Tournament Organisation
Wargamers involved in tournament gaming fall into four groups. There are players, organisers, umpires, and list checkers. Whilst players by their nature are self selecting for the various tournaments, the other three groups rely upon volunteers.
In the past these volunteer roles have been undertaken by anything between one and three volunteers. Organisers and umpires have often not played and therefore sacrificed an all too rare opportunity to game. Playing organisers and umpires have become more the norm in DBMM due to restrictive number of players. I have been impressed with the integrity of those willing enough to take on this administrative role, but also respect their right to game at the same time.
I would suggest that we endeavour, with the agreement of an events’ organiser, the delegation of these three volunteer roles to three different people at each event. So to clarify lets look at three job descriptions.
Organiser
The organiser would set the format for the event, set entry fees, organise trophies, arrange the venue, tables, and terrain etc. On the day the organiser would set the timetable, sort out the draw, and award prizes.
Umpire
The Umpire would be the arbiter of the rules for the event. He may be available for rulings prior to the event and distribute any such rulings to the players. If the umpire intends to play at the event then a second umpire will be necessary for those games involving the main umpire or any of his team if appropriate. These secondary umpires could be nominated on the day if necessary.
List Checkers
Isn’t the web wonderful sometimes? List Checkers need not even be in the same country. All they will need is an email address.
I’m sure you feel the above in not only straight forward, but fairly obvious. You are correct, but sometimes formalising these things will help concentrate the mind. Now that we have our defined roles may I suggest that people are asked to volunteer for those roles they feel most appropriate. An appropriate website such as the DBMM could then have a volunteers wanted email link, so that an organiser could request assistance and only those available need respond. We should all be conscious of the demands upon the essential administrators of our hobby. Spreading the load can only have beneficial long term effects.