AGM Minutes

NEW ZEALAND HOCKEY FEDERATION (Inc)

MINUTES OF THE 19TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT THE GLENVIEW INTERNATIONAL HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTRE, HAMILTON
22/23 SEPTEMBER 2007


WELCOME:
Chris Maister (President) welcomed delegates and visitors to the meeting on behalf of Hockey New Zealand and acknowledged the recent centenary celebrations of West Coast and South Canterbury. The meeting commenced at 10.00am.


ROLL CALL:
Ramesh Patel (CEO) undertook a roll call of all delegates.
The voting strength was recorded as 105 (+1).


PRESENT:
Delegates: Rob Baron, Irene Ryan, Chris Hardley (Auckland), Marilyn Downey, Shelly Elvin (Bay of Plenty), Lin Thompson, Derek Torkington (Canterbury), Brian Ellen (Central Hawkes Bay), Sandie Mackie, Iain Mackie, Helen Colenso (Counties Manukau), Pauline Weir (Eastern), Peter Shaw (Hawkes Bay), Fiona Cook, Vicky Prouting (Horowhenua), Graham Balfour, Colin Keyse (Invercargill/Southland), Dave Annear (Manawatu), Trish Redwood (Marlborough), Diane & George Proudfoot (Nelson), Doug Lloyd, Darrell Simpson (North Harbour), Bill Shepherd, Sue Shepherd (Northland), Chris Aubin (Otago), Colleen Hardacre, Sue Lurajud, Utu Parore (South Canterbury), Alister Thomas, Bruce Linehan (Taranaki), Paul Collins, Rick Limmer (Tauranga), David Hurle (Thames Valley), Denise Hill, Peter Cawkwell (Waikato), Don McCallum, Les Wilson (Wanganui), Paddy Frankenberg, Richard Taylor (Wellington).
Life Members: Neil Edmundson, Chica Gilmer
Council Delegates: Bridget Daldy (Masters Council), Joy Ripia, Kahu Ripia (Maori Council)
Hockey NZ Officials: Chris Maister (President), Jenny Hair (Vice President), Seddon Polglase (Vice President)
Hockey NZ Board: Keith Binnie, Graham Child, Catherine Drayton, Pam Elgar, Anne-Marie McRae, Dayl Milne, John Williamson
Hockey NZ Staff: Ramesh Patel, David Appleby, Brad Jensen, Tracy Willis
Guest: Paul Heron (SPARC)

APOLOGIES:
Associations: Buller, Central Otago, Malvern, Mid Canterbury, North Otago, Rangitikei, Ruahine-Dannevirke, Wairarapa
Life Members: Pat Barwick, Vera Burt, Ross Gillespie, Aileen Gooder, Marg Hiha, Selwyn Maister, Gladys O’Brien, Rosemary O’Brien, Arthur Parkin, Dr Bruce Penfold, Corinne Pritchard, Jessie Smith
Others: Anna Lawrence, Jon Tanner (Board Members), Bruce Rosemergy (Waikato), Whaimutu Dewes (Bay of Plenty), Deborah Nicholson (Otago).


OBITUARIES: Colin Williams (Hawkes Bay), Brian Bremner (Hockey NZ Life Member), Robin Crimp (Otago HA Life Member), Shane Rollo (Bay of Plenty), Nettin Patel (Manawatu), Stuart Ramage (Auckland).


PROXY VOTES: The Hockey NZ office received the following proxy votes:
For North Otago – Utu Parore
For Central Otago – Sue Lurajud


TABLING OF GENERAL BUSINESS:
No General Business.


PREVIOUS MINUTES:
Accepted as read. Moved J Hair (Vice President), Seconded Otago.


MATTERS ARISING:
No matters arising.


ANNUAL REPORT:
The President invited Graham Child (Chair) and Ramesh Patel (CEO) to speak to the Annual Report.

Graham Child’s address centred on the challenges currently facing Hockey NZ, in particular in the areas of High Performance, Participation and Funding.

i) Under High Performance the emphasis is still to ensure hockey becomes part of SPARC’s targeted sports strategy. The Black Sticks recent performance in Australia was commended and he indicated that the board’s major focus was to get both teams to the Beijing Olympics.

ii) Under Participation, figures remain static and are a concern, particularly the reduction in mini hockey numbers. He indicated that the board plan to set up a working party to look at strategies to increase participation, look at the registration and recording of players as well as the timing during which hockey is played over the year.

iii) Funding remains an area of concern. The recent reduction in SPARC funding and continued reliance on gaming trusts needs to change. Hockey has benefited from the appointment of a Marketing & Sponsorship Manager and it is critical to continue to increase sponsorship as a revenue stream.

The Chair indicated that the board would be holding a strategic planning meeting in October and thanked them for their professional approach to their work over the past year. He acknowledged the New Zealand Honours awarded to Suzie Muirhead and Simon Towns and work of Ramesh Patel, the Hockey NZ staff and the Hockey NZ Councils.

Ramesh Patel’s address highlighted the significant events of the last twelve months for each area of hockey’s business.

Items of note included the performance of the Black Sticks teams and particularly the Black Sticks Women’s recent win at the Oceania Cup. He outlined the importance of hosting the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Albany next February to ensure the Men also get to Beijing. The Junior Black Sticks programme is well underway with the appointment of Coaches and Managers and squads being announced after the NHL Finals.

Marketing & Sponsorship has improved with the employment of a Marketing & Sponsorship Manager. To help boost test match revenue, he indicated a change to the way test matches will be hosted in the future. Hockey NZ will look to place test matches in locations where the venue set up is already in place. Hockey NZ will however work with the smaller Associations to obtain local gaming trust funding to meet the new criteria to host test matches.

The red flag items for Hockey over the next twelve months include; the lack of surfaces in Christchurch as a High Performance Centre; getting administrators in place in the Central and Southern regions; qualifying the Black Sticks Men’s team to Beijing; and reviewing our recruitment programmes.

He thanked Noelene Stafford for her work on the Secondary School Tournament survey and Gill Gemming for her valuable contribution to the role of Coaching & Development Manager. He also thanked the Councils and Hockey NZ staff for their hard work over the last year.

The President asked the meeting for the adoption of the Annual Report.
Moved Waikato, Seconded Canterbury
Adoption of Annual Report approved


FINANCIAL REPORT:
Pam Elgar presented the Financial Report.

P Elgar outlined the main reasons for the variance in budget and the deficit of $12,227 recorded for the year. Under Income, the drop in SPARC funding was significant. She highlighted the need to gain more corporate sponsors to reduce the reliance on gaming trust funding. Under Expenditure, the notable items were the unplanned costs for the Junior Black Sticks to attend the Youth Olympics, the RDO programme overspend and the increase in test match expenses.

Kahu Ripia from the NZ Maori Council requested that in future Maori Development be split from Coaching Clinics in the Coaching & Development line item to better reflect their actual costs.

The president asked for the adoption of the Financial Report.
Moved Canterbury, Seconded J Hair (Vice President)
Adoption of Financial Report approved


ELECTION OF OFFICERS:
The following officers of Hockey New Zealand were nominated and approved by the meeting:

Patron: Judge Anand Satyanand, Governor General of NZ.

President: Chris Maister (Canterbury)

Male Vice President: Seddon Polglase (Waikato)

Female Vice President: Jenny Hair (Marlborough)


ELECTION OF MANAGEMENT BOARD:
The following Board Members of Hockey New Zealand were nominated and approved by the meeting:

Female Board Members: Anna Lawrence (Auckland)

Male Board Members: John Williamson (North Harbour)


AUDITORS: The Chartered Accounting firm of BDO Spicers was nominated and approved by the meeting


LIFE MEMBERSHIP: Derek Wilshere was unanimously voted by delegates to become a Life Member of Hockey NZ.


PRESENTATIONS:

1. SPARC (Paul Heron)
Paul Heron outlined his role as a SPARC Relationship Manager and talked in depth about the background to SPARC’s investment in sport, its programmes, SPARC’s current investment in hockey, and where hockey fits in to their vision. He indicated he believed hockey to be one of the top three sports in New Zealand for governance and leadership.

2. Strengthening Regional Capability (Ramesh Patel)
R Patel reviewed Hockey’s current infrastructure and outlined the board’s vision for the future. He revisited the Midlands regional model presented at last years AGM and indicated that the future could be “8 mini national bodies”.

3. High Performance (David Appleby)
The High Performance Manager gave a detailed picture of the background to hockey’s funding at both a world and national level. He outlined the financial impact for hockey should our national teams not reach the Olympics, succeed and move the sport to the next level. He also outlined hockey’s strategy toward London in 2012.


REMITS:

To be discussed Sunday morning at the Special General Meeting.


RECOMMENDATIONS:

Tournaments
1. National Age Group Tournaments - Hockey NZ
a) That a Premier U18 National Tournament be played over 1 week (July) and involving 8 teams, along the same lines as the 8 NHL franchises. This tournament to commence in 2008.

b) That a National U18 Tournament be held over 1 week (July) for Association A and B teams. This tournament to commence in 2008.

c) That a Premier U16 National Tournament be played over 1 week (July) and involving 8 teams, along the same lines as the 8 NHL franchises. This tournament to commence in 2008.

d) That a National U16 Tournament be held over 1 week (July) for Association A and B teams. This tournament to commence in 2008.

Recommendations c) and d) were withdrawn.
Recommendations (a) and (b) were not supported by a majority of the delegates.


2, 8 & 9 Age Group Tournaments - Southern Regional Forum
National U16 Premier Tournaments should not be restricted to 16 teams only for the first 3 years following the adoption of the 15 to 16 age change.

That the Premier U18 Tournament structure be in place for a minimum of 3 years to allow the U16 tournament to consolidate.

These recommendations were supported by a majority of the delegates.


3. National U15 (16) Age Group Tournament - Northern Regional Forum
It is recommended that the U15 (U16) National Tournament remain at 20 teams.

This recommendation was supported by the delegates.


4 & 5. Age Group Tournaments - Northern Regional Forum & Hockey Southland
It is recommended that the U15 age group tournament not be changed to U16.

This recommendation was not supported by a majority of the delegates.


6 & 7. Age Group Tournaments - Northern & Southern Regional Forums
Order of U15/U18 Tournaments – it is recommended that these tournaments continue to be held in the current order, i.e. U18 followed by U15.

This recommendation was supported by the delegates.


10. Hatch & Collier Tournaments – Hockey Southland
The restrictions to 24 teams in Hatch and Collier are for ‘A’ teams only.

This recommendation was withdrawn.


11. First Aid Provision – Northern Regional Forum
With the requirement to have first aid personnel on site during HNZ tournaments and the increasing difficulty of gaining funding to cover the costs, it is recommended that approx. $100 be added to the standard entry fee of $112.50 so that all associations participating at a tournament contribute to the cost of the first aid service.

This recommendation was vigorously debated with a number of pros and cons put forward and it was agreed that it go forward to the board for a decision.


12. U21 Tournament – Northern Regional Forum
It is recommended that the structure of the U21 tournament be revised to incorporate the following:
• Held only at two water-turf venues with suitable adjacent facilities
• Tournament to be spread over 8 days, Sat – Sat inclusive
• Only one game per team per day
• More player-friendly match times
• Proper seeded draw

The meeting was reasonably evenly split on this recommendation and it was agreed that it go forward to the board for a decision.


13. National Rules Committee – Northern Regional Forum
It is recommended that a Rules Committee be established which comprises a mix of umpires, coaches, players and/or administrators to consider any changes to the hockey rules and how they might best be applied for the benefit of hockey in NZ at the various levels and to help improve consistency of application across associations.

This recommendation was supported by the delegates.


14. Affiliation Fees – Hockey NZ
That the Affiliation Fee for 2007/08 be increased in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rise of 2%.

This recommendation was supported by the delegates but the meeting would like to see the board provide more information about what the fees cover in future meetings.


Saturday’s meeting concluded at approximately 4.00pm.


The following awards were presented at the AGM Dinner:
Service Awards:
Bronze Award – at least 15 yrs
Don Neale West Coast

Gold Award – at least 25 yrs
Graham Balfour Invercargill
Dianne Bermingham Buller
June Bonnington South Canterbury
Sylvia Bradley Buller
Thelma Dennison North Harbour
Ken Drum North Harbour
Marion Ellis-Jack North Harbour
Colleen Hardacre South Canterbury
Graeme Haste Waikato
Murray Nielson Wairarapa
Bruce Rosemergy Waikato
Dave Russell Buller
Gayleen Russell Buller
David (Harley) Simpson Taranaki
Rex Smith North Harbour
James Lindsay (Lin) Thompson Canterbury
John Wood Waikato

Pakistan Trophy: Sam Kelt (Hawkes Bay)

Life Membership: Derek Wilshere.


MEETING RECONVENED ON SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2007

SGM:
1. Winding up clause
Delegates approved the following amendment to the Constitution of the New Zealand Hockey Federation:

That a sentence be added to the end of Clause 33 of the New Zealand Hockey Federation (Inc) Constitution stating “No individual, whether associated with a member organisation or not, may participate in any surplus arising on a winding up”.

Moved: Waikato
Seconded: Hawkes Bay


2. Sports Anti-Doping Rules
Delegates approved the following amendment to the Constitution of the New Zealand Hockey Federation:

That the following clauses be inserted as rules 25.3.1 to 25.3.4:

25.3 ANTI- DOPING

25.3.1 Subject to rule 25.3.2, the rules of the New Zealand Hockey Federation (Inc) for anti-doping shall be the Sports Anti-Doping Rules made by Drug Free Sport New Zealand, and as amended from time to time.

25.3.2 Nothing in rule 25.3.1 is intended to replace or supersede any applicable rule of the FIH which may apply with respect to anti-doping matters provided the applicable rule of the international federation is consistent in all respects with the World Anti-Doping Code.

25.3.3 For avoidance of doubt, the Sports Anti-Doping Rules referred to in rule 25.3.2, shall replace all existing anti-doping rules, policies, by-laws or regulations of the New Zealand Hockey Federation (Inc).

25.3.4 To the extent of any inconsistency between the Sports Anti-Doping Rules and any rule in this Constitution or any policy, regulation or by-law of the New Zealand Hockey Federation (Inc), the Sports Anti-Doping Rules shall apply.

Moved: Counties Manukau
Seconded: Hawkes Bay


AGM:
Discussion took place on the timing, length and location of the AGM. Delegates had mixed views re it taking place on a National Hockey League weekend but felt that it should be kept to the three main centres in order to keep costs down. G Child indicated that the board would be reviewing the timing and duration of the AGM.


OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT:
Pam Elgar, Chair of the Organising Committee, talked about the event taking place in Albany on Auckland’s North Shore in February 2008. She outlined the event budget, the teams who will be attending, the match schedule, and ticket prices. Associations were encouraged to take the information back to their membership.

Delegates requested that, in addition to the Season Ticket prices, other ticket prices be added to the website. They also suggested that the supporters club be kept running.


BUDGET:
R Patel presented the 2007/08 Budget which is forecasted to make a small surplus.

The president asked for the adoption of the Budget.
Moved Vice President, Seconded North Harbour
Adoption of 2007/08 Budgets approved


MAORI COUNCIL:
Kahu Ripia spoke briefly to his Annual Report and outlined the Kaunihera’s desire to move Maori Hockey forward. He reported that four hockey players had been put forward for the New Zealand Maori Sports Awards.


MASTERS COUNCIL:
Bridget Daldy informed the meeting of some key Council information:
• Manawatu will be hosting the National Masters Tournament from 24 February to 1 March 2008
• At the national tournament they will be selecting 8 teams for the Trans Tasman Masters series taking place in Hamilton from 12-17 May 2008
• The recent International Masters Hockey Tournament held in Birmingham, England was successful
• The Masters Administrator Suzy Monds has resigned.


YOUTH COUNCIL:
Pauline Weir indicated that election nominations had been called for and that the Council would be holding their next meeting on 17 November 2007.


The President thanked everyone for their attendance.

Meeting concluded at 10.15am.