15-08-2013, 01:53 PM
Whenever I go back to this noticeboard I keep having to remind myself that all this fervour and debate circles around a pastime involving people moving bits of wood/plastic around the board (and one I still enjoy very much).
I was involved in very low level way in coaching/organising junior chess in Lothians from 2002/7. I felt towards the end of my time that merely by suggesting tournaments which the children I coached could play in I was getting dragged into politics which, having no children of my own, I had absolutely no opinion/care about. Around about that time a few comments from some parents about their children's national selections (not necessarily directed at me although I was involved in junior selections at that time) made me realise that if I got further involved in chess I would be dragged into the poisonous atmosphere.
Around 2007 as well I was emailed by my local orienteering club asking if I wanted to plan/organise an event. Since then I have planned/organised around 10 events and have never witnessed any factions/politics, in fact it is helped in orienteering by the fact that most people want to be foot soldiers and entrust the politics to 5/6 committee members from around Scotland. Contrast that to chess where it seems everyone wants to be a committee member but no one wants to be a foot soldier.
Orienteering probably compares with chess in size in Scotland/UK but our national organisations don't have any standard committees (which I do think is necessary in chess to police you lot!) and board resignations/suspensions halfway through. Instead they have a well organised set of volunteers who all work together as a team and who, in conjunction with the British Orienteering Federation are bringing the World Championships to Scotland in 2015.
I was hoping this would fade out over time, but 6 years on I recently received a circular email telling me of a minor incident I had absolutely no opinion/ care about but which reeked of political intent. In orienteering we have had incidents where people have clashed physically in a race but been able to resolve it once tempers are cooled on the same day. The fact it has not been able to be resolved shows the whole system has become politicised - I go back to my first paragraph above.
My advice is: No matter what role you are involved in/or want to have in Chess Scotland, ask yourself if you have brought more 'footsoldiers' to chess than you have put off through political bickering. If you cannot honestly reply yes then leave the arena now. There seem to be some good people still coming forward to volunteer (some even younger than myself and some parents) who deserve the chance to do their bit in Chess Scotland without getting dragged into decade old politics. I am living proof that people get turned off by the bickering.
It would be great if one year at the AGM we could just get some new faces in who haven't been poisoned by the previous set of protagonists. The only way I can see this happening is by those who have been propagating the nonsense over the past few decades to voluntarily step back and give some space to some fresh new parents/organisers who haven't had these prejudices bedded in. Then maybe people like myself might return to chess.
I was involved in very low level way in coaching/organising junior chess in Lothians from 2002/7. I felt towards the end of my time that merely by suggesting tournaments which the children I coached could play in I was getting dragged into politics which, having no children of my own, I had absolutely no opinion/care about. Around about that time a few comments from some parents about their children's national selections (not necessarily directed at me although I was involved in junior selections at that time) made me realise that if I got further involved in chess I would be dragged into the poisonous atmosphere.
Around 2007 as well I was emailed by my local orienteering club asking if I wanted to plan/organise an event. Since then I have planned/organised around 10 events and have never witnessed any factions/politics, in fact it is helped in orienteering by the fact that most people want to be foot soldiers and entrust the politics to 5/6 committee members from around Scotland. Contrast that to chess where it seems everyone wants to be a committee member but no one wants to be a foot soldier.
Orienteering probably compares with chess in size in Scotland/UK but our national organisations don't have any standard committees (which I do think is necessary in chess to police you lot!) and board resignations/suspensions halfway through. Instead they have a well organised set of volunteers who all work together as a team and who, in conjunction with the British Orienteering Federation are bringing the World Championships to Scotland in 2015.
I was hoping this would fade out over time, but 6 years on I recently received a circular email telling me of a minor incident I had absolutely no opinion/ care about but which reeked of political intent. In orienteering we have had incidents where people have clashed physically in a race but been able to resolve it once tempers are cooled on the same day. The fact it has not been able to be resolved shows the whole system has become politicised - I go back to my first paragraph above.
My advice is: No matter what role you are involved in/or want to have in Chess Scotland, ask yourself if you have brought more 'footsoldiers' to chess than you have put off through political bickering. If you cannot honestly reply yes then leave the arena now. There seem to be some good people still coming forward to volunteer (some even younger than myself and some parents) who deserve the chance to do their bit in Chess Scotland without getting dragged into decade old politics. I am living proof that people get turned off by the bickering.
It would be great if one year at the AGM we could just get some new faces in who haven't been poisoned by the previous set of protagonists. The only way I can see this happening is by those who have been propagating the nonsense over the past few decades to voluntarily step back and give some space to some fresh new parents/organisers who haven't had these prejudices bedded in. Then maybe people like myself might return to chess.