The English Chess Federation have decided to send a full strength team to this years European Teams Championship. This has sparked a debate on the always entertaining English Chess Forum about the merits of paying for a coach, and the expenditure on the team itself.
I am not aware of the financial arrangements for the team, although I do believe that it is common practice to fully fund the Olympiad teams, with upgrades to single rooms/better hotels if necessary. I have not seen confirmation that the team will receive a fully funded captain/coach, although the debate seems to be working on the assumption that it is.
The flipside to this is that the ECF has decided against sending a women's team at all. Possibly they felt they did not have enough applicants of sufficient quality to justify sending a team, although sayings involving 'chickens and eggs' come to mind.
The real kicker. At the last European teams championship, the Women's team managed 23rd. The Open team finished 22nd.
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There had been a reasonably strong Women's team lined up to play. Unlike previous years where the Captain had been an experienced GM, this year the Director in charge didn't want to approach the ECF Council for money to pay for this. As a consequence, the players were reluctant to play without pre-game GM assistance and so withdrew themselves from selection. Entirely self inflicted by the ECF.
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