It’s About Participation …
As I’ve said before
As FIOFAFI is aimed at working adults and promoting health and fitness, I’m very accommodating of irregular participation or withdrawals due to work and social commitments, illness and injuries.
Ultimately however, FIOFAFI is about participation. I wouldn’t continue with scheduling regular sessions, other activities and this blog, if no one participated.
With this in mind, last month, I renamed “The Contact List” as “The Participant List”. I’m not looking merely to keep a list of contacts who may or may not be interested in sport, football or futsal. It’s about participation.
Since the start of the year, I’ve been adding everyone who plays in a regular session to the list. Currently, there is no other way to be added to the list.
Anyone added to the list will remain on the list as long as they play from time to time. It’s flexible. As described below, even playing only once in six months to a year might suffice to keep a participant on the list.
The Participant List still includes your year of birth, and states whether I have your e-mail address and contact number on file. If I don’t have these details, I’ll ask you for them. Since the end of January, I’ve also started including each participant’s nationality.
If you provide me with your occupation and the club you follow, I’ll add those too. I have the club followed for many of you. I’ll include it even if I pick it up from casual conversation. On the other hand, I’ll add your occupation only if you specifically provide me with it in writing (either by e-mail or on the blog). So far, only Boris and Neil have done so.
Since Andy M raised the issue, I’ll also add a column for ethnicity. Again, I’ll only include it if you specifically provide me with the information in writing (either by e-mail or on the blog).
Once you’ve been added on the Participant List, I’ll keep you there as long as you fall within any of the following:
- You participate in a regular session from time to time. If, at the end of a quarter, you haven’t played in that quarter or the preceding quarter (the end of that attendance period), I’ll remove you from the list. However, if I have your year of birth, e-mail address and contact number, I’ll keep you on the list for a further quarter. Therefore, you could go more than 9 months (and up to almost a year) without playing and still remain on the list.
- You comment on the blog (other than merely to confirm for a session) or participate in other FIOFAFI activity from time to time.
- You’ve been added as an author, and you add a new post at least once every three months.
- You’ve introduced someone within the last 12 months who has played in the current attendance period.
Apart from playing in a regular session, participating in other activities, contributing to the blog or introducing new people is participation as well.
Everyone on the Participant List whose e-mail address is shown as being “On file” will continue to receive the regular Updates and occasional Extras from me.
If you introduce someone new by e-mail, I’ll add them as guests to the Updates and Extras for a while or from time to time, until either it becomes clear they’re not going to play with us anytime in the near future, have no interest in FIOFAFI, or they ask me to remove their name. Once they play in a session, I’ll add them to the Participant List.
If anyone on the Participant List informs me that they do not want to receive the e-mail Updates or Extras anymore, I’ll take them off the mailing list, but they’ll remain on the Participant List as long as they meet any of the above criteria, or they specifically ask me to take them off the Participant List.
With effect from 1 April 2009 onwards, if anyone no longer meets the above criteria and is therefore no longer remains on the Participant List, or asks to be taken off the List, I’ll take them off the mailing list as well, but they can continue to follow what’s going on on the blog or through the Facebook group.
If they later come back to play, they’ll be added to the Participant List again, but the month they return will be shown under the column “First Participated”. They might also have to provide me with their details again, if I don’t still have them. 🙂
In the end, no one has to worry about any of this. It’s more for me, as I have to decide who to keep on in the Participant List when I review the list at the end of each quarter. As the list is about participation, I wouldn’t want too many people on the list who haven’t played for a long time.
The list will be re-made again on 1 April 2009.
Robin has been added to the Participant List.
Chris “confessed” to being a Liverpool fan after the session at The Cage last night.
I’m thinking of splitting the “Club Followed” column into two, one for the major or first club followed, and the other for the minor or second club followed. The minor or second club could be an S. League side, and it doesn’t have to be Geylang United. 🙂
Ashwin has been added to the Participant List.
Rafi has been added to the Participant List.
Andy T has been added. That’s the fifth Andy we have on the Participant List.
James is a Hull City fan.
Rafi our first 1966-born participant. As part of his marriage vows, he is a Newcastle United supporter (our first).
Din has been added to the Participant List.
Yuchi, could you let me have his contact details? Thanks.
i want to join you.
After playing last night at The Cage, Jujing becomes our first PRC national.
He also becomes the second person (after Tristan in December last year) to find us through the internet.
Yaseen has informed me that “Jams” is a nickname for Jamil. His details have been added.
I’ll let him decide how he wants to be referred to when he comments.
Bringing someone who doesn’t know anything about FIOFAFI along to play in a session for the first time can be a bit of a hit and miss.
Apart from not knowing how good they are, they won’t know anything about the system, or the way we play.
Like I’ve said before, the simplest way to introduce someone new is to forward the regular e-mail Updates and occasional Extras to them, and copy me.
I can then add them to the e-mail Updates and Extras for a while, so that they can see what FIOFAFI is about, before they decide whether they want to play or not.
I think if someone introduces someone new its best that the person plays in the introducer team. The reason is to make the newbie feels comfortable and blend in gradually… Just a suggestion
I agree. I have been trying to do that.
Thats good Jiv.. Personally, thats what i prefer.. Thanks..
I’ve added Prabhakaran to the Participation List.
I’ll only add those who fill in for a late withdrawal or absentee if they are interested in playing with us on a regular basis.
Siva has been added to the Participation List.
Ryan has been added to the Participant List.
Poh Keng has been added to the Participant List.
Khanh has been added to the Participant List. He is our first US national.
I also finally have Julius H’s year of birth. 🙂
To simplify matters, the Participant List will comprise of every adult (21 and above) who has played with us at least once, and has played in the current or preceding one (if I don’t have their details) or two (if I have their details) quarters, has introduced anyone within the past year who has since played with us since, or has posted or commented on the blog (other than to confirm for a session) in the current or preceding quarter.
A reminder that:
• As this blog is public, full names, e-mail addresses and contact numbers have been suppressed on this Participant List. The full details are kept by me. Your e-mail address and contact number may be shared with the other participants in a session or for any other purposes related to this blog.
• If you are on the Participant List, but wish to be removed from the list, e-mail me to let me know, and I will take your name and details off the list.
Applying the above criteria strictly, Cahir and Nicolas should be dropped from the Participant List today (the start of a new quarter). However, I’ll leave them on the list for an extra quarter.
I have updated the Introducer Ranking to reflect that everyone who had played before 1 March 2009 is now listed as “Original” – a total of 30. As 6 of the 14 previously listed as having been introduced by me are now “Original”, the number shown as introduced by me has fallen to 8. Likewise, the number introduced by Collin has fallen from 9 to 4. Nick is now level with me, while Yaseen is level with Collin. Franco and Reza are level on 5.
Lukas joins Philipp on 3.
Lin Kang has been added to the Participant List.
Dennis W replied to me by e-mail to say he’d like to be added to the Participant List, so I’ve done so.
As Tim C played the first 11-a-side game this year (on 17 January 2009), he’s back on the Participant List, now that that game has been included in the participation records. Anyway, he only turns 21 this year.
Charles, Garrett and John W have been added to the Participant List.
Gilbert is up to 4 on the Introducer Ranking.
The median age has fallen below 35 for the first time in ages. It is now 34.5.
Nathaniel and Yet Yen have been added to the Participant List.
David has been added to the Participant List.
Khairul has been added to the Participant List.
Jye informs me that he was born in 1966, “same yr as cantona”. I suppose that makes him a Manchester United fan as well. 🙂
Adding Jye’s age pushes our median age back up to 35.
Hairuddin has been added to the Participant List.
Azmi, Weeliam and Mark T have been added to the Participant List.
The number of participants finding us through the blog has risen to 4. Hairuddin and Azmi make their entrance in the Introducer Rankings.
I learnt tonight that Andy P is a Reading fan.
Jens and Clemens added to the Participant List.
Anthony and Peter added to the Participant List. Peter becomes the first person to join us at Turf City.
Vancino has been added to the Participant List.
Heath has been added to the Participant List.
Although I said
I’ve put him in as “Original” since we didn’t have FAFI games in the first quarter.
Con and Mark N have been added to the Participant List.
Timmy, Ron and Mean Luck have been added to the Participant List.
Timmy becomes our second participant from PRC.
Sushil jumps up the Introducer Ranking.
Niel L and Steve B have been added to the Participant List.
As “Niel” and “Neil” are similar enough to cause confusion, I’ll refer to the “Neil” who has been playing with us for a while, and who introduced both Niel L and Steve B, as Neil M.
Melvin C, Mokhtar, Reagan, San Wok and Vincent N have been added to the Participant List.
San Wok becomes our first Korean participant.
Balach, Chee Charn and Imran have been added to the Participant List.
Balach is our first Pakistani participant. Imran is our first Bangladeshi participant.
Ace, Feroz and Sivaraj have been added to the Participant List, to take it to 152.
The median age has fallen to 33.
Mat, Sam C, Tony, Simon R and Desmond T added to the Participant List.
Danny has been added to the Participant List.
Jeevan has been added to the Participant List.
Erik has been added to the Participant List.
Waqas has been added to the Participant List.
The Participation page had a link to the following, “[a] more general profile of our participants”:
This sub-page was written in August 2008, based on an earlier post. As it is out-dated, I have removed it.
The Participation page also had a link to participants’ contributions, a sub-page written on 21 January 2009:
As matters have moved on a lot since then, that sub-page has also been removed.