'Borrowed Players' & Registry Rules

[hoppiebari]

The rule change a few years back to allow bands to register upto 40 players has in my view had a significant effect on the availability of players for contests.
Bands now have a pool of registered players to call on and I suspect that most bands have 35-40 players registered.
The effect of this is that whereas in the past there were players who whilst not wanting the commitment of playing for a band week in week out, would be happy to play at a contest, these players are now registered with a band and as such can only be borrowed if the rules of the contest allow.
The logic of the rule change was sound enough, there will always be instances when a band has a vacancy or a player cannot play at a contest for whatever reason and having a pool of players registered means bands can better manage such situations, but it does mean that there are fewer players available that are not already registered.
My thoughts are that the rule should be amended so that registered players of competing bands who are not actually required by their band for the particular contest are pooled and can play for another band at the contest if they wish.
Any thoughts?

Steve Hopwood
Hepworth(Persimmon Homes) Band

 

[Well Worth It]

That's not a bad idea for a baritone player!

 

[jambo]

Sounds fair enough but, even with up to 40 players on the books, do bands get full rehersals with their own members all the time. Its a handy rule but it does afford those players that cant be bothered to turn up an excuse to say ah well, i'll play if you need me, whilst staying registered with a band.

If the rules were firmer then anybody who wanted to contest would have to make more of an effort and regularly attend a band to keep their place. Given that many bands are struggling for players this would release more players to be available for signing and prevent bands having to max out their quota for borrowed players at a contest when they are down on numbers, also costing them in expenses.

 

[Accidental]

In my experience, a lot of "spare" players aren't even aware that they're still registered! I think the system works pretty well, especially considering most contests allow a limited number of borrowed players anyway. And if the worst comes to the worst, the new deadlines on new registrations means a player can be cancelled by their old band and put through as a new reg. at the last minute. (isn't that what caused some of the rows after the areas?)

Imho the whole registration system is a bit daft - I'm fairly sure its easier to get onto an aircraft than a contest stage! I would have thought things would be much simpler if the registration card stayed with the player not the last band they were with.