Eligibility to be British Champ

[King Penguin]

Other - A member of BOF and either a British Citizen or a resident (number of months to be agreed).
- but anyone from anywhere should be able to enter even if ineligible to be British Champion.

Relays - same plus members of same club, PLUS pre-entry of non-comp teams in all classes should be permitted (e.g. so clubs can match up residual runners with those from other clubs rather than having people not able to enter because the number of club members wanting a run is not exactly divisible by 3.

It is plainly absurd to disenfranchise BOF members who have been resident for decades and given lots of time and effort in supporting BOF and furthering the sport.

[Toni]

Relay or individual?
Assuming this this inspired by Toni's post, you should note she's only arguing for relays.

Not entirely true but that is the area that I am particularly annoyed about and feel should definitely be addressed - I have mixed feelings about individual events.

[Safety]

and in 2015 when WOC is in Scotland, people won't even need one to get there to compete.

Oh yes they will.... unless the IOF changes it's eligibility rules and the UK opens it's borders to worldwide visa free travel!

Sorry Gross, to clarify was refering to UK based people travelling to WOC 2015 wouldn't need a passport to physically get there. You are right about the IOF rule, that being my point that it seemed a bit simplistic.

For reference, here is the British Cycling regulation

National Championships shall be open to Silver and Gold category members of the British Cycling Federation who are citizens of the United Kingdom and dependent Territories, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands. With the exception of the Cycle
Speedway Championships, competitors must hold a valid licence showing the UCI prefix “GBR” and issued at least 28 days prior to the event. If resident in
another Country they must hold a United Kingdom passport and must not, in the same year, have competed in the National Championship of any other U.C.I. affiliated National Federation.

I think if you looked at most sports they would have similar requlations and it appears to me that BOF are just falling in line with them.

Note: Passport requirement only an issue for people resident overseas.

I do understand and have sympathy over the relay though, hence the 'compromise' above.

[Wayward-O]

Voted 'Other'.

For National Individual events, the winner, etc., should be eligible to run for that nation.

For National Relay events, eligibility should be for teams from clubs affiliated to that nation's NGB. Individuals competing should all be members of that club (open or closed). For relay leagues, a competitor should not be able to compete for more than one club in a year (i.e. their open and closed clubs). A competitor running for a second relay team may make that team ineligible in a league but still eligible for the win at that event.

For relays, nationality should not come into it. What is omportant is being a member of a club. People are usually only members of one club (unless also members of a closed club) so no choice of club they could run for.

[King Penguin]

Repeating from "We don't belong here" topic :

I have checked the JK relay rules again (on BOF website so presumably (hopefully) the latest version). My reading is that Toni and others are OK to run in a competitive relay team, as there is no reference in there to nationality or even residence, just ...
1.4.1 All competitors shall be either a National or Local Member of British Orienteering, or a member of an IOF affiliated Federation.
1.4.2 Teams shall only be entered by clubs which are affiliated either to British Orienteering or to another member Federation of the IOF.
1.4.3 All members of a team (except for those in an Ad Hoc class) shall be members of the same club, except in the JK Trophy and Women’s Trophy classes where the UK Relay League Neighbouring Clubs Alliances guideline applies. For British teams this is as shown on their current British Orienteering membership card.

[graeme]

If I was in charge, the relays would be like this...

Any team shall be competitive in any class, however to be eligible to be British Champions, teams shall comprise three members of the same British club or a neighbouring club “alliance” of neighbouring clubs. Teams comprising competitors of inappropriate age or gender shall not be eligible to become British Champions. Other course winners should be acknowledged, but will not be designated British Champions.

Hang on, I am, and it is...

[PG]

Can we raise this at the AGM? It is too late for a formal proposal, but do I remember a method of getting a vote on an issue raised in AOB?

Proposals for submission to the AGM must be received in writing at the National Office at least 50 clear days before the meeting: that is, by Thursday 16th February 2012

We have just had a committee resignation on this issue. We have two club families, where a foreign passport holder is married to a British Citizen and their children are British. The foreign passport holders have lived and worked in the UK for years; they have both put a large amount back into the sport in the UK, but they are no longer eligible to compete at four of the major events in the UK. To make such a rule change with such minimal discussion seems unreasonable. If British orienteering are worried about arguments about residence within the last year, then make the residence qualification something stronger that can be proved, perhaps requiring five years or a National Insurance Number.

[JK]

This is a pertinent discussion.

For this year's British Trail-Orienteering Championships we have to clearly distinguish the following:

1. Eligible for British Champion
2. Eligible for ranking points (our ranking point scheme is only calculated on those eligible for selection so NI guys who compete for IRL are excluded in this category but are still eligible for British Champion, in fact one is the holder of the title)
3. 1. and 2.
4. Guests

All are eligible for the overall British Orienteering Championships Weekend ranking where both Saturday events will be combined with the Sunday results for on overall winner.

Note in category 1. above there are guys living in SWE and DEN (as well as NI as mentioned above) and there are a couple in 4. who are therfore ineligible (as I understand the rules) to be British Champion since they don't hold a British Passport (including a former British Champion at Trail-O and who represents another country)

Note: I like the rules for the Scottish Champs mentioned earlier. I lived in Scotland from 2 till 22 so was disappointed to find that in later life I wasn't eligible to compete for Scotland at VHI as I no longer qualified (I probably wasn't quite good enough, but that's a different story - I had just missed out on JHI as a kid otherwise I'd have been eligible). So at least now I can be classified as Scottish if not a Scot!

So ... since the Isle of Man should be represented in the VHI, but there aren't many of us, maybe we could form an N/C team of British Islands and we (there is at least on other I know of) could join up with those from Jersey, Guernsey and any other dependent territory orienteers!

JK