In the case of my cricket league, the administators are simply players or other parties who offer their time to help "govern" the league. They are not paid and are able to play in the league with the other players with the same benefits as everyone else.
As contractors, we are in charge, for lack of a better word. We are employed to run tournaments under the guidelines set forward by NPL and are paid for the job we do.
I am of the opinion that a joint tribunal would not be the way to go in this case. When I say that..
If we are using this analogy: Are umpires paid for umpiring in your league? All sports I have played they have been, they are paid to be an independent observer who makes impartial rulings. Very similar to a TD wouldn't you say?
When a player, playing any sport, acts in an unethical or dangerous or disrespectful manner, do not the umpires "report" these players and then they are charged to face a "tribunal" of their peers and management of the league?
TD's are always in charge of running tournaments in a friendly yet professional manner, but the net end result is that there is always something going on in a tournament that TD's cannot be fully aware of or a player does not wish to discuss with TD's but would prefer to speak of it with a fellow player. Even if they do not wish to discuss it with a player rep then there is definitely more chance of a player rep hearing of unethical behaviour, new ideas, player dislike or likes than the majority of TD's. Especially in the case of well respected and liked player reps.
And in the end, not all TD's are of the customer service calibre as you are Caleb. Nor are majority/minority as passionate to discuss poker/NPL related aspects with you as with others.
Feel free to spend a week with me and see what reports/rumors I get per week from second hand sources, but TD's were aware of x,y and z but didn't feel the need to pass it on to management.
In just this one aspect a player rep council has so much potential and alleviates some of the customer service stresses placed upon non profecient TD's in this arena.
On another point, the whole fact this forum exists is a wonderful thing and yes it is an awesome tool for voicing your opinions and debating numerous related NPL topics, but players are turned off by the use of technology and no matter how hard we try there will always be players with problems or great ideas/arguments who will not contribute. This is just opening another avenue of communication between players and NPL management.
As to the voice of the NPL players reduced to one voice? It would be 26 voices at a minimum, at least 2 reps from every region, some may even require three or four. And if you look at the majority of the major posters on this forum, couldn't the same apply here? The voices.sounding board of NPL is currently reduced to the consistent posters on this forum, who I could count on one hand.
