Are the SOA declaring UDI?

[EddieH]

I note in the new Score magazine that the SOA plan to charge higher levies for level A and B events than others. However they do not anticipate that there will be ANY level A or B events other than the Britishs, JK and Scottish Champs.

Thus there appears to be an intention to ignore the new 4 tier structure and carry on with level 2 becoming C and 3 becoming 4. Clearly it is not in the interests of any Scottish club registering an event as level B.

As someone who considers the extra tier entirely unnecessary it doesn't bother me EXCEPT that I expected a UK consistency to occur with level D events becoming the true local events (such as our brilliant Saturday league) whilst the old decent quality colour coded events should be level C.

As SOA never took this on board with the 3 tier system, I can only see nothing changing in Scotland, thus we will be the only region where almost all our events will be "local" level D.

There are 2 reasons why I believe this to be a bad thing.

1 The ranking list will ignore most Scottish events making ranking of Scots a nonsense. (Maybe if the system got going people could enjoy it as the bit of fun it is supposed to be instead of condemning it as meaningless.)

2 I like to be able to search through events without the clutter of loads of genuinely local events - I usually put a filter on to get rid of them and it seems likely that events like Edinburgh City will simply not appear. (I wonder how many people might have been lost to such events because people don't find them with a regional filter.)

[seabird]

No UDI. The same is happening here in Yorkshire.

Perhaps further comment should go back to the 4 level thread.

[EddieH]

Seabird, have you read my first paragraph,or do YHOA also have a differential levy system?

I am not referring to the BOF implimentation of levels, but to an internal SOA levy matter.

[Clive Coles]

What SOA want to charge by way of levy is up to them. See no harm in there being Regional differences. But EddieH wrote:

SOA plan to charge higher levies for level A and B events than others. However they do not anticipate that there will be ANY level A or B events other than the Britishs, JK and Scottish Champs.

I think this is a shame, if indeed this is how it works out. Scotland has access to some cracking areas ~ well worth travelling to, so why shouldn't you stage additional level B events.

As for just about everything else being categorised as level D, again another matter for Scottish clubs. But surely it's your club members who will miss out the chance to accumulate ranking points. Level C events are ranking events ~ why not make full use of the opportunities that 4 levels provides ?

Let's hope Eddie you are not alone in wanting to challenge this possible scenario.

[NeilC]

I think this is a shame, if indeed this is how it works out. Scotland has access to some cracking areas ~ well worth travelling to, so why shouldn't you stage additional level B events.

Perhaps because they know that people will go to them anyway - so why bother jumping through all the additional hoops that registration at Level B will involve?

[Duncan]

Eddie, I think Score magazine may just be misinformed here. My understanding is that SOA plan to have all their SOLs, plus all the 6-days events, plus a very small selection of others (e.g. Edinburgh city race) at Level B. This is from my being part of the national fixtures group, and seeing a list just last Friday of events that are expected to be set in the next few days as Level B for 2011, and it included all the above. It isn't final, but it seemed more definite than the "do not anticipate... " comment you've relayed from Score.

[EddieH]

Well Score is pretty categorical:

"Level A & B events .... Seniors £1.40, Juniors £0.55

Level C & D: Seniors £1.00, Juniors £0.40 (senior discounted fee is over £8)
Levle C & D: Seniors £0.00, Juniors £0.00 (senior discounted fee is £8 or under)"

Quite where any "do not anticipate comes in here I cannot see.

[Paul Frost]

The crucial bit Eddie missed from his quote about the levies is:

Level A & B Events [British Championships, JK, Scottish Individual Championships]:
Seniors £1.40, Juniors £0.55

All Other Events:
Level C & D: Seniors £1.00, Juniors £0.40 etc. etc.

Which does infer SOLs would be Level C, but I suspect it's a just a formatting problem as the listed events could be Level A. There should just be a separate line for Level B.
I'll check it out with the SOA Board and report back.

[graeme]

The listed events are all A

This would appear to remove any incentive for clubs to register anything at level B, since the "Scottish Champs" and "SOL" brands are much stronger than "level X".

Maybe the SOA exec. expect me to make sure that clubs happily contribute more from the bigger events?

[EddieH]

Precisely paul you have reinforced my point. As it stands no club is likely to put on a level B event.

Ergo everyone will treat the old level 2 as level C and all the "local" events that weren't really local are likely to end up as level D and thus incur no ranking and be harder to find on a search.

Moravian seem to me to be the only club in Scotland that registered our old C4's at level 2, and it seems likely that IF this directive is stuck to nothing will change, except that we will probably be out of line with EVERY other region in BOF.

[Paul Frost]

Sorry Eddie, I hadn't picked up that in effect levies on SOL's would rise by 40% for a senior.
I was just looking at the grouping of A & B together, but then I looked up the 2010 levies, where only National events had the higher levy.

[mharky]

40% sounds big, 40p doesn't

[EddieH]

The difference between £1.40 and zero is rather bigger - an infinite percentage. Our club's charging would tend to be in the zero levey range for level C, and we do have a SOL this year in Culbin EAST as a part of the Moray MIX - watch this space (re the fees I mean).

[Sunlit Forres]

I think the SOLs should be level B. SOA (volunteers) actively promote these events by administering the league, advertising dates and generally adding the SOA stamp of approval, hence increasing attendance and the income to the organising club. It's only fair that SOA should take some levy as a result. I've no objection to my club paying the SOA levy rates quoted above... we get a pretty decent service from SOA for what we have to contribute.

[Paul Frost]

Sunlit Forres raises the interesting question of who are we cheating if we register events at lower levels to avoid paying levies.
The SOA needs income to finance it's activities, so where does it get it from?

Whilst levies are thought of in the same way as tax and "how can we avoid paying them", they are (just like tax) a simple method of financing the sport or country.

My personal view is that we should reduce the membership fee to a flat nominal £10 year (with no extra club or association fees) and then make up the shortfall in income by levies. That way those that use pay most and it reduces the barrier to entry for newcomers and gets rid of the complicated Local/National membership, (perhaps a subject for a separate post)