ABF Board Communique August 29, 2024
The ABF Board met online on August 29th and reviewed a broad range of topics. A summary of the meeting can be found below.
If you have any questions, please contact David Fryda, Executive Director at
david.fryda@abf.com.au
Board Members: Allison Stralow (Chair), Jenny Thompson (Secretary), Dagmar Neumann, Richard Ward and David Fryda (Executive Director)
In Attendance: Phil Markey (General Counsel), Margaret Cusack (Executive Administrator)
Tournament Committee Chair
The Board acknowledged the service of Peter Reynolds over many years in the role of Chair of the Tournament Committee. Liam Milne has been appointed as the new Chair and the Board wishes to express their gratitude to Liam for agreeing to take on this key role.
2024 ANC – Orange NSW
The ANC in Orange was recognised for its great success. There were 689 players participating in the ANC which incorporated the Central West Festival of Bridge held over two weeks. 97% of the players who responded to the after event survey rated it as exceeding (56%) or meeting (41%) expectations. The organising team from Sydney and Orange are to be commended for their efforts.
Queensland will be hosting the ANC next year followed by the ACT in 2026 and Tasmania in 2027. The Northern Territory Bridge Association is currently reviewing the possibility of taking up their hosting opportunity in 2028.
8th World Youth Championships – Wroclaw, Poland
Australia had two teams representing us at these championships. The Under 26 Open team and the Under 26 Women’s team. The Women’s team was able to attend thanks to the generosity of bridge players supporting their fund-raising efforts earlier in the year. Both teams performed very well with the Women’s team reaching the final (top 4) of their event and one of the Open pairs (George Bartley and Jack Luke-Paredi) just missing out on a medal in the Pairs event. Our thanks also to the two non-playing captains, Lauren Travis and Mike Doecke for their efforts in helping to support the teams both before and during the championships. In addition, we would like to thank those expert players who provided mentoring to the youth players prior to the event.
The Board is very happy to continue supporting Australian youth teams and would like to encourage Australian bridge players to continue to offer their support. One way in which this can be done is by donating to the Go Fund Me account here which has been established to assist with subsidising young bridge players to attend the 2025 Youth Week event in January in Canberra.
2025 Summer Festival of Bridge
Laura Ginnan has been appointed as the Tournament organiser for both Youth Week and the Summer Festival. The format of the open and selection events will be the same as this year. Some additional focus on development sessions for both newer players and clubs. Laura will be sending promotional material to both clubs and past players encouraging them to play in the ABF’s flagship tournament.
ABF 2024 Expenditure
The Executive Director shared with the Board the latest forecast on the current year’s expenditure. The chart below indicates the proportion of expenditure on each expense category.
2025 Fee Increases
The Executive Director shared with the Board that the announcement of the 2025 Fee increases had been made via a variety of channels during August.
Despite the size of the increases being significant from a percentage perspective there has been widespread recognition that the affiliation costs are relatively low, bridge remains a comparatively low-cost pastime and that the investments being made by the ABF are worthwhile.
News of the increases were met by some clubs and players with concerns and the Executive Director continues to be available to respond directly to answer any questions.
2024 Club Teams Knockout
The number of teams participating in the Club Teams Knockout (CTK) this year has increased to 55 from 47 in 2023 and 32 in 2022. It was noted that NSW clubs are relatively poorly represented in this national event with no Sydney based clubs participating. The Board highlighted the need for increased promotion, especially to Sydney based clubs to provide their players with the opportunity to earn gold points.
2025 Playoffs and Representatives
The Board reviewed the entry fees for the Open and Mixed Playoff events to be held later this year.
These events, along with the subsidies offered to representative players continue to be a significant component of the ABF’s annual expenses. The Board feels that it is important to maintain a balance between the importance of supporting our representative players and supporting the broader community of bridge players across the country. The Board resolved to increase the entry fees for the playoff events but to also alter the charging methodology so that teams pay per round in which they participate in. More details will be provided to the players eligible to participate and be made available online.
The winning teams at the Playoffs will represent Australia in 2025 at the Asia Pacific Bridge Championships in Quanzhou, China and at the World Championships in a location yet to be announced. The Board resolved to set the player subsidies for 2025 based on the cost of flights to the events plus one night’s accommodation. As such the subsidy amount will not be fixed until the World Bridge Federation (WBF) announces the location of their event.
The Board also resolved to form a working group to consider subsidies for representative teams for 2027 onwards noting that 2026 is a year when there are no Australian representative target events.
International Knowledge Sharing
Ben Thompson, First Vice President of the WBF facilitates knowledge sharing amongst representatives from some of the world’s larger (by player numbers) National Bridge Organisations (NBOs) of which Australia is one. A summary of the key points that were shared at the latest meeting attended by David Fryda is included at the end of this report.
MyABF
Bernie Plath, President of the Undercroft Bridge Club (WA) has joined the MyABF Steering Committee. Bernie will not only be a voice on the committee representing WA, but his many years of Information Technology experience will also be invaluable.
There are now approximately 24,000 player’s details in MyABF with more than 13,000 having actively used the system to enter a session. There are 22 clubs using MyABF to manage their day to day sessions and 6 more have set themselves up in preparation for doing so.
A major new software release is scheduled for late October. This release will support clubs wishing to manage their membership renewal process. After this release the focus will turn to integrating the Masterpoint Centre into MyABF. This is targeted to be implemented in 2025 at which time we will be able to retire the existing ageing Masterpoint Centre software.
State and Territory associations are encouraged to promote attendance at ABF hosted webinars to help clubs to improve their understanding of MyABF’s potential to improve club administration.
Tournament Committee
The Tournament Committee recommended to the Board and the Board agreed to:
- Retain the 3-stage format for the Open ANC Butler trialled in Orange this year
- Allow the top-seeded team in the Open and Mixed Playoff in a seven entry format to choose to play an opponent rather than have a bye in the quarter-final
- Allow teams contesting the Online GNOT Phase 2 who lose in their knockout matches to withdraw from the Swiss repechage.
Calendar of ABF Licensed Events
The Board asked Matt McManus to conduct a review of the calendar of ABF licensed events with a view to making any necessary changes from 2026 onwards. Matt consulted with 8 state/territory secretaries and 14 tournament organisers.
Overall there was a high level of contentment with the current timetable of National events. A preference was expressed to try to avoid the conflict between the Barrier Reef Congress and the Autumn Nationals; however both parties were appreciative of the difficulties involved due to state holidays and venue availability. Two events mentioned potential, but not essential, alternative times. Bridge Victoria raised the possibility of a new event at a holiday resort, along lines similar to the Coffs Coast Gold.
The Board concluded not to make any significant changes.
Next Meeting
The Board will next meet on 15 October.
Notes from WBF Knowledge Sharing Group Meeting 24 August
Participants
WBF: Ben Thompson, Arianna Testa
National bodies: David Fryda (Australia), Gordon Rainsford (England), Patrick Shields (England), Franck Riehm (France), Barbara Hanne (Germany), Johan Pieters (Netherlands), Bronia Jenkins (USA)
Key Conclusions
- Whatever gets people through the door is good; e.g. Simplified trick-taking games (e.g. Bridge War, MiniBridge, Kida)
- Other mind sports (e.g. Mah Jong, backgammon, chess)
- Don’t push people to learn bridge – just let them enjoy whatever games they’re playing, then add “more” according to their interest; don’t rush it
- Online is here to stay, so engage with it; g. ACBL has a variety of online games, virtual clubs
- France has attracted ~4,500 new members via social media; same price as normal but 1st year free
- EBU made format of online games different – 12 board sessions
- Germany has found a lot of people just don’t want to go into a club
- Netherlands found through national Olympic committee survey that about 300,000 people play bridge every month (4x the 70k membership), then if you count people who only play online, the bridge community is around 500,000 (7x membership). Looking to engage with this broader group in ways that work for them
- Lots of people play online, with no/low connection to organised bridge
- Online can be a good way to engage with younger player
- Always want to be able to show value to members ABF has found providing insurances for all clubs is very effective (public liability, club officers, volunteers) – for many clubs, the affiliation fees are cheaper than what they would have to pay just for insurance
- EBU also offers some insurances
- Reactivation should be easier than recruitment – but maybe not in practice ABF & ACBL have developed and are using targeted reactivation programs
- ACBL has found it easier to find new members than retain lapsed ones; has even tried financial incentives to clubs for reactivation
- Calls work better than emails
- Important that people making calls are good ambassadors for bridge
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