want to roll up compete in a comp and do a bit of arm wrestling every now and then have to pay a standing order to the BAF when they already pay a ridiculous £30 fee to enter the comp!!  

like dave said if you train with a mate, your ""club"" needs to pay £120 a year also!! what a joke!! what if you dont even live near a club like me, what then?? travel 100 miles then pay the nearest club so you can maybe enter a comp you might not even make it to?? stupid!! i live just outside louth in lincolnshire but im not travelling to cambridge and paying their club £120 a year!!

this would be all very well for a proper organised sport like akido or judo with voting which i used to do for a bit of judo when i was younger but for a small sport like arm wrestling where the last comp i went to had about 30 entries and almost no one watching seems a bit ridiculous!!  whats next, pay to join fifa so you can play footie in the park with your mates???

ive read this forum a few years, not surprised to see people with enough disposable income to fly off to foreign held competitions and world championships are all the ones proposing these fees and that the money from fees should be used to fund their trips and clothing, rather than the money used for putting on more comps round the country which would benefit everyone and grow the sport, which is surely more important!!! one of the guys in question even said he was going to put a comp on in the east which i thought would be a goodun for me last summer but he never bothered and went silent on it. not everyone wants to spend £80 petrol driving to preston every year either, totally unfair!!

so people on this thread say there is no money for refs or more comps or team fees but i went to the new years cup in 2011 just to get a feel for it and there was about 100 people all paying £25 to enter!!! thats £2500!!!! so where does the £2500 of money go collected at the comps go? where does all the membership money go from the people who join the BAF cos i see there is a website where you can enter and send money off? stupid old me was dead keen at that time in 2011 and talking to a friendly guy at the new year cup on the stairs about joining the BAF for £10 and getting involved and he told me ""don't f@@@ing bother mate its a con cos the guy puts all the money in his pocket, and you get nowt, end of!!!""" so i didnt bother!! that £10 a year sounds like a bargain compared to £120 though!!!!

so my point is why isnt all that comp fee money and membership money used to pay for a big great british team and clothing then ?? as its just this one guy running the BAF comps and everyone else refs for free according to this thread the money must just stay in his pocket!!!! don't anyone come back to my post and say again that there is no money to be had from a comp and the BAF doesnt make any money cos being in the brewing trade, pubs and nightclubs fall over themselves trying to bring in our customers - we are in a f''''ing recession remember everyone so getting a free venue is childs play, and you can buy plastic trophies for £3 in my local locksmiths!!

apologies for my spelling, this took ages but you get my point!!!

reaver

reaver wrote:

ive not posted here before but as a casual armwrestler whos been to a few comps and wanted to enter some more this takes the biscuit

have these figures been drawn up on the back of a fag packet???? reading this thread has been a bit of an eye opener!!!

£10 every month then pay £30 to enter a comp maybe once a year and if you arent judged by the organiser to have made a tiny foul on the elbow win a £3 plastic trophy beating one other person????? why should people who just want to roll up compete in a comp and do a bit of arm wrestling every now and then have to pay a standing order to the BAF when they already pay a ridiculous £30 fee to enter the comp!!  

like dave said if you train with a mate, your ""club"" needs to pay £120 a year also!! what a joke!! what if you dont even live near a club like me, what then?? travel 100 miles then pay the nearest club so you can maybe enter a comp you might not even make it to?? stupid!! i live just outside louth in lincolnshire but im not travelling to cambridge and paying their club £120 a year!!

this would be all very well for a proper organised sport like akido or judo with voting which i used to do for a bit of judo when i was younger but for a small sport like arm wrestling where the last comp i went to had about 30 entries and almost no one watching seems a bit ridiculous!!  whats next, pay to join fifa so you can play footie in the park with your mates???

ive read this forum a few years, not surprised to see people with enough disposable income to fly off to foreign held competitions and world championships are all the ones proposing these fees and that the money from fees should be used to fund their trips and clothing, rather than the money used for putting on more comps round the country which would benefit everyone and grow the sport, which is surely more important!!! one of the guys in question even said he was going to put a comp on in the east which i thought would be a goodun for me last summer but he never bothered and went silent on it. not everyone wants to spend £80 petrol driving to preston every year either, totally unfair!!

so people on this thread say there is no money for refs or more comps or team fees but i went to the new years cup in 2011 just to get a feel for it and there was about 100 people all paying £25 to enter!!! thats £2500!!!! so where does the £2500 of money go collected at the comps go? where does all the membership money go from the people who join the BAF cos i see there is a website where you can enter and send money off? stupid old me was dead keen at that time in 2011 and talking to a friendly guy at the new year cup on the stairs about joining the BAF for £10 and getting involved and he told me ""don't f@@@ing bother mate its a con cos the guy puts all the money in his pocket, and you get nowt, end of!!!""" so i didnt bother!! that £10 a year sounds like a bargain compared to £120 though!!!!

so my point is why isnt all that comp fee money and membership money used to pay for a big great british team and clothing then ?? as its just this one guy running the BAF comps and everyone else refs for free according to this thread the money must just stay in his pocket!!!! don't anyone come back to my post and say again that there is no money to be had from a comp and the BAF doesnt make any money cos being in the brewing trade, pubs and nightclubs fall over themselves trying to bring in our customers - we are in a f''''ing recession remember everyone so getting a free venue is childs play, and you can buy plastic trophies for £3 in my local locksmiths!!

apologies for my spelling, this took ages but you get my point!!!

reaver

First up, who are you and why haven't you taken the time to read this properly?

The figures being discussed were thrown out to test the water, to get a feel for what people would deem a reasonable amount. And the whole point of paying a monthly membership is to minimise or eliminate entirely the entry fee for Nationals, novice and New year cup. (novice and new years cup are open to non British nationals, so they don't have to pay to be in the federation and will have to pay an entry fee)

For arguments sake, lets break down the numbers,

£5 a month is £1.15 per week
£10 a month is £2.30 per week
£100 per year for a club is £8.33 per month or £1.92 per week

When i was running the Milton Keynes club with Jason and Ryan, everyone who trained payed £2 per session, no exceptions. If you didn't pay, you weren't allowed to train. When you've got 6-10 guys a week all paying £2 it soon ads up.

How much do you think hiring the venue costs, or the liability insurance? and as for £3 plastic trophies, well when you win one you will find that they are not plastic and certainly not £3, and I don't know what it's like in Licolnshire for venue hire, but everywhere else costs money, even my local community centre wants paying for use of the hall, and pubs won't hire space out on the promise that people will be spending tons of cash over the bar.

No club is being asked to pay £120 per year but they should have to pay a registration fee.
If you were to come to my club, what makes you think I should give up my time (time that I could be booking in clients! and time I could be spending training myself) to train you for free on a table that cost me personally £500?

You cannot just roll up every now and then, for several reasons, you haven't gained the understanding of force application, strength nor tendon conditioning required to allow you to pull in a safe mannor that will not injure you or your opponent!
This is a combat sport and arms get broken, if you haven't received proper instruction, you cannot compete. Would you walk into the British Jiu Jitsu open championchips and expect to be allowed to roll with the black belts just because you watch a bit of UFC or slap a rear naked on your mates in the pub?

The person you refer to that was going to put on a comp in the East was me and i'm awfully sorry that i wasn't financially able to run that event.

You really think that those of us fortunate enough to jet off round the world have that much disposable income? I didn't go to Poland this year because the time off would have cost me nearly 3 weeks wages, a weeks worth to pay my flights and hotel, money that i still have to pay to the gym i rent to run my personal training business and 10 days worth of clients that would not be paying me as i won't be training them.
Every time I travel I lose money. I just make this my priority, rather than spending 80 quid getting off my face at the weekends or inhaling £30 a weeks worth of tobbaco my money goes into my sport.

Of course if this were a proper organised sport, you wouldn't have a problem,
Again read the thread properly, the purpose of this whole discussion is to organise ourselves better, so in the future we can move forward, with a financial structure in place that would allow the federation to subsidise comps run by the clubs, to one day be in a position to send teams to foreign comps using federation money, to increase awareness of the sport and help build clubs up with the provision of equipment.
Of course these are long term goals and we'll soon find out who has a passion for this sport because they will be the ones doing everything they can to grow their clubs, support comps and think about the long and not the short term," what's in it for me, why should i pay if i can't benefit?"
The upcoming meeting will be to discuss and possibly to elect a board to ensure that all finances are accounted for and that we have transparancy so no one can claim "Rip Off"
You are of course welcome to come to the meeting and if you want to make the trip to Cambridge, i would be happy to get you up to speed so you can safely pull the novice comp in November, and i won't be charging you £120 for the privilege.

Interesting thread, not going to get to much in depth but here's a few points of what i think we should do -

1. All athletes entering any open comp must hold a BAF license which would cost around £30.00 per year.

2. Anyone entering an open comp must have a record book with their license in it which can also state previous competitions entered, rankings etc.

3. Unite all the open comps/elite supermatches and make them all BAF approved so all the pullers will have to have a BAF license to compete.

I think making things as simple as possible is the way forward here. As you can see i've not included the novices having to pay for a license here due to the fact i've seen a lot of guys just show up and enter comps in the past. The sport isn't big enough yet to deter any new comers so i'd say take one step at a time until we have a reliable and effective system.

As for the charging clubs annually i can see the concept of it but this makes things more complicated. When things are more complicated there's always going to be more discrepancies resulting in disputes as they may be more pullers in 1 club and less in another so every club would be paying different amounts.

As for where the money is spent i do believe it is vital we go to the worlds well organised with team clothing etc and of course any eligible athletes representing team GB should be helped out with the funds from the licensing as much as possible.

Cheers.

Best to send Dan your stuff or throw it out on the day,everybody gets a say so use it or don't cry if you don't

If its £5 £10 a month money needs to raised not everybody needs to pay but for that they should bd limitations to your BAF membership

Has for the people who want stuff paying for Reaver I am one of them since 2001 I have never been out of the qualification spots apart from not competing due to injuries etc so yes I think I have earned my right along with many others.
When you aspire to be a top athlete you don't set your sights on being the best and not reaping any rewards it's called paying the dues so you should reap the benefits,many of the guys in my boat can't afford to go when they make the team so have to turn it away so were not sending a strong of big team.so if the guys at the bottom of the ladder want there turn get to the top like we had to do it doesn't happen over night

Neil has told me personally he has lost money for years to pay for the trophys and I can understand with the poor attendance we get from guys that hide under a rock n don't pull

Power wrote:

Interesting thread, not going to get to much in depth but here's a few points of what i think we should do -

1. All athletes entering any open comp must hold a BAF license which would cost around £30.00 per year.

2. Anyone entering an open comp must have a record book with their license in it which can also state previous competitions entered, rankings etc.

3. Unite all the open comps/elite supermatches and make them all BAF approved so all the pullers will have to have a BAF license to compete.

I think making things as simple as possible is the way forward here. As you can see i've not included the novices having to pay for a license here due to the fact i've seen a lot of guys just show up and enter comps in the past. The sport isn't big enough yet to deter any new comers so i'd say take one step at a time until we have a reliable and effective system.

As for the charging clubs annually i can see the concept of it but this makes things more complicated. When things are more complicated there's always going to be more discrepancies resulting in disputes as they may be more pullers in 1 club and less in another so every club would be paying different amounts.

As for where the money is spent i do believe it is vital we go to the worlds well organised with team clothing etc and of course any eligible athletes representing team GB should be helped out with the funds from the licensing as much as possible.

Cheers.

You are pretty much bang on what I'm talking about Pete, i really like point 3 and will put this on the agenda for the meeting.

I would rather have someone not enter a comp because of cost, than turn up and hurt themselves or someone else and never return to the sport.

You are in the best position to answer this, what was the required minimum grading to enter a judo competition and did you have to be a member of a dojo?
With regards to novices, how many times have guys turned up at practice and gone full pelt at someone in dangerous position because their ego doesn't let them listen to instruction and take it easy, then they never return because of the pain in their arms for weeks after? If some one turns up with that attitude in a Judo club you can put them on their ass safely, to knock the ego out of them, we can't just hit a novice on the table without breaking their arm, you tell someone to back off, explain that they could break their arm at anytime but all you get is, "No, I'll be alright, I'm strong" no one seems to have the same respect for the dangers of armwrestling as they do for martial arts.

All those guys you have seen turn up randomly to enter a comp, where are they now. They're not pulling, either because they didn't like real as opposed to pub armwrestling, the organisation of the event or the fact that their arms hurt for days.

The club fee is a tricky one, but one that needs to be set appropriately, I know i keep referencing martial arts but the clubs have to be part of the governing body and pay to do so, regardless of size, the cost is the same. The emphasis is on the club to raise funds by growing their numbers, not the governing body to say, well there are only 2 of you so you can pay less. One cost across the board is the only fair way to do things, then those that run the club have to actually do some work to increase their numbers, Look at what Keith does at the Panthers. He's worked hard to grow his club, is it fair that he should he have to pay more than you or I?
If we allow the clubs to pay quarterly then it makes it much easier, £25 every 3 months is not difficult to acheive. All you have to do is put put £2 a week aside in a club fund. And lets be honest, who can't raise £2 a week?

I am glad this discussion is taking place, the points being raised are exactly why I started this thread. It bodes well for the future of the sport if we can all sit down and put together a paln of action.

paul maiden wrote:

Best to send Dan your stuff or throw it out on the day,everybody gets a say so use it or don't cry if you don't

If its £5 £10 a month money needs to raised not everybody  needs to pay but for that they should bd limitations to your BAF membership

Has for the people who want stuff paying for Reaver I am one of them since 2001 I have never been out of the qualification spots apart from not competing due to injuries etc so yes I think I have earned my right along with many others.
When you aspire to be a top athlete you don't set your sights on being the best and not reaping any rewards it's called paying the dues so you should reap the benefits,many of the guys in my boat can't afford to go when they make the team so have to turn it away so were not sending a strong of big team.so if the guys at the bottom of the ladder want there turn get to the top like we had to do it doesn't happen over night

Neil has told me personally he has lost money for years to pay for the trophys and I can understand with the poor attendance we get from guys that hide under a rock n don't pull

Spot on Paul.

I'd like to suggest a few points - Whether you consider them or not is entirely up to yourselves, being a non-armwrestler I fully expect to wear my 'flame proof' suit in anticipation!
However, being the chair of the committee for several years now I would like to suggest good practice in terms of how we got started.
A committee formed for any organisation generally consists of a chairperson, treasurer & secretary, along with committee members.
At an initial meeting people can nominate themselves for the role of chair, treasurer and secretary - all nominees need to be 'seconded' - if more than one person nominates themselves for the same role - a vote is taken from all members present -majority takes on the role. The role should be for a set amount of time i.e. 12 months.
There is no criteria for those who can put themselves forward for nomination ie. person who has been there the longest or has the most experience automatically gets the job.
The committee should have a policy for openness, fairness and equality to all.
The chair cannot make his of her own decisions or 'play God' - they act in the interests of all committee members. As with any committee, any decisions made will please some and displease others - It is not possible to put a smile on everyone's face! The important factor to consider is that when rules or suggestions are made that have an impact on all this is done fairly, openly and equally - all members should vote and decisions made with the majority. In the event of a 'tie' the chair, treasurer and secretary have the casting vote.
Some may not be pleased with the outcome of a particular decision but they will respect the fact they have had their 'say' - this should minimise any bitching.
Minutes of ANY meeting/ decisions should be taken by the secretary and distributed to all members - hard copy or electronically. Prior to any meeting an agenda should be set and distributed to all members.
Date/ time deadline should be given to all members if they wish to comment on an item on the agenda either in person or via email prior to the meeting.
As armwrestlers from all over the UK you are lucky that you have this forum that can be utilised in order to do this effectively.
The treasurer is the named person along with a second signature that does not have to be the chair or secretary who is responsible for the upkeep and account of all monies collected and distributed. A bank account should be set up in the name of the organisation - monies should never go to or come from any individuals personal account. Generally, treasurers need to undertake credit checking etc.
Any money taken from the account should be done so with the knowledge and prior permission (this will have been agreed at meetings ) of the committee members.

It's also good practice to ensure that you have liability or indemnity insurance for all events to be held under the Organisations 'umbrella' and that a copy of this is displayed at all events.
I'd also recommend having a First Aider who has a current qualification at all events.
How you come to conclusions about monies and how you finance this is entirely up yourselves - however neither the chair, treasurer or secretary in my committee are funded or paid for their time or anything they may do in connection with the organisation. Neither do these people have any special privileges - they abide by the same rules as everyone else.
Hopefully, food for thought?
Good luck guys!

Hi Dan,

It was entirely up to the coach whether the Judo player was ready or not and yes in most cases you had to be from a BJA registered club.

There are some interesting points from everyone it would be good to set something in stone and see the sport progress.

Cheers.

Moo has some good points ive said to neil before about first aider & got told the ambulance station is down the road & if a aw break there arm nothing can be done a part from phoning 999 but ive help a few aw out in the passed some im willing to be a first aider at any event that i can get to

*Moo* wrote:

I'd like to suggest a few points - Whether you consider them or not is entirely up to yourselves, being a non-armwrestler I fully expect to wear my 'flame proof' suit in anticipation!
However, being the chair of the committee for several years now I would like to suggest good practice in terms of how we got started.
A committee formed for any organisation generally consists of a chairperson, treasurer & secretary, along with committee members.
At an initial meeting people can nominate themselves for the role of chair, treasurer and secretary - all nominees need to be 'seconded' - if more than one person nominates themselves for the same role - a vote is taken from all members present -majority  takes on the role. The role should be for a set amount of time i.e. 12 months.
There is no criteria for those who can put themselves forward for nomination ie. person who has been there the longest or has the most experience automatically gets the job.
The committee should have a policy for openness, fairness and equality to all.
The chair cannot make his of her own decisions or 'play God' - they act in the interests of all committee members. As with any committee, any decisions made will please some and displease others - It is not possible to put a smile on everyone's face! The important factor to consider is that when rules or suggestions are made that have an impact on all this is done fairly, openly and equally - all members should vote and decisions made with the majority. In the event of a 'tie' the chair, treasurer and secretary have the casting vote.
Some may not be pleased with the outcome of a particular decision but they will respect the fact they have had their 'say' - this should minimise any bitching.
Minutes of ANY meeting/ decisions should be taken by the secretary and distributed to all members - hard copy or electronically. Prior to any meeting an agenda should be set and distributed to all members.
Date/ time deadline should be given to all members if they wish to comment on an item on the agenda either in person or via email prior to the meeting.
As armwrestlers from all over the UK you are lucky that you have this forum that can be utilised in order to do this effectively.
The treasurer is the named person along with a second signature that does not have to be the chair or secretary who is responsible for the upkeep and account of all monies collected and distributed. A bank account should be set up in the name of the organisation - monies should never go to or come from any individuals personal account. Generally, treasurers need to undertake credit checking etc.
Any money taken from the account should be done so with the knowledge and prior permission (this will have been agreed at meetings ) of the committee members.

It's also good practice to ensure that you have liability or indemnity insurance for all events to be held under the Organisations 'umbrella' and that a copy of this is displayed at all events.
I'd also recommend having a First Aider who has a current qualification at all events.
How you come to conclusions about monies and how you finance this is entirely up yourselves - however neither the chair, treasurer or secretary in my committee are funded or paid for their time or anything they may do in connection with the organisation. Neither do these people have any special privileges - they abide by the same rules as everyone else.
Hopefully, food for thought?
Good luck guys!

This is absolutely what i'm on about, would you consider coming to the meeting at the novice in November?