Here’s the current wording of the text that will appear at the top of the Membership Exception Request Form:
The exception categories are currently:
House Player
Foreign Fide Titled Player (IM/GM/WIM/WGM)
Membership with payment by check pending from this event
Membership Receipt from another affiliate/event
Other (explanation required)
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Others may remember it differently, but as I recall when the house player exception was created by the Delegates at the 1990 US Open in Jacksonville, it was with the clear understanding that house players need not be current USCF members.
Here’s the relevant portion of DM 90-79:
While the USCF office may have ‘interpreted’ that rule a variety of ways over the years, to my knowledge the Delegates have not revised the policy they established.
Most of the time, house players are current or former USCF members. Since the reason for having house players is to balance out an odd number of players without materially affecting the tournament, using a rated former member who fits into the ‘hole’ in the tournament field is a reasonable tool to give TDs.
For that reason, requests to grant an exception to the membership requirement for a house player will be examined to see if the player really looks like a house player. By that, I mean someone who isn’t among the highest rated or highest scoring players in the section, and in most cases did not play in every round. There will also be limits on the number of house players in any round.
Those who don’t meet those criteria will have to be reviewed manually.
If I was setting the rules (which I’m not, I’m just applying them), I would only permit as house players those who already have a USCF ID and a published rating.
Using an unrated non-member as a house player is a lot riskier choice for the TD unless he or she has some reasons to believe that such a house player is a reasonable match for the player who would otherwise have gotten a bye or been paired in a different score group.
The Exception Request Form does have the necessary fields (name, address, birthdate) to issue a USCF ID to someone who doesn’t already have one, though it is also possible for the ID to be issued through the membership module on TD/A.
The ‘not a USCF member’ coding was added to MSA to specifically denote those individuals who have never been USCF members but have been assigned USCF ID’s. This includes JTP’s. We did this because TDs were doing a bad job of checking the current membership expiration date for those individuals.
The USCF’s lax enforcement of the membership rules has led to many duplicate IDs being assigned.
Under the new ratings software, whether an event is submitted online, on diskette or on paper, we will enforce Rule 23C.
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At most of my tournaments, and most of the ones I’ve played in, there have usually been plenty of former USCF members hanging around willing to be house players.
Have I ever used someone who has never been a USCF member as a house player? Maybe once or twice.
I agree with you that using an unrated non-members is not the best choice, but the Delegates’ motion doesn’t refer to former members it just says USCF membership is not required.
Sometimes that may be the only person available.
The exception request form is now available, but automated processing of requests is still in development. It should be available by the end of November.
The membership exception report has a place to give the affiliate ID, affiliate name, date and who signed the receipt.
If we have those, we can contact the affiliate to request they get their paperwork submitted.
Hopefully most TDs will use the online submission program which will speed everything up. I think the USCF office is about 10 days behind on memberships received in the mail at the moment.
I think the MCA folks are still getting accustomed to the online system, I know they’ve had some problems getting things set up. Some people catch on faster than others, I guess.
This forum works best when everyone stays focused.
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