Announcement from Admin Director

[George Neave]

Hi Craig
The decision was taken  for several reasons including receiving advice both medically and otherwise. At the moment the events are cancelled i.e. finished. However the Management Committee may review this decision at the end of April and only if all team captains are in agreement. Clubs cannot cope with this out of hand as they probably wont have venues until the new season is upon us when the new Richardson Cup will be upon us. We didn't rush to make this decision and there were other factors which came into play that I will not mention. The team captains that have approached me have all said the correct decision has been made. I have also had to cancel the finals venue in Grangemouth in April and getting another venue booked in this climate is near to impossible, so the correct decision has been made and i would never force a fixture to be played in these circumstances. Another reason for the cancellation is that several teams had asked for guidance and with these cancellation decisions been taken both inside and outside of chess, then  the decision to cancel is relatively easy to take. It would have more difficult to take a wait and see policy.
On a personal note there was not other decision that could have been made due to notification, venue and playing arrangements to be made.
To me there isn't a cats chance in Hell chance for the games to be played, not least for logistical and medical reasons. You may have noticed I allowed for the chance for  games to be played out width the Richardson Cup. Unfortunately for the Richardson Cup in these current circumstances I cant allow teams to play for other teams deciding it was unsafe or unable to play either by a decimated team pool or the inability to find alternative dates. and venues.

I note that SFA have cancelled Scottish Cup semis and final but say they do plan they will go ahead at a later date. I would think the same approach could be applied here. There is no need to book a venue now. This decision can be deferred until mid-year or into the autumn if necessary. In recent years the Richardson has not started before December so there should still be time to fit in the outstanding 3 matches later in they year. Why not?