1. Welcome
Joe Flaherty

2. Apologies
Apologies in advance from Franc Woodcock of Warwickshire

3. Committee Members’ Reports:

Chairman Joe Flaherty

Vice Chair Nicky Smith

Counties Co-ordinator Nicky Smith and Jenny Leavens / Franc Woodcock who are temporarily standing in since Nicky’s resignation earlier this year

Treasurer Kim Sterling

Secretary Shelley White

Development Secretary Michael Piper

Internationals Rep Mike Leavens

Special Needs Rep Joe Flaherty

Players’ Representative #1 Kevin Vane
Players’ Representative #2 Simon Ashford

Sponsorship Secretary Carrie Taylor

4. Elections of Committee Members

1) Counties Co-ordinator

2) Sponsorship Secretary

The sub-committee position of International Secretary is currently also vacant. This is not an elected position but is a position by appointment of the Committee. Nicky Smith is currently temporarily filling this role but other volunteers are invited if they wish to be considered.


5. Co-option to the International Sub Committee

The committee currently comprises:

International Representative (Mike Leavens)
Ladies’ Manager (currently Jan Stirling and Jenny Leavens)
Men’s Manager (Joe Flaherty)
Youth Manager (currently John Attridge)
Special Needs Manager (currently Joe Flaherty)
Seniors Manager (currently Lee Stevenson)
Secretary VACANT


6. Counties Template

Proposed by the Counties Co-ordinators and the Regions for discussion and adoption (some parts of this may require constitutional amendment)

Particular points for discussion are paragraphs 30 and 40 of the draft Counties Template.


7. Matters Raised by the Members for Discussion
Where these matters may require a constitutional amendment, they are so marked. Such votes require a 75% majority. Other votes require only a simple majority (50% with a Chairman’s casting vote in the event of a tie.)

a. Constitutional Amendment – paragraph 54c of the Constitution: 2 year cooling off period

Paragraph 54c of the Constitution currently reads:
Save in genuine cases of relocation, if a player seeks to move county teams he/she must cease to play for any county for 2 years after leaving one county before starting to play for another.

A proposal to amend this rule has been made by Paul Holland of East London, as follows:

I am writing with regards to the above mentioned rule that was voted in at the last National AGM.

Now while I agree with the reasons behind the rule I have an issue with the timing of its enforcement as the rule was brought in at the 2009 AGM in April which was after the new season had started.

This means that all players were effectively locked in to whatever county they were playing with for 2009 as a result of this rule, and had they known that this rule was coming in to effect soon they may have wished to change county before it did, I know of at least 5 players (but there must be more) that have said if they knew about this rule before the start of last season they would have acted upon this knowledge.

Therefore my proposal is very simple, I wish to propose for the sake of fair play and common sense a postponement of this rule until the start of the 2010 season, which will allow the few players that feel this rule has been sprung on them to move once and for all and then we will have all players playing for the county squad they want to.

I feel this would also mean happy players and more importantly happy county managers, safe in the knowledge that all the players in their various teams actually want to be there and give them a stable base to start trying to get new talent in to our ranks from outside the Blackball community.


Related Issue: the question of the committee’s approval of players transferring counties – proposed by Mike Leavens for discussion

b. Presentation regarding Blackball Superleague:
Proposed for discussion by Paul Holland


c. Strategy for growth for Northern Region with central support:
Proposed for discussion by Charlie Ruddy


d. England player trials (Format, location etc):
Proposed for discussion by Charlie Ruddy


e. I.D Cards and registration fee:
Proposed for discussion by Charlie Ruddy


f. International Management:
Proposed for discussion by Joe Flaherty

g. Future Development
Proposed for discussion by Joe Flaherty

8. Any Other Business