Minutes of the Wirral Tennis League AGM held at Neston on Monday 18th November 2013 at 7.30pm
1.0Roll call of Club Representatives
1.1The meeting was attended by the following club representatives:
Alderley – Mark GoodchildBertram – Paul Evans Birkenhead – Tom Randall and Margaret DooleyCheshire Oaks –No representativeHelsby- Ben HockleyHeswall – Sylvia ReedHooton – John PugheHoylake – No representativeNeston – John PatrickNorth Cheshire – Michael KennyOxton – Jodie Edmunds Pinewood –No representative Port Sunlight – Norman NelsonPrenton – Debra Jones Thorndale – Chris HopewellUpton – Julia Bond and Wallasey Manor - Alison Loader.
Cheshire Oaks, Hoylake and Pinewood will be fined £10 per team in WTL for not attending the AGM.
1.2The following WTL Committee members were present:
Chairperson – Ken Patrick (Neston). Secretary – Louise Wilson-Jarvis (Port Sunlight), Fixture Secretary – Geoff Dewhurst (Upton), Treasurer – Matt Webb (Oxton),Sue Edwards (Prenton)
2.0Apologies
2.1David Bullimore (Cheshire Oaks), Mark Powers (Prenton), Dave Martin (Bertram), Val McIndoe (Thorndale)
3.0Acceptance of last year’s AGM minutes:
3.1The minutes of last year’s AGM dated Thursday 29 November 2012 were accepted as a true record by the meeting.
4.0Chairpersons Report 2012
4.1Ken Patrick welcomed everyone to the meeting and then reported as follows:
Ken reiterated the message from the minutes of 2013 CM1 and CM2 regarding poor communication and lack of organisation leading to avoidable penalties. Clubs must play as clubs not individual teams. Ken pointed out some clubs were very good, eg Hoylake and Prenton. Cheshire Oaks would have been up for discussion further to CM2 but their representative had to give apologies and no-one else could attend.
Ken noted that it had been a great season, and thanked Hoylake for hosting the play-offs which were well organised, leading into an enjoyable evening event.
Ken then thanked all the committee members for their continued hard work and support during the past year and mentioned Sue Edwards & Geoff Dewhurst in particular for the work on the day of the play-offs, and Geoff for his excellent organisation ofthe League.
There had been a couple of complaints made during the season which ultimately were all club matters.
5.0Fixture Secretary’s Report 2013
5.1Geoff Dewhurst presented the ‘Fixture Secretary’s Report 2013’ a copy of which was provided to each club at the meeting and has been uploaded to the WTL Website.
Any special requests should be put to Geoff as soon as possible for next season e.g. 2 particular teams at home together etc.
There are still too many problems. There have been issues with incomplete fixtures and clubs need to ensure if they enter a team for next season that they can complete fixtures save for unforeseeable circumstances.
One observation from Alderley was that one player played in two play-offs and asked if that was appropriate. It was in accordance with the rule regarding player eligibilityand is not a normal league fixture. Discussion ensued regarding whether there should be different eligibility requirements to be eligible to play in the bottom team of a club, and whether there could be a proposal to put representations to the Committee about player eligibility in the future. It was agreed to take this away to think about, as the League would like to accommodate issues where necessary but avoid any abuse of the system. To be considered in the future.
Congratulations to all division winners and to teams gaining promotion and commiserations to teams relegated.
6.0Treasurer’s Report 2013
6.1Matt Webb, had prepared and gave the Treasurer’s report which is available to view on the website:
The league accounts are a simple job as we only generate income from club subscriptions and any presentation evenings held. Our only expenditures are the cost of running the league (stationery, website, flickr, trophy engraving, expenses as incurred and any agreed subsidy for the presentation evenings). They had been in some disarray but have now been sorted out through the work of Matt and Dave Thomas before him. Geoff had not received his expenses for stationery etc. so they show for each year owed. All outstanding expenditure is included in these accounts.
From this point forward the accounts will run from 1 November to 31 October.
Currently, if just one club pulled out of the League, it would run at a loss. Matt proposed an increase in the League fees as noted in the Treasurer report (an increase from £40 to £50 for the first team entered, and an increase from £10 to £20 for each subsequent team). This would allow some additional League income to be used for further developing the website, new trophies when required, subsidising the presentation evening etc. The meeting agreed the proposal.
Matt asks that where possible clubs be encouraged to make their subscription payments electronically, remembering to key in their club name within the reference box when doing so as this would greatly increase the efficiency of collecting subscriptions and aid transparency on the Bank statements.
As the accounts are so simple, the proposal put forward at the previous AGMthat Matt prepared the accounts and a copy of the bank statements for the period and then send them out to every club contact electronically, which would in effect mean the accounts are fully disclosed and can be audited by every club in the league, would be adopted for this years accounts.
Matt then proposed his accounts to the meeting which unanimously voted their acceptance.
7.0Matter’s arising from WTL CM2:
7.1GD re-writing Rules to separate Ladies and Mens from Mixed: Sections 9 – 12 were re-drafted by Geoff and noted in red on the draft given to the meeting. Observations were invited.
-12.4- minimum 16 sets to be amended
-12.5- refers to mixed league, to be changed.
The Rules were accepted by the meeting with the above amendments.
7.2Exchange of team sheets before a match to be compulsory: There was much discussion about whether to make this compulsory or to suggest it as best practice. It is already on the score card that names should be entered before the match starts. Lots of discussion focussed on what happened if someone didn’t turn up etc. Ken reiterated that the suggestion was to try and ensure clubs turn up prepared knowing who is due to play and in what order.
It was decided that the meeting would support the practice of exchanging team sheets before a match but it would not be put in the Rules.
7.3Pre-ranking compulsory: Currently pre-ranking is an option for clubs but not compulsory. Clubs that don’t pre-rank have players ranked automatically after week 1 and week 8. A vote was proposed and the meeting voted 9:8 in favour of retaining the current system. The AGM agreed to support Geoff by encouraging clubs to e-mail him with where any newly ranked players should be in the club list during the season.
7.4Ranking in Ladies and Mens to follow Mixed League Rules:Until now there has been an ‘unwritten rule’ that this has been the way it has worked. It has generally worked well with only one issue with a 1st team not playing when a 3rd team did. Geoff confirmed it worked ok for him without it being a Rule and the view of the meeting was that due to matches on different days, and that it had worked ok on the whole up to now, that it was not appropriate to make this a Rule in the Ladies and Mens Leagues.
8.0Notices of motion
8.1Change in wording of 8.5 and 12.4 in the Rules
Motion carried unanimously.
8.2Proposed Rule Change – Mens and Ladies League should be championship tiebreak 3rd set except where agreement to play a full set
It was suggested this could extend to the mixed league also. It was noted this would not have been voted on by clubs prior to AGM. There was discussion about a wish to avoid rearranged matches where possible and that floodlight availability or not may affect what people wanted to play. There was also discussion that the new scoring system meaning there was something at stake for both teams for a third set than under the system operating before 2013.
It was suggested the proposal could be reversed so that it is a full 3 sets with a tiebreaker option with a default position of a full set if both captains don’t agree.
It was proposed and seconded that the motion be amended in favour of the Mens and Ladies League having an option of a championship tiebreak 3rd set if both captains agree, but the default position if no agreement reached was a full 3rd set.
The amended motion was carried.
8.3Motion put forward at AGM – consider that 8.2 as amended should be adopted in the Mixed League:
An email had been circulated regarding this applying to mixed league as proposed by Bertram but this was after the Agenda had been circulated. Birkenhead opposed there being a vote on this as not on the Agenda.
Ken put it forward that it could be voted on whether to have a vote on a 3rd set championship tiebreaker in the mixed league. The meeting voted in favour of having a vote.
It was proposed that this would be such that the Captains would need to agree before the first match that night that 3rd sets would be played as tiebreakers. The agreement would apply to everyrubber in the match.
Motion was carried 13 votes to 4.
On a score card this would be recorded 10-8 (or 11-9 etc, whatever the score of the championship tiebreak of first to 10 with 2 clear points).
9.0Teams Applying for Re-election to the League:
9.1Birkenhead 4 wished to be re-elected to Division 6, although will confirm with Geoffby the time he does the fixtures by the end of the year if they will enter. Re-election carried.
9.2Upton 3 were re-elected by the meeting.
9.3Alderley 1 men were not seeking re-election and the AGM ratified that decision. There was discussion about whether the men playing for Alderley 1 could play for Alderley 2 and 3. Cheshire Oaks had been barred in mixed league from playing top 4 when they were not re-elected in first year back. Ken asked the meeting not to apply that to this as difference in Mens and Mixed League. Ken put a vote to the AGM to decide if Alderley could allow the 2 remaining teams for Alderley to carry and not bar players from Alderley 1 playing in those teams in future. The vote was carried 10 to 5.
9.4North Cheshire men confirmed their situation was much as Alderley in 9.3. They wished to withdraw North Cheshire 1 and continue their 2nd team as North Cheshire in the 3rd Division. The AGM supported this.
9.5Upton 2 men withdrew.
9.6Neston 1 ladies were not wishing to be re-elected.
10.0All committee members were happy to stand for re-election and were elected.
A reminder to all Clubs that under the structure of the WTL each Club have one place on the committee (currentlytotalling 17) and are therefore encouraged to send a representative to take part in committee meetings. The 7 standing members of the committee are Chairman, Fixture Secretary, League Secretary and Treasurer with an additional 3 general committee members. The committee typically meets twice a year, once at the half way point during the season and once at the end with a quorum for any meeting being 4 members of the committee.
11.0Presentation Evening 2014 and Play Offs
It was agreed this would take place on Saturday 6 September 2014. Thorndale and North Cheshire offered to host the play offs and Thorndale to host the presentation evening. There was discussion about whether the two events need to be on the same date. It was agreed there would be a similar format to the event in 2013 for both the play offs and presentation evening. However, the venue did not need to be decided until early next season. It was acknowledged that the 2 events on the same day made a great day for Wirral tennis.
11.0Any other Business
11.1Paul Evans (Bertram) wished to thank the committee; this was echoed by the AGM attendees.
11.23 clubs not attending to be fined £10 per team in the WTL as per the Rules; Cheshire Oaks £10, Hoylake £50 and Pinewood £20. Louise to send notification to the clubs and Geoff will include a request to pay in the Notice to Clubs next season.
11.3With no other matters arising Ken thanked all the club representatives and members of the committee for their attendance and continued support and at 9:50pm declared the 2013 WTL AGM closed.
Louise Wilson-Jarvis
Wirral Tennis League Secretary.