Minutes of the BABOLOT Birmingham League AGM 25/10/17
1) Apologies for Absence: received from Kathy Griffiths (David Lloyd
Solihull), Anne Crooks on behalf of Studley, Jane Breedon (on behalf of Coleshill), Bernard Considine (on behalf of Circle) and Andrew Eley, (Men’s Div 9).
2) To approve the minutes of 2016 AGM. Everyone had had a chance to look through the minutes and the minutes were unanimously approved---proposed by Jane and seconded by Kevin.
3) Matters Arising: At this point Tony raised the matter which had been touched upon several times in recent years---that is, more publicity for the matches in the league. He had spoken to the relevant person, but rather drawn a blank. The info needs to be newsworthy with a definite point of interest. Clubs themselves would be responsible for forwarding the fascinating information about their matches etc.
Ian made the point that there is a newsboard on the website but it is rarely used for for publicity about matches etc, and in the “close season” probably not looked at a great deal.
4) Hon Gen Sec’s Report: Diane referred to various matters regarding the season just
gone, including her observation that she thought it “pretty feeble” when large clubs are unable to field a team (or even one pair) on some occasion, resulting in automatic relegation. There were several examples of this in 2017. But it was very good news that NO team had to have points deducted for ineligible players, for the first time ever, as Ian informed us. She went on to mention our recent League Committee meeting called to discuss two rule changes, the more important one
being the alteration to Rule 16. Both proposed changes were to be discussed before voting on later. Finally she thanked all those who came (20) and also thanked those who work hard to keep our VERY old Tennis League (founded in 1933) successfully on track.
5) Hon Treasurer’s Reports and Accounts for 2017: The year’s end accounts were
available for all to peruse. The normal income and expenditure were listed and we
made a “profit” of £3-78 and still have assets of nearly £1,300. So, again there
seemed no necessity to increase the League fees.
6) Stone Cup: In the absence of Kevin Bray, there was no Stone Cup report.
We understand that in the final Solihull Tennis beat Streetly.
7) Resignations of Officers and Committee Members
There were no resignations. We assume that Kevin will continue to run the Stone
Cup.
8) Election of Officers for 2018: It was proposed by Norma and seconded by Paula
that the same officials would be elected en bloc and this was carried.
9) Applications and Withdrawals: There had been an application from West
Warwicks to put a 5th team into the Men’s League. Diane thought that Boldmere
Ladies had applied to put in a 2nd team, but this was some time ago and she needed
to check on this. Penns 2 Men had withdrawn before the start of season 2017 and
was thought that they would re-instate this team as Penn’s 4 in Men’s 9; again this
needed to be verified.
10 Proposed Rule Change (Rule 11 and Rule 16) Tony talked this through and explained the circumstances which led to this change of rule 16b) that is “Should a team fail to play a match, the defaulting team have all its fixtures for this season
discounted and be relegated------“ .He explained why he reversed his original
decision in these exceptional circumstances. It was hoped that the wording and the
use of the words “justifiable, unavoidable and verifiable” would deter any weak
excuses such as “horrendous traffic on the M42” when in reality they hadn’t set
off early enough! It was agreed that if only one pair could get there, they would
play their matches. Moira speculated that there could be a severe weather warning
such as the pending arrival of a hurricane and all in its path directed to remain
indoors. This would seem to be a valid point which we’d have to worry about
should it happen! The change to Rule 16 was proposed by John Jackaman,
seconded by Ian, voted upon and carried unanimously.
There followed some discussion about the other Rule change re the starting and
finishing dates: 1st April to 15th September (by when all results must be recorded
on the website). There were various suggestions about this information being built
into the match lists which were compiled at the Fixture Meeting. Rory
commented that it was quite difficult to fit all the fixtures in already! The motion
to add a new paragraph to Rule 11 fixing these dates was proposed
by Ian, seconded by Paula, voted on and passed unanimously.
11) A.O.B. An interesting point, brought up by Rory, of which most of us were
unaware, involved the David Lloyd Clubs. It seems that any full member of
one of these Clubs is entitled to play at and also represent in matches any
David Lloyd Club, presumably anywhere in U.K.
There is only one D.L. Club (Solihull) in Ladies 2 of the B’ham League, but
most of us hadn’t realised that they could legally “import” players for their
team in this way. This has never been a problem, but may have to be considered
at some time in the future. There was no other A.O.B.
The meeting finished at 8-25 p.m.