Rumours about organisation of these Championships?

[TheMasterG]

Originally posted by Mike
...It appears that there will be very little difference between the champs and the irish open because of money. No stand, no road closures, no marquee....
There are a lot of rumours flying around right now about the state of these championships. Lots of talk at the weekend in Essen about whether the facilities provided will be adequate for this type of event, the main point being that it seems there will be no grandstand or seating to watch the games?

Surely there are some requirements for what must be provided in order for a country to host the championships? If the championships were granted to a country on the basis that certain facitlities would be provided and they are then not available what happens?

And maybe the organising committee can quash some of these rumours and let us know exactly what is happening: The venue is right on a main road, will it be closed?
What about this marquee with lockable changing rooms for each country?
Is there no chance of a grandstand?
Will transport be provided for teams to/from the venue to their accomodation?
Will there be "guides" assigned to each country for local knowledge and translation purposes etc.
What will the weather be like?
These are just some of the questions I was asked in Essen this weekend that I had no answers to, maybe they can be answered here?

UPDATE:15/07/03
(This post will be updated as information is received so that the latest info will be easily available and hopefully things will be clearer...
The main road will not be closed
Each country will have changing room beside the pitches and will also have a queit room in the school where they can rest and can also use video playing equipment for team briefings
There will be no grandstand as planning permission was not granted
There will be a shuttle bus from Maynooth college to the venue
Each country depending on the number of teams will be allocated 1 or 2 guides.
Food outlets will supply food at a preagreed price suitable for athletes and menus will be distributed to teams
Water can be purchased from a few different shops in the town
Toilets will be availible.
As for the weather, it's been pretty good here lately, lets hope it continues!

[conor]

From what I have heard the changing rooms will be in one of the schools, half a mile away! Not very convient for the players.
The committe are presently trying to sign anyone and everyone up as volenteers to act as guides, timekeepers etc. I don't know how successful this has been and will there be enough people available.
Access to toilets and drinking water for athletes is something else that should be addressed, ie will these be available other than from O'Keeffes pub?
Can the committee quash these rumors???? please say you can!

From what I have heard about the organisation of the Europeans, very little has been to do with the most important people, ie the players. It has all been to periferial organisation matters such as having a good web site, which is a waste of time if you don't have a competition in the first place.
Better stop now befor more rumors start.

Conor

[Mike]

Conor brought up an important point about toilets and water, but what about food for the people that are going to be there?
Will that all be provided by O'Keefes at exhorbitant prices or will there be a cheaper option there? Maybe thats a way for the committee to earn money to get a stand? Sell sandwiches and other food at the venue?

As for volunteers, I know of a number of people that volunteeredand have yet to be contacted again about it...

Definately we need to hear from the committee about these matters...

[Martijn]

Food is an important issue...
Don't know what it was like in Essen..
But in Poland they served fries at lunchtime... not very nice if you have to play after eating fries and meat...
:waah:

[niall]

Not being one to complain, but I spent more time at the Carrick on Shannon comp being asked to volunteer than anything else. So from this I hope there is a master plan and that it is progressing somewhat. The big problem is not too many people seem to know the plan. We can't help without knowing how and what to do. So I am awaiting the committees response to this thread before I chuck in me two pence worth (ok 2 cent worth). If there is a plan I would like to know, if there is not, oh sh*t!
Either way I believe (as said on other threads) that we all need to pitch in, chaos or not otherwise we will all look stupid if this fails. And blaming people afterwards will not do any good. Conor is right when he said the player's should be consulted, they have been to other places and seen what has worked and what has failed. I would expect toilets (players and public) to be provided as well but I am used to setting up (not for polo) for big groups. Drinking water will be a problem and I don't think we can rely on the good will of the pub for a week. They are happy enough when for 2 days a bunch of drinkers spend lots of money but I don't see that happening at this event. These are all problems that should/ may have been sorted out by now but a lack of info to the general polo public has led to threads like this and rumours last month that the comp was moving somewhere else.

[Tom]

If anybody wants information on the European championships please send a mail to europeans2003@ireland.com and your queries will be processed. This forum is not the way to deal with any queries you may have. 2 members of the Organising Committee travelled to Essen and answered all queries of the national teams there.

All team leaders have been kept informed and all their queries answered. A lot of work has been put in by all members of the Organising Committee and all work is done to run a competition for the competitors. I am not prepared to post replies to this thread on an international forum, as do not feel this is the place to discuss our organisation of the European Championships. Why do people always try to knock the work done by the committee? They are volunteers who committ free time for the sport.

Tom Colton.
Europeans 2003
Competition Organiser.

[Tony.G.]

I would like to add a comment.

In November 2002 I received a letter from the Irish European Conoe Polo Committee asking if I would take charge of the Scrutineering area. This I agreed to do and had a meeting with two of the committee in February outling the way I proposed to organise it.

Last month the Committee organised a meeting with all the people that are in charge of certain areas. Unfortunately I was unable to attend this meeting.

At Carrick I had a meeting with one of the committee and further points were discussed.

I have a group namely
PaulineGriffin

Maura Diggin, Thrish Mc Cormack and myself had a meeting in early Feb about .

[Tony.G.]

Pauline Griffin. Ashling Franzoni. Louise O Brien, George Julian. Sean Mullins, Richard Wagstaff ( Waggers ) Helen Catchart,
Mr Franzoni ( Ashlings Father ) all of whom will be there from Saturday to the Following Sunday week and Nula Lawless who will help out on the first 3 days of scrutineering.

I do believe there is a lack of information being forwarded on what is happening by the Committee but as they are also volunteers and have full time jobs, families and other committments I believe they are doing a good job.

I also feel that more people should volunteer and help out.

Tony Griffin

[conor]

We understand that people have jobs and families. But the players are also putting in a hell of a lot of their free time into their training etc. I would guess that the players are putting more time and money into their training than the organisers are.
I am not trying to belittle your point of giving up your free time, it is a valid point but everyone involved is giving up a lot if not all their free time (and in the players case their own money in most cases).
I feel that the the Organising committee have made a bit for these championships and the players deserve a decent competition to be put on for them. We have some very decitated people involved in organising these championships and I don't want the competition to happen and the visitors to leave Ireland thinking what a shambles the competition was.

Conor

[GrainneOK]

Conor,
Just curious, what part of the event are you organising?
Grainne

[Samba]

It seems that there's two parties on this subject:

1. The competition organisation which is doing the best it can.

2. The players (not just those who compete at the competition, but all who are interested) who train and in most countries fight for the place in their national team.

If anybody wants information on the European championships please send a mail to europeans2003@ireland.com and your queries will be processed.

Does there always have to be a question before info can be shared? Does processing mean the same thing as answering?
Before I made contact to Carmel Vekins, I tried to send mail to that official e-mail address. It seemed to be down, out of order so to speak. Earlier, maybe in January it worked and my mail conserning unofficial training request was answered. But when I asked some additional questions about transportation and some other stuff I only receaved that automatic reply which stated that your e-mail will be prosessed...
My idea: When somebody asks a question, you send the question and the answer to all team leaders (allways if there's even a slight chance it would be asked again). This way you don't need to answer the same questions over and over again.

Why do people always try to knock the work done by the committee? They are volunteers who committ free time for the sport.

I agree that negative criticism is seldom something you would like to receave, but I'm sure that nobody would ever do knowingly anything to harm the comp as they more likely want to partissipate in it!!! Yes you are quite right when saying that they are volunteers. That means that they do it willingly ie. nobody forces them to do it, but that doesn't mean that negative critic is out of the question. btw: also the players are volunteers! Nobody forces them to play polo.

Now, what comes to the gossip... I hope that you would comment also something else than just say that you wont comment on it...

Anyway...
I also think that critic is something you give after something, in this case the European Championships, not before. If it's given before the actual case, it's not critic, it's just annoying.
But open queries on a public forum aren't critic, they really are just plain queries. If and when there's rumours, it's a good policy to atleast say that they are completely wrong. If there's no reply -
no smoke without fire...

One guy told me last summer that in a game of polo the most important thing is communication. I think it also applies off the pitch.

Personally I'm really looking forward to the comp! I'm coming there to play some serious polo and I'll give my critic(well, actually rest of it) after the real thing.

-Samba

[JDinDE]

As a former player (played until moving to Germany - ironic isn't it...) and not having been involved in the European polo scene since 1990 (and then mostly in Ireland before I left for fairer climes - and yep I feel OLD) I am not really qualified to comment here but lets just say I am a concerned citizen and will hopefully go to enjoy the EC this year :headbang:

Enough of the resume:

Tom - I tend to agree with you regarding the Forum not being the place to dicuss all the questions being asked and address all the rumours - it never really makes sense to have multiple sources of duplicated information. However one must recognise that the forums have become a major source of info. and membership seems heavily European. As a result I think the committee need to react to the questions and doubts raised there - you quite obviously and correctly pay attention to the dialogue going on there and responses from time to time are a good idea. What might not be a bad idea would be to create - on the official website - a FAQ link where questions etc. raised on the forum and other sources - are published and answered. This might put out all fires rather quickly. It might be a little more work but might save some as well and certainly a message to the forums stating something like 'your question has been answered on the FAQ link...' will save a lot of back and forth that can be frustrating to all!

Regarding the various comments about free time etc. most readers of the forum are players to some extent or other and will appreciate what the international players go through to represent their respective countries. That being said there is the exhilaration of the comp. and the glory of the victory for some. The organisation volunteers get no return other then the satisfaction of having done, one hopes, a good job! Tom - that being said I do not think people are knocking the oganisation - just expressing valid concerns (although do I detect a little politics I wonder?? perfectly normal but...)

JD

[niall]

So all this thread has turned up is that there is a need for information to be shared in a better way. Ok I can live with that. To the committee I would say, despite the mails back and forth I don't see politics being the reason for these threads but more a genuine concern of people who wish the best for this comp. No way should any comment from me be seen to knock the hard efforts of volunteers who work for this sport.

[p.oleary]

good luck to all the organisers

There is a lot of good will out there to be used (look at the poster post in this forum) but people will only give of their time if they know whats going on.
Communication needs to be there so that people can feel that all the issues are being addressed. It is a mistake to talk only to the team leaders or ICF suits as this leaves a lot of worries (most of them no doubt unfounded) out there with the common polo players who train their asses off for something they hope to be the culmination of their polo career.

For some the culmination of their polo will be playing for their country in a championships (as far as I got and I was honoured to be there) others will hope to place or win. For everyone the reward for the hard work starts before the championships as the tension builds and the buzz rises over the course of the international calender.

Refusing to address worries in what is an invaluable resource to the polo community (this forum) is the modern equivalent of

"Let them eat cake":thumbdown:bang:

please put peoples minds at rest before mechelen so the Irish expats (or in this case expat Pat) can enjoy a competition without a barage of questions we have no answers to and the worried international players can concentrate on their training and enjoy the build up. If not here then at least put some FAQ's on the canoepolo.ie web site and a link to it here as suggested earlier.

As I say wishing you all the best of luck with the organisation and I don't envy you your task

Patrick O'Leary (ex south coast cooler occasional mad cow (Irl) and now Keistad (Nl)) :thumbup:

[Unregistered]

It is the ECA and NOT the ICF that have resonsibility for European Champs.

ICF are responsible for World Champs.

[p.oleary]

Suits are suits whatever the letters and the point remains the same though I stand corrected (or should I say I stand caught at being a bit lazy in my expression)

Patrick (apparently :stupid: )

[atbarber]

Folks

The organising committee have taken all the feedback here on board and this will addressed at the next meeting on Monday.

We do endeavour to answer all questions that are asked but one or two questions may have got waylaid. Sorry if this has happened.

The suggestion of a FAQ section will be looked at so please bear with us and we will let you know the location if we decide it would be expedient to put one up.

Most of the issues mentioned in this thread have been looked at already by the organising committee and decisions have been made.

Please have confidence in what we have done so far and feel free to ask your questions directly to the committee through the Europeans link mentioned earlier.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and I again look forward to seeing you all at the event.

Adrian Barber

[conor]

I have received the following info in relation to the questions asked above!

Maybe the organising committee can quash some of these rumours and let us
> know exactly what is happening:
> * The venue is right on a main road, will it be closed? No due to planning permission issues and the cost, approx € 20,000
> * What about this marquee with lockable changing rooms for each
> country? Each country will have changing room beside the pitches and will also have a queit room in the school where they can rest and can also use video playing equipment for team briefings
> * Is there no chance of a grandstand? This is still being dealth with due to the planning permission problem also
> * Will transport be provided for teams to/from the venue to their
> accomodation? Shuttle bus from Maynooth college
> * Will there be "guides" assigned to each country for local knowledge
> and translation purposes etc. Yes each country depending on the number of teams will be allocated 1 or 2 guides.
> * What will the weather be like? Only God knows
> * Will there be food available other than already existing food
> outlets? No but menus will be distributed to teams as part of bullitin 4 as discussed in bullitin 3 where the food outlets will supply food at a preagreed price suitable for athletes.
> * Will there be drinking water available other than from O'Keefee's. There are plenty of places that can supply water in Kilcock other than O'Keeffes

(Not sure this means there are other places to purchases water or not) > *

Will there be toilets available other than from O'Keefee's pub or
> already existing establishment? O'Keeffes is not the only place that toilets will be availible.

(not sure where)

If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them.

Tom Colton
Competition Organiser
Europeans Canoe Polo Championships 2003

[TheMasterG]

Well it's been a month and I've had no reply to my email from the organising committee :( but others have so I've updated the first post of this thread with the latest info...

[paddy]

ah g dont be so sad. Think of it in a positive way. The lack of info leaves a lot to the imagination if fact in some ways its like a g-string or short skirt! :hump:

[atbarber]

G

The email does not seem to have been received. Did you send it to the correct email address. Cane you please send it again and a reply will be sent.

Adrian

[TheMasterG]

Definetly sent to the correct address(europeans2003@Ireland.com) and also copied to Tom's canoepolo.ie address, it must have been received as I never had an error mail bounced back. Maybe the mail was "processed" ;)

[atbarber]

This was not deliberately deleted. Please send again.

Adrian

[TheMasterG]

No problem, most of the questions were answered in Conor's reply anyway. I'm sure it will all workout in the end and the work the organising committee have done over the past 2 years will provide a great week of competition in Kilcock :thumbup:

Cya there....

G :karate:

Edited by TheMasterG on 17/07/03
Basically, I give up and hope it all goes well...

[Unregistered]

Now that the competition is over, what do people think?

Did everything work out alright in the end?

[eva]

Hi,
I think the competition went very well and the Swedish teams are very positive (although not over the result....but that's not the organizations fault :)).
Everyone was very helpful and if you had gotten wrong information someone else helped out (even able to go to a private home for using internet to write the articles for the papers).
Thanks a lot for the championship and everything around!
Thanks a lot also to Mick (the barber) for all the help and cheering for Sweden.

Best Regards,
Eva in the Swedish team
(and in the swedish bikini team.....)