OPENING North Western Tasmanian Bowls Association MINUTES OF THE NWTBA GENERAL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2013 AT ULVERSTONE BOWLS CLUB Acting President David Gewin opened the meeting at 7.30 pm and in doing so welcomed all delegates. APOLOGIES Patron Leigh Bishop ATTENDANCE 28 members from our 15 member clubs plus Acting President David Gewin, Secretary/Treasurer Glen Stephens, Match Committee Chairman Ian Moore, Umpires Chairman Barry Isaac, and Burnie Geoff Williams Chris Marks Devonport Darby Ryan Dean Martin East Devonport Keven Dowling Latrobe Robert Sims Tony Maney Penguin Dave Jeffrey TC Hofman Port Sorell Max Anderson Graeme Barker Railton Scott Cowburn Mark Wells Ridgley Graeme Parker Greg Palmer Sheffield Carl Cox John Bailey Smithton Graham Horne Don Ralston South Burnie Brian Streets John Burley Spreyton Alan Duncan Corey Woolley Turners Beach Barry Isaac Ulverstone Don Willcox Doug Brain Wynyard Graeme Boag Barry Bomford MINUTES Moved Keven Dowling Seconded Chris Marks that the minutes of the previous meeting 9 September 2013 be accepted as presented. CARRIED
BUSINESS ARISING 1. Coaching. David Gewin said it was very disappointing that only six people turned up to the Coaches meeting on Sunday. 2. He requested the Secretary write to Sue Stevens re where we are at with the coaching at this stage. CORRESPONDENCE 3. Letter from Bowls Tas advising date for RCC meeting on 6 November 2013. 4. This date was not acceptable to Bowls North or the NWTBA. Bowls Tas notified. 5. Letter from Bowls Tas. advising new date for RCC meeting would be 18 November 2013 at Campbell Town also included was the Agenda. 6. Letter from Bowls Tas re presenter and Assessor Models for Umpires and Coaches. 7. Letter from Bowls Tas re a North West Coaching meeting. This meeting was cancelled by Bowls Tas. 8. Letter from Bowls Tas. re judicial hearing. 9. Copy of email sent to bowls Tasmania advising the NWTBA would comply with the directive from BOWLS TAS re the Burnie Bowls Club judiciary matter. Moved Geoff Williams Seconded TC Hofman that the Executive decision to comply with the BOWLS TAS directive be ratified. CARRIED 10. Letter of resignation from Barry Monson as President of the NWTBA. 11. Letter to all clubs advising that because of ongoing health problems Barry Monson had resigned as President of the NWTBA effective as from 5 November 2013. 12. Letter from Bowls Tas Executive Officer (Steve Tomlin) requesting payment of Capitation fees which were due on 31 October. 13. Treasurer Glen said he had told Steve that we would be paying our dues as soon as possible, ie when all clubs had forwarded their Capitation fees to him. 14. Letter from East Devonport advising they would not be taking tickets in the Mitsubishi Motors car raffle for this season. Secretary Glen indicated this may preclude East Devonport from receiving any prize money should they be successful in winning any. This is because all prize money is offered on behalf of the Sponsor which in this case is Mitsubishi Motors. 2
15. Letter to all clubs advising the Match Committee had called off all games on 5 October because of inclement weather. 16. Fax from the NWTBA team manager advising the team to represent the Association in rounds 3 and 4 of the State Wide Pennant on 24 November in Launceston. 17. Several fliers from Bowls Tas. outlining draw and format for the State Wide Pennant and the U18s for 27 October at Rosny Park, 24 November at North Launceston, and 2 March at South Burnie. 18. Letter from Wynyard advising changes of information in Bowls Tas handbook. 19. Letter from North West Umpires Panel advising Office Bearers for season 2013-14. 20. Letter from Bowls Tas advising the next meeting to discuss the Statewide Conditions of Play will be held on Monday December 16 at Campbell Town. Ian Moore to report on previous meeting in Match Committee reports. 21. Letter of support to Sheffield re their intention to upgrade their toilet block. 22. Letter from Adam White and Phillip Mundy re new uniforms for the NWTBA Representative side. 23. Adam & Phillip advised that there was no provision in this year s budget to accommodate their wishes but it would be considered next season provided a sponsor can be obtained. 24. Copy of entry forms for the Association Open and Minor Fours and Triples Championships sent to all clubs. 25. Keven Dowling asked why the entry forms had been sent via email and by post. Secretary said he was aware that not all clubs were happy with having to print out everything sent to them by email and also as he was sending other correspondence by post it was easy to include a copy of the entry forms in with them. 26. Keven also queried whether all clubs had paid their Capitation fees. Treasurer said no but he expected them all to be paid by the end of the week. (Have now been paid). 27. Barry Monson letter of resignation. Moved Keven Dowling Seconded Dave Jeffrey that a letter of thanks and good wishes be sent to Barry for his contribution to bowls at all levels over many years. CARRIED 3
Moved Doug Brain Seconded Barry Isaac that the inwards correspondence be received and the outwards endorsed. CARRIED REPORTS Bowls Tasmania Report 28. Secretary Glen gave a brief outline of what had transpired at the RCC meeting held earlier that day at Campbell Town. He said it was pleasing to hear that the North were prepared to admit that they were having a few problems with their mixed gender issues and that they had to call a special meeting of club Presidents and Secretaries to try to sort out their issues. The Northern President said in hindsight they may have been better to have started from the top down rather than the bottom up. There was a lot of resistance from the elderly ladies who did not wish to play with or against the men. 29. (Bowls Tasmania) President Garry said the Courts in South Australia said that Bowls South Australia must provide two alternatives ie open and gender specific. The North said one way of doing this would be to make Thursday Pennant ladies only, Saturday Pennant open gender and all other days such as Veteran Days etc as men only. 30. (Director) Mike McHugo said he had been working on a Strategic Plan for Bowls Tasmania and that he would like the regions to have a look at it and report back to him with any comments. It is the intention that all regions have a Strategic plan. Mike said he was prepared to come to the regions to help if his help was required. 31. IT System is still a work in progress. 32. A query was raised as to why BOWLS TAS fund the representative team and the Under 18s but not the over 60 or Senior Sides Championship teams. It was suggested that maybe a levy could be placed on all clearances to help fund all three teams. It was stated by the NWC that placing a levy on clearances would make very little difference to the end result. The NWC is of the opinion that the over 60s are a select bunch of volunteer bowlers who actually put their name forward to be in the team rather than being selected from across the State as is the Under 18 and representative sides. If Bowls Tas wanted to raise money for their representative sides it may be more reasonable that they do this by increasing the Capitation fees by two or three dollars. 33. The idea of asking representative players to pay for their uniforms was also canvassed. 4
34. This year s Annual Awards and Presentation Dinner would be held in Launceston at the Casino. 35. The Tasmanian Championships will remain as is ie Men and Ladies will play their own competitions. It was agreed the conditions of play need to be more flexible. 36. There were apparently a number of dissatisfied bowlers at the recent Michael Hill Master Triples event. BOWLS TAS Executive Officer Steve said he had not received any complaints. 37. The BOWLS TAS KPIs need to be updated and become more realistic. 38. Bowls North suggested that Bowls Tas. events should be run by Bowls Tasmania and not the regions as is presently the case. They suggested that BOWLS TAS should have a properly constituted Match Committee. 39. They also suggested that the Umpires should be arranged by the Bowls Tasmania Umpire Panel. 40. They queried the makeup of the second Statewide Pennant team from each region. Do they need to play three U25 players? Answer yes. 41. The North also suggested that players should play in at least four of the eight disciplines listed; their regional singles, pairs, triples and fours and the Tasmanian singles, pairs, triples and fours before they can be considered for selection in their representative side. It was pointed out that this would be unworkable as at least two of the statewide pennant games would be held before any of the above mentioned events took place. They suggested using the previous season. No support for that option. Up to regions as to how they pick their teams. 42. The South advised they were having difficulty in getting any ladies to put their name forward to become a Director. Bowls Tas will look at allowing two males or two females from a region to be Directors. 43. The minutes of all Board Tasmania meetings are be sent to regions as soon as possible after each meeting. 44. The next RCC meeting would be held on Feb.24 th,2014 and the following one on April 28 th. 2014. 45. The NWTBA Secretary told delegates we should keep our eyes open for any changes to the Constitution. 5
Financial Report 46. Treasurer Glen gave a verbal report as he had not had time to arrange for a more comprehensive report. He said that as at the 10 th of November we had a balance of $57,265.61. The Treasurer said he would include a full report in the mail out to clubs of the minutes of this meeting. Match Committee 47. Chairman Ian Moore informed the delegates the match committee had to cancel the first round of pennant because of inclement weather. 48. The MC had experienced great difficulty with division 5 with clubs nominating teams for this division with little or no chance of being able to meet their commitments. The committee had met several times on this issue. 49. The MC decided to trial only 12 players in a side for the first round. This proved very popular, so much so that the MC has decided it will remain for the rest of the season. 50. The MC have redrawn the Division 5 Roster for the final two rounds with 8 teams in division 5 West and 6 in Division 5 East. They have moved Ulverstone to Div 5 West from Div 5 East to eliminate the bye. The MC wished to record their thanks to Ulverstone for being prepared to accommodate the MC They are to take their points with them. 51. Ian reminded bowlers that the NWTBA Open & Minor Fours and Triples entries close on 25 November. 52. Ian then gave a run down on what transpired at the inaugural State Match Committee Meeting. 53. He told delegates that Bowls Tasmania wants all regions uniformed by a certain time, (that time no being indicated) because it was obvious to them that it was going to be more difficult than they realized. 54. State finals are definitely 12 players a side and 21 ends played under the same format as previous years. Ian indicated to the meeting that it was likely that the NWTBA would give its premiership teams the option of competing under that format or not participating. 55. It was once again stipulated that the Bowls Tasmania Board does not represent any region and they vote for what they believe in their opinion to be best for bowls and all bowlers. 56. The NWTBA and the NWTWBA were taken to task for allowing mixed gender in their bottom sides because we are two different regions and not unified. 6
57. Ian told them that the NWTBA and the NWTWBA were only using a bit of commonsense to enable bowlers to get a game. 58. The Bowls Tasmania President told Ian and Barbara that there was no such word as commonsense and that we could be deregistered for breaking the rules. 59. Ian suggested that they may be doing us a favor if they did deregister us. 60. Points that could not be agreed upon was how many games a first year bowler playing in open grade can play before he is ineligible to play in state minor events. 61. Possibility for Singles and Pairs being for open and minor champion of champion events. 62. Pairs to be crossover (ends to be decided). Women get tired playing three games in a day or it being made 3-bowl pairs rather than crossover. Umpires 63. Umpires Chairman Barry Isaac gave this report. He told delegates that there has not been a lot of activity to date 64. Due to family illness Panel Secretary Lois Tyrrell has had to step down from her position. 65. Barry on behalf of the Panel thanked Lois for her contribution to the Panel and to Lawn Bowls in general. 66. Barbara Mainwaring has been elected to the position as Secretary of the Panel. 67. Barry said all bowlers are aware of plans to change Lawn Bowls umpiring. 68. In future there will be a marker, a Measurer and a National Umpire. As from December 31 Level Two Umpires/Officiators will cease and following assessment will become National Umpires. 69. To become a National Umpire they must be a qualified Marker and Measurer. 70. In future Association Umpires will not be conducting Accreditation courses or re-accreditation courses. The courses will be presented by a Presenter and an Assessor. Australian Sides Championship 71. Bowls Tasmania should be dealing with this and not South Burnie. It is a Bowls Tas. event. 7
72. Keven Dowling asked Barry if the small dot on the bowl was legal. Answer yes. Coaches 73. There apparently is still some concern as to how it is going to work. David Gewin to take it up with Bowls Tasmania President Garry Bevin. Selectors 74. The team manager Tony Maney gave a report on the 1 st and 2 nd rounds of the Statewide Pennant played at Rosny Park. At the completion of play the North had 26 points, North West 16 and South 12. The NWTBA play North on Sunday 24 November at North Launceston. 75. Tony told delegates he would be asking the Secretary to call for nominations for the No 2 side to play on 2 March at South Burnie. GENERAL BUSINESS 76. Scott Cowburn asked if a Notice of Motion was required to change the Constitution in regards to early starts when the Association side was playing in Hobart. He was advised that yes it would require a Notice of Motion to that effect. 77. Keven Dowling said that he had sent an email to the Association Secretary which he knows has been forwarded on to the clubs concerning their Veteran Days. He said from player reaction it was obvious that club Secretaries were not passing such information onto their members. 78. Keven also stated that contrary to rumors once again circulating that the East Devonport Bowls Club was not in financial difficulties and would not be going into recess any time in the near future. Life Membership Moved Doug Brain Seconded TC Hofman that Charlie Compagne be awarded Life Membership of this Association. CARRIED This will be presented to Charlie at our Annual Dinner and Trophy Presentation Evening at the end of the season. 79. Delegates were advised that there will be a double header on 30 November and 1 December. 80. Logos on shirts three sponsor logos are permitted on shirts. Names may be placed on the back of the shirts or jackets. 8
PRESENTATION TO PRESIDENT 81. With the approval of the delegates Secretary Glen presented David Gewin with the President s Flag and Badge. David will act as President for the remainder of the season. 82. President David asked that members canvass their clubs and nominate a new Deputy President of the association which may be decided in a special meeting. Secretary to remind clubs. NEXT MEETING 83. Next Meeting Monday 3 March at the South Burnie Bowls Club at 7.30 pm. CLOSURE 84. Meeting closed 9.06 PM. David Gewin President Glen Stephens Secretary 9