Ottawa Senators Rugby Club Inc

Ottawa Senators Rugby Club Inc.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

Held: Saturday14th January 2017

Ottawa Police Association, Catherine St.

Item/Notes

1. Call to Order: (D Elder)

The Chair, President, called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. (Quorum confirmed [17 – at least a quarter of all registered members – 35 on roster]

Member attendees: “The list at Appendix “A” forms part of the official record in the books and records of the Club.”

1. Review of Agenda: (D Elder)

• Additions/Omissions
• Review and Acceptance of Preceding Minutes (AGM 2016)
• Review of Reports
• Election of New Executive
• New Business

Motion: “That the Agenda be adopted as read.”

Moved: D ElderSeconded: N HarrisCarried

1. Review of Minutes: (D Elder)

Review of Minutes of 2016 Annual General Meeting held Jan 2016 at the Ottawa Police Association.

DE discussed the matters arising [action points] from last year’s AGM:

Motion: “That the Minutes be adopted as presented.”

Moved: D ElderSeconded: N HarrisCarried

1. Business Arising: (D Elder)

• None

1. Executive Reports(D Elder)

“Upon presentation of the Reports, there will be one motion for the adoption of all.”

1. President’s Report (D Elder)

2016 was another year of transition for the club.

Those of us who have been around for a few years know that we go through peaks and troughs and I am certain we will be on the rise again soon.

Our playing numbers have dropped in the last couple of years but we still have a good core with some new enthusiastic ‘rookies’ coming in. If you are among those of us who have recently hung up our boots, I would encourage you to stay active within the club. Not playing on the weekend doesn’t mean you can’t run around on Tuesdays and attend social events.

In 2015 we had to cancel a number of games due to low numbers, and I feel that the 2016 Executive’s decision to formalize our joining with the Indians old boys was successful and beneficial for both clubs. I encourage this year’s executive to keep this link and try to explore others.

Exactly which away fixtures we choose to fulfill this season is something which should be considered closely. Too many and we don’t have numbers, too few and we lose interest. Franconia is always popular, but both Saranac and Syracuse were disappointing this year. Perhaps we should look at organizing a mini-tour of some sort to get folks back in to habit of travelling.

I would take this opportunity to encourage all our members, no matter what your playing status, to consider this as a rugby and social club. Too many guys show up for games and or Tuesday run outs then disappear until the next game. We have regular social gatherings which all help to increase team spirit both on and off the field, please make the effort to attend as many of these as possible.

If the current social events don’t appeal to you or your significant other, … the Executive is always open to new ideas, so start thinking now.

I’d like to finish by thanking all our members for their efforts and support through 2016 and I look forward to a successful 2017.

1. Captain’s Report (W Clifford)

• Started the season with games against a competitive Kingston team. We had help from a few Indians players and although the results were not in our favour there was encouraging plays on the field.
• The annual Franconia trip was a great success on and off the field. We won a game and lost the second in a tight contest that was decided by the final play of the game.
• Attendance for training was low with the usual 12 suspects and are mostly backs so we have not been able to practice scrums and lineouts much this season.
• We had some new players this year and as always will need to keep looking to recruit to stay competitive.
• We were unable to secure the St Lawrence cup on our trip to Syracuse but scored a text book try to finish that game. The night out after the game is always a good time although the mechanical bull is no more.
• The Fall Brawl was well attended by the Senators and in the first game we repeated out text book try for those unable to make the Syracuse trip. After two games of rugby we had a good social with the other old boy clubs in the bar.
• Our partnership with the Indians has allowed us to have at least 20 players for most games and remain competitive. We should encourage this again next season.

1. Club Secretary’s Report (N Harris)

The Club, as a not-for-profit corporation, continues to be in good standing with the Province. Executive meetings continue to be held on the first Tuesday of the month, where possible. Club members are welcome to attend executive meetings (usually in the Arrow & Loon after training) and can also request copies of executive meeting minutes from NH. AGM minutes, past and present, as well as other announcements and documents can be found on the Club website, which is regularly updated.

1. Treasurer’s Report (A Bailes)

See “2016 Ottawa Senators Financials – AGM 2017 Presentation” (Appendix B).

AB reviewed the numbers in the above document and presented a current bank statement.

MP: How many games did we play at TERP this season (for our $3000 fee)?

Answer: 4 games (ignoring the Fall Brawl) [2 were cancelled].

1. Fixtures Secretary’s Report (A Rose)

The 2016 season was another great year on and off the pitch for the Ottawa Senators Rugby Football Club (OSRFC) and as usual the Fixtures Director’s Office was kept busy with the organization of our full schedule. Our partnership with the Ottawa Indians Old Boys RFC provided to be successful solution to our game day participation that plagued the club during the 2015 season. The fixtures for this past year included:

Regular Fixtures 2016

Game Date / Location / Opponent
May 14 / Twin Elm Rugby Park / Captain vs President
May 29 / Kingston / Kingston Old Boys
June 19 / Twin Elm Rugby Park / Ottawa Indians Old Boys (Cancelled)
June 12 / Twin Elm Rugby Park / Kingston Old Boys
August 28 / Twin Elm Rugby Park / Barrhaven Scottish Old Boys
September 10 / Syracuse / Syracuse
September 25 / Twin Elm Rugby Park / Ottawa Indians Old Boys (Cancelled)
October 16 / Twin Elm Rugby Park / Brockville Old Boys
October 30 / Barrhaven / Barrhaven Scottish Old Boys

Tournaments 2016

Tournament Date / Tournament Name / Location
June 4 / Old Man of the Mountain / Franconia, NH
July 29 / Can-Am Rugby Tournament / Saranac Lake, NY
August 13 / Platinum Oldies (Over 50) / Peterborough
October 1 / Fall Brawl / Twin Elm Rugby Park

The other mitigating measure employed to address the Ottawa Senators struggles to field a team during the 2015 season was to host a scheduling meeting with several Fixtures Directors form other clubs in eastern Ontario in February 2016 to set the schedule. This approach helped all clubs reduce the number of cancelled fixtures.

Smiles For Seniors

• December 2016
• Coordinated the collection and delivery of approximately 100 Christmas gifts for veterans residing at Ste Anne’s Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue and patients at Elisabeth Bruyere Hospital in Ottawa
• The Club’s participation and financial support for this program is great, and it’s programs like this that make a difference in our greater community

Thanks is owed to Rhonda Gordon, Dermot Nally and others who helped make this program success this past year

1. Social Secretary’s Report (S Tucker)

Upon accepting the role I’d intended to add a couple of new ideas this year, as well as staying with the old. It was a partial success as we did manage to bring bowling into the mix.Event held were:

February - Sundowner

-Quiz night

April- Bowling

May - Karaoke

-Pub Crawl

Franconia - June

July- Ed’s farewell at the pool hall

-Saranac

August- Quiz night (CENTURION K9)

-Turkey fry

September- Golf tournament

October - Bowling

November - Players night & pub crawl

December - Club dinner dance & awards

On the positive side we held two bowling nights that were enjoyed and fairly well attended (40+ for the first). Interest for karaoke was minimal and the reservation of Shanghai Restaurant & China Doll was cancelled. We’ll try again in February on a smaller scale (table reserved for 20 on Feb 4th).

I believe that I generally did not publish the schedule early enough & would advise the next Social Secretary to pander to the membership’s busy social calendars.

1. Communications and Recruitment Coordinator’s Report (M Storeshaw)

●Communications have been steady and reasonably consistent

●Maintaining two lists -- players, and player plus non-playing members and others in the Senators community

●Tried to give as much advance notice as possible for fixtures, social events and other matters

●Did not make as much progress as I’d have liked in broadening our reach into the rugby community across Ottawa and the region, which I think can be useful for recruitment, showcasing both the playing side and the social side of the club

○Social media

○Website

○Video and photo content

●A few new tools used to communicate back-and-forth beyond just email

○Surveys for RSVP and getting feedback -- moderately effective

Overall, some small steps forward in terms of communication, with some more work to do to advance it a little more and grow our profile

1. Coach’s Report (M Patterson)

General

Thanks to all who helped with coaching the team this season.

Generally, a good year with coaching being undertaken by available senior players, although with the availability at training very much hit and miss a formal structured training program is very difficult to accomplish. Training tends to concentrate on anything falling out of the previous games and the various skill levels of the players in attendance. Safety (in terms of safe playing) is a primary concern as a coach.

That said, the indoor fitness and skills training conducted through the winter is excellent in the Police Gym and needs to continue and we should be encouraging a bigger participation (particularly for outdoor training in the summer where numbers are generally lower than for indoor training in the winter).

Suggestions for areas to improve

As Mark Patterson is the only formally qualified level 2 coach, as discussed last year, the club really needs at least 1 or 2 more. A formal level 2 coach is required to run the team for insurance purposes.

We should formally discuss how we get out of the field allocation scenario every year. If we can guarantee getting Gloucester High School every year then we can formally partner on a long term basis with the school to look at improving the availability of training aids and investigate a Trillium Grant for a scrum machine, all of which could be shared with the Gloucester High School rugby program. Todd Fortier, the school athletic director, is in favour of this move. The City will need to be approached to organise any formal agreement to rent GHS field (or any other field, e.g. Glebe HS, Carleton U) on a regular basis for summer training, as well as home fixtures in the event that TERP becomes unviable as a playing/hosting venue.

We tried and failed…again…to plan a tour, should we try again for 2017?

Motion: “The Executive Reports be adopted, as read.”

Moved: D ElderSeconded: N HarrisCarried

1. Election of Board Members/Executive(D Elder)

“Nominations will be taken from the floor for the following Executive positions:”

i) President: A Rose

Proposed:W Clifford (D Elder proposed by M Patterson – declined by DE)

Seconded:M Storeshaw

Acclaimed

ii) Captain: M Storeshaw

Proposed:A Rose (W Clifford proposed by M Patterson – declined by WC)

Seconded:W Clifford

Acclaimed

iii) Secretary: N Harris

Proposed:W Clifford (D Elder proposed by M Patterson – declined by DE)

Seconded:M Storeshaw

Acclaimed

iv) Treasurer: A Bailes

Proposed:N Harris

Seconded:W Clifford

Acclaimed

v) Fixtures:R Paterson

Proposed:W Clifford

Seconded:M Hartigan

Acclaimed

vi) Social:B Bassingthwaighte

Proposed:M Storeshaw

Seconded:W Clifford

Acclaimed

vii) Communications/Recruitment:(A Rose proposed R Henry – declined by RH); JF Gaudreau

Proposed:W Clifford

Seconded:D Elder

Acclaimed

viii)Coach: M Patterson

Proposed: W Clifford

Seconded:T Milroy

Acclaimed

ix) Alumni Coordinator (non-voting position): T Milroy

Proposed: D Elder

Seconded: W Clifford

Acclaimed

“There being no further posts to fill, the nomination/election of Officers and Board Members-at-Large is closed.”

1. Other Business(D Elder)

a)MPatterson: Tour

General discussion: We have tour funds; last year’s tour (Rhode Island) was cancelled due to lack of interest/numbers; Boston 2012 was a successful tour, but the Club membership was higher than at present; perhaps a Senators/Indians combined tour would be more feasible? Alternatives to a bus trip were discussed; the bus trip is generally considered to be an integral part of any tour; NHarris suggested that the Club should be concentrating on tried-and-tested venues e.g. Lake Placid, Syracuse, which were poorly attended last year. DElder suggested forming a “Tour Committee” (M Patterson, D Elder, M Storeshaw & R Paterson proposed).

b)ARose: Vintage August 2017

General discussion: There is talk of an amalgamated “Eastern Ontario” team being entered made from Senators/Kingston/Indians/Brockville/Belleville/Irish players. Senators players have been given the opportunity to play in the tournament (at $300 per player), to join the EO side or any other side, but the Executive have decided that there will be no official “Senators” side.

c)WClifford: Enforcing O35s rule during games

General discussion: As a Club we should be enforcing this rule, which may only affect 1 or 2 players from the opposition, but nevertheless has repercussions in terms of enjoyment, fairness, safety and insurance. Referees should be more aware of this issue and perhaps be responsible for enforcing it; EORU should be approached concerning this issue.

d)AWatson: Alumni participation in Club activities

General discussion: A report has just been produced (by John Platt (a former Senator) and other long-standing non-playing Members of the Club (Tim Frank, Tom Milroy, Dermott Nally, Andy Watson) addressing a number of issues that the Alumni have with Club involvement as non-playing Members (e.g. Newsletter, social events, future Executive Members, benefits of being a non-player Member).

1. Adjournment(D Elder)

Motion: “There being no further business for discussion, the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Senators Rugby Club is adjourned.”

Moved: D ElderSeconded: N HarrisCarried

The meeting was adjourned at 6:14 p.m.

N Harris Jan 14th 2017

Appendix A: Member attendance list: see separate document: “OSRFC AGM 2017 Sign-up Sheet” (available by request from N Harris, Club Secretary).

Appendix B: Financial statements:see separate documents “2016 Ottawa Senators Financials – AGM 2017 Presentation”(available by request from N Harris, Club Secretary or A Bailes, Treasurer).