2024 Captaincy election: Q&A thread

[TheRake]

Have a 2 part question, the first part is primarily aimed at Pete but would be interested to hear Kare’s experience as he was in TE.

1. To what extent was last years Europen team integrated into planning and preparation with the Eurobowl team? Were they actively involved in the team chats and practice events or were there instances where they were kept separate? I understand there was more emphasis on inclusion with the Europen team compared to previous years so would be interesting to hear how this was executed and how effective it was.

2. Do you have any plans to further involve the Europen team in TE planning and what more can be done to help push perceptions from ‘A-Team and B-Team’ mindset more towards 2 branches of the same tree?

[PeteW]

1) I feel that being a member of Team England Euro/Europen team is a great honour but it's also a big responsibility. All coaches represent their countries but there is a particular spotlight on the selected 12. To say you're a diplomat is perhaps a little too grand but you're certainly a representative. What standards of sportsmanship and personal attributes to you think are most important?

2) For the last Eurobowl I had the impression that some coaches were unaware of the process. They didn't know who else had put themselves forward and were unaware of the thread of this very forum. Is TFF still the best way to engage with the playerbase? If not, do you have any suggestions how it might be done better?

1. I'm not sure I would necessarily agree that it's a big responsibility, nor is there that much of a spotlight. However, as part of a team essentially going on holiday together, you want to ensure that everyone is going to get on and enjoy themselves. I think that is more likely to be the bar for exclusion if someone has a complete lack of positive personal attributes.

2. For the last few years we have tried to use a combination of TFF, FB, Tapatalk, Reddit, and now Discord as well. We advertise on whatever social media formats players use. We also make announcements at the larger events. But there will be players who are not on social media, nor go to the big events who will be unaware. I'm not sure whether there is much more to be done, or whether there needs to be. Good coaches will find themselves playing against other good coaches and will meet people from Team England eventually.

How much of a priority are you going to place on community? I had a conversation with many coaches in Alicante who are very good, but actively did not want to be part of Team England due to a culture, real or percieved.

If a Team England coach were accused of serious misconduct prior to the event, e.g. racist remarks, how would you handle this? Would you expect to get involved?

What if this accusation were levelled at the event?

How are you going to make Team England accessible to all? As a Southerner, it often feels that because I can't get to certain tournaments, I can't get visibility. If I am being measured on competitiveness, do I have to get to the Uktc, the nafc or water bowl?

Pete, you wrote that:

My mandate was to unite the fractured English community and pick a competitive team with members from both the north and south of the country, and also to extend Team England to include the EurOpen team and fully involve them.

Ignoring the competetiveness, which you've already acknowledged was below our usual standard, how would you rate your success at unifying the fractured English community.

Speaking from personal experience, I can think of several English coaches with links to other countries (some quite tenuous), who have actively chosen to involve themselves in other nations, e.g. Scotland, Wales, Ireland (and in one case, a speculative non-european country). Why do you think this is, and is it a cause for concern?

The committee has worked hard for many years to wider involvement - this is not a new initiative. It's sad that some people have a perception of exclusion, but when members of the committee have tried to engage with them, they have closed the doors. My priority as captain is to pick the team to win EB 2024. that is the priority. However, as part of the committee, I share in the responsibilities of communication and widening community. The recent newsletter is a great example of the committee's work - not mine, I add!

Difficult to answer as it very much depends on what the event or behaviour was. However, I would not want to make any decision on my own, but instead would consult with the committee, and perhaps even with the EB organisers, depending on what it was. And if it happened at the event, then I would discuss with the team member involved and see if they had done something that needed to be apologised for. Hopefully that would be the end of it, but it would be the tournament organisers who would have the final say, I expect.

Team England is accessible to all who meet the requirements. There are no tournaments that people must get to, but to be able to prove competency, players will need to get to tournaments where they are playing top-level opponents. You get to the Welsh Open, which is a good tournament for that. You don't have to go to the NFC, UKTC or WB, but they are all worth making the extra effort to get to. Nottingham isn't really that far away from anywhere and is worth it to be playing with 280+ other people.

I think I was very successful at uniting the fractured community and had strong representation from both the North and the South. I would also add that I did this by choosing the best from both camps, not compromising on skill to force through a mandate. The team was stronger because of it.

There will always be coaches who play for other nations, for many reasons. The people that I know who have chosen to play for a different country to England have told me that for some it was to get a spot, as they didn't feel they could get on to England's team, others would prefer to represent a smaller nation and try to lift them up the ranks (nowhere to go for England but down!). No-one has ever told me that they thought it was a closed shop because they weren't friends with the right people - it was only due to their own perception of their playing ability. So no, I'm not worried.

Following the recent showing at Eurobowl would either of you consider moving to the “French model” of coach selection where the coach with the highest rating with a race over the previous years gets offered a slot? Surely that would stop the allegations and it has to be said appearance of an “old boys club”?

Good grief no. Do you know the pain and misery that the French go through each year?! And picking someone just on their ranking allows for the system to be gamed and abused. I'll say more about the old boys club later (short answer - doesn't exist).

Two questions related to these comments that we sometimes see re: 'picking mates', 'closed shop' or 'old boys club' (which, as someone who has been involved for a while, triggers me a wee bit. Not for this thread, but I would be delighted to pick up the 'perception' point in the AOB thread or at a tournament anon). Do you:

a) Think there is any genuine weight to any of this, or, more interestingly (perhaps)
b) Think that the time will come where we need to take a fundamental look at our aims when picking the team?

Re: b), you've both said that you anticipate turnover from the last team that was selected. This makes sense, because it's been a wee while since the last full selection cycle; coaches are going to drift out of the game for various reasons and others will join the community. 'Who is good' is going to change when the time axis is a few years. When it's (12) months, the best 8 in year X is going to be very close to the best 8 in year X+1 - 'boosting the perception that it's a closed shop' (although, I think I'm right in saying there has been at least one new cap at every EB?).

We've always tried to pick the best team to win the tournament; comprised of representative coaches who are ticking the most boxes of playing well. Should we keep doing that forever, or is there more value to the community in, at some stage, pursing one of the other selection criteria, over and above gaming skill?

/Unfair questions.

a) No, not for as long as I have been involved. As you say, there has been a new cap at every single Eurobowl. It has never been the same 8 guys. And yes, whilst there are some member of TE who have appeared a number of times, that is the same for every nation, and not a surprise. When you are trying to pick the best team, you will get the same people year on year some of the time.

b) I don't think so. The aim has to be to win Eurobowl, or there is no point playing. And so we should always aim to pick the best players. The interesting decision this year is finding out who those best players are, as we have a lot of new talent competing for spaces with the old guard. For me, the EB TE has to be the best 8 coaches. I would say that there is much more scope for taking a punt with EO players. The last EO team comprised 4 guys who had never been in TE before - that is great outreach - and a great opportunity for them to prove themselves. If I am captain for 2024, then I would again aim for the EB team to be the best, and the EO team to be as good as it can be, and a great opportunity to involve new players with Team England.

Have a 2 part question, the first part is primarily aimed at Pete but would be interested to hear Kare’s experience as he was in TE.

1. To what extent was last years Europen team integrated into planning and preparation with the Eurobowl team? Were they actively involved in the team chats and practice events or were there instances where they were kept separate? I understand there was more emphasis on inclusion with the Europen team compared to previous years so would be interesting to hear how this was executed and how effective it was.

2. Do you have any plans to further involve the Europen team in TE planning and what more can be done to help push perceptions from ‘A-Team and B-Team’ mindset more towards 2 branches of the same tree?

1. Completely. The EO team was completely integrated into TE and was in the same Whatsapp group, the same training session, the same hotel, the same shirts and dice etc. Their contributions were valid and accepted alongside the EB team's. There was no exclusion at any point, so I consider that to be a huge success.

2. I would involve them in just the same way that I did before. It cannot be improved! However, I would want to push back on the A/B-team thing. The 8 coaches on the EB team were the best 8, so there was an A-team and a B-team in some senses. I would not compromise the quality of the EB team to try to create a perception of parity. That said, it should be a joy and an honour to be part of TE, whether EB or EO. If I wasn't elected as captain, nor picked for the EB team, I would still be very proud to be part of the EO team. However, if the captain decided that (as a ex-EB player) the EOI team was going to be comprised of new-caps, that would be fine by me.

[KFoged]

1) I feel that being a member of Team England Euro/Europen team is a great honour but it's also a big responsibility. All coaches represent their countries but there is a particular spotlight on the selected 12. To say you're a diplomat is perhaps a little too grand but you're certainly a representative. What standards of sportsmanship and personal attributes to you think are most important?

2) For the last Eurobowl I had the impression that some coaches were unaware of the process. They didn't know who else had put themselves forward and were unaware of the thread of this very forum. Is TFF still the best way to engage with the playerbase? If not, do you have any suggestions how it might be done better?

1. I think you are absolutely right and everytime you represent your community you should be aware of this and not take it lightly. Treating your opponent with respect (winning and losing) is really important for me personally and is a factor for me when evaluating which players I think should represent the community in Greece. In general just acting with integrity is incredibly important, (not least in light of the report of blatant cheating in Germany in the last Tournament Directors blog) I would take it very personally if that sort of thing happened with a player on a team I had picked.

2. Personally I do find that an old school forum based place like TFF works really well for long Q&A sessions like this. I’m not convinced either that just changing to something more modern like Discord would drive up the engagement as I think driving the engagement still needs to come from those people involved with TE (historically or currently). . This said, I cannot see why we could not combine Discord for day to day communication with the TFF forum for longer and more slow moving conversations like this Q&A.

How much of a priority are you going to place on community? I had a conversation with many coaches in Alicante who are very good, but actively did not want to be part of Team England due to a culture, real or percieved.

If a Team England coach were accused of serious misconduct prior to the event, e.g. racist remarks, how would you handle this? Would you expect to get involved?
What if this accusation were levelled at the event?

How are you going to make Team England accessible to all? As a Southerner, it often feels that because I can't get to certain tournaments, I can't get visibility. If I .being measured on competitiveness, do I have to get to the Uktc, the nafc or water bowl?

Kfoged, can you announce your vice captain now? If would be interesting to know your running mate…

Also, Kfoged, you said that you wouldn't pick necessarily pick the strongest team. Can you elabourate on that? Why wouldn't you necessarily pick the strongest team? Can you articulate the potential benefits of this strategy, and are you thinking about the long term improving the talent pool for 2025 and beyond?

1. Everything! My success criteria for Greece is really if I can field a team that has a strong community support behind it. I would give this equal weight to where we finish in the standing, as I’ve said I never play anything not to win, I very much want TE to win the next Eurobowl. I will come back to how I plan to try to achieve that when answering your final two questions.

2. I would very much hope that any issues around a coach's conduct (on and off) the board will come back to me and not be hidden away. Integrity and behaving with respect are two very important criteria for me and just as important as the coach skills on the board.

3/4. I think it makes sense to answer your final two questions as one. Since starting this campaign I have been reaching out to and talking with a handful of people from around the community and my attempt to jam everything into one VC role does not seem fit for purpose. So when asking people to come forward one of the questions would be if the coach would be interested in taking a 9th spot on the team as a spare player but maybe more important being the person that has the bigger picture of our games overall (and if needed other games around us). Additionally I would ask them to help us keep the community at home updated with the event as it goes along. I don’t think it is fair for anyone playing to be doing those things at the same time if they are to do their best on the boards.

When it comes to selection I’m instead looking more and more at a committee approach (could be built around our NAF RTO’s if they are interested) but also with people from areas that are a bit out of focus like the South East. This will mean that the local player base would have team England figure closer to them that they already know and trust which I appreciate might be easier for many people than contacting me directly (even if I’m more than happy to talk Blood Bowl with anyone and anybody). I would have the last word, but an approach like this should give me a better foundation to pick from (as I cannot personally know everyone as well as I like to), but hopefully also help make the community feel better engaged in the process.

5. I have already touched on one area and that is that integrity and respect for me is about as important as a person's skills on the board. We are a big group that would be spending a lot of time together and the dynamic of the group needs to work for people to be willing to play for the group, and we have to play another team, so I will not stand for less than good behaviour. If a team member is failing to reach those targets It would be a failure for me personally as the leader, so I will be reiterating this with them individually and as a team as we go along. There might also be a good reason for looking forward and ensuring that team England would be able to continually field a strong and competitive team and there are many young and hungry coaches out there that could benefit from playing the best of the best.

Following the recent showing at Eurobowl would either of you consider moving to the “French model” of coach selection where the coach with the highest rating with a race over the previous years gets offered a slot? Surely that would stop the allegations and it has to be said appearance of an “old boys club”?

Interesting? I thought the French did captain selection and the captain selected the team? It is not an approach I would consider to be effective in practice. I’m not convinced that this would work in practice - there are way more races than 8, so the 8 best of the best within a race? Who chooses which races? I personally do not like systems like that as they often lead people to try to game the process and then we just have to talk about people beating their 5 friends every weekend instead.

a) Think there is any genuine weight to any of this, or, more interestingly (perhaps)
b) Think that the time will come where we need to take a fundamental look at our aims when picking the team?

A. The short answer is no, I have not seen any captains pick people because they are friends, but the longer answer is more complicated. I think to some degree that the pool of coaches has dried up a bit (going back to how few coaches PeteW had to pick between when selecting he’s team) due to the disjointment between team England and a big section of the community. This gives the perception of an old boys club even if that is not actually the case in reality. I’m not here to point fingers at the past, but trying to offer a way to better connect team England with more of the community who should all be cheering for their team.

B. To some degree I think we do need to look at how we select the team and I think I’m offering a slightly different take on the selection. I think we should be able to be competitive but at the same time field a team with a wide community support and a team that is a great representation of our community.

2. Do you have any plans to further involve the Europen team in TE planning and what more can be done to help push perceptions from ‘A-Team and B-Team’ mindset more towards 2 branches of the same tree?

In my mind any group chats and training weekends/events would be equally open for both teams. As mentioned earlier, I cannot see why some sessions shouldn’t also be open to those outside the 12 for anyone with a future interest in possibly being selected for England.
Like it or not the EuroBowl is the original tournament and I don’t think that there is anything wrong in considering the open team a feeder team without it taking anything away for the players being selected for it. Especially if there are lots of names put forward to make selection really competitive.

[PurpleChest]

not a question, but rampant self promotion:

OWOBB #42 Team England captains Q&A
This Sunday, 29th October, live on https://www.twitch.tv/purplechest at 9pm UK time, One World, One Bloods Bowl is thrilled to announce it is hosting the Team England prospective captains for a question and answer, and debate, live event. Thereafter a VOD on YouTube and podcast at hopefully all the major podcasting sources, as usual.

It's another left field jump for the show that tries to be different every time, while remaining the same in essence, I am thrilled to announce we are taking the chance to promote the NAF England teams election of its next captain.

Should be fun.

The panel:
PurpleChest Trying hard to STFU and chair the event.
Speedingbullet Team England Committee member, there to keep it honest and fair,
PeteW Prospective England NAF captain
KFoged Prospective England NAF captain.


You can of course come and watch it live, i will take questions from the 'floor'. Or catch up afterwards. Voting begins the very next day, and they will want to impress. And i shall be quiet (ish).

[Joemanji]

Thanks to both candidates for standing, I am sure both of you would do a wonderful job.

My question, how difficult do you think it will be to balance doing what is right for Team England as opposed to doing what might look best on the internet? As with everything, the silent majority are probably happy with the status quo or have no feelings either way, and any criticism comes from a vocal minority. Is there anything a captain can truly do to make everyone happy? Can you ever appease the entire internet? Should you try?

[PeteW]

Thanks to both candidates for standing, I am sure both of you would do a wonderful job.

My question, how difficult do you think it will be to balance doing what is right for Team England as opposed to doing what might look best on the internet? As with everything, the silent majority are probably happy with the status quo or have no feelings either way, and any criticism comes from a vocal minority. Is there anything a captain can truly do to make everyone happy? Can you ever appease the entire internet? Should you try?

Thanks for the question Joe. I will always do what is right for Team England, and try to explain myself (repeatedly if needed) as to why that is the best thing. I'm not going to compromise competitiveness, just to make a small number of vocal people happy. I hope that is respected by the silent majority! But if that loses me the election, then that's a shame. I don't think any captain will ever make the entire internet happy. There will always be people who choose to be angry.

To appease the internet they need to do more cat memes.

[KFoged]

My question, how difficult do you think it will be to balance doing what is right for Team England as opposed to doing what might look best on the internet? As with everything, the silent majority are probably happy with the status quo or have no feelings either way, and any criticism comes from a vocal minority. Is there anything a captain can truly do to make everyone happy? Can you ever appease the entire internet? Should you try?

You are correct. No matter what we do then some people would still be unhappy and think we are doing it the wrong way, when that is said I still think it is possible to do a better job engaging with the wider community and I think it would be helpful having a team England ambassadors in every area of the country.

[thulean]

This is a question for both prospective captains.

With the rise in popularity of both the tabletop and online scenes in recent years, do you see an opportunity for TE to look for sponsorship deals and collaborations with companies to help fund some of the team's endeavours and further promote the international Blood Bowl scene? Obviously Blood Bowl isn't of the same scale as many sports and e-sports games, but I feel a similar idea may apply with regards to the employment of sponsors. Is this something you would be interested in pursuing? If so, what sort of vision would you have for any potential deal(s), and if not, why not?

[edit: I should add, I don't know if sponsorship already happens with international teams or not. Happy to be educated on the matter ]

I appreciate you both putting yourselves forwards and wish you both the best of luck!

-- Thulean (sadly I can't change my forum username)

[PeteW]

This is a question for both prospective captains.

With the rise in popularity of both the tabletop and online scenes in recent years, do you see an opportunity for TE to look for sponsorship deals and collaborations with companies to help fund some of the team's endeavours and further promote the international Blood Bowl scene? Obviously Blood Bowl isn't of the same scale as many sports and e-sports games, but I feel a similar idea may apply with regards to the employment of sponsors. Is this something you would be interested in pursuing? If so, what sort of vision would you have for any potential deal(s), and if not, why not?

I appreciate you both putting yourselves forwards and wish you both the best of luck!

-- Thulean (sadly I can't change my forum username)

Hi Thulean

Thanks for the suggestion - that is an excellent idea! I'm not sure how much exposure, and therefore how much value there is in people sponsoring Team England though. But if it was offered, I would take it. I believe we got a good deal on the Team England dice last year, because the manufacturers kept some to sell themselves, but I'm not 100% on that. If a company wanted to pay for the shirts, or giveaways, or thought it was worth subsidising our travel and accommodation then I would quite happily be the "Games Workshop Team England"! Do you have links?

(And send lunchmoney (Al) a pm on here - he should be able to change your Forum nickname.)

[thulean]

This is a question for both prospective captains.

With the rise in popularity of both the tabletop and online scenes in recent years, do you see an opportunity for TE to look for sponsorship deals and collaborations with companies to help fund some of the team's endeavours and further promote the international Blood Bowl scene? Obviously Blood Bowl isn't of the same scale as many sports and e-sports games, but I feel a similar idea may apply with regards to the employment of sponsors. Is this something you would be interested in pursuing? If so, what sort of vision would you have for any potential deal(s), and if not, why not?

I appreciate you both putting yourselves forwards and wish you both the best of luck!

-- Thulean (sadly I can't change my forum username)

Hi Thulean

Thanks for the suggestion - that is an excellent idea! I'm not sure how much exposure, and therefore how much value there is in people sponsoring Team England though. But if it was offered, I would take it. I believe we got a good deal on the Team England dice last year, because the manufacturers kept some to sell themselves, but I'm not 100% on that. If a company wanted to pay for the shirts, or giveaways, or thought it was worth subsidising our travel and accommodation then I would quite happily be the "Games Workshop Team England"! Do you have links?

(And send lunchmoney (Al) a pm on here - he should be able to change your Forum nickname.)

Thanks for the response, Pete! I agree with what you've said - it's difficult to gauge what a company might be interested in offering. Personally I think it might be something worthwhile pursuing since we don't really know the upper limits of Blood Bowl's popularity potential. Start small etc.

I do have a potential link with a company. Happy to discuss if/when appropriate

And thank you, I shall PM lunchmoney

[KFoged]

With the rise in popularity of both the tabletop and online scenes in recent years, do you see an opportunity for TE to look for sponsorship deals and collaborations with companies to help fund some of the team's endeavours and further promote the international Blood Bowl scene? Obviously Blood Bowl isn't of the same scale as many sports and e-sports games, but I feel a similar idea may apply with regards to the employment of sponsors. Is this something you would be interested in pursuing? If so, what sort of vision would you have for any potential deal(s), and if not, why not?

Why not! A lot of teams at the World Cup and other events have sponsors on their shirts (often local gaming stores or similar)

But as anything else it most likely comes down to time or lack of it if you don't have an contact already, so any solid leads is of course welcome.

[Wynters_Dad]

Hello. NAF name is Wynters_Dad. As somebody who doesn’t have aspirations of playing for Team England but loves the idea of supporting a team within the game I am loving please see my questions below. Sorry there are a few so I won’t be hurt if they don’t get answered.

Good Luck to you Both

1. Both candidates have mentioned community engagement and trying to widen out where selection comes from.
   
   How do you see that the community is currently divided? (I do not mean divided in a contentious manner, I mean what Sub communities do you see that exist eg leagues, online or offline, Tournament scenes, Hotspots…etc where different player pools are?)
2. A follow on from the above - if you would, how would you engage with the different parts of the framework of the community to understand what is happening in those different areas? And how best to select from those areas?
3. Both of you have identified that there are Tournament events that carry more weight than others when recognising people (nationals vs smaller tournaments) but have both also recognised the amateur nature of what we do and getting to events there is a lot of personal time, expense and circumstances.
   
   What changes would you champion (if any) to the tournament scenes/structure in England to help make your life easier for selection? (whether practical or not perceived to be practical).
4. How would you communicate the process of selection leading up to the final selection (as in updates, shortlists etc)
5. You have both also mentioned that rankings are not necessarily the best indicator of performance, or talent.
   
   Are there any specific “skills” you Would look out for? (For example would you only be looking for players who will never do anything less than a 2+ or a 2D block, or do you prefer players who will do 4+ dodges into cages with more risky style of play but also get results more than do not?, turn 8 scorers only…etc)
   
   Maybe another way of putting it - what do you consider “good blood bowl” when deciding competence on coaches?
6. When your team is playing. How do you want the wider community to know what’s going on? (Live scores, commentary photos okay by plays write ups …etc)
7. Which game you competed in last year did you have the most fun in, and why?

[Littleleadperson]

My question is how will you deal with what I think has been called the 'streamer invasion' of tabletop BB gaming post-Covid in deciding how to select Team England coaches? There are some coaches who might be considered really strong overall but don't have much of a longstanding record on NAF which backs this up but are considered top coaches otherwise.

If Elyod asked to join how would assess his application?

[KFoged]

1. How do you see that the community is currently divided? (I do not mean divided in a contentious manner, I mean what Sub communities do you see that exist eg leagues, online or offline, Tournament scenes, Hotspots…etc where different player pools are?)
2. A follow on from the above - if you would, how would you engage with the different parts of the framework of the community to understand what is happening in those different areas? And how best to select from those areas?
3. Both of you have identified that there are Tournament events that carry more weight than others when recognising people (nationals vs smaller tournaments) but have both also recognised the amateur nature of what we do and getting to events there is a lot of personal time, expense and circumstances.
   
   What changes would you champion (if any) to the tournament scenes/structure in England to help make your life easier for selection? (whether practical or not perceived to be practical).
4. How would you communicate the process of selection leading up to the final selection (as in updates, shortlists etc)
5. You have both also mentioned that rankings are not necessarily the best indicator of performance, or talent.
   
   Are there any specific “skills” you Would look out for? (For example would you only be looking for players who will never do anything less than a 2+ or a 2D block, or do you prefer players who will do 4+ dodges into cages with more risky style of play but also get results more than do not?, turn 8 scorers only…etc)
   
   Maybe another way of putting it - what do you consider “good blood bowl” when deciding competence on coaches?
6. When your team is playing. How do you want the wider community to know what’s going on? (Live scores, commentary photos okay by plays write ups …etc)
7. Which game you competed in last year did you have the most fun in, and why?

1. A community would naturally be divided by many different things, but in my view the main issue picking a team is the geographical size of England. I'm personally based in Manchester, so most of my tournaments would naturally be in this area and hence I have got a much better knowledge of the coaches up here, but the south west and east is quite the travel for me. This is exactly why I want to use some of the trusted individuals based in those areas to help me put together a shortlist for the right team with the whole country in mind. Hopefully this would also allow me to try to identify upcoming players that could use the experience of playing people outside their normal group to keep growing as a coach. I’m a firm believer that playing better coaches, and perhaps unfamiliar coaches, is the best way to improve..
2. I don’t think it is my job to change the tournament scene. I think the English tournament scene is amazing with tournaments almost every weekend and a variety of tournaments from big national (in fairness actually international) events to small and crazy local 1 dayers, and I love both things in their way. This vibrant scene is the reason that England was my spiritual home before I even moved here. If anything I would love to inspire people that only go to local tournaments to start going to the bigger national events, and even some of the bigger tournaments outside England.
3. I’m not locked down on an approach yet and before doing so I will do my best to draw on the experience from the committee, former captains and so on. I think it is likely that I will create a google form for people to express their candidacy which most likely would include if they are interested in both the EuroBowl and EurOpen team and if that role could be non playing this year. I am also considering the idea of asking if it is okay to publish their names for shortlisting. I would not be comfortable sharing their information without consent, but I’m also not sure if I want to publicise the process to that extent. Remember, effectively you are shortlisted just as soon as you express your interest for involvement.
4. I think we both have acknowledged that rankings is a tool/measurement to take into account, but yes it cannot stand alone. To go with your 4+ dodge analogy then I think the person to look for is neither the person that never does it or always does it, but the person that seems to know the exact right time to do it.
   Another trade that I’m often looking for when judging (what I think is good Blood Bowl coaching) is the ability to handle multiple option scenarios. This is super simplified and you cannot really put it this way, but let's say you have got option A, B and C. Your option A is slightly better than option B but it wipes out option C, but your option B keeps the C option open as a fall back solution if something fails, then I’m in the option B camp more often than not and it almost hurts when I see people go straight down the option A work or fail option when they don’t have to (all is of course relative and the game state and teams can of course change this).
5. Hopefully I will have a non playing member of the squad in Greece and the coverage would have to be agreed upon with that person, but I was very much hoping to have some form of “live” coverage and interaction with the part of the community not attending the event.
6. I have played a fair few games over the last year, so it does not seem fair to pick one game out. I’m rather talkative when playing Blood Bowl (and I will even throw in a little jingle type song or two if I’m in a good spirit), so for me the experience of the game is just as much the social aspect as the game on the board. I mostly enjoy any and all games where people play with that positive spirit and are ready to have a good laugh playing an inherently silly board game./

   • My question is how will you deal with what I think has been called the 'streamer invasion' of tabletop BB gaming post-Covid in deciding how to select Team England coaches? There are some coaches who might be considered really strong overall but don't have much of a longstanding record on NAF which backs this up but are considered top coaches otherwise.
     
     If Elyod asked to join how would assess his application?

     All English coaches that have played 25 tabletop games in the year prior to selection are eligible and for any who put their name forward I would try to assess as best as possible with the available data which might also be data outside the tabletop scene.

[PeteW]

Hello. NAF name is Wynters_Dad. As somebody who doesn’t have aspirations of playing for Team England but loves the idea of supporting a team within the game I am loving please see my questions below. Sorry there are a few so I won’t be hurt if they don’t get answered.

Good Luck to you Both

1. Both candidates have mentioned community engagement and trying to widen out where selection comes from.
   
   How do you see that the community is currently divided? (I do not mean divided in a contentious manner, I mean what Sub communities do you see that exist eg leagues, online or offline, Tournament scenes, Hotspots…etc where different player pools are?)
2. A follow on from the above - if you would, how would you engage with the different parts of the framework of the community to understand what is happening in those different areas? And how best to select from those areas?
3. Both of you have identified that there are Tournament events that carry more weight than others when recognising people (nationals vs smaller tournaments) but have both also recognised the amateur nature of what we do and getting to events there is a lot of personal time, expense and circumstances.
   
   What changes would you champion (if any) to the tournament scenes/structure in England to help make your life easier for selection? (whether practical or not perceived to be practical).
4. How would you communicate the process of selection leading up to the final selection (as in updates, shortlists etc)
5. You have both also mentioned that rankings are not necessarily the best indicator of performance, or talent.
   
   Are there any specific “skills” you Would look out for? (For example would you only be looking for players who will never do anything less than a 2+ or a 2D block, or do you prefer players who will do 4+ dodges into cages with more risky style of play but also get results more than do not?, turn 8 scorers only…etc)
   
   Maybe another way of putting it - what do you consider “good blood bowl” when deciding competence on coaches?
6. When your team is playing. How do you want the wider community to know what’s going on? (Live scores, commentary photos okay by plays write ups …etc)
7. Which game you competed in last year did you have the most fun in, and why?

Hi! Thanks for all the questions!
1. The community has grown a lot in recent years, which is a good thing, but it also means that it is harder to compare everyone together. As you say, there are online people (Fumbbl and BB2+3) and that community has grown thanks to a number of streamers. Many are now also coming to tabletop events though which is great. There are some active leagues, and most of those also run NAF tournaments, so they get to meet travellers at those. And it has been super to see so many leagues travel up to the UKTC to compete there - many doing really well.
2. Thankfully, most of the good coaches bubble to the top. If they are winning their league and their local tournaments, then they naturally try to make it to the larger tournaments. And to be honest, if people have been winning big in their local league, they might be amazing and ready for Team England, but if they haven't been tested on higher stakes tables, then for me it would be too much of a risk to pick them. But I would encourage them to go to the bigger tournaments to prove themselves. It was great to see so many English coaches travel to Alicante - many more than in previous WC I believe.
3. The online NAF tournaments on Fumbbl are run really well, and if anyone wants to get themselves noticed, but can't always make the NAFC, UKTC etc, then ensuring they are taking part in all of those is a great way to start. It's easy to play a game a week on your computer. As for changing the tournament scene, I'm not sure that the TE captain has that much power! The Committee has started doing a good work of promoting and popularising the variety of tournaments around the UK and I think that is our main job. The idea of formalising say, 6 qualifying tournaments would be detrimental to the hobby, and you would find a core group journeying around those tournaments, always playing their A races. That would be a shame. The UK tournament scene is in a healthy place right now and I don't think it needs changing.
4. That's an interesting question and it comes down to captain's choice. In 2019, I didn't require people to nominate themselves publicly. Instead, they emailed me confidentially, and I responded to everyone individually. There were a few who appreciated this and specifically asked me not to share that they had applied for Team England. If that increases the number of people who apply, then I think that is a good thing. Publicly posting a long-list and short-list my be exciting to the onlookers, but it seems unnecessarily harsh to those who aren't picked. I have considered using the system where the captain picks their first choice, then those two discuss the second choice, then those 3 discuss the next etc. That's an interesting compromise between slightly limited confidentiality, and a wider group of players picking the team.
5. Rankings can be abused, so some may be higher than they should be, but you won't find a good coach that doesn't have high rankings. If people aren't winning, they are going to get picked for Team England! As for skills, I have sat opposite some hopefuls and watched them play. I look out for people setting up the positions of players for future turns - to potentially take advantage of my bad luck. I also watch for whether they can spot elegant chain pushes. As you say, knowing when to make the cage dive is an important skill. If they go in too early and let me control the field, that's not a good sign. I also look for mental stability - not getting annoyed and losing concentration when the dice go poorly.
6. We tend to give round by round updates with how the team is doing, and celebrating any special performances. I'm not sure that it is helpful to give mid-round updates with games in the balance.
7. Any game against The Sizzler. We had an online NAF game which we facetimed and it was very enjoyable. I can't even remember who won! That is bloodbowl at it's best. I remember a dark elf mirror match I played against Jimjimany about 13 years ago. His player positioning and aggressive marking really showed me another way of playing dark elves. I learnt a lot that game.

My question is how will you deal with what I think has been called the 'streamer invasion' of tabletop BB gaming post-Covid in deciding how to select Team England coaches? There are some coaches who might be considered really strong overall but don't have much of a longstanding record on NAF which backs this up but are considered top coaches otherwise.

If Elyod asked to join how would assess his application?

The streamer invasion is a great thing! Loads of new coaches have joined the NAF in the last couple of years, and the diversity of coaches has also increased, which is a really good thing for English Bloodbowl. They don't need 'dealing with'! But if you mean in terms of selection, then they need to get tabletop experience. BB3 isn't enough. There are far more pressures on tabletop, and time is a bigger challenge. I've played Elyod on Fumbbl, so I have some experience of him from there, but I would struggle to justify picking anyone for Team England if they have only ever played one tabletop NAF event. I think the other coaches who have worked hard to prove themselves would be justifiably grumpy too!