HEWITT & RICKETTS SENT TO COVENTRY

Last Tuesday, the Chairman and Secretary went to the Coventry League's Formation Meeting, the outcome of which, from Littlethorpe's perspective, was satisfactory. We got the three teams in, with A being in Division 1, B being in Division 2 and C in Division 3.

The B and C teams were also entered in their respective Divisional Cups, as it is thought that with only having 9 teams in the Leicestershire League, the pool of players wanting more chess will be large.

There is also a Knock-Out Cup, played on a handicap basis. The A and B teams have both drawn a Woberley team at home, whilst the C team have a trip to Newdigate, a Division 2 side.

Following the conclusion of the Formation Meeting, at which score cards were distributed (differing colours depending whether you are playing at home or away - quaint) the adjourned AGM was completed. This was interesting as two items were up for discussion: consideration of whether if a side has two teams in a Division, some attempt to equalise the strengths of the two sides should be undertaken, and whether admission of teams whose night wasn't Tuesday should be allowed. These were both discussion papers. The former is an issue as Woberley have six sides, the University have five sides and Nuneaton have four sides, in a League (including Littlethorpe) of 24 sides. There was a counterview that instead of penalising sides with more than one team in a Division, the number of Divisions should be increased. The "play on other nights than Tuesday" debate was a modernisers vs "we've always done it this way" debate.

There is clearly a modernising tendency at Committee level in the Coventry League. All power to their elbow!