ANC Review

The Tournament Committee (TC) is finalising details of the proposed changes to the ANC, as discussed at the AGM. We expect that this work will be completed in time to present proposals, and seek feedback, at the upcoming ANC in Canberra.

The TC was also asked to consider the date window during which the ANC should be held. The TC’s recommendation is that the window should, to the greatest extent possible, avoid ALL school holidays, not just those in the host state or territory, as airfares are also higher during the period when any state or territory is on holiday. In practice that means the ANC should start no earlier than the last week of July.  (Even then, this year it would mean that the NT, Tasmania and South Australia would all be finishing their holidays on the first weekend of the ANC.)  We expect to undertake consultation about the window of dates for future ANCs in the near future.

Pianola

At the AGM, we agreed that a single National licence for Pianola would not be an effective way to assist clubs and we would not pursue this option. However, in the longer term, we do still intend to investigate how Pianola might help us build a better technology environment for clubs.

We are currently negotiating with James Ward on a proposal to license Pianola for our national and ABF run events.

New Assignment to Regulate Events

Under Law 80A3, the Regulating Authority (the ABF, in Australia) may either delegate or assign its regulatory powers to another entity.  For the 2007 Laws the ABF assigned these powers to the States in regard to most Non-National/Non-Gold Point events through to 2018. The details can be found at:

www.abf.com.au/about-abf/rules-regulations/

The MC has approved a new assignment to cover events under the 2017 Laws of bridge which will come into effect on 1 August 2017 and extend for five years from that date.

Succession Planning

At the AGM, Christopher Leach agreed to prepare a paper on how to undertake Succession Planning in the ABF. The MC has endorsed the proposals in this paper and has now written to Councillors seeking nominations for a Succession Planning Committee. We wish to get this committee operational in time to give feedback to ABF Council at its next meeting in November.

APBF

The ABPF has just been completed. We will be analysing the team results and will report more fully to Council once the Captains’ reports are in and the International Performance Task Force (IPTF) has had a chance to analyse the performance and results.

WBF Event in 2019

At the ABPF it was announced that the Netherlands has dropped out of hosting the 2019 WBF event because they have lost their sponsor. The WBF is now negotiating with China to host the 2019 event in Hainan.

Summer Festival of Bridge

A reminder that the venue for 2018 has changed to the Canberra Rex Hotel. There is an “early bird” accommodation offer at the Rex (details expected to go up on the 2018 Summer Festival website in the next few weeks).

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The Management Committee welcomes feedback and suggestions on these or other subjects. The next MC meeting is 28th – 29th July in Canberra.

ABF Management Committee:
Bruce Neill (President), Allison Stralow (Secretary), Roy Nixon (Treasurer),
Dallas Cooper (MC Member), Kim Frazer (MC Member).
Russel Harms (General Counsel), Jane Rasmussen (Executive Secretary).