Confessions of a former BOF employee and member.

[Mrs H.]

Wowzer - that's a good brisk start to a monday morning - I bet your private massage box will be buzzing after that Alex.

[RJ]

Alex, please don't take this as any sort of criticism of yourself.... I have the greatest respect for the work you have done over the years.....

Your comments revolve around the ELECTION of Officers and their opinions/ideas/dogma/intransigence. Since they, the Officers, feel they are looking after the interests of the membership, and that they represent the membership..... are WE, the membership, clear about what these Officers are representing on our behalf. Are we happy that WE have elected the RIGHT people.... just a question.... not an implied criticism of them at all. Alex is suggesting that he is not happy with the way they are thinking etc.... are WE?

Perhaps the Officers (all of them... not just one or two) should post their ideas/thinking on Nopesport and ask for support etc. John Morris and Becky Carlyle have been contributors in the past.

The membership debate took ten years to reach a conclusion. It might have involved a great deal of debate through the regions and the club committees, but not with the sort of immediacy that this forum can produce. If the Officers are representing US..... when are they asking for OUR opinions? Just a thought!!

[Freefall]

Alex
Have just returned from the Major Events and Grade 1 Controllers Conference. Your contribution to orienteering was recognised and there was some talk and concern about how we are going to manage some of the things you handled for us. I know stuff is being reallocated to a degree but it is very hard to replace the technical knowledge and awareness of issues e.g. land access that you have managed to accumulate over the years.
Colin Matheson NATO

[Gross]

I like it... brilliant post:)

[AndyO]

Good post, Alex, and I welcome the candour in laying out your reasons for leaving. I hope to see you in a forest soon, and hope that you will return to BOF in time.

I don't agree with RJ though that the Nopesport forum is the place for BOF officials to explain their ideas and ask for support. I don't know the people or circumstances that Alex refers to directly, but I hope that his statement causes at least some reflection among those to whom he refers, and provokes more interest among rank and file members in what does happen at BOF in our name. Of course that means standing up and being prepared to take an active role, and not just snipe from the sidelines.

If we do, we might get the BOF we need, rather than the BOF we deserve. Mike Hamilton has laid out his vision in the latest Focus (see other threads), having (as he states) had few responses to the previous edition. If we are to have a debate - and we certainly should - then responses should be sent to vision@britishorienteering.org.uk, not just posted on Nopesport.

[Mrs H.]

Of course that means standing up and being prepared to take an active role, and not just snipe from the sidelines.

If we do,

.........but how do you know we arn't already doing that and perhaps nope is the way (some) members would like to communicate their ideas. We have had many examples of communications to BOF being ignored, ridiculed and dismissed.

As a result of another thread over the last couple of days I am already in conversation with someone in a position to do something about it and have presented some ideas which they are considering taking forward.

Even Mike Hamilton himself acknowledges the usefulness of Nope in opening debate. I think it's time everyone considred it a legitimate place to debate the issues affecting the sport because like CompassSport it is independent. Mike says what he thinks in Focus - and we respond on Nope, what's wrong with that?

[Gnitworp]

Absolutely nothing. There just needs be more general awareness among the BOF membership of its existence especially of the 'Discussion Forum' to maximize the 'Nope Effect'.

[RJ]

I don't agree with RJ though that the Nopesport forum is the place for BOF officials to explain their ideas and ask for support.

I can see that you would have fears and misapprehensions about such a system..... but..... the club is where most of the energy, enthusiasm, innovation and new ideas are in the sport. Most of the people who could contribute to the development of the sport are busy staging events, providing training etc, working away in the bedrock of the sport.... in the clubs. Many don't have the time to go to meetings at regional and national level.

The process of formulating change.... going from BOF to region to club to region and back to BOF is so incredibly inefficient and ineffective. We need a new way..... and unless you would like regular video conferencing.... then a forum is a bloody good way of airing ideas.

Many of the big ideas for change just need a good airing.... like the membership debate on Nope. Several threads.... a large number of contributions.... and several thousand hits. As well as the forum a lot of discussion followed in the car parks of events.... and so the ideas are considered by more and more. And with the membership debate it was finally adopted at the AGM after ten years.... and I would say the airing on Nope was an important contributor to it finally making the journey to being accepted.

Officers don't need to ask about minor issues, but there are loads of things that should have a wide and public consideration BEFORE there is a vote on them for adoption. I am sure a lot of folk would have liked to have had a say about changing the nomenclature for the event structure.

Remember the recent threads on child abuse and CRBs. Yes I am sure you can criticise the ill informed debate, and Alex is quite right in what he says. With time the forum will mature when a larger number of people contribute. But it really is rather patronising to suggest that subjects can't be discussed rationally, fairly and constructively on here.

It seems that too many postings are as a reaction to some decision MADE by BOF, and just end up as a tirade of BOF bashing. I find all that tiresome and unpleasant.

Mike Hamilton is looking for a vision for the sport..... where will we start! Well... lets reinvigorate the REGIONAL badge event and reduce the environmental damage done by hundreds and hundreds of orienteers driving the length and breadth of the country at the weekend.

[summo]

New to orienteering and certainly the politics of it, but it's the same in any sport, especially one with passionate volunteers and where some of the volunteers maybe more keen than they are able.
If those holding the post at BOF don't want to monitor or contribute to a forum here, then they should consider a forum on their own site, which would obviously cost, require monitoring and so on.
Alternative it needs to find a way of speeding up the very old hat and slow pyramid system of BOF committee, regional reps, club reps which I presume currently exist.
Perhaps an external review from another sports governing body, in return for the same? Or is that what brought about the changes in the first place? Sorry quite ignorant of all the history.

[awk]

Well... lets reinvigorate the REGIONAL badge event and reduce the environmental damage done by hundreds and hundreds of orienteers driving the length and breadth of the country at the weekend.

How to reinvigorate? Reduce the number of courses (so less compromises), reduce the number of classes, focusing on providing good quality competition at a reasonable price.

Sounds like a variant on the colour coded event. In other words, dispose of the regional event, and provide more district (with greater focus on quality) and local events, providing space for the development of sprint/middle/long distance races.

[johnloguk]

Awk I think I agree with you more each day on that one. These days with e-punching, pre-printed and bagged maps, it is nigh on impossible to tell the difference between a C3 and a C4. The main differences being that the C3 is more expensive and you have less competition on your course. As you get older you end up with a shorter run too!

Cutting down on C3s has to be a good way forward. Free up the fixture list for more enjoyable and, in the long term, more productive events.

[tendon]

Interesting debate, demonstrating the contradictions of organisational change (or evolution). What drives change - policy from on high or strength of feeling from the grass roots?

It may be the vision for the future comes from the BOF leadership, but the route to achieve this comes through consensus within the membership.

Mike asking where we want to go helps define the vision, nope forums are one element of the masses reaching a degree of agreement on how to get there. Keep up the debate, spread the ideas, and watch them come through as policy (albeit slower than the originators might hope)

[AndyO]

Sorry, Mrs H, but I didn't mean to imply that there was no-one getting involved with the debate. Clearly you are, and have demonstrated over many years your passion and enthusiasm for the sport. I was rather referring (simplistically) to some who have indulged in negative BOF bashing on these forums without making the constructive moves to bring about changes, at the AGM or other meetings.

Nopesport has become a very important - maybe even essential - soapbox where ideas can be exchanged and debated, and in some cases steam let off. No discussion on these pages, however well debated and constructive, will necessarily be taken up by BOF without someone taking action to raise it at a meeting. Nopesport does not set out to be an official debating chamber for BOF, so BOF officials can (and should) explain their ideas through BOF publications or the website. They could, however, talk to Nopesport about opening up a forum for the purpose

I support RJ and Awk's thoughts of reducing the number of C3s, in favour of more district and local events. In the North-East of Scotland there is a noticable trend away from travelling to events elsewhere (except for mostly those with championship or representative ambitions), while events put on locally are very well supported.

Maybe the committee system needs to be reviewed, too, as RJ suggests. I confess I don't know enough about the way it works. SOA have recently reviewed their operation, and particularly the structure and roles of the Executive Committee, to try to reduce the time for committee meetings and empower officals. Of course, these points should be submitted to Mike Hamilton....