Freedom of Speech

[ronniewallace]

Oh dear, this is all rather unfortunate and imho should be an internal matter for our club
rather than discussed on a national chess forum. I considered asking for this thread to
be deleted but felt that may just exacerbate matters and given people have already commented
would put the moderators of this site in an awkward position.

Please find below the interaction I have had with George over this particular
incident which I hope will provide readers some context.

This is the post from George on our club noticeboard that I removed.

Last Season in Glasgow Division Two, I NEVER LOST a game. Therefore I
believe that I have earned the right to play in our Division One Matches.
So being left aside in order to play Dunfermline players is GROSSLY
unfair in my humble opinion.
I appreciate that they helped us out of a hole in the past, but that
is not my problem. These players did NOT earn Promotion I DID.
What is the point of working hard to earn promotion when someone else
is going to reap the Benefit???

And to add Insult to Injury, I'm to " stand By " as Reserve...... Er
No Thank You!!!

I then sent him the following e-mail carbon copying in our GCL captain.

Dear George,

Please do not post stuff like this on our "PUBLIC" noticeboard as it
reflects badly on the club. If you have a problem with team selection you should
take it up directly with the particular team captain.

Kind Regards,
Ronnie

George replies to my post as detailed below

Fascist

and yes he did indeed use the enlarged red text in the e-mail.

I reply as follows

I must say this is a very interesting choice of play ground bully name calling from
someone who has had this
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particular article attributed to them.

Regards,
Ronnie

George's reply

That was a Joke Ronnie, the Fascist comment was written in anger as I felt that you should not have removed my post. After all I'm surely entitled to my opinion regardless of how this is perceived by others.
For the record,I do not think that you are a fascist and shall even go as far as to offer my apologies for writing it.

and my final reply to him

Hi George,

I have to take action as forum moderator if I perceive
an opinion expressed on the website to be detrimental to the club.
It's a judgement call on my part and I obviously understand
that not everyone at times will agree with my actions.

You are perfectly entitled to disagree with me but the name
calling was unjustified. However, you have been big enough
to subsequently apologise so the matter is now in the
past as far as I am concerned.

cheers,
Ronnie

Since sending the above e-mail George's post here has subsequently been brought to my attention.

For the record the players from Dunfermline that George objects to became members of our club after
they came to our aid in a GCL match with Hamilton which we almost had to default due to the lack of
availability of players and no alternative rearrangement dates being available. I believe it is not unusual
for players to play for second clubs where they participate in different leagues.