Major Items and Decisions

Retiring and ABF Tournament Committee Members

The ABF Tournament Committee is an integral part of the administration of Australian bridge. Thank you to retiring TC member Sheila Bird, for her service to this committee and as Chair of the International Task Force. We welcome Barbara Travis, Liam Milne and Stephen Fischer as new members of the Tournament Committee. Barbara will also replace Sheila as the Chair of the International Performance Committee.

ABF Club Games on BBO

The Management Committee is pleased to see that in August, ten existing clubs registered to host sessions online.  The ABF distributes all income received from BBO for online clubs games to clubs to reflect the table numbers they have in their sessions. In September we distributed $91,941.85 to these clubs. 

Weekly online duplicate games for youth players will commence on Sunday 4th October.

Plans for ABF and ABF Licensed Events to September 2020 – February 2021

The Hans Rosendorff Women’s and Restricted Pairs went ahead on September 19th and 20th. All Covid-19 regulations were adhered to, including volunteers completing a two-hour online Covid-19 food-handling course. The Golden West in November will go ahead with reduced table numbers to comply with the venue restrictions.

The resumption of other national events is problematic due to on-going travel restrictions.

Unfortunately we had to make the difficult decision to cancel the Summer Festival of Bridge and Youth Week in January 2021.  31st December remains the date to determine if planning for the ANC, 2021 in Orange, N.S.W. will proceed.

Risk Management Plan

In response to COVID-19, the Management Committee has recognised the need to identify and manage the risks and activities that are critical to ensuring our survival.  The MC agreed that development of a risk profile for the ABF was important and will be progressed over the coming months. Adel Abdelhamid has agreed to facilitate the development of the plan.

Feedback & Future Meetings

The Management Committee welcomes feedback and suggestions on the above matters or other subjects.

The next ABFMC Meeting will be held on the 30th October.

The Mid-Term Meeting of Council will be held on the 21 November.    

2020- 2022 ABF Management Committee

Allison Stralow (President), Kim Frazer (Secretary), Ian Thomson, (Treasurer), Adel Abdelhamid, Rob Ward
Jane Rasmussen (Executive Secretary), Geoff Chettle (Legal Counsel), Michael Bryan (Deputy Legal Counsel)