SEAPOINT RUGBY CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD 18th MAY 2017
Apologies received from – Liam Fitzgerald, Victor Brophy, Tom O’Connor & Alfie Jones.
- Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 26th May 2016.
The Minutes of the A.G.M. held on the 26th May 2016 were adopted on the proposal of Tom O’Higgins and seconded by Paul Cullen.
Matters Arising: None.
- Minutes of Extraordinary General Meeting held on 13th October 2016.
The Minutes of the E.G.M. held on the 13th May 2016 were adopted on the proposal of Steve MacDonough and seconded by Vinny Totterdell.
Matters Arising: None.
- President’s Address (Jim McKeever)
Good evening and welcome to all members of Seapoint Rugby Club.
If I was to stand up here and say that the past year was a doddle I’d be lying. If you break the year down there were amazing times i.e. our first few games that gave us 10 points for our 1st team. Shortly after that the wheels came off the wagon. The mid part of the season was not great. However, the last two months of the season were great finishing mid table.
I want to thank all the people involved with our Senior 15’s our 3rds under 20’s and a big thanks to our under 17. I won’t go too far into the rugby end of things as our Director of Rugby will cover that end.
So from the business end of things it was truly a remarkable season getting the right people in place was the key. From the off Gerry Owens your incoming President along with the brains behind a 1000 Air Vinny Totterdell. They got a hold of fund raising and ran a year with meetings every week. Cajoled, begged, pleaded with people to come on board to make 1000 air work and it did (Bringing into your club a serious amount of money.)
The 4 all blacks coming to your club. How proud were you of that? Our MY boys and girls led the Haka in front of the famous 4 Sam Whitelock, Arron Smith, Charlie Fiewannea, Joe Moody with Maya Keegan leading the Haka superbly.
As a result of the blacks coming to Seapoint and experiencing typical Seapoint hospitality from their
New Zealand headquarters they contacted Unicef (branded partners) and got Peter Power CEO of Unicef to present an All Blacks Jersey which was worn in Soldiers field Chicago to your rugby club Seapoint. It now hangs proudly in the bar area and is under 24 hour guard.
The jersey was signed by all the players who played against Ireland on that memorable day in the USA.
The Joe Schmidt night in Seapoint with 100 referees, a night never to be forgotten as Joe spent 2 hours explaining all the rights and the wrongs of rugby football another + for Seapoint Rugby Club.
Seapoint Rugby Club was highlighted in the match day program which was Leinster V Edinburgh with your outgoing president talking to the best rugby coach in the world Joe Schmidt another first for this great club.
We had 1000 Irish Daily Mail papers delivered locally complete with Seapoint Rugby Club on the front and back pages of the paper showing the All Blacks in our club.
What about our special team The Dragons? Playing down in Thomond Park in Munster match. Dragons you’ve done us proud.
Felix Jones once of Seapoint MY and our senior team. Felix of Seapoint and Ireland is going to Japan with the Irish team as one of the chosen coaches.
I was privileged to be invited to Seapoint MY Blitz where 1,400 people had a great time with what must be the greatest organised MY event in Ireland. This year we had teams from London plus 4 teams from Bruff, Limerick. Thanks to our own Paddy Freeney.
Our under 14’s won their cup final in Donnybrook playing a brand of rugby that needs to be
believed. Our under 15s were beaten in their cup final by the biggest under 15’s side I’ve ever seen. I think one guy had a moustache. The score was 29 points to 28. We were the better team for rugby skills.
Our under 17’s won the cup in Malahide beating Cill Dara in a great match. I then saw them beating Clontarf and Landsdowne in other cup matches and our 17’s were fantastic.
On May bank holiday weekend our very own Seapoint under 13’s won the Terenure plate competition. Very well done lads!
So folks! I want to thank my Executive for all their help during the past 2 years. Thanks to Eddie Duffy for the time we spent together and I wish our first team all the best for the future and to all our Seapoint membersKEEP YOUR EYES AND EARS OPEN HELPING YOUR CLUB TO GET IN MUCH NEEDEDNEW PLAYERS AND MEMBERS. Your club is worth it.
Thank you.
- Honorary Secretary’s Report (Richard Power):
Following AGM in May 2016, the Executive Committee co-opted the following:
- Jim Reynolds as Youth Rugby Co-ordinator,
- Tom O’Connor as Chairman of Facilities Committee,
- Vinny Totterdell as Chairman of Fundraising & Sponsorship Committee,
- Karl O’Neill as Rugby Committee Administrator,
- Dave Coughlan RIP as Leinster Branch Representative.
Dave’s early passing cast a cloud on the executive. Anyone who attended the Annual Dinner would be in no doubt as to how highly regarded Dave was in the Leinster Branch & IRFU. We remember also all other absent friends.
Jim Reynolds resigned & was replaced by Barry Chadwick/ Mark Kelly (prop). Karl O’Neill was appointed to take over the role as Leinster Branch Representative while retaining his admin role on the Rugby Committee. At the same time Brian Lyons/ Gavin Hayes were co-opted as Players Representatives.
The Club Rules require that we have 6 trustees. With the death of Brendan Byrne, we were down to four viz Jim Byrden, Edward Lyons, Kevin McGurk & Freddie Tully. Tony Murphy & Brian Kelly agreed to become trustees. Kieran Griffin has agreed to replace Jim Byrden. On behalf of the executive committee, I wish to express our thanks to the trustees for their wise advice.
One of the first jobs & probably the most important job that the Hon Sec has to do each year is to ensure the registration of the Club through the High Court. This is critical as it ensures that we retain our bar license. We have been supported in our application for quite a number of years by local Peace Commissioners Brendan Henderson & Charles Lynch who lives on Churchview Road. I would like to put on record our thanks for their continued support. The documentation for the registration is prepared by the Hon Sec & our club solicitor Austin Heffernan successfully processes the application through the courts in September each year.
There is an increasing amount of administration & communication that is required with IRFU & Leinster Rugby. There is hardly a day goes by but there is an email from one or other. Being a Senior Club participating in the All Ireland League puts huge pressure on us to conform in many ways. In this regard, I wish to express my thanks to Karl O’Neill who does a lot of unseen work to keep us in good stead.
In relation to the website & other IT matters I wish to express my thanks to Eoin Shanley who is the webmaster & is always available to help with any IT communication issues. In relation to communication I must mention the excellent newsletter that Brian Kelly issues which has been very helpful to me in relation to communicating admin matters.
The secretary is responsible for maintaining records of all members and former members of the club. I could not have done this without the help of Sue Coughlan (& now Joyce Shortall) in the office as club administrator. They have beavered away with a poor database & computer system which I hope we can improve dramatically next year. They have been particularly helpful in trying to save costs by communicating via email e.g. EGM/ AGM notifications etc. However, there are some who do not have emails & we have hopefully identified all who needed to be posted to. Can I ask if you received notification by post & have an email address to please advise Joyce.
The IRFU are currently rolling out a web based Clubhouse System which will enable clubs to record all their information in a single database. John Power, Freddie Tully, Barry Chadwick, Michael Murray & I attended the training. It is hoped to have this up & running for next season subject to clarification of ongoing data protection issues.
A word of thanks to Ciaran Freeney who collected subs & helped with membership list update & to Richard Keegan who provided insurance advice when required.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council have given the following Sports Grants to the Club this year & have asked that we acknowledge:
€1985 towards the cost of replacing the posts on Pitch #1.
€420 towards training of Dragons team in Loughlinstown Centre last winter.
€5000 towards the cost of the Blitz.
I would like to mention the work done by Freddie Tully in making the application under the 2017 Sports Capital Programme (Lotto funding). He was assisted by various club members in providing data & carrying out reviews. I would also mention our club solicitor Austin Heffernan in this regard. Let us hope that our application bears fruit this time. Keep the pressure up on the politicians.
I would like to sincerely thank the members of the Executive Committee who I bombarded this year with emails & who always responded graciously.
Finally, there were 16 Executive Committee meetings during the year.
I give the record of attendance by members as follows:
Jim McKeever 15, Gerry Owens 16, Steve McDonough 13, John Power 15, Mick O’Toole 14,
Richard Power 14, Peter O’Brien 9, Jim Reynolds 7, Barry Chadwick 6, Mark Kelly 5,
Tom O’Connor 13, Vinny Totterdell 16, Karl O’Neill 14, Brian Lyons 5, Gavin Hayes 2.
Barry Chadwick, Mark Kelly, Brian Lyons & Gavin Hayes joined the Executive Committte mid season.
- Honorary Treasurer’s Report (Mick O’Toole):
Treasurer’s report to the members of Seapoint Rugby Club for the year ended 31st March 2017
Introduction
The accounts for the period show an excellent turn-around from last year and a great performance for the year. Lasts years’ deficit of just about 29,000 euro has been replaced by a surplus of around 25,000. We know that it takes us a profit of 12,000 per year just to stand still and meet our various requirements to service loans etc., so this year we achieved 13,000 beyond standing still. So let’s see how it was done.
Income
On the income side we had an increase in Subscriptions of 9,900 or about 20%. We voted on an increase at the last AGM and this extra money was invested in coaching at Mini and Youth level. Your executive committee will be proposing an increase again this year to further invest in both coaching and in club infra-structure.
Bar income remained steady with an increase of 1% in our margin. At a time when other sporting clubs in the area have let their bar licence lapse and rely on a temporary licence once a year for special occasions this is an exceptional result and great credit is due to Alan and his team.
At the EGM during the year, you the members, empowered your executive committee to maximise our return on sponsorship and that has been certainly been achieved. We focussed on one “spectacular” event, “Who wants to be a Thousandaire”, and it not only beat its forecast income, but also brought the various strands of the club together for a great evening’s entertainment in Killiney Castle. To achieve this, we decided not to do smaller events like the Dream Auction. We also achieved a great result from the sponsorship drive during the period as voted on at the EGM. IRFU grants for the period remained more or less the same.
Expenditure
This year your executive committee agreed a budget at the start of the year and monitored it strictly. Whereas it was not the first time we had a budget, it is fair to say it may have been the first time it was focussed upon on a regular basis. In the past budgets may been more honoured in the breach than the observance – but no longer.
On the expenditure side we spent our money where we should be spending money – on rugby, pitches and clubhouse facilities.
Rugby expenses have increased as promised at the AGM last year with the increase in coaching at all levels. We have also increased the allocation to pitch maintenance as is correct.
Bank interest reduced mainly due to the term loan reducing and the better than average balance we could maintain in the bank during the year. Maintenance went up as we have more to do to keep the clubhouse in good repair and I will speak more of investing here later in my report. Insurance was well managed during the period but premiums are much more likely to increase given the general environment in the insurance industry in Ireland. Light and Heat is watched closely, both from usage point of view and to make sure we are getting the best price. Club member Stephen Apied does Trojan work for us on the cost front. We pay more now for TV and in particular sports, as more rugby has moved to BT and we have increased our subscriptions there. Other overheads are more or less in line with last year and mainly decreased!
Balance sheet
The club balance sheet show the improvement in the bank balances but also shows that we increased member’s loans during the period. Your executive committee’s focus now is to re-finance with our bank to fund some of the investments already made in pitches and clubhouse and to repay these members loans. We will also apply to invest further in the clubhouse and playing facilities, especially to make good on a series of identified clubhouse dilapidations.
Cash Flow
The Cash Flow Statement shows how we move from the reported Profit for the period to the Balance Sheet. The big difference between this year and last year is that last there was a net outflow from the clubs operations whereas this year we had a net inflow.
Conclusion
I am proposing that the meeting accept the accounts as presented and that that you renew the ability of your executive committee to increase our bank borrowing (which has fallen during the period) as agreed at the EGM. This borrowing increase is to pay back the members’ loans and to invest in the pitches and structure of the clubhouse.
I am pleased to take any questions before we move to a vote.
Freddie Tully responded to Paul Cullen re details of the Sports Capital Grant application.
The Treasurer responded to Jimmy Griffin query re sponsorship.
The Treasurer’s Report was adopted on the proposal of Tony Murphy and seconded by Freddie Tully.
6. Rugby Report (Stephen McDonough):
At last year’s AGM we spoke about a three year cycle to get rugby in Seapoint back on an even keel. The driver of future success would be the delivery of a stream of quality players from our underage system through to 20's and senior. We also recognised there was no quick fix but we would start laying the foundations.
We identified 9 goals/objectives to achieve. How did we do?
1. Retain senior status and finish top half in AIL division 2C Achieved with a finish of 6 wins from 7. Target promotion next season. Eric and Damien confirmed for next season and recruitment activity underway. Number 10 a priority and looking at home and abroad.
2. Appoint coaches to under 18, 17, 15 and 14. Objective is to improve coaching quality, playing standards and player retention Done with plans to do the same next season for all teams playing 15 a side rugby.
3. Formation of a group to take a full club view on rugby matters. We have some history to overcome but the process has started. Getting there with good cooperation this season.
4. Second 15 to finish top half of Metro 2 No – we have had no second 15 for the past 2 seasons. Will play in Metro 3 next season. Conail will coach and targeting 20’s from this season and last season to bring in new blood. Priority this year.
5. Recruit 15 additional players of Senior/J1 standard No - Lost 6 and gained about 6 so we stood still in terms of overall numbers. Renewed effort this year.
6. Third 15 targets promotion from Division 7 No but 30+ players played at some stage. Still in Division 7 next season.
7. Under 20's to complete in Premier 2 and finish top half No – did not qualify and finished 5th in division 3. Never really got going and badly hampered by injuries to key players. New coaching team for next season with 9 from last year’s squad available next season. Key priority next season.
8. Ensure 75% of the 19 under 20's from this year progress to senior rugby No – Cian C on first 15 but others did not play due to college or going abroad. On target list again this season. Working on 12 lads coming through this season. This is a problem for all clubs.