Rugby & District Badminton Association
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD AT 8:08 PM 07th JUNE 2017 at DUNCHURCH SOCIAL CLUB
Attending
St Philips (Tracey Hope, Mark Hope), QDJC (Phil Pelton), Rugby Youth (John Wardropper), Hunters (Peter Pugh, Steve Turner), Lutterworth (Paul Hetherington, Chris Powley), Trinity (No Attendees), Harris (Ajit Barot), RDBA (Simon Outhwaite).
- Apologies
Darren Hawes (Lutterworth), Andy Lees (Hunters)
- Minutes of last AGM
Last years minutes were agreed.
- Matters Arising
None
- Chairman’s report
Mark welcomed everyone to the RDBA AGM FOR 2016 – 2017
Mark started with the issue of the new website not being updated as it should be. The website was established to allow everyone to view positions throughout the season, but many scores were not input into the website, so Mark added “fictitious” scores and asked everyone to check the results and comment. Those who had failed to input scores in the first place, then failed to respond to the request for feedback.
Mark would not name names, but confirmed that next season, the scoring system would be managed by Darren Hawes of Lutterworth. The system is already in place for management of the scoring, but will now be implemented properly. Mark said that he is prepared to input scores on behalf of clubs if required. Full player names must be noted.
The rules have been altered as follows.
Current
- vi) The WINNING team, or HOME team in the event of a draw (Men’s and Ladies Doubles) should input the result onto the RDBA Website or return the completed match card to the match secretary. The losing team Captain should review the input and has the right to dispute the result, and if such a dispute occurs, the signed match card must be forwarded by the winning team Captain to the Match Secretary within 28 days of the match being played. Late match cards will result in no points being awarded to the defaulting team (rubbers, games and aces will be recorded as normal). The card shall be signed by a member of each team.
Revised
- vi) The WINNING team, or HOME team in the event of a draw (Men’s and Ladies Doubles) should input the result onto the RDBA Website within 28 days of the match being played, or send a copy of the completed match card to the league secretary within 10 days of the match being played. Both teams should review the website scoring input and they have the right to dispute the result if deemed necessary and if such a dispute occurs, both team captains should resolve the dispute and inform the league secretary of the result.
If scores are not on the website within the 28 days, this will result in no points being awarded to the defaulting team (rubbers, games and aces will be recorded as normal).
With reference to player eligibility, Mark said that he had “bent” the rules on a couple of occasions last year to allow registration of players, on the day of a match. This was to allow the club involved to field a full team, rather than cancel or turn up with a reduced team. Others had questioned this, but given the explanation, were OK with it.
Mark went on to say that this will not be allowed in future and the rule will be adhered to. For info, the rule is
- iv) A new club member must be registered, and if necessary nominated, at least seven days before that player takes part in any match.
Phil Pelton (QDJC) said that he would have no problem registering players next season.
Division 3. Mark asked if we had lost sight of why this division was set up. Apart from the inequality of Trinity 2, who should not have been in division 3 in the first place, were we seeing players in there who really shouldn’t be there?
Should we perhaps introduce a rule which says that if someone plays a match in division 1, then they are not allowed to play in division 3? Has that been the case this year?
Division 3 was set up to make “friendly games” into a league game, but with a similar standard or feeling that they weren’t playing “in the league”. Division 3 should be seen as a stepping stone between social badminton and league badminton.
Mark had seen some names playing in there, who he would regard as division 2 as a minimum. Are clubs struggling for players who they can put into division 3, without calling on their higher level players? It’s just an observation, but one which each club should be aware of. If a team comes through division 3 at the top, they will have the chance the following year to play with the “league” players in division 2.
The Britannic Tournament should be arranged for October 2017 as there was no availability during February and March at Rugby School.
Avon Badminton Club are withdrawing from the RDBA this year, due to their renewed involvement in the Coventry league.
Mark congratulated Hunters 1 for “walking” through division 1, Lutterworth 2 for winning division 2 and Trinity 2 for winning division 3, albeit slightly one sided.
Hunters and QDJC are both to confirm how many teams they will commit to the league.
Mark had received a request to try and bring back a ladies division into Rugby or run some “friendly” games to confirm interest.
- Treasurers report
Simon explained that the only transactions on the account were from the Britannic Tournament, which had made a loss. We still have funds in the account, which Simon feels are acceptable for the coming season. (See attached Sheet)
- Club Reps Reports
St Philips: Teams finished 2nd and 4th in Men’s 1, finished 3rd in Men’s 2 and 4th in Men’s 3.
Membership around low 30’s, and we have lost 1 top level lady and 4 high level men.
Mark said that access to the Collingwood centre will be difficult over the coming year due to the main car park being closed because of building work taking place. Mark will check with Rugby School over access from Oak Street using the pedestrian gate.
Lutterworth: Paul said that the 2nd team are looking forward to the new season in division 1. Club membership is around the mid 20’s and they don’t have enough Ladies.
They rarely see all of their 1st team players at club nights.
Lutterworth try to maintain a standard with a “3 visit” policy, before a decision to offer membership is taken. They have had issues where potential new members have not been greeted in the best way.
Chris Powley said that they have a “no strings” session on Mondays and said that that is how he started playing and maybe new members could come from here.
They have had a problem with the sports centre where 1 hour has been taken from them on 1 court and there are concerns with a slippery floor. Discussion is ongoing.
Lutterworth thanked the league committee for its hard work.
Trinity: No attendance, but since the meeting, Ben Clifton sent his apologies.
Hunters: Peter Pugh said that they have had a mixed season, with the highlight being their 1st team winning division 1.
Hunters have moved to Rugby High School sports centre, so a big improvement in quality. Membership remains around 20’s and still no ladies and they have lost 3 of their senior players.
Harris: Ajit said that they are a small club and are working hard to recruit 4 additional members from Warwickshire College.
Juniors/Rugby Youth: John said that they had a very healthy membership of around 90 players, with a waiting list of around 20.
10 members attend county training but only 5 of the 20 seniors go to current clubs.
John said that it was their 3rd season in the league and finishing 3rd had been a good achievement.
All had enjoyed it and they hope to field 1 team again next season.
A Junior team tournament will be held in July, in Coventry and they will have 2 under 14’s and 1 under 18 teams, hoping to retain their respective trophies.
RDBA Website, John has maintained the “original” website and confirmed that limited effort is required to keep it up to date. There are no contact details for Trinity or Avon badminton club. Also, there is no link from the new league website to the original.
John will send access details to Mark to allow Mark to input to the site.
QDJC: Phil said that they were doing quite well, although sometimes struggling to get a team out. They have between 20 and 24 attending club nights.
Phil said that the Rugby league had been fantastic and that his juniors had been made to feel most welcome by other clubs.
Phil said that they had had problems with the QDJ centre and that there was some discussion around merging QDJC with Hunters. Talks are ongoing.
- Election of Officers
League Chairman Mark Hope
League Secretary Mark Hope
League Treasurer Simon Outhwaite
Junior Secretary John Wardropper
Match Secretary Rob Fowler
Committee Member Steven Turner
- Leagues for 2017 – 2018
Proposed leagues for next season,
DIV 1: HUNTERS 1, ST PHILIPS 1, LUTTERWORTH 1, ST PHILIPS 2, LUTTERWORTH 2, HUNTERS 2.
DIV 2: HUNTERS 3, TRINITY 1, ST PHILIPS 3, TRINITY 2, HUNTERS 4.
DIV 3: LUTTERWORTH 3, RUGBY YOUTH, ST PHILIPS 4, QDJC, HARRIS 1.
The fixtures meeting has been fixed as 20th Sept 2017 at 8pm at the Dunchurch Social Club.
- Any Other Business
Mark gave out league trophies to Hunters 1, Lutterworth 2 and has held Trinity 2, for their respective division wins
Mark asked about coaching for any player level. Steve Turner said that he was prepared to help out with coaching for the league and potential players. Once a venue and times have been established, advertising would be done on both website and local press. Phil said that if we could organise an 8 week coaching course, then maybe players could be directed towards current clubs.
Mark said that St Philips had just agreed to help with training players in the club, using 1 hour of court time and had allocated 4 players who would help.
Paul said that Lutterworth are running a similar system.
With reference to the request by Neil Porter to restart a ladies division in Rugby. There was some debate as to whether we have enough ladies to be able to support a full ladies league. It was decided to pass this back to Neil Porter to see if he would try to arrange some friendly games for a season and monitor the success of it and then decide whether to bring it into the league in the 2018 – 2019 season.
Phil asked if we could perhaps run a mixed league, where you would use 2 ladies and 2 men and run a 6 rubber match, with ladies, mens and 2 mixed. This too was thought to be difficult to start up.
It was agreed, however, that ladies should be allowed to play in the mens league. So, a team can be made up of any combination of men and ladies. This would allow ladies to play some competitive games in the league and may encourage more ladies to come forward for match play. Mark will revise the league rules accordingly and will issue in due course.
Meeting closed at 9-30pm.