2007 Council Meeting Reports

Council and Executive Meeting, 5 & 6 October

A brief note from the PNZ Executive to keep you up to date with information of interest.

Tournaments

2008 Trans Tasman

Negotiations are underway with Australia on the timing and format of next year’s Challenge, which will be held in New Zealand. Indicative dates at this stage are late April.

PNZ will be calling for bids from clubs interested in hosting this event.

The selection tournament for choosing the New Zealand team will be held on the weekend of 1st & 2nd December 2007. Interested eligible players are asked to enter as men’s and women’s doubles teams; the top 3 men’s teams and the top three women’s teams will qualify for the Trans Tasman squad. A registration form has been sent to Clubs and is posted on the website.

2008 Asian Petanque Championships

These were originally scheduled to be held in Laos in November, but earlier this year (May) we were informed by APSBC that there was some doubt about the ability of Laos to hold the event.

We have heard nothing formally since then, but it now seems that the Championships are being staged in Thailand at the beginning of December.

PNZ has emailed APSBC to confirm this, but unfortunately it is probably too late at this stage to consider sending a New Zealand team.

Process for determining representative teams

PNZ announced at the end of 2006 an interim process to apply for 2007 & 2008 (see website). One option we are looking at to sort out an agreed, workable method that can be applied in the long term, is to get together a group of representative (geographically, gender, age) players, preferably with experience of the different forms of ‘selection’ used over the years.

National Championships – area allocation

The National Triples Championship is petanque’s premier event, and, reflecting the comparative size and strength of the petanque community, the Triples will therefore be held in the North Island.  Other championships – Singles, Doubles, Seniors – will be allocated between all regions on a rotational basis.

The current allocation is:

This may be subject to change, according to such things as development of terrain facilities, growth of the sport.

An option that could be considered would be to have a permanent venue for the Triples ie. hold them in the same place each year. This is quite a common practice within the sporting world, and has several advantages such as allowing for longer term planning for players and organisers, greater potential for sponsorship deals.

National Women’s Tournament

This has not been included in the venue allocation at present, as at this stage it is a one-off event, aimed at finding a team to compete at the 2008 Women’s World Championships in China.

However, if it is judged a 'success' and if players wish, it could be added to the annual calendar.

The 2008 qualifying tournament will be held in on February 9th & 10th in the North Island. PNZ will be asking for expression of interest from clubs who wish to be considered as the venue for this event.

Venue advice

PNZ understands that people need to know the exact venue at which National Championships will be held as early as possible, so they can make appropriate travel and accommodation arrangements.

Therefore, nominations for the 2008 Singles (October, South Island), Doubles (November, Wellington area), and Senior (December, Central North Island area) Championships are to be called for.

Similarly, nominations for 2009 Championship venues will be called for at least a year in advance – Triples in early 2008, others around mid-2008.

National Championships Entry Fees

As previously advised, the entry fee for National Championships is to be increased – the fee for the 2007 Seniors Championships will be $25 per player, and for 2008 the fee for all Championships will be $30 per player.

This increase is needed to cover the increased costs of holding tournaments:

• Payments to host clubs ($100 plus $5 per entry)

• Travel and accommodation costs for independent umpires

• Expenses of National Tournament Director (if required to attend)

Administration Issues

2008 Regional Delegate elections

With the disestablishment of the Central Region at last year’s AGM, the 2008 elections will be for an Upper North Island delegate and a Lower North Island delegate.

Upper North Island clubs are the members of the Auckland Petanque Association plus Bayfair, Tauranga/BoP, Putaruru, Rotorua, Whakatane.

Lower North Island Clubs are the members of the Wellington Petanque Association plus Bay View, HBLT, Napier.

PNZ will call for nominations for these positions, and for the Canterbury/Marlborough delegate. The Southern Region Association will conduct its own process, as the Association covers all Clubs in the region.

Change to Governance Arrangements

PNZ is considering removing the current 'two-tier' governing structure (Council elected on a regional basis and Executive appointed by the Council), and going to a single Board, elected directly by PNZ members, either individually or through Clubs.

A paper outlining the idea will be issued shortly.

Change to Constitution

Some issues have arisen regarding the relationship between PNZ and affiliated clubs; in particular whether a non-incorporated club can be a member of an incorporated society.  A remit will be put to the 2008 AGM to make a minor alteration to the Constitution.

The effect will be that affiliated clubs will not be members of PNZ. Legally, the members of PNZ will be the members of affiliated Clubs. People will not be able to be members of PNZ unless they belong to an affiliated Club.

Relationship PNZ & Affiliated Clubs

Another issue is what authority PNZ has over the activities of clubs, for example who can enter tournaments. Belonging to PNZ confers certain benefits, such as opportunities for competition. It is unfair that those who choose not to belong to PNZ should be able to receive the same benefits.

Also, if people who are not members of PNZ enter competitions and disputes about behaviour arise, PNZ has no ability to discipline or sanction those people.

PNZ therefore intends to establish bylaws to the effect that only bona fide members of affiliated clubs are eligible to participate in official club, interclub and regional competitions.

Official competitions are those that are part of region’s or club’s Calender of events (including Club Championships).

Unofficial events, to which this restriction will not apply, include casual/social club play; public and promotional events such as open days, corporate evenings, business house games.

Playing Rules

PNZ believes that standardisation of playing rules throughout the country is essential to enhance and develop the sport, and policy is to promote such standardisation through our umpiring qualification system and player education.

PNZ therefore intends to establish a bylaw to the effect that affiliated clubs must run all official competitions according to the FIPJP rules as adopted by PNZ

This will mean that formats such as “3 boule triples” or time-limited games will only be able to be used for “unofficial” fun/social events.

Sundry Matters

Fund for International Representative Teams

This year we have been very fortunate with financial support for the NZ teams competing at the World Champs and Singapore International. Help from Clubs and individuals around the country, players own fundraising efforts, and funding from Trusts coming through at the last minute has meant that there is a small surplus after all costs.

PNZ Council has agreed that the surplus will be put aside into a designated account to assist NZ teams to participate in future international events (including those held in New Zealand). Protocols will be developed on how this fund will operate e.g. what events will apply to, the proportion or amount that can be spent on any one event.

Around the Country

The Tauranga/Bay of Plenty Club has extended their terrain, and now have the potential for 24 to 30 pistes at the Cliff Rd venue.

A new Club, the Westminster Club, is being formed in Christchurch.

Alexandra Club has set up the 'Fruitlands Challenge Trophy' to promote interclub competition amongst South Island clubs

Training - Performance Enhancement Groups

These groups, set up under the training programme developed by Neil Goodwin and David Lippard, are now operating in Bay of Plenty, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Horowhenua and Kapiti Clubs.

Reports from those involved indicate that they are raising enthusiasm, commitment and standard of play. PNZ is now working on getting the concept and programme out further; the Auckland region is scheduled next.

Anti-doping Rules

SPARC has issued a new updated anti-doping policy. All National Sporting Organisations that receive funding from SPARC are required to have an anti-doping policy that accords with the SPARC policy. PNZ has ratified the new policy, with effect from 1 July 2007.

A reminder: one of the commitments in the policy is to allow random testing if asked. PNZ considers that it is highly unlikely that petanque will be targeted for drug testing, but nevertheless competitors should be aware of potential risks. For instance, there is a list of banned substances that include some relatively common cold, flu and allergy remedies.

Barbara Whittington

Secretary

October 2007