What really upsets me is the "average" bowlers again being used as the pawn to "rescue" for the failure of TBAL. But again do they have a choice?
Let's give this a go for now and see how it fans out. If it fails, you guys can "stone" them.
Best wishes to our new CEO for her courage and boldness to make a change. And also for her humility to approach all concern to give our sport a future.
Alex
I'll second those sentiments Alex.
I think the biggest issue in the proposed fee structure like Andrew pointed out is the fact that the Local Associations are going to have the available funds that they have dramatically reduced and yet I suspect that the TBA would expect them to maintain their current services.
This is not a viable nor practical scenario.
Now I'm all for our sport moving forward and commend the courage of the new CEO. However I think a bit more input from the people who really know what is happening out their and what the general bowling populous want was what was really required not a beuracratic review process. If that had occured then maybe a more realistic balance of what was to be provided to the TBA and kept by local associations out of the new fee would have been arrived at. This would have probably mean't that this thread would not have been as long as it has been.
I would have quite happily accepted a two tier compulsory fee structure consisting of the following:
Registration fees (Compulsory not voluntary):
TBA Registered League Bowler [TBARLB] (Not involved in any tournaments or events that are run by Local associations outside of their local associations area) $25.00 (TBA: $10.00 Local Association: $15.00)
TBA Registered Competitive Bowler [TBARCB] (Allows bowler to compete in Tournaments conducted outside of their local association area) $40.00 ($50.00 if you count the $10 they have already payed in their TBARLB fee)
If the bowler holds a TBARLB and wants to compete in an event they must pay a $40 fee to upgrade their Registration to TBARCB status.
Basically the structure is that all bowlers pay $15.00 to their local association and $10.00 to TBA. Now any bowlers wanting to compete on a truly competitive basis would pay an additional $40.00 to TBA. This can be done at the same time they register in their league ($65.00) or when they front up for a tournament at a later date ($40.00).
In Summary the full TBA Registration fee for a TBARCB will be $65.00 while the full TBA Registration fee for a TBARCB will be $25.00. TBA will get either $50 or $10 depending on the interests of the bowler and the local association will get $15 per bowler to help maintain or expand on their current services.
I would be surprised if anyone reckons this structure was too expensive or didn't provide enough to the local association.
If a bowler is not interested in the competitive aspect of bowling outside of their local area then they are just paying a small amount to TBA and if they do decide to take it up more competitvely then they pay up the additional fee at that time and not before.
I think this would keep all bowlers despite their level of interest contented. What do other people think?