Harbury RFC
Annual General Meeting
President: Ian Holroyd (IH)
Chairman: Graham Foster (GF)
Treasurer: Ian Kimberley (IK)
Fixtures: Jerry Birkbeck (JB)
Facilities: Dave Andrews (DA)
Coach: Hendry Rheeders (HR)
Players present: Sam Bushell SB), George Milburn (GM), Darren Nicholls (DN), Daryl Kittendorf (DK), Steve Mazurek (SM), Richard Sandford (RS), Andy Sandford (AS), Ricky Alford (RiA), Jeff Foster (JF), Steve Alford (SA), James Soper (JS), Adrian Exton (AE), Matt Hollaway (MH), Jack Howard (JH), Tom Kittendorf (TK), Steve Kittendorf (SK), Mike Steele (MS), Dan Shinkwin (DS)
1. Presidents Report – IH
· IH opened up his report by introducing Colin, the Warwickshire Displinary Chair for Warks RFU. Colin is to talk to the members from a WRFU perspective about the recent events during HRFC matches, both 1st and 2nd XV with regards abuse of the match official.
· Colin gave an in depth talk to the players about zero tolerance and WRFU’s approach to receiving complaints from match day officials. Questions were asked which were answered satisfactorily by Colin, and the club have a way forward with dealing with spectators and players were are overstepping the mark. This is an informal approach from WRFU rather than bringing the club to a full discipline procedure and warned action must be taken. Shouting and intimidation from spectators is enough for a complaint, a recent example of a spectator given 6 month ban was given, and a player banned for 6 years for striking an official with a flinging arm.
· No referee = no game is the ultimate message. WRFU currently struggling for officials and were 18 short on 1 occasion this year.
· No directive from IRB – a sent off player will be banned until they have appeared in front of their respective county panels.
· HR questioned what the WRFU are doing about improving the development of officials but Colin reiterated no matter what the perceived quality is of the official, players must respect their decision regardless of players opinions of the decision.
· HR agreed to speak with officials before each match and assure them we will assist them with dealing with spectators. Give the players the opportunity to speak to the spectators if necessary.
· Colin left the meeting.
· IH continued with the playing side having had a great season, enjoyable to watch which was typified at Atherstone last week.
· Thanks to HR and all players, we had a great cup run and the 2nd XV retained the shield. Congratulations to all.
· *Off the Field* - Steve, Carol and Tracey have done another great job behind the bar including private functions. They have been relied upon and helped us a lot, and the cup final brought in a brilliant bar taking.
· We must do more functions next season
· Thanks to Dave A, the grounds and facility are one of the best kept in the region.
· Thanks to Kittendorf ladies for the food, often at late notice without comprising quality.
· Election of officers needs to be addressed later, the committee is getting older and need to look to getting younger members on board and handing over the reigns.
· Final serious point – the on field behaviour has been exemplary, but off field we have had problems and needs recongising. The Coventry Welsh RFC biting incident has been to Twickenham but overall badly handled but they have been written to about future conduct. It is very time consuming going to hearings all the time and it is not how IH wishes to be representing the club.
o 4 situations that IH has had to talk to WRFU about, none of which have gone to the hearing stage at Broadstreet RFC. 1 Junior and 3 Senior
o Spectators must adhere to the zero tolerance and there is an expectation that players help police this. Club players agreed to take action and support the match day official.
o IH has had to write to 3 officials, 2 of which no longer wish to come to the club to officiate.
o IH has been very hurt from comments after previous disciplinary issue, and was accused of not supporting the players. Offered resignation if that’s what people wanted – this was unanimously rejected.
2. Treasurers report - IK
· IK went through the accounts for income and expenditure, but essentially there are 2 main issues:
1a. Bar income down a third, there has not been enough social functions and this must change if the club is to survive on their own resources. DA retirement game brought in £4k, £4k from the Old Yards Cup game and £1k from a private function last week.
1b. Social events have a massive opportunity to boost club resources and are vital as we move forwards. We need to publicise the clubhouse for birthday functions as this will bring in “new money”
1.c Saturdays are becoming an issue as away teams are not staying long. Example being Birmingham CS who didn’t even come upstairs so left without a single pint.
2a. Playing subs have not gone up for 4 years even though the cost of running the club have seen significant rises in gas, electric, oil and quality of club provision haven seen dramatic improvements. I.e. new gym equipment
2b. Subs down £1,400 from last year due to players leaving, and new/existing players not actually paying their subs! Non-payment means you are not covered by the insurance. MH mentioned there has been no directive from the 2’s and maybe needs enforcing more on a match day to take responsibility to collect fees.
2c. IK to endeavour to get on top of all members.
2.d IK proposed subs are increased to match rise in costs. £20 a month and reiterated it is to cover club expenses not non-paying members. This was seconded and agreed. SB asked if we can get a policy of selecting players who pay over non-paying players and HR confirmed this.
2.e To cover new players or those not on standing orders, £5 per game for a maximum of 3 games before having to set up a standing order from September 1st.
2.f The RFU raffle raised £2k more than last year and is incredibly easy to raise money for the club, as 90% is retained by HRFC. All players need to take more responsibility for selling tickets and raising funds for the club.
3. Junior Report – MS
· Numbers are almost at capacity with age groups from Under 6’s to Under 16s which is the first time with no gaps.
· In two years we will be looking to field a colts side again after a prolonged period of no colt representation.
· Coaching courses are in place to build club continuity
· They had a great festival and managed to make some money.
· It has been an indifferent season with some teams but they are working hard.
· Good news that the U11’s have exploded, now developing and winning games
· U10’s won 2 festivals in a row
· Rugby Ready course has been delivered at HRFC and a Scrum Factory is booked for 8th May with TK, AS, TW booked on. AS and TW also looking at doing Level 2.
· MS reiterated others thanks to Steve and Bar team, including DA for pitches and general support.
· Thanks to HR for passing on his wisdom to the juniors, and he knows how much the young players look up to him and really take on board what he says.
· Tuilagi course has been left late this year and numbers may be affected. 90 attended last year which was the largest Tuilagi course ran.
4. Facilities – DA
· JB has been working hard with funding applications, £50k Sport England grant, £5k RFU grant for the drainage of first XV pitch and training area. This will be with limited notice once the application has been submitted with the sports development plan.
· £7.5k application submitted to RFU social spaces for the disabled loos.
5. Elections of Officers
· JB – needs an assistant to help with the processes due to going to New Zealand. Also match reporting which has seen an increase in coverage due to quality photos being sent.
· DA – standing down from facilities due to age and a 5 year sentence having been served.
· IH – Normally 2-3 years, has been in service 15 years. Happy to continue attending vice president association, lunches etc.
Elections:
President – IH nominated by JB. IH accepted but requested a vice to assist – DN nominated and accepted the role.
Chairman – GF nominated and accepted – this will be his last year as Chair. SM to be discussed as vice-chairman to support GF.
Treasurer – IK nominated and accepted to continue
Secretary – DJ nominated and accepted – he may be moving from the area so need to prepare to replace him.
Fixtures – JB to continue, HR to support during the season
Facilities - AS and TW nominated and accepted
Mini and Junior Rep – MS to continue
All outgoing committee members were thanked for their hard work over the years and wished the best for their “retirement”.
Playing side –
· HR to select 1st team captain
· Ben Linnett to step down as 2nd XV manager, Fleggy unsure about taking on the responsibility.
· Proposed to change the constitution and allow players to vote for second XV only. This was seconded and agreed.
· MH proposed AE as 2nd XV captain, DS seconded.
· AE proposed MH as 2nd XV vice captain, DS seconded.
6. Any other business
· JB – Harbury carnival is approaching, HRFC will be present with a touch rugby area promoting the club to the village and requested players to attend.
· JB – A touch Referee course has been organised with Paul Scanlon from the RFU, 15th May at 6.15pm and will last approximately 2 hours.
The AGM was called to a close