British Foosball Association

12 January 2005

I wanted to provide an update as to activities of the BFA over the past 6 months. Much has happened, including wide distribution of the BFA Flyer, the extremely successful UK Masters and UK Open tournaments, and a number of changes to the website including the BFA Shop.

Specific thanks go to:

• Roger Healy for printing a whole stack of BFA flyers for distribution to venues and members. The request really did go in at a time when Roger was run off his feet at work and he really pulled out all the stops to get the flyers printed on time for distribution. All members should have received copies, if not please email me with your address and I can send a copy out. Also, continuing thanks to Roger for storing the BFA tables - a vital service.
• Carling Expert Challenge volunteers including Alex Shovelton, Paddy Grover, Bill Donne and Pete Ganderton. Expert Challenges are the primary source of financial support for the BFA and I thank all those who attended for their involvement. Our input was extremely well received by the organisers and I am hopeful that they will appoint us again next year.
• Bill Donne for his central role in promoting the UK Open, along with the many volunteers that all helped out before, during and afterwards.
• John Shovelton and Ben Brookes for their work on the Venues Database. The process has stalled somewhat but I hope a more interactive venues search will be introduced soon.
• Dave Oates for producing the lovely calendars that were on sale at the UK Open and which remain on sale via me (details to appear soon on the BFA Shop).

Tournament Organisation

With a full year total of 9 Tornado and 9 Garlando ranking tournaments, 2004 was truly a record year. For me this is a clear sign of how far the game has come in the last 3 years. The other notable feature of the 2004 event diary was how diverse the events were:

• Tables: Tornado, WC Garlando, Traditional Garlando, FAS
• Formats: DE, WC groups, Swiss, Team events
• Events: more frequent Novice, Womens, Mixed events
• Speciality events: 2BRB, FSO, GW, DYPs, Team events

The highlight of the year for me was the UK Open. This was a success by any measure, but considering the number of aspects that were previously totally untested it was all the more impressive. Main achievements included:

• 20 tables split across different table types
• unprecedented levels of publicity to maximise attendance and profile
• aggressive event schedule would have been impossible pre-SPORT
• completely new format for team events
• separate amateur and pro event schedule on the Sunday

We managed a record turnout and all in all I felt we really demonstrated what can be achieved when people pull together. Only a pity that one or two people decided bitch loud and wide about one or two relatively minor issues, but hey, you cannot please everyone all the time.

Tornado Working Group

There has been greater activity in the TWG following the announcement of UK-based Crown as European distributor for Tornado tables. Dates are already in the calendar and options for revising the Tornado rankings are being discussed.

Garlando Working Group

It is fair to say that the GWG was one of the real successes of 2004, really pulling together on a number of occasions to run some of the most professionally organised events to date. Most recently the GWG has been discussing minor amendments to the Garlando rankings, which will be publicised shortly.

Computing Working Group

There have been a number of glitches on the BritFoos part of the website of late that will require fairly extensive re-writing in the not too distant future. The CWG is working on some implementation options that will hopefully make the BFA website much more like an interactive portal and less like an information site with forum attached. The changes could really improve the way information is disseminated.

Expert Challenge Working Group

In order to be more proactive in stimulating interest in our various corporate offerings, Dave Oates has been working on an information pack to distribute to corporates. This is a vitally important area for the BFA and, as always, if anyone feels they are in a position to assist in this area please email me.

(Still) working on....

• BFA Newsletter - still no development on this front. A number of people have expressed an interest but have not followed through with any action. Again, anyone with a publishing bone in their body please let me know.
• Elo rankings - maybe it will happen, maybe not. We will have to wait and see!

Assistance (still!) required....

• Table storage - if you can offer storage for 2 or preferably 4 tables at a time please let me know.
• Table transport - transporting tables is often the most difficult aspect of organising a tournament. Any assistance anyone can offer in this area would be much appreciated.
• Venue representatives / Regular Haunts - The number of regular haunts has been slowly increasing but we still need more people to put their local venue forward.

And finally....

Finally, as this will be my last update following my decision to step down from the Chair at the forthcoming AGM (22 January 2005 at Bar Kick), I wanted to say a couple of things.

• Many thanks! Firstly, thanks go to all the many people who have assisted with the various aspects of organising / arranging / transporting / advising etc over the past two years. I do not want to name names as I would end up listing about 30 people but you all know who you are. I hope that you will give the same level of support to the next Chairman.
• Get involved! - this really is the only way the scene will grow, if people get involved. The structure of the BFA is now such that people should be able to get involved in what they want and have the power to get things done, without getting roped into a load of tasks they have no interest in or getting bogged down in bureaucracy.
• Remember where you came from! - people's perception of what the BFA should be doing tends to change as they get get more serious about the game, or more involved in the organisation. What I have attempted to do is to be totally inclusive of all standards, abilities, rules, shots and table preferences! Everyone, especially those involved promoting the game, should always try to remember that 90% of players only ever play for fun down the pub, will only ever play for fun down the pub, and will never consider the way "serious" players play as fun.

Anyway, thats all from me (for now)!

Regards,
Richard Thomson
BFA Chairman 16 March 2003 - 22 January 2005

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