Minutes of 2018 Waterloo Pool League AGM

General
Incumbent Chairman Darren O’Byrne absent, so instead Alan Day chaired the meeting by committee co-option.

Members in attendance:
Committee - Alan Day (Registrar), Chris Hobbis (TD), Clair Watts (Treasurer), Nigel Smith (Secretary).
Members - Alex Lawrence, Allison Wills, Henri Linnainmaa, Mark Knevett, Matt Holroyd, Micky Clayton, Oliver Lawrence, Paolo Lancini, Rocky Marchant, Steve Burke, Steve Rutherford, Tom Borowiecki, Tony Bailey
 
Introductory Business
Late nomination from Nigel Smith for the Secretary post (allowed due to precedent set in 2017)
Same chance was offered to the floor, no takers
Mark Knevett and Allison Wills selected as counting officers
 
Apologies
None

Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
2017 minutes approved (10 votes), no further discussion
 
Secretary’s report
Successful year with more teams participating in the winter season than in previous years
Followed by a successful and competitive summer season, again with a recent high number of teams
League, cup and associated competition winners listed
Addressed desire to make the league more enjoyable for newer teams that “don’t like getting beaten up every week” – ideas to be discussed externally
          Report approved (10 votes)

Treasurer’s report
Up-to-date figures not available to Clair Watts
Published account balance of £2,300 as of 01/10/2018
Nigel Smith mentioned expenses of £1,528 still to be accounted for
          Report approved (11 votes)
 
Motions
“League/cup prize money to be paid to winners rather than being used towards CoC accommodation costs” (Micky Clayton)

• Current system gives no benefit to players already committed to attending CoC with other teams
• Furthermore, if the team plays and loses a CoC qualifier, they lose out on their reward, with the prize money being retained by the league (Alex Lawrence)
• Proposal for prize money to be given to team captain(s) to use and/or distribute as they see fit
• If approved, the league would continue to pay the teams’ entry into the CoC competition itself (£20?)
• Nigel Smith expressed a concern that new teams could join the league purely for the prize money and would ultimately opt not to represent the league at a higher level
• Suggestion from the floor that the cash option is only made available to teams that are in at least their second season of participation in the league
• Discussion about contingency for situations where the league/cup winner cannot or chooses not to enter CoC
• Place goes to either the next highest-placed team in the league not already entered or the cup runners-up, whichever is applicable
• Team to be given their prize money, while their replacement would have to cover accommodation costs themselves?
• Pointed out that this is a committee decision, not constitutional
• Exact monetary value of the prizes also raised
• How should it compare to the amount paid out under the current system?
• Again, something that the committee will determine based on available funds from team and player entries, outgoings for trophies, etc.
•           Voting - Yes: 9, No: 2, Abstain: 2 -> MOTION CARRIED

“Change ruling on players not present at the time of their frame to allow the team in question to either replace with a reserve or wait 10 minutes for player to arrive” (Chris Hobbis)

• Intention is to remove any ambiguity on the rights of the opposing team
• Generally a friendly league so allowances are often made, but would be better to have something set in stone to avoid any instances of bad blood if any teams follow the current wording to the letter
• Met with a degree of opposition
• Didn’t reach a vote, to be discussed further in AOB

 
Elections
Secretary

• Nigel Smith - Yes: 12, No: 0, Absent: 1 -> RE-ELECTED TO POST

Registrar

• Alan Day - Yes: 13, No: 0 -> RE-ELECTED TO POST

Tournament Director

• Chris Hobbis - Yes: 13, No: 0 -> RE-ELECTED TO POST

Chairman

• Micky Clayton - Yes: 11, No: 0, Abstain: 1 -> ELECTED TO POST (for 1 year), REPLACING DARREN O’BYRNE

Treasurer

• Clair Watts felt the need to inform the floor of her ineligibility, under the official wording of the constitution, for the role, as she is not currently a paid-up member of the league
• No objections were raised from the floor
• Nigel Smith suggested that, if any problems should arise, arrangements would be made to register her as a league member

 
Any other business
Absent player discussion

• If the team has another player at the venue, they should have been written on the sheet ahead of the player not yet present (Micky Clayton, supported by others)
• Suggestion to make it a rule that a team can only name players that are present at the venue prior to the start of a set, assuming that there are at least 4 of them
• If a team genuinely doesn’t have enough players present to fulfil the set, then a player who is en-route may be named
• In such an instance, rather than waiting around for 10 minutes, continue playing and only deem the frame to be forfeited if the player hasn’t arrived by the end of the next set (Nigel Smith)

 
Doubles ‘misfits’

• Can the rules on doubles participation be altered so that any players who can’t find a partner from within their own team enter with a player from a different team in a similar predicament? (Chris Hobbis, first raised by Darren O’Byrne during the 2017/18 season)
• For the purposes of player inclusion, this was generally a popular suggestion
• Would need to ensure that players don’t take advantage of this flexibility by claiming not to have a partner so that they can enter with a non-teammate
• The suggestion is that anyone unattached registers for the doubles in advance as normal, including entry fee, with pairings drawn at random on the night
• Potential for any of the single entrants to replace a member of a named doubles team on the night if they are unable to attend (again, chosen at random)?

 
Christmas Knockout

• Initial dates proposed were Sunday 16th December and Sunday 23rd December
• Neither unanimously approved - concerns over people having work on the 17th and not wanting to be horrendously hungover on Christmas Eve
• Proposal to change to a Saturday, with the option of continuing into the Sunday if necessary
• DATE CONFIRMED AS SATURDAY 22ND DECEMBER

 
Presentation Night

• Suggestion to hold the presentation of trophies at a different time to the AGM to boost the number of attendees
• Change to a Friday night and make it more of an event (Micky Clayton)
• Currently, due to time constraints, any awards relating to the summer season of one year are only handed out after the following summer season has finished
• Ideally would like to have a bit longer to sort trophies out to avoid this delay
• Potentially integrate prize-giving into Christmas Knockout Day (Nigel Smith)
• No concrete decision made at this stage – can be discussed at a later date
• Any remaining trophies from this presentation will be handed out on the 22nd

 
Mosconi Cup warm-up

• Spots & Stripes has been chosen to host a warm-up match for the Mosconi Cup between USA and England on Wednesday 28th November
• As a result, no Waterloo League matches will be scheduled for Tuesday 27th
• Waterloo League members will be notified of any opportunities for priority access to the event

 
Close of meeting
Time not noted