WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?
Voting rights at Association meetings for Sunday clubs.
This one is a bit different.
EXISTING REGULATIONS CONSTITUTION
The QSDCA has a Constitution. This is a legal requirement of Incorporation in Queensland. (Read it here. https://tinyurl.com/546u9dj5 ) The Constitution contains rules for meetings, audit, elections, powers of the Management Committee, for dissolution and more... All the things a Club type Constitution normally covers.
The 2007 QSDCA can be read here. https://tinyurl.com/27c354u9
COMMENTS/DISCUSSION
Article 4 details the 8 (!!) different classes of membership and the delegate rights for meetings for each class of membership.
I do not know why there is a minor membership class called Associate membership. It has the appearance of some kind of technical accommodation to allow Super 20 to be established (perhaps), the aim being to soothe the entitlements of committed Saturday clubs (perhaps).
It is certainly a strange invention.
Since 2017/18 season when the Sunday 50 Over competition was started and 2021/22 season which saw the introduction of Over 40's, Bridging and extra grades for Sunday 50 and Super 20 the number of Associate Clubs has grown considerably.
Each of these clubs has a natural inclination to expect that they have some kind of say in the way the association and their competition is run.
At present they do not have such a say because of the provisions of Associate Club membership. Article 4.3b (iii) explicitly denies this.
"4.3b (iii) An Associate Club shall not be entitled to nominate any delegate members."
Note: "delegate members" means number of votes at meetings. Read the whole Constitution for explanation.
Just to detail the scale of this lack of voting rights, look at the Attendance list for the most recent delegates meeting LINK https://tinyurl.com/3wtwsubc
You may notice that B-I-G clubs with lots of teams (WPC with 5 teams)/(Coorparoo with 4 teams) get 3 votes, Red Sharks (3 teams) and Valleys (4 teams) get just 2 votes and there are 12 Sunday clubs who get no votes at all.
PROPOSED CHANGES
The proposal is simple. We need to change the rules to grant Sunday teams Affiliate membership.
This can be done by granting Affiliated Club status to any club with a team in any competition administered by the association rather than specifying Affiliate Membership as being for "the principal two day competition.". (They must still have 11 players each team and have paid their bills etc.) (See Article 4.6.)
The definitions for Associate Members and Associate clubs can remain in the Constitution for now. There is no plan to reinstate Associate Memberships but leaving the clauses there could make that simpler in future.
After some thought it has been decided not to push for the changes to the staggered representation clause (Article 4.3.(b) (i)). This clause prevents B-I-G clubs dominating little clubs in votes at meetings. Delegates (ie. votes) at association meetings will continue as 1 vote for 1 team, 2 for 2 or 3 teams, 3 for 4 or more teams. Sunday teams will now count for voting.
HOW TO GET IT DONE?
Article 28 of the Constitution says changes can be made by passing a special motion at the AGM and registering the change with the Office of Fair Trading.
To do this will require support from disinterested Saturday clubs to pass the motion favouring unrelated, currently unable to vote Sunday clubs. That might be hard for some to get excited about.
Smaller clubs may receive relatively diminished representation. This change may be incentive to recruit more teams... Here's an idea, offer these Sunday teams a partnership to share your facilities in return for increased representation and increased Sunday revenue!!
Nonetheless I think this change is important for the benefit of the association as a whole.
| EXTRACTS FROM THE 2007 QSDCA CONSTITUTION | WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? | PROPOSED NEW CLAUSES |
| 4. CLASSES OF MEMBERS | ||
a. Ordinary members b. Delegate Members c. Life Members d. Honorary Members e. Umpire Members f. Associate Members g. Affiliated Club h. Associate Club |
Lists 8 classes of membership | f. & h. Could be redundant but leave them in place… |
| 4.3. a. Delegate members shall be nominated by: (i) the affiliated club of which they are a member; or (ii) umpire members, of which they are a member |
Defines 2nd of 8 member types.. Delegate members are those who attend delegate/secretary/general meetings. |
NO CHANGES PROPOSED |
| 4.3 b (i) Each Affiliated Club shall be entitled to nominate annually one delegate member, excepting where a club has two or three teams playing in the Association when they shall be entitled to nominate two delegates, or where a club has four or more teams playing in the Association when they shall be entitled to nominate three delegates. |
This is the rule from which the number of delegate votes at meetings is derived. (i.e. 1 vote for 1 team, 2 for 2 or 3 teams, 3 for 4 or more teams etc.) | NO CHANGES PROPOSED |
| 4.6 An Affiliated Club shall be defined as a club which nominates a team or teams for the principal two (2) day competition administered by the association provided that such team or teams are to consist of not less than eleven (11) ordinary members for each nominated team, or as determined by the Management Committee. | Defines 7th of 8 member type. This specifies that affiliated clubs may only be Saturday teams. Proposed change is to allow affiliated club status to be granted to clubs with teams in other QSDCA competitions. Clubs that nominate teams in the CCC will keep their QSDCA voting rights. |
6. An Affiliated club shall be defined as a club which nominates a team or teams in any competition administered by the association provided that such team or teams are to consist of not less than eleven (11) ordinary members for each team nominated, or as determined by the Management Committee. |
| ... | ||
| 4.8 The Associate Members shall be financial members of an Associate Club or as otherwise approved by the Management Committee. Membership fees for Associate Members shall be paid for by the Associate Club of which the member is a financial member or as otherwise approved by the Management Committee. There shall be no personal liability for Associate Members with respect to membership fees unless the Associate member is not a member of an Associate Club. The number of Associate Members shall be unlimited. | Defines 6th of 8 These are mostly player members of associate club teams. |
Could be redundant but leave it in place… |
| 4.9 An Associate Club shall be defined as a club which nominates a team or teams for any competitions administered by the association (except those provided for in Rule 4.(6) above) provided that such team or teams are to consist of not less than eleven (11) Associate Members for each nominated team, or as determined by the Management Committee. | Defines 8th of 8 Deliberately designed classification to admit teams who are not part of the principal two competition (sat arvo) |
Could be redundant but leave it in place… |
| 4.10 To remove any doubt, an Affiliated Club that is also entitled to be an Associate Club shall be regarded as an Affiliated Club only. |
Means club with Sat & Sun teams is defined as an Affiliated Club. |
Could be redundant but leave it in place… |
| ... |
Note: A review of the whole QSDCA Constitution will be required in 2022/23 due to recent Qld Government legislative changes. See https://tinyurl.com/2sbebzca
ABM Updated 9-Jun-2022
Back to INTRODUCTION
It might be better to keep the staggered representation scheme in 4.3 b (i) (i.e. clubs have 1, 2 or 3 delegates only).
ReplyDeleteThis will prevent very large clubs dominating the smaller clubs.
So an option could be to change 4.6 but leave 4.3 b (i) as it was.
ABM Th 11.08p