Minutes of the Sussex RFU Management Board Meeting

held on Monday, April 3rd 2017 at Brighton Rugby Club

Present: Gary Howorth (GH), Peter Bailey (PB), Allan Butcher (AB), Gavin Ross (GR), Dewi Vaughan (DV), Jo Martin, (JM), Marylyn Rankin (MR)

Action
1. / Apologies: None
2. / The Minutes of the Management Board meeting held on January 9th, 2017 were accepted as a true record of that meeting and signed by the Chairman. / Await
3. / Matters arising/actions. / Await
4. / Financial update
a) GR said he is working on figures for March and will email them, including actuals to March 31st, to members of the Board on April 5th. The figures will also include expenses for the Planning Weekend. He reported that a further £15,000 had been spent since the PFR was last updated. There are still some invoices to pay.
b)AB reported that the Volunteers’ Dinner had been cancelled as only 40 people had accepted. A provisional new date is Friday, May 12th at Sussex County Cricket Club.
c)Regarding Dragons’ Den, GR said Rye would like to receive the remainder of the money they were allocated last year. It was agreed that as long as the Club provides evidence to show they have fulfilled their requirements, this was acceptable. It was pointed out that Rye have not submitted their annual accounts to the Chairman, which is a legal requirement, and this should be done prior to paying them the balance of the Dragons’ Den money.d)Hurstpierpoint College has agreed to sponsor the County Schools teams for £1,500 this year and £1,500 over the next two years. They would like a banner on site when the games are being played and will take an advertisement in the match programme. GR to speak to Neil Dakin to confirm details and let MR know for accurate minuting.
e)The position re Clubs submitting their accounts had not changed. There are still only a few Clubs who have submitted their accounts. GR to email accurate list and each Executive Member to chase the Clubs which they have been allocated (see attached)who have not submitted their accounts. / GR
GR/ND/MR
GR
ALL EXEC
5. / Governance
a) PB said that Roger Edmondson had submitted a Discipline Report. Four more players are to go before Frank Edmonds following last weekend’s matches. Chichester and Eastbourne reaching six sendings-off. One more will mean a 25-point reduction. The only evident trend seems to be that a lot of the players getting red cards are the sons of coaches.
b) Jackie Coleman is currently away but is booked on a Safeguarding Course and taking her Assistant and Deputy and her planned successor and will then have a meeting with PB to discuss getting up to speed with GMS data re falling off DBS when it expires. AB believes the RFU should be able to automatically inform the County when individuals’ DBS cover is about to expire. JM said she would take this back to the RFU but they do want Clubs to take ownership as they have access to the information. It was agreed that Safeguarding Officers do not have sufficient GMS training to do this. JM said Clubs need to be made aware of their responsibility in this respect. It was agreed that a schedule showing the status of the County Safeguarding Officers should be taken to the AGM.
c) JM said that any media enquiries regarding child abuse should be directed to Gareth Mills at the RFU and any Club which thinks it may have been affected should contact Kath Bennett or Richard Smallbone. It is important to make sure that people working within the Harlequins Academy are DBS checked. Steve Briscoe needs to make sure that all County school teaching coaches are DBS checked in rugby and also representative coaches.
PB to contact Secretaries and Chairmen of Clubs where Jackie Coleman does not receive a response from their Safeguarding Officer. / JC/PB
SB
PB
6. / Succession Planning.
Alan Croucher is still interested in the position of Treasurer. He will be attending the Planning Weekend and will contact GR personally. Transfer date is the AGM.
Jo Martin said she had had a conversation with Andy Smith, Kent, who has taken on Succession Planning as a topic and she suggests it would be useful to share information.
AB to share some job descriptions for the four posts with GH.
AB to send copy of Stand-in schedule to go out with the minutes.
There is still no replacement for Roger Edmondson despite efforts to find someone. / GR
AB
AB
7. / Planning weekend.
AB set out his plans for the weekend of 22nd/23 April at the Birch Hotel, Haywards Heath, naming weekend and day delegates.
Ideally Ken Nichol’s proposal as to how he sees the format of the leagues next year will be available for discussion/planning that weekend as it will be known by then how many clubs are going up and down.
It is hoped to create a monitor for Safeguarding and a schedule for Discipline. AB will contact stakeholders to ask for this information. Any other ideas welcome. The target of the weekend is to produce a Business Plan to put to the AGM.
GR suggested there should be a register of injuries, or at least of overnight hospital stays. AB will follow this up with the RFU.
After an initial general discussion there will be break-out sessions to look at the PFR; try and get people creative and suggest new ideas.
The event will close approx. 2 p.m. on Sunday.
AB will send information to all attendees prior to the event. / AB
AB
8. / Update on County Senior Games.
AB had had a lot of discussion with various parties including D & W, Simon Stoddartand Steve Briscoe and it had been agreed to go ahead with the match at Crawley. Life Members, the Executive and their partners will be invited to a pre-match buffet and a post-match meal; Patrons and CB Officers to the pre-match buffet only. Sponsors will also be invited to both as will the three officials and players. The away fixture will be in Reading.
9. / Area 3 Meeting, 9th May 2017.
It was agreed that Peter Bailey and Allan Butcher should attend with either Steve Briscoe or Alan Croucher. / AB
10. / Leadership in Union Candidates.
To be discussed at the planning weekend. / AB
11. / RDO Liaison Group.
AB would like to enable more discussion to take place between Mal Chumbley (MC) and the Executive. It was noted that the Executive had not received the report on accreditation. GR believes the Executive shouldalso be pushing forward liaison between the Executive and the Clubs. AB has spoken to MC who is happy with the idea.
It was agreed that the East Partnership is not working. The small, vulnerable Clubs do not turn up to the meetings. It was suggested that contact between the Executive and Clubs does not have to be face-to-face, but can be a more informal relationship, such as on the touchline or in the bar after a match. AB agreed to set something up but wondered who will take this forward if he retires from Council next year. SB and CK suggested to sit on the Committee with AB.
PB to draft a letter to Clubs. MR to send AB’s Club-Exec link list to PB. / AB/SB/CK
PB
MR
12. / Any Other Business.
a)JM had had a meeting with James Melody who organises London and SE fixtures and who would like to get a feel for the informal fixtures that are taking place in the region. He would like to get MC involved in player meetings to try and get accurate baseline data. James is keen to get involved with Sussex again and possibly take on a role. PB to contact Ken Nichols and see if he has any need for a different body to plan what he is doing and suggest James Melody. AB will invite James to the Planning Weekend.
b)GMS Training. MC is holding training sessions at Haywards Heath on 10th and 12th April but these dates were not convenient for the CB.
c)Handbook. PB and MR to produce the 2017/2018 Handbook. It was agreed that there could be more information on the website and MR will email Clubs to ask what they would like to see included in the website. PB will speak to Doug Millen about a website tidy-up.
d)GR informed the meeting that he had Grand Draw tickets to return to the RFU.
e)Playing Review. GR asked if there is a specific remit for the Playing Review. PB will circulate the mission statement and bring the results to the June meeting. Competitions to look at results and give recommendations. If the July General Meeting agrees, a proposition and results will be put in force for the 2018/2019 season. JM suggested the Executive might want to take certain recommendations forward and give to Competitions as their remit pre-Christmas. JM will send National Playing Survey to PB after it has run its course. She said she can feed in information that the Executive may need or be missing.
f)PB had emailed Steph and Megan Thomas at the RFU re AB’s re-election as Council Representative but had no response.
g)There was some discussion about playing Colts on a Saturday, which Horsham are demanding. PB asked JM if there is any evidence that this works. JM will speak to her counterpart in the East Midlands and report back. It was felt that playing Colts on a Saturday increased the Colts-to-Senior transition and has had huge benefits to Clubs. It was agreed Colts could play on a Saturday if both Clubs agreed.
h)DV asked that the poster advertising the Curry Night be distributed to Clubs for posting in clubhouses.
i)PB reported that he now has the ties for the Argentinian tour.
j)Following AB’s report on Hellingly, it was noted that Health & Safety in Clubs is not good. AB has raised this at Council and it will be the subject of a new group.
k) The Youth AGM is to be held at Hove RFC on 11/5/2017 at 7.30pm
l)KN has emailed AB a letter from Gordon Buckley of Uckfield RFC blaming the County for there not being any First Aid Courses. AB will pass this on to CK for action. / PB
AB
MR
PB
JM
AB/CK
The meeting closed at 9.40 p.m.

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