Following the conclusion of the first UK Tour the committee members held a meeting to review the season, based on feedback received and our personal reflections. While there was a lot that went very well and we view the first UK Tour as a success, we all recognised that there are improvements to be made.
The committee agreed for the coming season we would follow a similar format to the inaugural Tour. We did consider expanding the number of events but, at the moment, it feels like consolidation (with an eye on expanding in the future) is a more prudent course of action.
I know a few people have expressed an interest in running events local to them, we are keen to support this and will allocate support to assist with this. While these will not be Tour events at present, they will give extra opportunities for organised/competitive play. It is likely any expansion of the Tour will first assess the viability of these “fringe” events.
The events we host independently of conventions carry some financial risk to us. Indeed, in the past tournament organisers and the committee have covered associated costs from our own pockets. The same can be said of prizes at the three convention events. While we are content to do this in the short term, I’m sure you can appreciate this is not a viable long-term plan.
We appreciate that the three convention events are essentially behind a “double paywall”, however they still are a fantastic way to introduce people to competitive Crokinole and our community. They also have very limited financial risk associated with them as we do not pay for hall hire/furniture hire etc.
The above should give you some insight into why season two will be as follows:
Saturday 7 September 2024 – The Scottish GP at Tabletop Scotland (Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh). Tournament Organiser (TO) – Terry Brown
Saturday 26 October 2024 – The Wales Crokinole Clash (Ty Pawb, Wrexham). TO – Ryan Anthony
Saturday 7 December 2024 – St Albans Crokinole Open and Doubles Championship (Greenwood Park, St Albans). TO – Mike Ray
Saturday 15 March 2025 – The AireCon Crokinole Classic – (AireCon, Harrogate). TO – Terry Brown
Saturday 26 April 2025 – Crokinole UK Masters (Nottingham). TO – TBA Please note this date and venue is not yet confirmed
Saturday 31 May 2025 – UK Championship (UKGE, NEC Birmingham). TO – Ian Witt. Please note this is not yet confirmed
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While the final two events are not 100% confirmed yet, we would be surprised if they do not go ahead. The Masters will likely be held at the Dice Cup in Nottingham again, an announcement should be made in September regarding this.
UKGE are very keen to have us back for a fourth year, but with changes to the halls they are using at the NEC, they are unable to confirm at present. We will be discussing this with the Expo team again and once we get confirmation, we will let you all know. If it transpires Expo are unable to host the event we have contingency options.
Additionally, our very own Mike “the mathemagician” Ray has tweaked the points system which should help to differentiate player standings outside the top 20 (or so) more. We’ll see how it goes and reassess at the end of the season.
Lastly, we are looking to formally become an official “not for profit” organisation. None of the committee are taking anything from the game, quite the opposite in fact. Hopefully you will have seen our “profit policy” on the website which we introduced when our merch was released. My initial idea was for events that make a “profit” to “subsidise” those Tour events that don’t quite break even. Entry fees and merch sales really help us to balance costs of hall hire, trophies/prizes, and website costs.
A more formal arrangement with greater transparency is in the best interests of the entire community. This should be in place at some point during the season. Following this, we will seek to identify elected office holders for Crokinole UK. Timescale for this is unclear at the moment, but we don’t want to be seen as gatekeepers, the community is what makes this whole thing special and it is right you should have a say in who runs the Tour for you.
You can expect to hear more from me about the GP in the coming days.
Ian, Mike, Ryan & I look forward to seeing you at an event soon.
Stay classy Crokinole UK,
Terry