TRURO BRIDGE CLUB
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Prepared by the Cornwall Contract Bridge Association - January 2009
STRATEGEY FOR THE FUTURE
OF THE EBU AND An easy-to-understand explanation of
the main features of the new proposals which are INTRODUCTION All duplicate bridge players will
have heard something about the new EBU proposals which have PAY TO PLAY [P2P] The cornerstone of the new proposal
is the Pay to Play Scheme. Gone will be a member's annual MAIN FEATURES OF PROPOSAL - Annual EBU membership subcription is abolished, being replaced by a per person Pay to Play fee. - Members of an affiliated club will automatically become members of the EBU. - Lifetime membership cards will be isued. - There will be no charges
whatsoever for Master Points, which can only be registered electronically - The annual EBU club affiliation
fee is £30.00 irrespective of membership size or number of - An EBU diary and 6 copies of English Bridge magazine are sent to all members each year. - A regular electronic newsletter,
scoring software free of charge, and discounted equipment will be HOW THE SCHEME WILL AFFECT INDIVIDUALS - Every club member will decide
which is their club of primary affiliation - although they can still - Members will be allocated a unique membership number - existing members will retain their current membership number - which will be quoted by them whenever they play in an EBU club/county/national event. - Anonymity is available for those players who do not wish to receive any mailings from the EBU - a pseudonym rather than real personal details will be assigned on the EBU database. - The P2P fee of 32 pence will be collected via normal table money. Total table money will, of course, continue to be set by each club itself. - A rebate will be made at the end of each year to players who play more that 150 sessions per year. - There will also be a P2P fee for all league matches, knockouts, county and national events but not for teachings, charity or party events. - By logging onto the EBU website, members can check at any time that master points have been attributed to them. - Members under the age of 25 are exempt from the P2P fee. HOW THE SCHEME WILL AFFECT CLUBS - The P2P scheme is dependent on clubs having access to the a computer with Internet capabilities. Details of every duplicate session subject to P2P must be transmitted to the EBU via the Internet using electronic scoring software programs. These programs may be adaptions of clubs' existing software or may be new software provided free by the EBU. - Clubs will be billed two-monthly in arrears or monthly by direct debit which option attracts a £2.00 per month discount. - These bills will itemise every session played in the period, number of players, and each Club's costs liability, with a total for the full period. The P2P on the invoice will include both the EBU element and the County element (the EBU then pays the county element straight to the county association0. - Each affiliated club will be offered a free online club session in its own online club room each week for every member of that club. DIRECT MEMBERSHIP Direct membership with the EBU will still be available for players who are not members of an affiliated club, or are members of a bridge club which decides not to continue EBU affiliation. The annual subscription for direct membership has not yet been published. DIARY OF CRITICAL DATES April 2009 THE AFFILIATION DECISION ....... Your Chairman, Geoff Warren, and his Committee, hopes that all 16 clubs in Cornwall will continue affiliation to the EBU, and hence, continue to remain affiliated to the CCBA. The strength of the game of duplicate bridge in the county is a function of the number of people playing, both at club and county level, and hthe hope is that EBU membership will increase and more people will realise and benefit from what the EBU has promised to offer. Few would argue that the EBU has covered itself in glory over recent years, but we believe these proposals mark a significant change in attitude and that they should be allowed to be tried and tested and only dismissed if found wanting. The most difficult decision is to be made by those clubs with few EBU members at the moment. Whilst the cost will actually go down for current EBU members playing session of duplicate a week, the cost for current non-members of the EBU would go up if the club they play at elects for continued EBU affiliation. This weekly increase will depend by what the club puts up its weekly table money. On the other hand, current non-members will benefit from the receipt of the magazines and dairy and might be encouraged to participate in EBU sponsored events with the county. The real cost per person to a club will be something less than the anticipated 32p because there will be no cost of pay for master points in the future (about 7 pence per player). So if the net increase is 25 pence per player, this should be the average increase in table money. Some clubs may absorb the increase in the short term and not put the table money up at all. Others may have been close to increasing table money before P2P came along, so they may add say, 50 pence to the table money. However you look at it, we are not talking about a vast increase in the cost of playing bridge. Whatever the increased cost to the duplicate bridge players of Cornwall, everyone will agree that in this day and age bridge is still a remarkably inexpensive pastime to play and enjoy.
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