Who can you shoot for?

[Barndoor]

We live on the boundary of two counties and have been shooting at two clubs that are in different counties. Due to changing circumstances we must make that just the one club. As my son is just about to start his GCSE and Archery is his primary GCSE PE sport the logical one (because it is closer, and shoots weekends rather than weekday evenings) is in County B. Currently he shoots for County A and would like to continue doing so if they want him.

Having spoken to GNAS they say this is no problem the two County Secs just need to agree. One of them has refused categorically saying that GNAS are wrong (!) and if we join a "B" club then we have no coice but to affliate (OK I'll pay them if needed) and must shoot for them (what ??).

Yes I know we could become direct members of GNAS but for a junior there are significant costs there.

Who is right here and is it worth making a fuss or just find a club in the other former county we can do our GNAS membership only through and not shoot for the club we will actually shoot at!

[piphil]

Originally Posted by Barndoor

We live on the boundary of two counties and have been shooting at two clubs that are in different counties. Due to changing circumstances we must make that just the one club. As my son is just about to start his GCSE and Archery is his primary GCSE PE sport the logical one (because it is closer, and shoots weekends rather than weekday evenings) is in County B. Currently he shoots for County A and would like to continue doing so if they want him.

Having spoken to GNAS they say this is no problem the two County Secs just need to agree. One of them has refused categorically saying that GNAS are wrong (!) and if we join a "B" club then we have no coice but to affliate (OK I'll pay them if needed) and must shoot for them (what ??).

Yes I know we could become direct members of GNAS but for a junior there are significant costs there.

Who is right here and is it worth making a fuss or just find a club in the other former county we can do our GNAS membership only through and not shoot for the club we will actually shoot at!

A friend of mine is registered to GNAS via the University of Warwick, obviously a Warwickshire County affiliation. However, he lives in Leicestershire, and wants to shoot for their County squad. He's been told he needs to get a letter of approval from the Warwickshire County Chairman in order to "release" him from shooting for Warwickshire. I believe this should be a formality in his case, as he's never shot for Warwickshire.

Maybe you need to be talking to the Chairmen rather than the secretaries? :-)

[Woodie]

Why not stay away from county level discussions and just talk to the 2 clubs in question. Maybe they would be happy to maintain the current position of affiliation through club A and shooting at club B.
Our club has both members who afiliate through the club but do most of their shooting at other clubs and some who are affiliated to other clubs but pay the club element of the membership fee so they can use the club facilities.

The B county secretary will obviously prefer your son to transfer as it increases the strength of his county squad.

[Furface]

This is actually quite tricky. As a county bod, I would guess that most counties have a ruling that only those affiliated through the county are eligible for county teams. Which, tbh, seems fair. Of course, in special circumstances (such as the University one) a pragmatic approach could be taken with the agreement of all parties. However, yours is not a special case. (Personal opinion here). If an archer goes onto the squad or team of a county to which they are not affiliated, then who is to fund the benefits they are receiving from that county (OK, so define those benefits, but you know what I mean). I would say affiliate to the club that most suits your son's purpose, and then try for the team of that county - you never know, it might prove to be even better than the one he has left.

[Little Miss Purple]

It may also cause bad feeling if someone isn't getting a county spot due to an archer from another county taking up the space??

I suppose a way round it would be to pay for your son only to be a member of the current club and then an associate member of the new club but the rest of the family join the new club.

[Barndoor]

May be I am being niave but was quite happy to pay the affiliation to both Counties if all they are worried about is money.

We have been half the "coaching/organising" at all the Jnr squad sessions for the last 2 years we are not exactly getting something for nothing. As only one county in our region can usually raise a jnr compound team he is not depriving anyone of a place.

His "mentor", who is at neither club but an MB archer in the former county, taught him to shoot compound (try finding a compound coach who will work with juniors) and he is very loyal to those friends. The new county does not ~seem~ to offer anything specifically for juniors.

That the reaction to an enquiry is "we wont allow that" rather than "here are some good reasons why you might want to join us" speaks volumes for the problems archery has above club level.

[Barndoor]

The club we want to change to are quite happy but predicted that the County Sec would be the problem.

[Murray]

As far as I understand it, you can shoot for multiple clubs EXCEPT at national record status shoots and above, in which case you have to shoot for your first named club (i.e. the club through which you affiliated). This would then follow that you should only shoot for the county in which your first named club resides.

So, in summary, if your Son wants to shoot for County A it would make most sense for him to register through a County A club (and practice in County B as a visitor if resources permit)

[Robin the Hood]

The question of which county you can shoot for all comes back to which one you affilliate to, this is determined by your first club.
The point made of direct affiliation to GNAS may become more of a problem. I say this because I myself, once tried to join direct so as not to pay the county and found out that I could not even represent my Club if this was done. This was what GNAS themselves said directly to me, they were quite nasty about it too....

Paul....

[not dead yet]

affiliate to the county your shooting for and associate member of other club.


my previous problem, i am affiliated to corus deeside AC, north wales and wales . also county team manager.
i am also a member of bronte, have shot for bronte team which is ok , but i cannot shoot for yorkshire.

hope this puts some light on your delimer

pete