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Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association Minutes of Annual
General Meeting Thursday, 5th October, 2000
Wimbledon Community Centre, St. George's Road, Wimbledon
Note: it is not the intention to record verbatim opinions expressed,
merely to provide a brief summary of the main views or propositions
aired during debates, for the particular benefit of those who were
not able to attend
1. Apologies for absence Apologies were received from Alan & Margaret
Edwards, Steve Elson, Ian Pollock and Lee Willett.
2. Minutes of last meeting Minutes of the last meeting held on
7th September were agreed.
3. Motion to amend constitution The following motion to amend the
(as yet unratified) constitution was discussed: "WISA believes that
a trial period for the new constitution and the new committee is
appropriate"
Actions:
1) Papers for elections in 2001 should go up on Thursday, 5th April,
2001, six months after the inaugural elections, and all effort should
be made to publicise these elections as widely as possible to supporters
of WFC.
2) Elections and the 2001 AGM should be held one month from this
date, on Thursday, 3rd May [2001] or as near to this date as WFC
football commitments allow. 3) Future AGMs should take place annually
on, or close to, this date and the constitution amended to reflect
this change of date. Proposed by: Marc Jones Charlie Bell Seconded
by: Ronan Warde Briony O'Toole Paul Raymond Tom Brooks Marc Jones,
as co-proposer, was invited to elaborate on the motion. Marc believed
an initial 6 month period:
* gives committee members an opportunity to become familiar with
roles which are new to them and the organisation (particularly as
not everyone knows each other);
* could be used as a recruiting tool to encourage new members to
join over the next 6 months - the committee would not be perceived
as a permanent fixture and new members could make their contribution.
In support, it was suggested that 6 to 9 months was a suitable period
to test the new constitution, allowing us to determine which parts
worked and which did not.
Contrary views expressed:
* introduces an unnecessary level of bureaucracy
* committee members should be given a year to prove themselves The
majority of discussion focused on the proposed change of date of
the AGM - from October to May - and other months were also suggested.
A summary of the main debating points was:
* May was felt by some to be the most appropriate time since supporter
interest is at its height. Conversely, it was suggested the end
of the season may be too emotional a time to make rational plans
or decisions, particularly if relegation or promotion is at stake;
* Close season: given the obvious difficulties of attracting many
people to a meeting during the peak holiday season, it was suggested
it would need to be combined with a social event;
* Start of the season: again, many people are still on holiday in
August.
Voting on the proposed motion was conducted as follows:
(a) Proposal to hold elections for officers and the general committee
in 6 months time: In favour: 20 Against: 2 Abstentions: 1
(b) Refer the question of the most appropriate time to hold AGMs
to the general committee for consideration: In favour: 6 Against:
13 Abstentions: 3
(c) Hold AGM in May: In favour: 15 Against: 4 Abstentions: 0 Note:
these figures do not necessarily tally with the (approx.) 35attendees;
votes in favour, against and abstentions were counted on the basis
of those who raised voting cards.
4. Constitution John Venables raised 3 points, which were answered
by Kris Stewart (KS): (a) Concerning clause 3.10, there could be
occasions when a secret vote is warranted. KS suggested that, if
there were no such circumstances now, John might prepare an appropriate
motion to be presented to a future meeting. (b) Clause 5.10: there
may be times when immediate spending of more than 500 was merited
- could this not be sanctioned by the Chair/Treasurer and justified
at a subsequent meeting? KS explained this had been discussed at
some length at the last meeting and a vote taken on both the principle
and the amount. (c) Clause 7 (discipline): if someone is banned
from matches because of violent behaviour, should they not automatically
be barred from membership? KS said those who drafted the constitution
felt there could be borderline cases and WISA therefore reserved
the right to consider individual cases on their particular circumstances.
The question of whether clause 5.15 needed amending was discussed,
in light of changing the date of the AGM. The overall consensus
was that altering the AGM date did not affect the accounting period.
A vote was held on whether to accept the constitution, incorporating
amendments made in (3) above: In favour: 25 Against: 0 Abstentions:
0
5. Election of officers to the committee Nominated candidates for
the 9 offices, together with proposers and seconders, were:
Position Candidate Proposer Seconder
Chair Kris Stewart Nicole Hammond Paul Raymond
Vice Chair Lee Willett Laurence Lowne Colette Mulchrone
Secretary Colette Karen D'Amico Richard D'Amico Mulchrone
Treasurer Nicole Hammond Simon Wheeler Colette Mulchrone
Publicity Laurence Lowne Nicy Grant Tim Hillyer
Website Darren Foreman Marc Jones Mags Hutchinson
Membership Nicy Grant Kris Stewart Simon Wheeler
Newsletter Simon Wheeler Peter Bowles Briony O'Toole
Club Liaison (No candidates) N/A N/A
With the exception of Vice Chair and Club Liaison Officer (which
attracted no candidates), the above officers were elected unopposed.
Vice Chair: owing to an unavoidable prior commitment, Lee was unable
to attend in person so a statement was made on his behalf by Laurence
Lowne. Lee is standing with 2 purposes in mind: (a) to establish
and lead a task force (3 or 4 people) whose sole purpose is to address
and establish WISA policy on securing a new ground; (b) to elevate
clause 1.2.1 of the constitution (ground issue) to a priority aim
in its own right, taking precedence over the other aims of WISA
(supporter on board, etc.) Lee requested that people should only
vote for his candidature if they agreed with these views. The general
consensus was that, in Lee's absence, it was not possible to determine
whether he would be willing to carry out all the other responsibilities
of Vice Chair, particularly if called upon to deputise for the Chair
in his absence. The position was therefore left open until the next
meeting.
Club Liaison Officer (CLO): the temporary CLO, Marc Jones, explained
he was reluctant to stand as he was unsure of the role he would
be expected to fulfil. He felt this officer could be seen as the
individual responsible for raising supporters' grievances about
trivial matters. The meeting agreed the post would be left open
until the scope of the position had been defined. In the meantime,
the Chair would handle liaison with the Club.
6. Election to general committee 12 members were elected, en masse
and unopposed, as members of the general committee: Member Proposer
Seconder Charlie Bell Ronan Warde Peter Bowles Peter Bowles Briony
O'Toole Mikey Taliadoros Tom Brooks Kris Stewart Peter Bowles Nick
Draper Briony O'Toole Paul Raymond Mags Hutchinson Marc Jones Paul
Raymond Stefan King Colette Mulchrone Kris Stewart Derek Mackenzie
Paul Raymond Marc Jones Briony O'Toole Nick Draper Ronan Warde Paul
Raymond Nicole Hammond Simon Wheeler John Venables Sean Fox Rob
Dunford John Wheeler Simon Wheeler Tim Hillyer Lee Willett Laurence
Lowne Peter Bowles
7. Membership fees Various views were expressed about the current
level of fees, e.g: * individual membership is too cheap vs. £5
is easier to collect * keep subscription rates low and raise funds
in other ways * household membership should be limited to 2 adults
and 2/3 children * reduced rate for full-time students over 18 *
discounted rate for renewals The prevailing view was that a decision
on fees for 2001/02 should be deferred until the next AGM.
8. Dates of OGMs for rest of season Kris Stewart suggested we avoid
always having meetings on the same day of the week as this precludes
attendance by those who have other regular commitments or interests.
The general view of the meeting was that, providing as much prior
notice as possible is given, Thursdays were the preferred day. The
next meeting was provisionally agreed to be 3 months from now on
Thursday, 11th January, 2001. [Post meeting note: as the Community
Centre is not available on that date, the next OGM will be held
on Thursday, 18th January, 2001 at 7.30 p.m.] The next AGM will
be held on Thursday, 3rd May, 2001.
9. Deferred item - travel It was generally agreed that the question
as to whether WISA should organise travel to away matches (outside
London) should be referred to the committee, who would report their
research and recommendations to the next general meeting.
10. Any other issues (a) In response to Paul Raymond's question
as to how many membership applications had been received, Nicy Grant
replied that he had that day processed approx. 200 membership cards
and others were in the pipeline. (b) Tim Hillyer congratulated everyone
who had been elected and thanked those who had made themselves available.
Whilst business commitments precluded him from standing, he would
be happy to help out as needed. (c) Marc Jones had received a message
during the meeting that Allen Batsford had accepted an invitation
made by Steve Elson (on behalf of WISA) to become our Honorary President.
(d) Marc Jones suggested we should turn our thoughts towards promotions
and merchandising, e.g. a Christmas raffle. (e) Prize draw: the
leaflet handed out at QPR sought feedback from Dons supporters on
their preferred order of priority for our 3 aims - securing a new
ground being the overwhelming first choice. Returned leaflets went
into a draw for an exclusive 20th anniversary t-shirt and the lucky
winner drawn on the night was Angela Cormack.
11. Pub The meeting adjourned to the Prince of Wales.
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