2001 Annual General Meeting

President's Report

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the

New Zealand Petanque Association Incorporated, held at

the Rotorua Bowling Club, Friday 13 April 2001, 7.30pm

Present:

Paul O’Connor, John Kelly, Mick Sharpe, Steve Thwaites, Craig McKenzie, Neil Satherley, Chris Priestley, Joanne Porter, Gordon Dykes, Imelda Mailei, Leilani Mailei, Andy Gilbert, Georgio Vakauta, Louis Mesnage, Dirk Winnie, Rita de Beer, Peter de Beer, Trevor Neilson, Sue Neilson, Eric Anderson, Alan Kissock, Ian Baker, Jacqueline Young, Chris Young, Jane Gilbert, Mike Swainson, Kevin McGuiness, Allen Ward, Colin Johnston, John Bayley, Dennis Lofts, Neil Dykes, Brenda Dykes, Barbara Johnston, Elizabeth Rocks, Michael Rocks, Reinhart Muller, Jacquie Hurst, Michael Silver, John Maxwell, Philippa McNiven, Bernadette Lawton, Aussie Samuel, Charles Peni, Malcolm Pfahlert, Brian Smith, Andrew Findlay, Diane Findlay,  Christian Fouquet, Graeme Morris, Barbara Whittington, Murray Porter.

Apologies: Terry Holt, Cam Calder, Seti Mailei, Andrew Mailei, Ruby Vakauta, Noeline Flaherty.

Minutes of Previous Meeting:

Previously distributed; taken as read. Minutes adopted, moved Dirk Winnie, seconded Barbara Whittington.

Matters Arising: none raised.

Reports:

President’s report

Previously circulated; spoken to by Christian Fouquet; unanimously accepted by the meeting (moved Barbara Whittington, seconded Paul O’Connor).

Financial Report

Graeme Morris presented the audited accounts for the year ended  December 2000. There was a query from the floor regarding what the “badges” referred to in the accounts were. Graeme answered  this. The accounts were unanimously accepted (moved Graeme Morris, seconded Brian Smith).

Election of Officers:

President:

Nominated – Christian Fouquet (Barbara Whittington/Murray Porter). Elected unopposed.

Vice President: 

Nominated – Graeme Morris (Barbara Whittington/Brian Smith). Elected unopposed.

Treasurer:

Nominated – Brian Smith (Barbara Whittington/Graeme Morris). Elected unopposed.

Secretary:

Nominated – Barbara Whittington (Murray Porter/Christian Fouquet). Elected unopposed.

Committee members:

Nominated: Murray Porter (Denise Bavidge/Geoff Greer); Trevor Neilson (Christian Fouquet/Rolinka Fouquet); Terry Holt (Diane Findlay/Christian Fouquet); Steve Thwaites (Diane Findlay/Neil Satherley)

There being no other nominations, the above four were duly elected to the Committee. It was noted that, in accordance with the constitution, this will be Christian’s last term as President.

Christian moved a vote of thanks (seconded Barbara Whittington) to outgoing Committee members Diane Findlay and Ian Baker.  It was noted gratefully that Diane had agreed to continue as Club Database Co-ordinator, and Ian as National Kiwisport Co-ordinator. 

Appointment of Auditor:

Peter Whittington had advised his availability as auditor again, and was duly appointed.

Annual Subscription:

The Committee recommended to the meeting that annual subscriptions for the NZPA for the year to 31 December 2002 be set at $5 per Club member for general membership, to be paid through Clubs, plus $10 for competitive registration (for those wishing to compete in NZPA tournaments) to be paid on an individual basis as at present.  (Moved Barbara Whittington, seconded Brian Smith.

Barbara Whittington spoke to the proposal, outlining the reasons and benefits.  There was a query from the floor as to whether all members would get their own magazine. The answer was no, it is too expensive. The current subscription barely covers the cost of the magazine per person. Clubs would receive a certain number of magazines for distribution, in relation to their size. 

In general discussion it emerged that there are some difficulties with the present system of bulk mailouts; some members are not getting their magazines on time. It was agreed that the Publications Manager, in consultation with the Committee, will look into this.

There was also a query as to whether the $5 would confer voting rights; the answer was yes.

The proposal was put to the vote and carried on a show of hands.

General Business:

• Conditions attached to winning Triples (World Champs representation)

  • Barbara informed the meeting of the conditions that will apply to the team qualifying for the World Championships at the National Triples.  These were available in writing for all entrants, both at the AGM and at the tournament.

• Timing of AGM.

  • There was a suggestion from the floor that the AGM should be held after play/before dinner, to encourage more people to attend. The Committee agreed to take this into account when scheduling next year’s meeting.

• Selection of World Champs representatives

  • There was a query as to whether having the winners of the Triples as the team to represent NZ at the World Champs is still the best policy; has petanque moved on enough to be able to select a team from individuals, based on seedings. Other suggestions were to have North Island and South Island qualifying tournaments, with a playoff; or competitions between pool of players, with qualifiers chosen by the national coach. It was agreed that the incoming Committee will discuss these issues and put some options to members.

• Honorarium for Editor

  • Michael Rocks asked whether, in view of the time and effort that the magazine takes, it would be possible to consider an honorarium for the Editor. Barbara noted that this is not strictly possible under our present constitution. Others thought that it would be a dangerous precedent to set one voluntary role apart from others, which may involve just as much input but where the result may not be so concrete and visible.

  • Michael Rocks put a motion that the Committee consider ways in which the Editor may receive some financial recognition from the NZPA. Seconded Jacqui Hurst. Carried.

• Timing of National Tournaments

  • There was a suggestion that the timing of national events could be looked at, with a view to holding the Triples at Labour Weekend, and the combined Singles/Doubles at Easter, to take advantage of the longer Public Holiday break. It was noted that this could create problems for World Champs representation, as  there would be a year between qualifying and going under the present system. However, under a different selection process a change in timing may be feasible. The Committee will consider this.

  • It was also agreed to do a survey of players at the Labour Weekend tournament regarding the success/good and bad points of combining the Singles and Doubles.

• Constitution

  • There was a query from the floor as to what had happened to the redraft of the Constitution. Barbara replied that it is still being worked on. It had been reviewed by a lawyer, and still required some amendments.

• Women’s-only tournament

  • There was a query as to what had happened to the proposed women’s only tournament that was to be run at Easter. Christian responded that there still seemed to be a lot of opposition to “segregating” the game. Both Christchurch and Auckland representatives noted that this was not an issue in their areas. Auckland had run  “Open” and “Women’s” in their regional championships, and it was a big success. Upper Hutt Club had also run a successful women’s-only tournament. Barbara noted that the main reason that the tournament did not get organised was probably simply lack of time/resources (ie people power) to do it.

• Other

  • Paul O’Connor proposed a vote of thanks to the Committee for their work over the past year.

  • Graeme Morris proposed a vote of thanks to Brenda Dykes for producing such a continually high quality magazine.

  • Jacquie Hurst asked whether entry money from national tournaments should all go to the NZPA, or some to the host organisation to assist with running the event. The Committee agreed to look at this matter.

The meeting closed at 9.00pm

Barbara Whittington

Secretary.