Post by Brad on Jun 13, 2011 23:26:08 GMT 1
ELGIN & DISTRICT POOL LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE
AGM
Wednesday 1st June 2011, Bonnie Earl
1) In Attendance:
Committee
Chairman/Treasurer: Raymond Mackenzie
Secretary: Brad Wight
Match Secretary: Garey Steele
PotS Deputy Co-ord Debby Greig
Committee Member: Ian Maclennan
Teams
City Club Bowl 2000 (St Andrews B) White Horse A
White Horse B Tennant Arms A Tennant Arms B
Rising Sun A Rising Sun B Bonnie Earl A
Bonnie Earl B Bonnie Earl C Cottar Hoose B Flanagans A Flanagans C Granary
Harbour Inn Caberfeidh Diceys
Seaforth Club Ionic A Ionic B
Apologies
Committee
Vice Chairman: Dave Hector
PotS Co-ordinator: Tony McCallion
Committee Member: John Kinnaird
Teams
Station Burghead Cottar Hoose A New Club A New Club B
Absent without apologies
Braemou Kirkie
2) The Secretary gave a brief introduction to the meeting.
3) Match Secretary.
Before electing the committee for the 2011-12 season, the Secretary described the role of the Match Secretary, a new position on the committee.
The League has purchased a dedicated mobile phone for receiving match results. It will not be used for outgoing texts or calls. The idea is to spread some of the Secretary’s considerable workload and also to make sure other committee members are capable of running the League should the Secretary be unable to continue.
If anyone has any questions relating to the League then the Secretary should still remain the first port of call, the new phone is just for results and the newly created position of Match Secretary will update the website weekly.
The Secretary went on to explain that only one team last season had problems with texting in scores and they were warned near the end of the season for persistent failure to send in results. The Secretary exercised a bit of leniency with the rule last season, but this season will enforce the no points, no goal difference rule if the winning team don’t text in their result by the end of Thursday evening. This rule benefits the losing team.
Match Results Hotline: 07761 849 071
As the new phone has been purchased from EDPL funds, the Secretary wishes to state that the Samsung phone cost £9.99 with a £10.00 pay as you go top up to activate it.
4) Committee meeting non-attendance procedure.
The Secretary informed the meeting of a decision reached at the committee meeting of 19th May.
Committee members who persistently fail to attend meetings without good reason will be replaced on the committee by a new member who must be approved at a committee meeting.
5) Election of Committee.
The Secretary read out the proposed committee and they were duly elected in a block vote without objection.
The Committee for 2011-12 Season is as follows:
Chairman/Treasurer: Raymond Mackenzie
Secretary: Brad Wight
Match Secretary: Garey Steele
POTS Statistician: Tony McCallion
POTS Deputy: Debby Greig
Player Member: Ian Maclennan
Player Member: John Kinnaird
6) Approval of last year’s AGM minutes.
The Secretary asked if everyone had had a chance to read last year’s minutes on the website. Most people nodded or said they had and when the Secretary asked if anyone present would like them read out there was no response and the minutes were duly approved by all present as a true and accurate account of last year’s AGM.
The Secretary also read out a very brief summary of committee meetings throughout the year. Again, there were no comments or questions as they have been made freely available online and have already been discussed, leading to some new innovations such as Player of the Year rankings and a summer league.
One point which the Secretary did clarify was the rule regarding teams moving pubs.
Following last season’s demolition of the Kingsmills Bar, the committee set in stone the one-off ruling that teams may retain their league status if they switch venues due to a pub closing. However, if a team moves out of personal choice, they will have to start back in the bottom division as has always been the rule.
Darren Campbell of the Granary asked if this would apply to them as the manageress of the Granary doesn’t want a pool team anymore and they are planning on moving to the Thunderton.
The Secretary replied that earlier that evening he had spoken to the manageress of the Granary and she had appeared very surprised when asked about this, stating that she does not want to lose the pool team. After some debate between several players, the Granary accepted that if they stay where they are, they will start next season in Division Two, but if they move to the Thunderton they will start in the bottom division and be classed as a new team.
7) Constitution.
The Secretary read out three amendments to the Constitution which had already been approved at committee meetings. Apart from these, there will be no changes to last season’s document and the meeting approved the constitution for 2011-12.
8) Treasurer’s Report.
Copies of the 2010-11 statement of accounts were distributed prior to the commencement of the meeting and all agreed they had had a chance to digest it. No questions were forthcoming.
9) Annual Registration.
The fees for registration will be kept the same as in previous seasons.
£35 for an existing team.
£40 for a new team.
The deadline for registration is Monday 1st August 2011.
The Secretary explained that he doesn’t want any fees being left behind bars. They must all be delivered to himself or the Treasurer directly before the end of Monday 1st August.
He also explained that due to having a new player of the year system, there will be no need for teams to register their players prior to the start of the season as the names will all be picked up from score cards.
10) Number of teams and league format.
The Secretary explained that as agreed at a previous committee meeting, if there are 31 teams or more next season, we will retain the four division format, however, if there are 30 or less, we will revert to a three division format. Last season finished with 27 teams, only four of which were in Division Four which was considered unacceptable.
At the minute 3 new teams have shown interest in joining the league; Thunderton (in addition to the Granary team), Bowl 2000 and Diceys B. The Secretary explained that until the fee deadline of August 1st, he can’t say what the format will be but will get word round as soon as possible by text to team captains and by an article in the Northern Scot. Fixture lists will be delivered as soon as possible after this date.
11) Start date for 2011-12 Season.
The Secretary explained that the start dates for the season are as follows:
3 Tier league: August 24th with a divisional cup prelim on August 17th
4 Tier League: 21st September
Both these dates allow for a one week break in February during the 2012 European Championships and will this allow games which have been postponed over the winter to be played without disrupting congesting the calendar in the run up to finals day.
12) Promotion & Relegation.
It was explained that if the move to three divisions goes ahead, there will be no relegations this summer. If the League stays with four divisions, there will be the usual two up, two down system.
12) Player of the Season.
The Secretary explained the decision of December’s committee meeting to adopt a Player of the Season ranking system as of this coming season.
The format used will be one used in the Forres League as it is deemed the simplest to run and also extremely fair. That is;
Only league singles games will be counted.
A percentage of wins to games played will be calculated throughout the season.
In order to be eligible for the award, players must play in 66% of league singles games available to them.
The player in each division with the highest percentage at the end of the league season will receive a divisional player of the season trophy on Finals day.
In the event of a draw on percentages, the player who has played the most games will win.
If the result is still a tie, a best of seven frames play off will be held on Finals Day.
In order for the Player of the Season to be calculated, scorecards are to be re- introduced.
The Secretary explained that scorecards must be fully completed by both team captains clearly stating team name, date, and players’ names in full.
The cards are to be retained behind the bar in a folder which will be provided by the Secretary prior to the start of the season. The Player of the Season committee members will arrange between them, the regular collection of the cards and update the website with up top date scores at regular intervals.
The Secretary stressed that the match results must still be texted in before the end of Thursday so that the website can be updated as soon as possible.
All in attendance appeared happy with this arrangement.
13) Interleague.
The Secretary informed the meeting that the committee last week discussed setting up a selection committee with the intention of sending the strongest possible Elgin A team to the SEPF Scottish Interleague in November. Although nothing has yet been discussed, the selection committee would likely be made up of experienced captains and players from the league as well as regional tour representatives.
The Secretary explained that last year, Elgin sent three teams to Kirkcaldy but the best players were split quite evenly between the three teams. Several top players have suggested that Elgin could send a team capable of challenging for the title and the committee decided that a selection committee is probably the way forward.
It was also suggested to have a team captain. Whether the captain would be a player or a non-player would be down to the selection committee.
The Secretary went on to explain that Alan Duncan, of the Ionic A, had played in and captained an Elgin A team at the Interleague for over a decade now and that many people had suggested he would make an ideal captain, regardless of whether he plays or not. It was stressed that this again, would be a matter for the selection committee.
A question was asked from the floor as to how many teams Elgin could enter this year and the Secretary explained that to the best of his knowledge, and until we hear otherwise, there is no reason why we can’t enter three teams again.
It was then asked how the other teams would be organised or selected and the Secretary clarified that it is only the Elgin A team that the League would like to be as strong as possible. Any additional teams may be entered by any player as long as that team is made up of registered Elgin & District Pool League players.
A question came from the floor as to what would happen if a player selected to play in the A team refused to play with or for another individual. The Secretary replied that no-one will can be forced to play or barred from playing with a B or C team and that that would be their choice. However, it should be seen as a privilege to be selected for the A team and there will be plenty other players willing to take the space.
The Secretary said that any players interested in playing in the Interleague this November should make themselves available for selection on the EDPL web forum.
14) Proposals.
There were three proposals received this year and copies of all were sent out to team captains several weeks prior to the meeting to allow discussion amongst players before voting commenced.
The Secretary explained all three proposals before handing out voting slips and calling a half hour break in the meeting. The result of the votes were then added up with extra attention being paid to team names to ensure no team voted more than once.
The proposals and voting results were as follows:
Proposal 1 - Adam Macleod - White Horse A
That doubles games are abolished from the league and 12 games of singles are played instead.
Result: Motion defeated by 15 votes to 8.
Proposal 2 - Brian Robson - Bonnie Earl B
If proposal 1 not passed; That doubles are replaced with scotch doubles.
Result: Motion passed by 12 votes to 11.
Proposal 3 - Colin Jones - Cottar Hoose A
If proposal 1 not passed; That an extra game of singles is played allowing a drawn outcome (league only)
Result: Motion passed by 12 votes to 11.
The proposals that were passed were subsequently debated further in the interests of clarity.
It was decided that Scotch Doubles is simple enough to understand and that it didn’t really need explanation, however, anyone reading these minutes who isn’t sure can contact the Secretary for an explanation if required.
The addition of a tenth frame will be brought into effect for all league games. Cup games will remain best of nine.
League points for next season will be two for a win and one for a draw.
The tenth frame will be played in all league games and the Captain must nominate the players for all ten frames prior to the start of each match. The tenth frame may be played by a player who has already played earlier in the match. In other words, the Captain can select someone to play twice but one of those frames must be the tenth frame. If a team has seven players, they are free to play all seven as it is not mandatory to play a player twice.
For the Player of the Season award, the tenth frame will not be taken into account unless being played by a player who has not previously played in that match. If a tenth frame player who has not yet featured in that match is playing an opposing player who has already played, only stats for the first player will be taken into account. In other words, no player can have more than one frame per match included in his player of the season rankings, and if a player plays two frames, only the first will be used for rankings.
15) SEPF Regional Report.
Adam Macleod, Chairman of Region 4 of the Scottish Eightball Pool Federation gave a brief report on the success the region has enjoyed, in particular the massive growth experienced on the local pool tour and the fact that the Keith league is about to affiliate with the SEPF.
He also mentioned that there have been a considerable amount of players from the Elgin and District Pool League who have became Internationals this season. The Secretary mentioned that the EDPL has players travelling to the World Championships this month who are representing Scotland across categories, including; Men, Ladies, U21, Juniors and Wheelchair.
Adam Macleod closed by encouraging players from across the divisions to enter the local tour explaining that it isn’t a competition for elite players only but a fun day out and something to do on a Saturday for anyone who enjoys competitive pool and a few drinks, with better players having the chance to qualify for larger national competitions or International trials.
16) Any Other Business.
There was only one item of AOB raised; John Donaldson, Captain of the Rising Sun A asked if the League would considered following the Darts League’s method of allowing a team to play a player twice if they were short of players. The suggestion was that there would be a limit of three times a season that a team could turn up with five players instead of the six needed to play a match but the opposing captain could nominate one player to play twice.
The suggestion was quite popular but given the Player of the Season rankings introduction and the adoption of a tenth game of singles which could already see a player playing twice, the idea was dropped due to complication. Stuart Whyte of the City Club reminded the meeting that only proposals which are properly submitted a week prior to the meeting may be voted on at the AGM. It was therefore decided to shelve John’s suggestion although he is welcome to submit it as a proposal for next season.
17) Close of Meeting.
The Secretary closed the meeting by reminding all present that the deadline for Registration Fees was August 1st. Due to the importance this date has on deciding the league format, late entry fees will not be accepted. As soon as the amount of teams are known, the Secretary will contact team captains to inform them of the league format for 2011-12.
B. Wight
Secretary
Elgin & District Pool League
11th June 2011
MINUTES OF THE
AGM
Wednesday 1st June 2011, Bonnie Earl
1) In Attendance:
Committee
Chairman/Treasurer: Raymond Mackenzie
Secretary: Brad Wight
Match Secretary: Garey Steele
PotS Deputy Co-ord Debby Greig
Committee Member: Ian Maclennan
Teams
City Club Bowl 2000 (St Andrews B) White Horse A
White Horse B Tennant Arms A Tennant Arms B
Rising Sun A Rising Sun B Bonnie Earl A
Bonnie Earl B Bonnie Earl C Cottar Hoose B Flanagans A Flanagans C Granary
Harbour Inn Caberfeidh Diceys
Seaforth Club Ionic A Ionic B
Apologies
Committee
Vice Chairman: Dave Hector
PotS Co-ordinator: Tony McCallion
Committee Member: John Kinnaird
Teams
Station Burghead Cottar Hoose A New Club A New Club B
Absent without apologies
Braemou Kirkie
2) The Secretary gave a brief introduction to the meeting.
3) Match Secretary.
Before electing the committee for the 2011-12 season, the Secretary described the role of the Match Secretary, a new position on the committee.
The League has purchased a dedicated mobile phone for receiving match results. It will not be used for outgoing texts or calls. The idea is to spread some of the Secretary’s considerable workload and also to make sure other committee members are capable of running the League should the Secretary be unable to continue.
If anyone has any questions relating to the League then the Secretary should still remain the first port of call, the new phone is just for results and the newly created position of Match Secretary will update the website weekly.
The Secretary went on to explain that only one team last season had problems with texting in scores and they were warned near the end of the season for persistent failure to send in results. The Secretary exercised a bit of leniency with the rule last season, but this season will enforce the no points, no goal difference rule if the winning team don’t text in their result by the end of Thursday evening. This rule benefits the losing team.
Match Results Hotline: 07761 849 071
As the new phone has been purchased from EDPL funds, the Secretary wishes to state that the Samsung phone cost £9.99 with a £10.00 pay as you go top up to activate it.
4) Committee meeting non-attendance procedure.
The Secretary informed the meeting of a decision reached at the committee meeting of 19th May.
Committee members who persistently fail to attend meetings without good reason will be replaced on the committee by a new member who must be approved at a committee meeting.
5) Election of Committee.
The Secretary read out the proposed committee and they were duly elected in a block vote without objection.
The Committee for 2011-12 Season is as follows:
Chairman/Treasurer: Raymond Mackenzie
Secretary: Brad Wight
Match Secretary: Garey Steele
POTS Statistician: Tony McCallion
POTS Deputy: Debby Greig
Player Member: Ian Maclennan
Player Member: John Kinnaird
6) Approval of last year’s AGM minutes.
The Secretary asked if everyone had had a chance to read last year’s minutes on the website. Most people nodded or said they had and when the Secretary asked if anyone present would like them read out there was no response and the minutes were duly approved by all present as a true and accurate account of last year’s AGM.
The Secretary also read out a very brief summary of committee meetings throughout the year. Again, there were no comments or questions as they have been made freely available online and have already been discussed, leading to some new innovations such as Player of the Year rankings and a summer league.
One point which the Secretary did clarify was the rule regarding teams moving pubs.
Following last season’s demolition of the Kingsmills Bar, the committee set in stone the one-off ruling that teams may retain their league status if they switch venues due to a pub closing. However, if a team moves out of personal choice, they will have to start back in the bottom division as has always been the rule.
Darren Campbell of the Granary asked if this would apply to them as the manageress of the Granary doesn’t want a pool team anymore and they are planning on moving to the Thunderton.
The Secretary replied that earlier that evening he had spoken to the manageress of the Granary and she had appeared very surprised when asked about this, stating that she does not want to lose the pool team. After some debate between several players, the Granary accepted that if they stay where they are, they will start next season in Division Two, but if they move to the Thunderton they will start in the bottom division and be classed as a new team.
7) Constitution.
The Secretary read out three amendments to the Constitution which had already been approved at committee meetings. Apart from these, there will be no changes to last season’s document and the meeting approved the constitution for 2011-12.
8) Treasurer’s Report.
Copies of the 2010-11 statement of accounts were distributed prior to the commencement of the meeting and all agreed they had had a chance to digest it. No questions were forthcoming.
9) Annual Registration.
The fees for registration will be kept the same as in previous seasons.
£35 for an existing team.
£40 for a new team.
The deadline for registration is Monday 1st August 2011.
The Secretary explained that he doesn’t want any fees being left behind bars. They must all be delivered to himself or the Treasurer directly before the end of Monday 1st August.
He also explained that due to having a new player of the year system, there will be no need for teams to register their players prior to the start of the season as the names will all be picked up from score cards.
10) Number of teams and league format.
The Secretary explained that as agreed at a previous committee meeting, if there are 31 teams or more next season, we will retain the four division format, however, if there are 30 or less, we will revert to a three division format. Last season finished with 27 teams, only four of which were in Division Four which was considered unacceptable.
At the minute 3 new teams have shown interest in joining the league; Thunderton (in addition to the Granary team), Bowl 2000 and Diceys B. The Secretary explained that until the fee deadline of August 1st, he can’t say what the format will be but will get word round as soon as possible by text to team captains and by an article in the Northern Scot. Fixture lists will be delivered as soon as possible after this date.
11) Start date for 2011-12 Season.
The Secretary explained that the start dates for the season are as follows:
3 Tier league: August 24th with a divisional cup prelim on August 17th
4 Tier League: 21st September
Both these dates allow for a one week break in February during the 2012 European Championships and will this allow games which have been postponed over the winter to be played without disrupting congesting the calendar in the run up to finals day.
12) Promotion & Relegation.
It was explained that if the move to three divisions goes ahead, there will be no relegations this summer. If the League stays with four divisions, there will be the usual two up, two down system.
12) Player of the Season.
The Secretary explained the decision of December’s committee meeting to adopt a Player of the Season ranking system as of this coming season.
The format used will be one used in the Forres League as it is deemed the simplest to run and also extremely fair. That is;
Only league singles games will be counted.
A percentage of wins to games played will be calculated throughout the season.
In order to be eligible for the award, players must play in 66% of league singles games available to them.
The player in each division with the highest percentage at the end of the league season will receive a divisional player of the season trophy on Finals day.
In the event of a draw on percentages, the player who has played the most games will win.
If the result is still a tie, a best of seven frames play off will be held on Finals Day.
In order for the Player of the Season to be calculated, scorecards are to be re- introduced.
The Secretary explained that scorecards must be fully completed by both team captains clearly stating team name, date, and players’ names in full.
The cards are to be retained behind the bar in a folder which will be provided by the Secretary prior to the start of the season. The Player of the Season committee members will arrange between them, the regular collection of the cards and update the website with up top date scores at regular intervals.
The Secretary stressed that the match results must still be texted in before the end of Thursday so that the website can be updated as soon as possible.
All in attendance appeared happy with this arrangement.
13) Interleague.
The Secretary informed the meeting that the committee last week discussed setting up a selection committee with the intention of sending the strongest possible Elgin A team to the SEPF Scottish Interleague in November. Although nothing has yet been discussed, the selection committee would likely be made up of experienced captains and players from the league as well as regional tour representatives.
The Secretary explained that last year, Elgin sent three teams to Kirkcaldy but the best players were split quite evenly between the three teams. Several top players have suggested that Elgin could send a team capable of challenging for the title and the committee decided that a selection committee is probably the way forward.
It was also suggested to have a team captain. Whether the captain would be a player or a non-player would be down to the selection committee.
The Secretary went on to explain that Alan Duncan, of the Ionic A, had played in and captained an Elgin A team at the Interleague for over a decade now and that many people had suggested he would make an ideal captain, regardless of whether he plays or not. It was stressed that this again, would be a matter for the selection committee.
A question was asked from the floor as to how many teams Elgin could enter this year and the Secretary explained that to the best of his knowledge, and until we hear otherwise, there is no reason why we can’t enter three teams again.
It was then asked how the other teams would be organised or selected and the Secretary clarified that it is only the Elgin A team that the League would like to be as strong as possible. Any additional teams may be entered by any player as long as that team is made up of registered Elgin & District Pool League players.
A question came from the floor as to what would happen if a player selected to play in the A team refused to play with or for another individual. The Secretary replied that no-one will can be forced to play or barred from playing with a B or C team and that that would be their choice. However, it should be seen as a privilege to be selected for the A team and there will be plenty other players willing to take the space.
The Secretary said that any players interested in playing in the Interleague this November should make themselves available for selection on the EDPL web forum.
14) Proposals.
There were three proposals received this year and copies of all were sent out to team captains several weeks prior to the meeting to allow discussion amongst players before voting commenced.
The Secretary explained all three proposals before handing out voting slips and calling a half hour break in the meeting. The result of the votes were then added up with extra attention being paid to team names to ensure no team voted more than once.
The proposals and voting results were as follows:
Proposal 1 - Adam Macleod - White Horse A
That doubles games are abolished from the league and 12 games of singles are played instead.
Result: Motion defeated by 15 votes to 8.
Proposal 2 - Brian Robson - Bonnie Earl B
If proposal 1 not passed; That doubles are replaced with scotch doubles.
Result: Motion passed by 12 votes to 11.
Proposal 3 - Colin Jones - Cottar Hoose A
If proposal 1 not passed; That an extra game of singles is played allowing a drawn outcome (league only)
Result: Motion passed by 12 votes to 11.
The proposals that were passed were subsequently debated further in the interests of clarity.
It was decided that Scotch Doubles is simple enough to understand and that it didn’t really need explanation, however, anyone reading these minutes who isn’t sure can contact the Secretary for an explanation if required.
The addition of a tenth frame will be brought into effect for all league games. Cup games will remain best of nine.
League points for next season will be two for a win and one for a draw.
The tenth frame will be played in all league games and the Captain must nominate the players for all ten frames prior to the start of each match. The tenth frame may be played by a player who has already played earlier in the match. In other words, the Captain can select someone to play twice but one of those frames must be the tenth frame. If a team has seven players, they are free to play all seven as it is not mandatory to play a player twice.
For the Player of the Season award, the tenth frame will not be taken into account unless being played by a player who has not previously played in that match. If a tenth frame player who has not yet featured in that match is playing an opposing player who has already played, only stats for the first player will be taken into account. In other words, no player can have more than one frame per match included in his player of the season rankings, and if a player plays two frames, only the first will be used for rankings.
15) SEPF Regional Report.
Adam Macleod, Chairman of Region 4 of the Scottish Eightball Pool Federation gave a brief report on the success the region has enjoyed, in particular the massive growth experienced on the local pool tour and the fact that the Keith league is about to affiliate with the SEPF.
He also mentioned that there have been a considerable amount of players from the Elgin and District Pool League who have became Internationals this season. The Secretary mentioned that the EDPL has players travelling to the World Championships this month who are representing Scotland across categories, including; Men, Ladies, U21, Juniors and Wheelchair.
Adam Macleod closed by encouraging players from across the divisions to enter the local tour explaining that it isn’t a competition for elite players only but a fun day out and something to do on a Saturday for anyone who enjoys competitive pool and a few drinks, with better players having the chance to qualify for larger national competitions or International trials.
16) Any Other Business.
There was only one item of AOB raised; John Donaldson, Captain of the Rising Sun A asked if the League would considered following the Darts League’s method of allowing a team to play a player twice if they were short of players. The suggestion was that there would be a limit of three times a season that a team could turn up with five players instead of the six needed to play a match but the opposing captain could nominate one player to play twice.
The suggestion was quite popular but given the Player of the Season rankings introduction and the adoption of a tenth game of singles which could already see a player playing twice, the idea was dropped due to complication. Stuart Whyte of the City Club reminded the meeting that only proposals which are properly submitted a week prior to the meeting may be voted on at the AGM. It was therefore decided to shelve John’s suggestion although he is welcome to submit it as a proposal for next season.
17) Close of Meeting.
The Secretary closed the meeting by reminding all present that the deadline for Registration Fees was August 1st. Due to the importance this date has on deciding the league format, late entry fees will not be accepted. As soon as the amount of teams are known, the Secretary will contact team captains to inform them of the league format for 2011-12.
B. Wight
Secretary
Elgin & District Pool League
11th June 2011