1) why is the association not involved in discussions with this UK company?
2) Did they even know about it, if not, why not?
1) There is no mention of what company it is in the original post, so it is possible that the association is not involved in discussions because how are they supposed to know which company it is? If it's a company previously connected with the RW franchise here, then why bother trying to reboot said franchise here. It ran its course and had its day. Yes there are still fans out there but not enough to pull off a successful reboot in my opinion. Perhaps they feel it will be easier to reboot in America?

2) What gives the FRA the devine right to know about every little robot-related movement? The association helps to allow us to enjoy our hobby and hopefully help promote it. But that does not mean that every robotic 'movement' has to go through it - it is not the supreme ruler of all things robotic in the UK. If I was this UK company contacting America and had a UK organisation asking questions about it out of the blue and wanting to know more, I'd find it a bit nosey. I don't think the FRA should be faulted here for not knowing about it.

On the subject of informing its members, how developed is this situation with the US community? If it has currently gone no further than a phonecall (and say it was a phonecall made to the FRA instead of the RFL) then there wouldn't be much point, in my eyes, of informing the community until there was at least something more definitive to report. What would be the point in getting people's hopes up about Robot Wars coming back based on a phonecall then have to tell everyone it's not going to happen when you hear back from this company and they decide they don't want to take things further?

I personally can't really fault the FRA on this and think implying otherwise is a bit over the top. Besides, we've only just got a new president and as you know there have been changes in positions so I think a little time to let everything 'bed in' should be granted. I don't know if anyone else has noticed but members of the governing body have been posting more regularly to remind us that we can contact them regarding anything to do with this hobby, whether we want it brought up for a meeting or just for general discussion. We've also now got this thread allowing us to fire direct questions. To me it is a positive sign and a step forward but to expect the association to be involved in discussions of this nature when it is perfectly plausible that no-one knew about it is asking a bit much at this stage.

My opinion anyway