Simon,
I agree! Bex i think it is highly unfair of you to say that... i pay for our pitches out of my own money because people cant get themselves or there teams organised in time to pay 1 month in advance of the events... i see that MT3 Bakewell is suffering the same as Tour 3 last year with people not paying up because they are ignorant or unorganized enough to sort it out! Last year I had 4 teams entered by the final entry date� and I would have cancelled except that these things were all payed in advance. Altogether I hired 8 people this weekend and sacrificed MY ultimate (which I love) to run a tour. Yes I make some money but nothing like what you might think, if i actually charged myself for my time i would be lucky to break even. I will happily publish my finances for the tour, if and when asked to do so� Bex stated �The price of tours. I am really beginning to feel tournament directors are charging far too much and each year they escalate� you might want to do some research here, the prices are the same as last year� Bex stated �I do not believe we have had any better services� yes you have you have just forgotten the days when people did not pander to people every whim� the days with no shelter, no food on site, now accommodation lists pre tournament, no cheap food option in the evening, no flat fields etc�etc� this is what is was like when I started playing, and you have been there longer than me� would Bliss like to be employed by me at the tour to be at my beck and call??????? Bex stated �We've still had holey dry fields with not enough water,� Ok OK so the water service was not as good as it could have been, but when I saw that the 2 full time staff I employed from the council could not cope with the demand� I WENT OUT AND DID LOTS OF WATER RUNS MY SELF� as well as doing everything else!!! Bex stated �been asked to take scoreboards/set cones out� Not being funny but why is that so hard� you are going to your pitch any way, and I do believe that we took them all out there anyway and 8 cones and a scoreboard is not that heavy between a squad of 10-15� maybe I am wrong and we did not do this for that I appologise, however it is not being very constructive to slate people on brit disc� speak to the TDs directly� I am sure we will respond much better in person. Bex stated �in some tours the end of game signal hasn't even been clear.� Bex that is a given, but I have yet to find hooters that have different sounds� will try again for the next tour. And on the subject of food, i make cheap fairly healthy food on site for your ease not mine!!! i cook for hours so you you can have a cheaper healthier option than a burger van... but maybe that is where i don't understand things so well... may be the answer is to just get burger vans on site... would be a hell of a lot easier for me! And while on the subject of orgainsing tours� I got of my arse and made the contacts as did the other tour TDs, I have found 3 different venues and have used this one because the changing room facilities are good, showers are hot, and we have made contacts in the area�. However I could run tours else where� do you have a venue you have found in mind� Hannah Tour 2 TD (LLL 21 & Ex-Bliss) "Statham, Simon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Wow! Hang on a cotton pickin' minute! I think labelling Tour TDs as some sort of used car salesmen that are deliberately taking you for a ride is extremely unfair! We work bloody hard to try and put on the best damn tournament we can. "Paying through the nose" - personally I think that around �150 per team is CHEAP! Once you've divided that up between at least 10 players, as pretty much all teams have and more often than not have many more - that's �15 each for a whole weekend of entertainment! What else can you do for a whole weekend that costs �15?? Admittedly, A-Tour should pay more etc but as I've said before, that's not our decision to make. I agree that you get a bit more for your money at some tournaments than you do for others, but it's still a cheap price per team. As for TDs not putting in much effort to run the tournament - you're having a laugh aren't you?! Have you any idea how much preparation you have to do with the venue before hand to ensure you guys want for nothing when you're there? Venue's are like computers, they won't do anything unless they're told to - so you have to give them explicit instructions on absolutely every aspect of the tournament to make sure nothing goes wrong - food, pitches, camping, security, showers, the party, other accommodation etc etc. Then you have to sort out all the other things you players need - St John's, masseuse, bins, trophies, a skip, discs etc etc etc. We have to fork out literally thousands of pounds before the cheques start coming in - when that money could be earning interest in the bank. The real work starts at the tournament when we have to run around for 2 days at your beck and call - cones out in the morning, constant water runs, tracking down teams to get scores, sorting our problems with the venue if the toilets over flow or something, hours of bloody litter picking because you lot can't find a bin for your bloody banana skins, cones back in in the evening - and then it all starts again on Sunday. We work 14 hour days at least to keep the tournament going. I'm sorry if sometimes you can't hear the hooter or that you can't find water right there and then - but these things are difficult to do (despite what you might think). I was very impressed with the water service at Tour 2 and am already wondering how we're going to live up to it! That you should begrudge us earning a few hundred quid for putting in A LOT of hard work, organisation and physical effort smacks of being a tad ungrateful. AND - we do show the UKU our costs and profits. Go on - you put on a Tour next year, charge �50 a team or something, find out how much effort it is and then decide if you want to do it again the next year for that amount of return. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Rebecca Forth Sent: 20 May 2005 10:01 To: [email protected] Subject: [BD] Worrying trend Dear anyone still interested in the debate: I'd just like to throw into the debate: The price of tours. I am really beginning to feel tournament directors are charging far too much and each year they escalate. With 50+ teams attending. The level of profit is ridiculous and over and above for the level of work. In the past there have been two main arguments for increased tournament feees : 1) If you want better pitch/off pitch services then you have to pay for them 2) If you don't like it run a tournament yourself I do not believe we have had any better services. You can see that efforts are being made. But are they really improving services and do they justify the level of TD profit at the expense of ultimate players? We've still had holey dry fields with not enough water, been asked to take scoreboards/set cones out and in some tours the end of game signal hasn't even been clear. The second argument, that you should run one yourself if you don't like the current options, is not the way forwards, because everyone who does choose to enter the tournament business (and it is a business in this country like nowhere else in the world!) charges the same amount as previous TD's and reaps the profits. And those charges are only escalating. If we are forced to pay through the nose for a tournament it would be good if the UKU benefitted so they can implement many of the suggested future initiatives. I also think that the profits of the tours should be published. This way the UKU can take a percentage of those profits. Whilst also maintaining a cap on tournament fees. Many of us dedicate a vast amount of money and time to our sport - it would be nice to also feel like you weren't being taken for a ride everytime you enter a tour. Bex Bliss - The age old argument about price for a tour The pitches were no better, I saw one petrol can filled of water all weekend by our pitches. Should we really be paying �160 for a weekend for these -- Rebecca Forth Colt Foundation Research Fellow Portex Anaesthesia, Intensive Therapy & Respiratory Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street London WC1N 1EH __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://zion.ranulf.net/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp This Email is confidential and is for the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the author and you must not disclose or use the contents in any way. 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