British Foosball Association

Hey guys! So this is the 1st blog of my 2nd term as BFA Chair and the 2012-13 committee. Much like this time last year, which certainly doesn’t feel like a year ago, this will mainly be a brief outline of some of the changes the 2012 AGM brought. So the 2012-13 committee are;

• Chair - Joe Bundy
• Treasurer - John Worthington
• Vice-Chair - Boris Atha
• General Secretary - Christopher Lyall
• Women’s Officer - Mayya Racy
• EC Member - Au Chee Meng
• EC Member - Stephen Lyall
• EC Member – Jonathan May
• EC Member - Andrew Nubbert

The first difference you may notice is that this is a 9 person committee, reduced from 11 last year. I hope this change will help speed up the vote process within the committee, and also make us feel a little more collective, which is always easier in a smaller group.

This year though we bring in the role of ‘Observer Status’. This small group are those that are outside of the committee, but still want to be more involved in the ‘official’ side of our game. This year this role begins with Ben Mason and Martin Landers. It will be interesting to see how this role works out over the course of the next year, though these 2 individuals have a great passion for the game and I very much look forward to their contribution in their fields of expertise and interests.

This of course goes for the committee too. I think it is quite a diverse group, which is brilliant. We can bring the experience of Boris, who has been with us since day 1, together with the new enthusiasm and ideas of Meng who is less than 18 months into his involvement with the BFA as a player. Meng is the only new member of the 2012-13 committee, and I very much look forward to the new input he will bring.

I would also like to extend my thanks to the outgoing committee members Rich Potts and Matt Price. These guys were very involved and though they are no longer on the committee I hope they continue their involvement in the game through different avenues. Of course I do have complete faith that they will though.

So what have we done in the past year? Well the main point is that we have made the first steps into having a network of clubs throughout our country. We are creating the infrastructure for these clubs, but as an organisation we cannot force it to happen. It’s down to the players, us all, to get involved with this and move away from just our standard national tournament model for the official playing side of the game here. I think more and more people are becoming away that this club model, which has worked so well in countries like Germany, is the way forward. But it’s up to all of us to take the steps into this together. I hope we can continue to make progress on this in the coming year. It’s already started with some incorporation into the next national tournament – the 2012 Warwick Open.

I did get asked the other day, towards the conclusion of a, let’s say, rather long-winded issue, why I wanted to stay Chairman. Well, over 10 years since its creation, I believe the BFA has earned respect abroad and trust and pride at home. Talking of pride, I hope everyone has seen the reports from Nantes 2012 (here - http://bit.ly/AswaqX) as the guys who went over there to represent us could not have made our country more proud.
The BFA is far from perfect but is at its best a great institution. It should constantly strive to do better, growing our game and offering as much as we can to as many people as possible. After my 4 years in the BFA I do have a great love for the game, and my many friends within in, and I do want to be a part of these goals and see advancements in them. Much like the BFA I am far from perfect in this role, but what do you expect when a 22 year old takes over as Chair ;), but I do feel that I am growing into it. Let’s hope that continues this year.

So to end, as I did touch on earlier, the next UK national tournament will be the Warwick Open 9th-11th March 2012. Looking at the discussion and growth of this tournament in the Event Organisers Forum, I am really excited about it. The latest generation of Warwickfoos is bringing some real enthusiasm, you can just feel it in reading their plans, and some exciting new ideas for what can be done at UK tournaments. Details should be coming your way in the next few days, so look out for that!

Oh, and if you're only coming across this through our forum, check out our updated main page - www.britfoos.com - once again Tom King is doing great work here. With so much of what we do reliant on our website, Tom's work is essential to us. And it is very much appreciated.

Until next time.

Joe.