EDITORIAL

DUPLICATE SESSIONS AT CLUB VENUES – DAVID LAW

MCBA grants a franchise to several clubs (Royal Lake Club, Royal Selangor Club and Royal Selangor Golf Club) to run regular master point events and these are open to all MCBA members, some of whom may not be members of the respective clubs. At these events, the non-club members are guests of the respective clubs’ bridge sections, i.e. the club members who pay a separate section member fee, or where none is charged, the players who are club members. The guests enjoy certain privileges such as usage of the game’s facilities, food and beverage service, free or subsidised parking during the game. Such privileges do not extend beyond the duration of the game, unless the guest has been specifically invited by a club member to stay on, during which time the member is responsible for the behavior of his or her guest.

Guests are also expected to behave in an appropriate manner such as, wearing proper attire, parking in the allotted areas, not to reprimand club staff directly and give courtesy towards the hosts. If guests do not behave properly it is entirely justified for the section to stop inviting them. This is an acceptable exception to the franchise rule whereby master point events must be open to all MCBA members. Club members themselves are of course subject to their club’s disciplinary procedures should they infringe club rules or bye-laws.

There is also a common misconception that non-club members are contributing to club coffers by attending the regular games. In fact the opposite is true. For a very nominal fee, players spend a fulfilling three to four hours (more if you count post-mortems!), enjoy delectable snacks, free parking and a chance to earn prize money. This is because the clubs subsidise the events by providing the venues free of charge, and unpaid Directors volunteer their services every week to run the games smoothly. If an organised duplicate session is held as a commercial venture it will definitely cost more per player.

MCBA is lucky that several members through their membership with other clubs are able to promote the game by forming bridge sections which are able to extend the playing facilities as guest privileges to non-club members. Enjoy the privileges but do not abuse them!