The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
of the 1990 Pétanque League
Held
at the Queen Victoria, Syston
On
Wednesday 6th November 2024 at 8pm
51 members were present representing 16 teams.
Apologies.
Apologies were received from the Treasurer, Ben Stevens, John Kirton, Gerald Cook, Simon Chenery, Jonathan Warner, Roy’s Boys, Free Trade, Carl Harrison, Andy Moulds, Andy Bobe, Dave Allen, Ray Satterthwaite.
The minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting were unanimously approved. There were no matters arising from the minutes.
Presentation of Accounts for the season.
Brian Macdonald gave a brief report on behalf of the Treasurer. The accounts were unanimously accepted and agreed by the meeting. Registration Fees for 2025 will remain the same at £42.00 per team.
Officers Reports.
The Chairman thanked the committee for their work. He stressed how difficult it was to get input from members, particularly as he had had no response to his requests for volunteers. He stated that the committee don’t do it because we are on a power trip and we don’t want a round of applause. We do it so that everyone (including us) can enjoy a game on a Wednesday (or indeed a Monday) night. We say every year “It’s your league, we do what you want”. But it’s bloody difficult to get anything from the members – and even more difficult to find volunteers. I reckon your committee have done a reasonable job over the past few years. The league has grown to almost 50, when another local league – from a similar size - has shrunk to about a dozen. We don’t want to run it as a dictatorship but – and it’s a big but – for us do what YOU want, you have to engage. Otherwise we just have to guess. And that means ALL YEAR.
In recent
weeks I’ve asked 3 things on the WhatsApp Group.
1) First
one - Can someone please offer to take a few photo’s at the AGM? – not a single reply.
2) Can
someone please offer to energise the Facebook page?. No reply
3)
Thirdly……….I asked “Can you please vote on the supper issue” It only needed one
button to be pressed for god’s sake but only 27 could be bothered to vote out
of almost 50.
For us to do what you want you have to engage. Not just for one night but all year.
The Fixtures Secretary said the season ran reasonably, but for two teams dropping out early. He had had many enquiries throughout the year where the answers were in the handbook, or on the website, so there was no need for most of the messages. We have 45 teams for next season as things stand, so there would probably be five divisions of 9 teams each. In order to allow the possibility of an extra week to which games could be rearranged, the cup and plate quarter finals would be moved to earlier in the season, probably to mid July.
The Competition Secretary reported that we had 121 entrants for the Competitions which ran very smoothly. Disappointingly there were only 4 entries for the Ladies’ Pairs. Attendance for the Memorial Trophy competition was 22 players.
Item 5 on the agenda was approved as follows:
Rule 2.9 No more than two elected members of the committee of the 1990 League shall have been members of any other committee associated with any other league or region during the three years prior to the date of the last held AGM.
Item 6 was approved as
follows:
Rule 7.4 Any team not arriving to play in a cup or plate match will be eliminated from both competitions for that season. Any team not arriving to play in the cup or plate final will be eliminated from both competitions for the following season.
Item 7a) was approved subject to the additional wording that if, by agreement of both captains, it was not possible to replace all the displaced items the end would be replayed. The marking of boule or the coche to be at the discretion of individual captains.
After some discussion on item 7b) it was agreed that this would be referred back to the committee so that they could consider the implications on disabled players.
Item 7 regarding foul throws was discussed and the meeting decided that there was no need to apply a hard and fast rule to these situations, and that any penalty should be left to the discretion of the committee, but there was general support for the ability to apply a penalty for a subsequent season.
Item 8 was proposed by Clive Dawkes. It was agreed that teams not playing the final two games of the season, or entering results late, was a disadvantage to other teams in the division as they were unable to view standings and therefore could not determine what result they needed to achieve in order to achieve promotion, or avoid relegation. The meeting agreed this was unfair, but left the decision on points deduction, either in the current season or the next, to the discretion of the committee.
The WhatsApp vote regarding suppers had been 17 to keep as-is; 5 to have no suppers; 5 of no opinion. The feeling of the meeting was that suppers were an integral part of the ethos of the League, and Michelle Roe pointed out that some players never bought a drink, but going in for supper supported the venue as they were then more likely to do so. All agreed that communication between captains was essential and, although teams who could not provide suppers were highlighted in the handbook, the secretary will email teams where a team in their division will not be providing suppers to reinforce this.
The possibility of setting up a winter league was discussed, and details provided by John Edmonson. On a show of hands 8 teams expressed an interest, and the secretary will email all teams with the proposed details, and ask for entries.
Item 11 was approved so that four players may be registered by teams entering the Triples Competition to allow more flexibility in arranging dates for matches.
Trophies were presented to all winners present. The secretary will email those teams not present to collect their trophies.
There being no nominations received for the office of Fixtures Secretary Richard Garner was automatically re-elected. The secretary had received only one nomination for the post of Vice Chairman, that of Clive Dawkes, and therefore he was elected.
Any other business.
It was felt that as the regional arrangement
of divisions C and D 1n 2024 would mean that 4 teams would be relegated from
division B for the 2025 season, and this was unfair. The consensus of the
meeting was that we should revert to a vertical divisional structure for 2025.
Lynton Yates expressed his team’s disappointment at not being promoted on finishing third, as he thought the rules stated there would be 3 up and 3 down. He was corrected by the secretary, who explained that he was incorrect in his assumption, as the rules only stated that 3 teams would be relegated, and the number promoted would be as required to level out the number of teams in each division. He then demanded an explanation for the introduction of the rule regarding the ineligibility of previous members of other committees to stand for election to the 1990 committee. The secretary explained that this had been brought in, along with the rule regarding committee members serving a three year term, to protect the league from the possibility of its committee being replaced en masse by previous members of the LPA committee, as it was felt that such an occurrence could lead to the 1990 league becoming a clone of the LPA. This explanation received a round of applause.
There being no further business the meeting was closed at 10:02pm.