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I have much pleasure in
presenting the Chief Executive
Officer’s report for 2005.
Council/Executive Meetings
The Petanque New Zealand (PNZ)
National Council met on 2
occasions and the Executive once
(in conjunction with one of the
Council meetings). However, the
Executive used conference
calling and email contact as
alternatives to “face-to-face”
meetings.
There seems to be a lack of
understanding from the Council
members on how the organisation
should be working under the
current constitution. This has
led to frustrations with
executive and council members at
times. There have been
suggestions that the
constitution needs to be changed
to make the organisation more
workable. Whilst this may
ultimately be the case, work
needs to be done to ensure that
the council members elected by
their regions for 2006 have a
better understanding of how the
process should be working.
Peugeot New Zealand Champions
2005
On behalf of the Petanque New
Zealand members, I congratulate
the following winners of the
three Peugeot New Zealand
Championships:
-
Peugeot New Zealand Singles
Champion: Georgio Vakauta
-
Peugeot New Zealand Doubles
Champions: Ian Baker and
Richard Swaney
-
Peugeot New Zealand Triples
Champions: Ian Baker,
Richard Swaney, Christian
Fouquet
2005 Oceania Championships
The 2005 year began with PNZ
hosting the 4th Oceania
Championships. The event did not
get off to the best of starts
due to a funding crisis early in
January. The organising
committee advised the Executive
that the funding to stage the
tournament was not there and
recommended that the event be
cancelled or the format changed.
After consultation with Council
and Executive members, it was
decided that the championships
needed to go ahead under a
reduced budget but with the
original format. The New Zealand
Community Trust and the Southern
Trust eventually gave us funding
and it was decided that we could
make the event work, but players
would have to also pay a $100
entry fee to offset some of the
costs. This was something we
were reluctant to do but had no
option other than to cancel the
event.
The next crisis was within the
New Zealand team. 5 players
became involved in a dispute
where several of them refused to
pay the entry fee on principle.
There were offers from within
the team to pay the fee for the
players but this offer was
declined.
However, after an eleventh hour
meeting between myself, the
coach (Michael Emerson) and the
players concerned, it was
decided that the players
involved would be able to
compete, as the fee was being
paid by the Auckland Petanque
Association for all their
players.
The actions of the players
concerned have been documented
in my Manager’s report on the
Championships and need no
further explanation. However,
the incident resulted in
disciplinary action being taken
against the players concerned
and four of the players were
suspended for various time
periods. This decision was
challenged by the players
through a law firm.
With the escalation of the issue
to this level, PNZ had to seek
its own legal advice and after
negotiations (which went on for
several months) between the two
parties, the players concerned
provided a written apology to
the management, the team and PNZ
for their actions and the matter
finished there. It was a test of
our constitution and I am sure
we all learnt a great deal from
it. I wish to thank Barbara
Whittington for all the work she
did during the dispute. Barbara
was the link between PNZ
Council, Executive and our
lawyer.
After all the funding and player
issues the championships were a
great success from a competitive
point of view. The tournament
ran very well (given that the
Oceania Committee changed
several things at the last
minute). The New Zealand team
put all the troubles behind them
and won the overall country
championship title from Tahiti
and New Caledonia. As Manager of
the team and CEO of PNZ, I was
very proud of the way this team
performed.
New Zealand team members:
-
Men: Tony Chin, Alan
Fletcher, Christian Fouquet,
Anthony Joe, David Lippard,
Andre Noel, Charles Peni,
Chris Priestley, Niau Ruta,
Georgio Vakauta, Dirk
Winnie.
-
Women: Fiona Browne, Sharon
Cannon, Margret Fleck, Anita
Fletcher, Jane Gilbert,
Barbara Johnston, Laurel
Priestley, Bethne Rouse,
Aussie Samuel.
-
Coach: Michael Emerson;
Manager: Graeme Morris
Overall Result: New
Zealand 1st with
five Gold, two Silver and two
Bronze medals.
Individual Placings:
-
Women’s Pointing
Championship: 1st Anita
Fletcher
-
Women’s Shooting
Championship: 1st Sharon
Cannon, 3rd Bethne Rouse
-
Men’s Pointing Championship:
1st Niau Ruta, 3rd Chris
Priestley
-
Men’s Singles Championship:
2nd Georgio Vakauta
-
Men’s Doubles Championship:
1st Niau Ruta and Georgio
Vakauta
-
Women’s Triples
Championship: 2nd Barbara
Johnston, Margret Fleck and
Fiona Browne
-
Men’s triples Championship:
1st Christian Fouquet, Niau
Ruta and Georgio Vakauta
General Comment on the Oceania
Federation
It is my opinion that the
Oceania Championships will not
continue in the present form. It
is Australia’s turn to host the
championships later in 2006 and
I understand that Petanque
Australia are not going to host
the tournament in an official
capacity. There is, apparently,
a region in Australia that will
host an unofficial Oceania
Championships.
2005 Pan Pacific Petanque
Championships, Vietnam and the
2005 Singapore International
Petanque Championships
During 2005 PNZ sent teams to
the Pan Pacific Championship in
Vietnam (Ian Baker, Sharon
Cannon, Bethne Rouse, Richard
Swaney and Dirk Winnie) and the
Singapore International Petanque
Championships in Singapore (Ian
Baker, Michael Rocks & Dirk
Winnie). These teams performed
very well and it is great that
more of our players have been
able to experience international
competition outside the
Oceania
region.
It is important that PNZ moves
towards more competition with
our neighbours in the
Asia/Pacific region. However, I
believe that to pursue
competition in the Asia/Pacific
region instead of sending a team
(or teams – women also should be
given the opportunity to compete
when they are ready) to the
World Championships would be
detrimental to the development
of the sport in New Zealand. We
have built up an eleven-year
history at the world level and
any decision to throw that away
now would make it more difficult
to regain later.
2005 World Petanque
Championships – Brussels
New Zealand sent a team to the
World Championships hosted by
Belgium in September.
The team was Christian Fouquet,
David Lippard, Chris Priestley
and Richard Swaney.
The coach was
Michael Emerson
and the Manager (and Delegate to
the International
FIPJP
meeting) was Graeme Morris.
Michael Emerson has already
provided a detailed report on
the team’s performance.
However, I would like to say
that the team was dedicated to
the task and trained throughout
the winter. They also travelled
to France prior to the
championships to compete in two
French regional tournaments and
to attend the C.I.E.P Pètanque
School in Sergines.
Although there was some funding
from the New Zealand Community
Trust and contributions from
several clubs and associations,
all the team members were self
employed or in a position where
being away for 3 weeks was an
impact on their income, as well
as the personal financial
contributions they made. It
needs to be recognised that the
team put in a great deal of
energy and personal/family
sacrifice to get to and compete
at the championships.
The attendance of the team at
the school in Sergines was
beneficial but at the same time
a risk that it may alter their
playing technique so close to
the World Championships. To some
degree it did affect a couple of
the players, but I think the
things the team members learnt
at Sergines will be of benefit
to petanque players in New
Zealand in general.
Asian Confederation
PNZ is an associate member of
the Asian Petanque
Confederation. As I have
mentioned earlier in this
report, it is important for PNZ
to align itself more with this
confederation. There is a great
deal of strength in the region
and I believe it is a better
option than
Oceania.
New Zealand should send a team
(or teams) plus a delegate to
the next Asian Confederation
Championships.
Meetings with Club
Representatives from
Christchurch and Dunedin
Early in 2005 I took the
opportunity to meet with club
representatives from
Christchurch and Dunedin whilst
in the South Island on business.
This was a good opportunity for
a member of the Executive to
meet face-to-face with clubs
from these two cities. At the
Dunedin meeting, the Timaru Town
and Country Club was also
present. These meetings took the
form of a question and answer
session.
The
Dunedin
visit also involved playing with
some of the club members at the
St. Kilda Club and the Caversham
Club. I also observed a junior
coaching session at the
Caversham Club.
The Council/Executive need to
make allowances in the budget
for more visits of this kind to
regions, as it is very important
to have contact with club
representatives to both give and
receive information/feedback.
Southern Trust
Whilst in
Dunedin,
I took the opportunity to meet
with the Southern Trust. I was
able to thank them personally
for the financial assistance
they have given us over the last
5 years and to discuss funding
application criteria for funding
an employed administrator (refer
to earlier report).
Sponsorship
Peugeot (Sime Darby Automobiles
NZ Ltd) continue to be our major
sponsor. Their support is
greatly appreciated and I see
opportunities for both
organisations to enhance this
relationship in the years to
come. I have met with them to
discuss continuing their
sponsorship for 2006 and they
are happy to do this.
We need to get more sponsors on
board and I hope someone will
take on this important
responsibility in the coming
year.
Junior Petanque
It is unfortunate that PNZ has
not been able to find someone
willing to take on the role as
National Co-ordinator for junior
petanque. However, having said
that, there are areas of New
Zealand where juniors are well
looked after and I thank those
people involved in this
important area. As I said
earlier, I had an opportunity to
see juniors playing and being
coached on my trip to
Dunedin.
One of the interesting aspects
of attending the tournament in
Chalon-sur-Soane, France, was to
observe the 80 junior triples
teams playing in the tournament
at various age groups. The level
of play was very high and the
players had excellent technique
and the shooting skills
displayed were amazing.
Coaching
We have made very good progress
in the coaching area in the last
two years. Much of the progress
can be attributed to Michael
Emerson. Michael has done some
very good work with New Zealand
teams over that period of time
and he has also travelled to
several parts of the country to
run coaching/training sessions
(often at his own expense). I
thank Michael very much for his
input into this important aspect
of the game.
Michael has also been running
weekly training sessions for
Auckland club players. I have
attended one of these sessions
and I was impressed with the way
in which it was run and also the
positive response from the
participants.
Michael and Elizabeth Rocks have
also attended one of Michael
Emerson’s training sessions and
have been introducing the
concept to the Wellington
Region.
Michael Emerson
was also able to get a lot of
information from the petanque
school that the New Zealand team
attended at Sergines. This
information will filter through
to the club members around New
Zealand in time.
I think the experience of going
to Sergines was very worthwhile
and I recommend that PNZ remains
a member of this petanque
coaching school.
It is with great regret that we
have accepted Michael’s
resignation as coach and one of
the selectors of the national
teams. Michael has carried out
his work in this area to a high
level and I thank him on behalf
of all petanque players.
In Conclusion
On behalf of the Executive I
would like to thank all those
people who have helped PNZ to
foster our sport. However, the
Executive MUST have more
support. So many things are left
to so few people. People are
prepared to criticise the
Council and Executive but these
critics are too often unwilling
to help out.
We must keep things in
perspective. We are a very
young, minority sport in New
Zealand run by volunteers on a
very small budget. However,
having said that, this should
not stop us reaching for the
stars. Who would have believed
at the start of 2005 that we
would become
Oceania champions? I was previously involved in basketball as a
player, administrator and
national league referee. During
that time it was a distant dream
that the New Zealand Men’s
Basketball Team could finish in
the top four at the World
Championships. They achieved
this at the last World
Championships.
We have improved in our playing
ability in the last 11 years and
we have also developed into a
truly national sport. Vision,
belief and common goals are
imperative for our sport in the
coming years.
I am not available for
reappointment as Chief Executive
Officer or any other position on
the executive for 2006. I would
like to thank you all for the
support I have received in my
time on the PNZ
Committee/Executive since 1999.
We have had some difficult times
but we have also had a lot of
“fun” times. I would
particularly like to thank
Barbara Whittington for the job
she has done as Secretary.
Barbara does a great deal of
work which so often goes
un-noticed. I also appreciate
the support Barbara has given me
during my time as CEO.
I also thank Trevor Neilson
(Deputy CEO) for his support and
the work he has carried out for
PNZ during his time on the PNZ
committee. Trevor is also not
standing for re-appointment for
2006.
I wish the Council, Executive
and members of PNZ all the very
best for the future.
Graeme Morris
Chief Executive Officer |
