opens

is it true that most open shore matches in ireland require you to be affiliated to an ifsa club or be a ifsa member ? if this is so how can they be classed as opens ?

they are 'open' to all members of the ifsa.
as most opens are ran by ifsa affiliatted clubs, u must be an ifsa member to be covered by the insurance , thus no organisers should take on non members as it is a risk to them if something was to go wrong.
personally i would like to see a system where an angler can be covered in the insurance for the day of the match by paying a sum of say £5-7?
that would perhaps encourage nonmembers here to come out and eventually join their local clubs, plus might encourage more overseas anglers to come over and join in.

i was thinking of coming to a couple of opens around dublin this year the ones advertised in sea angler but wont bother over here in wales the insurance is provided buy the organising club and are OPEN to anyone to enter on the day. i thought to be elligable for penn points it had to be open status .

I organise one here in NE England which is Penn League points. My club is affiliated to the Northern Federation of Sea Anglers. Our insurance through them gives all members third party liability insurance for matches including Open match cover. Pleasure fishing is covered for members fishing in the UK, Eire and EEC countries whilst fishing from shore, piers and fishing from boats on rivers and inland waterways. 3rd party liability cover is £2million. There is also personal accident cover included.

That way we know we can host the event with confidence.

So as not to hijack the thread I've PM'd admin to ask permission to post the comp details in the relevant section for those that are interested.

The old "day cards " are available again now only they last for a few days to cover weekend events.You just have to make sure you inform the organisers before the match for them to arrange to get them

what price are the day cards?

A few years back you paid 5 quid extra to fish opens as a none member of the IFSA. It work well I dont know why it changed ?????????

More than likely the growing compo culture in Ireland. Insurance costs for all types of clubs has gone through the roof. This might be the reason, but I'm not 100%

Kev

Found out you can get a day pass for 20 Euro and anyone can fish open compo and I got this info from Chairman of IFSA today.

Its a little dear but if you only want to fish the odd compo its good.

Colin

Didnt think they were as much as 20 euro will check it out for yous

More than likely the growing compo culture in Ireland. Insurance costs for all types of clubs has gone through the roof. This might be the reason, but I'm not 100%

Kev

I'd guess so. Presumably you'd have to get on to the organisers well in advance so they can sort out insurance cover with the IFSA/insurance company.

Agree JD, I would love to see a situation where anyone can turn up on a beach and fish an open. I think this would help a lot to get more anglers involved in competive beach fishing. I'm sure it could also boost club membership on the day as well. Perhaps something that could be raised at provincial level, if it has not been already. Maybe Cooke or a few of the other lads might have a bit more info on this one.

Kev

Kev - this issue has been debated at various AGM's since the 80's at least and comes up every few years. The crux of the matter is insurance.

An angler can turn up and fish an open by bceoming a day member of the host club and therefore the federation. The host club has to be happy that they are not accepting the member on an annual basis based on that one days fee. Otherwise, the angler is entitled to fish their master angler league and compete in other opens under their club name. Clubs for various reasons may not want to have individuals as part of their clubs.

There may be a case for an individuals club ( I think the UK federation has one) where anglers can register once annually and compete in opens. This is similar to the idea of the club from this forum but the provinical structure issue still arises as I highlighted on the club forum. If the club is registered in Leinster, members can only win the Leinster provincial closed medal. They can compete in other provincial closed competitions but if they win, they cannot get the gold medal. They also can only rasie motions to the AGM through their local provincial council.

Kev - this issue has been debated at various AGM's since the 80's at least and comes up every few years. The crux of the matter is insurance.

An angler can turn up and fish an open by bceoming a day member of the host club and therefore the federation. .

I agree that the crux of the issue is insurance. To be blunt about it, an angler may say they won't sue if something happens to them, but if they drown or get killed by a lead in the back of the head that will stand for nothing if the family decide to sue the organisers.

Surely contact has to be made with the provincial secretary and membership confirmed for the person taking day membership?

JD - yes, contact should be made to confirm membership. This is one of the values of pre-entry.

Accepting anglers on the day of the event can generate issues and host clubs are loath to refuse entries as most well run open- events are run on a break even or even a loss basis.

As usual, the activites ( or potential activites ) of a few bind all the genuine competitiors into a raft of regulations.

so in reality if entry is dependant on club membership they are not truly open ond therefore not elligable for penn point status.our local open the club is affiliated to the wfsa and the match is insured including all entrants wether members or not.

they are eligable for penn points though.....look at the latest edition, comp this sunday and it states that its for ifsa members only.
this has been accepted in the past with sea angler with our clubs open too, based on the fact that i explained the reason for this was for insurance reasons.
i guess that the wfsa and the ifsa just have different insurance policies to adhere to.
at the end of the day, if it is 20euro you have to pay for a day card, you might as well add the extra to it and join a club for a year.

thanks everybody for the info i will look into joining a club cheers

Agree with Phil, the membership criteria is enforced solely to satisfy insurance policy. It is not intended as a restriction on entry into the event and therefore does not contradict the open nature of the competition.