RETRIEVER
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
September 26, 2013
The Retriever Advisory Subcommittee on Rules Report for 2013
2013 has been a year of
change for the Subcommittee; our long time advisor, Nelson Sills, retired as
did Bob Kennon. Both gentlemen served this committee well over 30 years and
were important contributors to our sport. Bill Daley from California has also left
the Committee after many years of invaluable service.
This
spring the AKC Performance department appointed John Russell to replace Mr.
Kennon and Ray Vreeland to fill the east coast position. I look forward to
working with both these knowledgeable and caring gentlemen. At the time of this
writing the western time zone position has not been filled.
However,
the Committee has continued to endeavor to keep our sport healthy. Field
Trials, like other sports, are undergoing many changes and there is a growing
concern about the Amateur’s involvement. Some of these changes are subtle and
some are simply products of our times; the most obvious of which is the
dominance of the professional within our field trial Open All-Age Stake.
Almost
all field trials are Amateur-operated productions. Many of these hard working
Amateurs are being discouraged by the commanding influence of the professional
at the trial. We have endeavored to give an option to clubs to take part in a
one hundred percent Amateur operation.
We believe
the Open All-Age stake to be the most important and significant to our sport
and breeding programs; and to this end we have limited the number of times a
club may invoke this “Amateur” (without an Open) option to once every other
year.
Following
are the changes to the Rule book which would be necessary to have this option
operational!
Looking at the Rule Book…
Create a new Section 9A.
Section 9A. The Amateur
All-Age Stake,run without an Open All-Age Stake, may only be selected by a
Field Trial Club which regularly hosts two All-Age trials, (consisting of both
Open and Amateur All-Age stakes), per year. This Amateur only stake is
available to qualified clubs on an every other year basis and must be
accompanied by two minor stakes.
pg. 22 Section 11: last
sentence of 3rd paragraph insert
“and if the club is eligible
to select the Amateur option,
presented in 9A.”
so it will now read:
A club, may not offer
Amateur stakes without offering an Open stake, except the Nationlal Amature
stake, and if the club is eligible to select the Amateur option, presented in
9A.
What the new rule means …
Every other year a club,
(that normally gives two trials a year), may select for their second trial, to
run an Amateur All-Age stake, with two minor stakes and no Open.
Submitted by the Retriever Advisory Committee -
Subcommittee on Rules
Chairman – Katharine B. Simonds
Members – John Goettl, John Russell
and Ray Vreeland