The BRFC (British Record Fish Committee)

  • Thread starter Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt
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Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt

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After receiving a message last night from Marsh Pratley and speaking with him this morning i can confirm both himself and Phil have resigned from the BRFC.

In Marsh's words...

Following the outcome of yesterdays meeting of the BRFC which both Phil and myself were unable to attend we have tendered our resignations with immediate effect.

We both feel that we cannot serve on a committee that has ignored established procedures for ratifying claims and which has now bought the credibility and integrity of the BRFC and the record list into further disrepute. The recent record Chub claim was secondary to our reason.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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What a shame.

Both Marsh Pratley and Phil Smith are well respected specialist anglers of the highest integrity too.
 
Mark Wintle

Mark Wintle

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Keith Arthur is interviewing Marsh tomorrow 7:20 am ish on Fisherman's Blues. Anyone know the wavelength????

Having met the BRFC last May with Graham and Andy I can't say I'm surprised though the actual cause of this rift is not yet known. All I can say is that the meeting did not fill me with confidence!
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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Mark, if you stand on the roof with the radio held above your head, you might just be able to hear him.Whenever I drive down to your neck of the woods I always lose the reception.
 
Mark Wintle

Mark Wintle

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Nigel,

I live on top of a hill - excellent radio reception. The previous owner had a radio transmitter and chose it for the good radio 'visibility'. Some of the Poole valleys are hopeless. Takes a while to tweak the crystal though.

I'm intrigued by this (BRFC) story for obvious reasons...
 
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Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt

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I could say Matt but i think its best left for Marsh tomorrow.
 
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marsh pratley

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Very briefly, the issue is how a decision was arrived at when all previous claims were processed by a unaminous decision. This has always been the case for as long as I have been involved with the BRFC.

Prior to the meeting I emailed to the committee that I would not be able to attend because of some storm damage to my property. I also emailed them Phil Smiths and my thoughts on a particular claim of which we had strong reservations based on current knowledge.
On the evening of the meeting Ken Ball the chairman refused to talk about the claim to me other than to say that it was accepted on the basis that the forms were correctly filled in.

Although I had left several messages to Ian Epps who also sits as a NFA rep on the committee he has still yet to contact me to give me his reasons for accepting the claim.

Inept seems to be a fitting word

To my mind the BRFC have now set a precendent for any person to be able to submit a claim and as long as the paperwork is filled in correctly and the claimant has a picture and witnesses then the BRFC could have no logical explanation for turning down such a claim !
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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So in the future, records could be subject to a great deal of fiddling.

And I have learned enough about Adobe Photoshop to be able to "enhance" things and to superimpose using the layers pallet.

I am sure other people have too.
 
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honslow

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Having spoken today to the committee secretary David Rowe, he told me that Marsh and Phil boycotted the meeting. This they have strenuosly denied, insisting that they have irrefutable proof that that isn't the case.
 
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marsh pratley

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Greg

I have just faxed you copies of my emails to David Rowe apologising that I could not attend the meeting for the reasons stated. Also included is a hard copy from David Rowe to all BRFC members stating ' Please note we have apologies from Marsh Pratley, Phil Smith and Nigel Hewlitt......'

Is somone being economic with the truth ???
 
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honslow

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Cheers for that Marsh.
Errrr? Can I phone a friend?
 
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Matt Brown

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Thanks for the explanation Marsh.

I see the records as part of out angling heritage and I'd like to be able to trust the BRFC to make the best decision on each claim.

It appears that this isn't the case at the moment.
 
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honslow

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Alright Matt? Adam's just sent me a pic from the Trent - looks a bit wild! You making your way up there tomorrow?
 
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Phil Smith 2

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After 30 yrs plus of serving on record fish committies for both the NASA and BRFC groups I feel it is a sad day when 'reasonable doubt' is no longer a part of the consideration of record claims.

99.9% of all claims are going to be correct, others, often through no fault of the claimant leave room for doubt. We need a system that allows for this doubt to take effect. It is more profesional to allow a fish to be proven correct and added retropectively, rather than a case where an error is found a possibly a fish would need to be removed.
 
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marsh pratley

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I would go one further then that Phil and say that the biggest loser is angling as a whole. At a time when angling is constantly under threat it shows once again that some peoples egos are bigger than there motives for sitting on committes. All they have achieved is to fragment yet another part of angling rather than try to unite.
 
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Andy "the Dog" Nellist (SAA) (ACA)

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You know what to do lads. Just as last time the SAA needs to establish a parallel list of its own like NASA did.
 
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paul williams 2

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On this one i agree 100% with Marsh and Phil.........reasonable doubt should play a major part of record fish lists.

Personaly i think a new committee should be formed and possibly "housed" within a body such as the ACA.....and yes i know it's not there roll but it carry some repect and clout if correctly set up.

I cant be having all the name changing...NASG..NASA...SAA etc etc
 
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