GBFCA 2020 Season Cancelled

[FB66]

Just got this email and understand but gutted. It was to be my first league season

Dear Members,

It is with regret that I have to give you the news that the committee has taken the decision to cancel the 2020 GBFCA season. We appreciate this is not what anyone wants to hear but please take a few minutes to read the following points as it will give you an insight into how we have come to this decision after several weeks of discussions (particularly among comp organisers).

1)The GBFCA was never intended to be a club, it was never intended to be peoples primary source of shooting. It is meant to be exactly what we call it, a league. In the coming weeks and months I am sure some clubs will find ways to re open with limited range access but that doesn’t mean we can run comps of our size with all the travel/hotels etc it entails. 

2)The comps we have clearly lost combined with the comps we are highly unlikely to be able to put on means we effectively have no chance of running a 2020 league. This clearly doesn’t stop people forming up, when they are allowed, in smaller groups to have their own comps…but that isn’t the league.

3)We know the main comp on your minds will be the Euros and maybe you are wondering why it would be cancelled this early. With all the organisation and numbers involved, the bookings need to be confirmed from end of May at latest. This is why we have left it until now. The current situation and time frame the government are working with means we cannot see any chance of being certain the Euros can go ahead. The scale and size of the Euros is just too prohibitive and certainly not containing the overseas shooters that make the Euros what it is. We have already had some indications from some overseas shooters that we would be lucky if we had a 40% attendance, assuming they are even allowed to travel, plus Surrey Police are not even doing visitor permits at present.But it’s not just about the shooting and being allowed on the ranges, we are talking about a comp with 350 people, foreign travel, accommodation, food, drink, all these things also need to be available. Accommodation on Bisley is being treated like normal accommodation, hotels/pubs/caravan site. This means that we would need to wait until at least early July before we can be sure if there is anything even open. This is clearly not practical.
We are however planning to keep the weekend date of the Euros (thurs, Fri, Sat) and will try to run a smaller competition, so keep that date in your diary. We are still going to be restricted by the virus, outside gatherings, accommodation availability etc but by reducing the competition size it gives us a better chance of being able to hopefully run something. Each weeks that goes by the government advice is changing so we will re look at this plan at the end of June. This clearly will not be a “league” match as there is no league this year. But it hopefully can be a reasonable size shoot.

4)One other thing we would like to do though, is ask people to keep the end of the year shoot in their diary (November). We are hoping that by then, we should be closer to normality and this shoot can hopefully go ahead. If it is feasible this shoot will be increased to encompass more shooters and also potentially to extend the comp a few days. Obviously the exact dates/format will have to be decided closer to the time.
So finally we hope you all stay safe and we also hope that we can pick up from where we left off in 2021.

GBFCA Committee

[furrybean]

Tough call, but the correct one.

There is always next year!

[Ronin]

Indeed when one considers the logistics of organising such large events the F class comps draws - especially the European Championships it was the right and only decision to make 

 

Back at it next year then👍🏻

 

 

[firedoc]

A sound decision by the GBFCA see you in 2021😺