BC Rugby Board of Directors Meeting 10 am November 04, 2017 777 Dunsmuir St, Vancouver, BC In Attendance: Samantha Shorter Britt Cook Tanya Donaldson Doug Manning Connie McGinley Jen Ross (arrived 10:19) Tony Watson Nik Witkowski Annabel Kehoe Louise Wheeler Regrets: Steve Cook, Mike James Call to Order and opening remarks: Samantha Shorter @ 10:09 Additions to agenda: Membership dues review Discipline Update Minutes of Last Meetings: The acceptance of the minutes of July 8 and September 20, 2017 meetings was done via email. AGENDA 1. Financials a. Income/Budget Analysis Q2 financials presented. Balance sheet shows cash is low as of September 30, but this has moved positively in October and will continue to improve as demonstrated by our Accounts Receivable as at Oct 30. PNL will continue to collect outstanding invoices. Income statement shows some changes in YTD comparisons. Most notably is Membership income. This reflects a delay in invoicing in this current fiscal due to the change-over of our accounting to PNL. This invoicing is also captured in A/R as at Oct 30. Other variations in YTD or Q2 budget comparisons: Have written off about $3K bad debt Fundraising for U18 Tour fell short, will discuss renewing the effort once 2018 Tour determined Coach Logic was not originally budgeted but part of Premier League initiative Increase in staffing also part of Premier initiative (staffing budget has been re-cast Q3 onwards) Representative 15s Teams: still some adjustments to be made to the final figures as well as waiting for invoicing from Rugby Canada for event fee and travel cost share Reviewed variable/unsecured income still budgeted for second half of the fiscal year. Fundraising income relates to luncheon table sales and auction. Stakeholders Committee on target to make this event successful again in 2018. Sponsorship targets have been pulled back given where we are in fiscal year. While good percentage of planned income is secured, budget still includes sponsorship $ still under
negotiation/renewal. b. Membership Dues Structure Review (added agenda item) The Finance Committee is establishing a working group to review BC Rugby membership structure and dues. Proposed changes will require approval from the Membership. Timeline will reflect pre-registration being offered by Clubs while following change management process. Currently seeking diverse members for working group. At National level, AK continues to sit on Rugby Canada s Membership Advisory Group. With new membership portal in place, agenda is shifting to focus on broadening membership categories available (esp. adult non-contact) and review of costs for targeted categories. 2. Approval of Committee Membership a. Participation Committee Clarification to applicants that is committee is about increasing the number of participants and not about league organization. BC Rugby did not receive sufficient number of applications, so majority of members have been reached out to with aim to achieve diversity of involvement and perspectives. MOTION to approve the proposed members for the Participation Committee. Moved by Jen Ross, 2 nd by Doug Manning. CARRIED Unanimously. Participation Committee: Jen Ross, Chair, An Hoang (Van), Adam Roberts (Valley), Ged Griffiths (Valley), Marshall Corbett (Okanagan), Pamela Hadikin (Island), Barry Allen (Van), Brad Baker (Van) and Rugby Development Officer x 3 will engage with this group. b. Competition Committee Two members from 2016/17 are not returning. One addition. T. Blake did not submit referee representative but happy with engagement through A. Hudson and BC Rugby. New structure where individual committee members will be focused on specific divisions or areas of responsibility. Al Hudson is added with the focus on Men s Premier and Reserve Leagues and he will also serve and the Referee representative. Minutes will still be circulated to the president of the BCRRS (Tere Blake) and BC Rugby Officials Development Officer (C Assmus). Succession plan is not yet in place. A. Kehoe will look to T. Donaldson and N. Witkowski for guidance on this matter. MOTION to approve the proposed members for the Competition Committee. Moved by Tony Watson, 2 nd by Jen Ross. CARRIED Unanimously. Competitions Committee: Annabel Kehoe (Chair), Nik Witkowski (Vice-Chair), Tanya Donaldson (Tournaments & Scheduling), Al Hudson (Men s Premier & Reserve Leagues), Marcus Treacy (Men s Div. 2 & Women s Div. 2), Chris Haynes (U23 Men), Aimee Burley (Women s Premier & Div. 1), John Lyall (Men s Island Division 1), Peter Muirhead (Men s Division 1 & 3) and Oisin Daly as the staff member assigned. 3. Approval of Amendment to Rules of Competition One material change in Section 8.2 (c) is the exemption for a capped player to no longer be Page 2 of 6
classified as a restricted player to be calculated at September 1 and Janaury 1 (previously only September 1): Capped Player a player that is capped but has not earned a cap within the 24 months prior to September 1 or January 1 will be exempt from Section 4.3 (b). Example: Under the old version, if a player received last cap on November 15, 2015 player would be considered capped for the full 2017-18 season. With the change the player will be considered exempt from Section 4.3 (b) effective January 1 st, 2018. MOTION: to approve the amendment to the Rules of Competition as presented. Moved by Tony Watson. Seconded by Doug Manning. CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4. Growing the Game Discussion a. 2016/17 Membership data Presentation made of BC Rugby membership numbers showing an increasing trend over the last 4 years. However, broken by gender and age different trends appear. Males down over 3 years but picked up in 2016/17 year. Significant and continuous growth shown for 18 & under girls. When examining year to year change by region, also shows different trends. viasport doesn t have the most recent numbers in reporting system so the 2016/17 numbers not yet shown. Comparison to other sports on previous years data shows lots of flux between other team sports. b. Status Report by Region Lower Mainland: Thunder Rookie Rugby in East Vancouver with 38 children participating due to rookie rugby in schools; Community Centre Rookie Rugby in two locations Kits and Delta, main issue is to get people to run the program; YMCA, in conjunction with Bayside, Rookie Rugby will launched in the spring; Referee course in Langley planned for November 12 has had steady registration with 50% female; BC Rugby Hight Performance Academy has had 43 BC carded athletes; U14 Boys league on Mainland is going strong and Darcy Patterson has had success working with girls; Elite Youth 7s four upcoming ID sessions coming up with many athletes pre-registering for the sessions. Darcy Patterson and Tony La Carte roles are now mirrored Mandy Marchak is being recruited coach but commitment with rugby league limiting availability, U17 RC Camp held last weekend with 17 players participating. Vancouver Island: Thunder Rookie Rugby is being held in two locations. Cowichan RFC has seen some of these participants become members; Referee course held in October in conjunction with a tournament had three participants; Game Ready has 23 participants this fall but seeing numbers build as program gets underway; Elite Youth 7s has two ID Sessions; Island has both U16 and U18 Boys leagues; U14 program has traditionally been difficult to field full league but this year doing a jamboree style which is being received positively. Interior: Game Ready program being held with good numbers again this fall; Kamloops 7s tournament was very successful with 49 teams (U14-18 Boys & Girls); Elite 7s ID by Phil & Darcy with 120 players attended; Referee Pro-D session at Kamloops with 3 referees identified for development; Interior Academy underway c. Growth Priorities Deferred. We will take this up at the December Meeting. need to make sure our resources are well employed. Page 3 of 6
5. Senior Rugby Developments Discussion No major updates since last meeting. Working Group has been formed. 6. Update from Provincial Union Meeting Provincial Unions Meeting held in Regina Oct 20-22. A main topic was how Rugby Canada interacts with the Provinces. Rugby Canada has made a commitment to communicate directives with members once those directives are established. Rugby Canada has changed their Member Relationship Agreement with the provincial unions to a grant application process. This will need to be done by the end of January, but it is not expected to make a negative impact on our to funding given the metrics we have been reporting. BC is still well represented at the Rugby Canada level with past president John Lecky on the Nomination Committee and Doug Campbell s term as a board member not expiring until 2019. No change in membership dues for 2018. 7. Building Trust with BC Rugby Community Discussion There are still transition and awareness issues with BC Rugby s new organizational structure. The Board is now using a governance model with strategic focus, rather than being an operational board. The Governance committee did a SWOT exercise and one of the key items identified was communication. It was also identified that to have effective two-way communication, there must be trust and that this is something that is needs improvement within the community with respect to BC Rugby. Discussion surround the following two questions: a. What can we do as individuals to foster trust in BC Rugby? b. What can we do as a board to foster trust in the BC Rugby Board? The Board engaged in an open discussion regarding interactions and behaviours to improve communication and transparency with the BC Rugby community. ACTION ITEM: Increase visibility of the Board by updating the BC Rugby Website: 1. Board Directory to be updated with pictures and profiles of the individual members. 2. Agenda of the Board Meetings to be posted on the website prior to meetings and Board Meetings to be entered on the BC Rugby Calendar 3. Minutes of the Board Meetings to be posted on the website in a timely manner. ACTION ITEM: Investigate training options for the Board members. 8. Personnel Updates Page 4 of 6
S. Shorter s child is due at the beginning of January. Doug Manning will be the chair for meetings starting November 29, 2017 through the AGM. A. Kehoe is going to Australia in December. She will be working there for the first two weeks and taking the remainder of the month as vacation. 9. Calendar a. Rugby Calendar i. Age Grade club finals will be @ UBC; Girls on Dec 3 and boys on Dec 10 ii. Feb-Mar Elite 7s both Boys and Girls iii. Mar 7: Kickoff Luncheon Increased minimum tables to 19 with a maximum of 22, price increased to $1950 per table. Tables of 9 with one spot for a Rugby Canada Player. RC players will be able to fundraise through auction item Auction items in place, Langara Adventure, World Cup 7s trip. Still looking for items at ~$1000k value iv. Mar 8-9: VRF - Open Competition will be changing so it is clear what level of competition this division is for. Tony and Darcy putting in youth teams Thunder Rugby is considering entering Alberta and Ontario both considering entering NZ would like to bring both a Girls and a Boys team this year. v. March 8: Rugby Canada Hall of Fame Dinner vi. March 10-11: Canada 7s vii. Apr 2018: Commonwealth Games - Rugby Canada hasn t confirmed if going yet due to financial considerations viii. May 5, 2018: Senior Club finals - location will most likely be Abbotsford where we will leverage last year s experience to improve the delivery. Competitions Committee will discuss. ix. May 12-13, 2018: Canada Women s 7s @ Langford. BC High School Girls tournament will be held in conjunction with this event. x. Jun 30-July 2, 2018: PRCs @ Burnaby Lake (pending confirmation of venue). Feedback from this year s event indicated some concerns over the availability of officials but the general preference was for it to be held over the long weekend to allow players from all over BC attend. xi. 16-22 July: CRC for Senior Women, U20 Women & U19 Men in the Prairies xii. 26-29 July: U16 Western Championships @ Kelowna (next three years dates confirmed) BC Rugby will have 4 teams U16 A&B, U15 A&B xiii. U18 dates not confirmed will be in Manitoba xiv. Saratoga Cup needs confirmation b. BC Rugby Office Closure for holiday season. The BC Rugby office will be officially closed from December 25 to January 1, 2018. However, most staff will be taking the week prior to Christmas off (December 18- December 22) with one or two taking the week after Christmas off (Jan 1-5). Page 5 of 6
c. Board Meetings i. December 13 4 pm Agenda to include; Growth of the game, financial update prior to, check in with board to prioritize objectives and resources. ii. January 27 in person day in conjunction with Canada/Uruguay match (kick-off at 5pm). Agenda items to include: -Operational Plan with budget. D Manning will be travelling and S. Shorter likely to be unavailable. S. Cook may chair availability to be confirmed. ACTION ITEM: 2018 calendar and agenda for January 27 should be sent out next week. d. Other key dates i. January 12-14, 2018 BC Rugby Conference. ii. January 13, 2018 Hall of Fame Committee (unavailable D. Manning and S.Shorter - others to confirm) 10. Other Business a. VRU letter from Peter Muirhead S. Shorter will acknowledge receipt of the letter & D. Manning will follow up. b. Discipline Committee The DC have been busy this fall. Some players have received significant suspensions. In 2017 World Rugby recommended that sanctions for offences to the head start at mid-level. The BC Rugby DC is following the recommendation. A communication to community regarding the new recommendations and about precedents no longer being a guide/grounds for reduced sanctioning has been prepared by the Discipline Committee and will be circulated to Club leaders next week. NEXT MEETING December 13, 4pm via telephone. Adjourned 3:02pm Minutes written by L. Wheeler Page 6 of 6