CFC Membership Stats

[Neil Frarey]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

Halldor, stop going along to get along. Instead of coping with an incestuous CFC ...make a change! To cope and to change are completely different.

And the next time I renew my CFC membership will be to:

A) Run for President (again).

&

B) Crush your pathetic French Defense in a CFC rated game.

Good luck with your RA Winter Open. I hope it provides some measure of excitement. Keep a close eye on the Amateur Section, especially on those who nibbling at the bait of the new CFC Trail Membership.

Oh wait... there is no CFC Trail Membership. Sorry my bad, that would require leadership with a vision and the means to 'er done...


.

[David Ottosen]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

2. Juniors who participate in CFC rated junior only events that do not require a membership. I don’t have an accurate count, but I can tell you we added 1,604 names (not including those that did become members) in 2015 who may someday buy a membership.

Has it occurred to the CFC that the precipitous drop in membership since the 90s coincides with the massive emphasis placed by the CFC on junior programs? When I started playing in the early 90s, there was the junior (U20) and cadet (U16), with one winner, and that's it. By the late 90s, there was the CYCC, and every U# you could think of.

The idea was "we give the junior lots of opportunities, and they develop into adult members"; a more skeptical viewpoint was "we give the juniors massive opportunities, they travel the world and have great experiences, and then when they become adults and the CFC offers nothing more than weekend swisses, they quit playing".

It seems pretty clear to me which side was correct. The CFC has placed far too much emphasis on junior chess (and I say this as a former Cdn Junior coordinator) that has done nothing to bolster the full membership lists. The past (and current) focus of the CFC is actually discouraging juniors from becoming adult members, because from the time you're 10, there are regular national and provincial championships that you feel you have a chance at, with exceptional opportunities available to the winners. Once you hit 21, you are suddenly "just another player" and that steep drop off is always going to cause players to churn out.

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

Is that membership list for all of Canada, or just Ontario?

Please don't tell me those numbers are for the entire country...

Neil, I realize your question is mostly rhetorical, but to clarify:

The membership list is for Canada, but does not include:

1. FQE members who access CFC member services via the CFC/FQE agreement.

2. Juniors who participate in CFC rated junior only events that do not require a membership. I don’t have an accurate count, but I can tell you we added 1,604 names (not including those that did become members) in 2015 who may someday buy a membership.

[Halldor P. Palsson]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

We all share your concerns. New year and time for a new start. Perhaps a perfect time for Neil Frarey to renew his membership in the CFC [which expired in 2010]. The CFC is a very exclusive group looking for more members.

With your renewed CFC membership you can consider playing in the U1600 of RA Winter Open on Friday.

[Halldor P. Palsson]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

We all share your concerns. New year and time for a new start. Perhaps a perfect time for Neil Frarey to renew his membership in the CFC [which expired in 2010]. The CFC is a very exclusive group looking for more members.

With your renewed CFC membership you can consider playing in the U1600 of RA Winter Open on Friday.

[Neil Frarey]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

Is that membership list for all of Canada, or just Ontario?

Please don't tell me those numbers are for the entire country...

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

Is there a way to check who Honorary members are?
Do you check if Life members are still alive?

All Life and Honorary members have a membership expiry year of 2099. Other than that, you need to look at the CFC membership database. If we are aware of the passing of a Life member, they are deleted from the count, but will still appear on the website.

We should probably develop some rules to exclude these members from the membership count if they are inactive for an extended period of time, say 10 or 20 years?

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

Honorary….….…..78………………82
Life………………….393…………….402

Is there a way to check who Honorary members are?
Do you check if Life members are still alive?

membership demographics.

Two decade ratio stats:

Year	Youth	Life	Adults
2015	0.70	0.49	1 (807)
2005	0.17	0.24	1 (1488)
1995	0.15	0.13	1 (2331)

[Matthew Nicholson]

Re: CFC Membership Stats

Great news!

[Bob Gillanders]

Happy New Year to all. We have good news to start the year.

The CFC membership numbers for January 1, 2016 are showing increases in all membership categories since May 1, 2015. In fact, the largest total membership since 2006.

Category……May 1, 2015……..Jan 1, 2016
Family…………….…18………………31
Honorary….….…..78………………82
Junior………………565…………….613
Life………………….393…………….402
Adult……………...807…………….815
Total…………...1,861………...1,943

This is still a far cry from the glory days (1994-1999) when membership exceeded 3000, but it is progress. We face greater challenges these days: competition from the internet, membership demographics.

Many thanks to our many chess organizers, club executives, tournament directors, instructors, the cfc executive and voting members, CMA, FQE, provincial affiliates, and all of our membership for a successful year.