New South Wales Chess Association Inc.
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 28 November 2009
Meeting: The Meeting was held at the Rooty Hill RSL
Club,
Present
Council Members: Bill Gletsos, Norman Greenwood, Peter Cassettari, Keith Farrell, Tom Accola, Shane Burgess and Barry Cox.
Other Members: Brian Jones, Johnny Bolens, Richard Blake, Stephen Stipic, Peter Abbott, Peter Dorhauer, Alfred Flatow, Simon Quick, Andrew Bird, Brendan Norman, Ronald Scott, Jerry Xu (Junior), Jason Chan, Stephen Kerr, Joe Reif, Attila Mag, Shane Dibley, Jason Lyons, Biljana Dekic, Steve Jovanovic, Patrick Halpin, Peter Parr, Max Fuller and Fady Gerges.
1. Welcome and Apologies
Bill Gletsos as President and Chairman declared the Meeting open at 2.33pm and welcomed Members to the Meeting.
Apologies for non-attendance were received from Richard
Gastineau-Hills, Brett Tindall, Laura Moylan, Jason Hu
and Trent Parker.
2. Confirmation of
the Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting
The Minutes of the 2008 Annual General Meeting were available at the Meeting and had been on the NSWCA website for almost twelve months.
Motion: That the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 29 November 2008 be accepted and signed as a correct and true record (Moved Shane Burgess, seconded Peter Dorhauer) Carried.
3. PresidentÕs Report
Bill Gletsos gave a verbal Presidential Report. He highlighted the following matters.
a)
Finances
The Association earned a surplus of $11,863 for the 2009 year, as compared to a surplus of $9,361 for the previous year, an increase of $2,321.
1.
The Council has stopped running tournaments with losses and aims for a small profit or loss on tournaments ensuring that the tournament proceeds after expenses are paid back to the players in prizes. Also the Council has scrapped tournaments which were not well patronized such as the May, July and November Weekenders. . The increase in memberships and the introduction of the Non Member Registered Player Fee and Interest had contributed to the surplus.
b)
Membership
Membership numbers including 140 non members registered players had increased this year to 599, it being the highest numbers since 1998.
c)
Tournaments
The NSW Open held over the June Holiday Weekend was a successful tournament attracting 124 players, being the highest number of participants since the event commenced. GM David Smerdon achieved over enough rating points during the tournament, thus enabling him to finally be awarded his GM Title. Sponsorship was received for the NSW Open and with the higher surplus it is intended to increase the prize fund for the 2010 NSW Open to attract an even more players
The 2009 Australia Day Weekender attracted 69 players, this being good numbers. The Ryde-Eastwood Open held over the October long weekend had increased players to 72.
In regard to Grade Matches the teams were down for 2009, there being no teams for the Open, Under 2100/2000, the problems seeming to be the availability of highly rated players and the issue of travel. Dividing the competition into zones is not possible as there are not enough players who are prepared to play to make up sufficient teams within the zones.
The State Championship was disappointing despite receiving sponsorship. Last year the event was organized as a round robin by invitation and we had arguably the strongest Championship in its history. We used the same format for this year, but it was not possible to attract players to commit to the tournament despite organizing the play for week nights, which seems to be preferred over weekends.
d)
Appreciation
and Thanks
Bill Gletsos thanked all Council members for their work and effort during the year.
Stephen Stipic asked about advertising the tournaments. The President responded that the only advertising was through the mail outs and emails to Members by the Communications Officer. There were no further questions.
2.
4. TreasurerÕs Report
The Financial Report comprising the Statement of Financial Position at 31 July 2009 (Balance Sheet) and Statement of Financial Performance for the year ended 31 July 2009 (Statement of Income & Expenditure) had been circulated to Members present.
As advised by the President the Report showed that the
Association had earned a surplus of $11,683 as compared to a surplus for the
previous year of $9,361.
The Treasurer advised that the AuditorÕs Report was not attached and accordingly, the Accounts are presented subject to Audit. The Auditor, Ross Hamilton is currently overseas and has not completed his audit of the books for the two years 2008 and 2009. He will return early December and complete the audit for the two years.
Norman commented that the interest earnings were higher for 2009 by some $1,300, but with falling interest rates the 2010 year will show a reduction in this source of income.
Brian Jones asked which year was the last year when the Accounts were audited. The Treasurer responded 2007. The matter of funds from the Government was raised and the Treasurer replied that no sponsorship was received from the Governments, it all being from private enterprise.
Motion: That the
TreasurerÕs Report, subject to audit, be accepted (Moved Barry Cox, seconded Peter
Abbott) Carried.
5. Other Office BearersÕ
Reports
RegistrarÕs Report
The Registrar reported that the Membership had increased to 599, it being similar to last year.
Full Members 191
Country Members 158
Life Members 15
New Members 34
Pensioner Members 45
Student Members 12
Unemployed Members 4
Sub - Total 459
Registered Players 140
Total 599
In addition there are 15 affiliated Club Members.
3.
6. Determination of
Annual Membership and Club Affiliation Fees for 2010
The President recommended to the Meeting that the Fees remain the same as the previous year.
$
Club Affiliation Fee 30
Country Members 10
Not a Member Previously 10
Non Member Registered Player (no Voting
Rights and cannot play in NSWCA events) 10
Concession 20
Country Club Affiliation Fee 10
Motion: That the
Membership Fees and Affiliation Fees remain the same as the previous year (Moved
Keith Farrell, seconded Norman Greenwood) Carried.
7. Election of Office
Bearers for 2010
It was agreed that Andrew Bird would take the Chair to conduct the election of Office Bearers for 2010.
President Ð Bill Gletsos (Proposed Shane Burgess,
seconded Norman Greenwood)
-
Peter Parr (Proposed Stephen Kerr, seconded Jason
Lyons)
-
The candidates each addressed the Meeting for five minutes.
It was agreed that the voting should be by a secret ballot rather than a show of hands.
Andrew Bird conducted the secret ballot with Peter Cassettari and Jason Lyons having been nominated as scrutineers by Bill Gletsos and Peter Parr respectively.
The result of the ballot was:
Bill Gletsos 11 votes
Peter Parr 17 votes
Abstentions 1
Total 29
Peter Parr was declared elected President.
Vice-President Ð Bill
Gletsos (Proposed Peter Cassettari, seconded Tom Accola) Carried.
Treasurer Ð Norman
Greenwood (Proposed Bill Gletsos, seconded Shane Burgess) Carried.
4
Secretary Ð Tom Accola (Proposed Norman Greenwood, seconded Peter Parr) Carried.
Registrar Ð Peter
Cassettari (Proposed Bill Gletsos, seconded Steve Stipic) Carried.
Ratings Officer Ð Barry
Cox (Proposed Bill Gletsos, seconded Peter Abbott) Carried
Webmaster Ð There
were no nominations Ð position declared vacant.
Tournaments Officer Ð
Lou Damaschino (Proposed Bill Gletsos, seconded Shane
Burgess) Carried.
Communications
Officer Ð Laura Moylan (Proposed Andrew Bird, seconded Bill Gletsos) Carried.
Publicity Officer Ð There were no nominations Ð position declared vacant.
Club Liaison Officer Ð Shane Burgess ((Proposed Bill Gletsos, seconded Norman Greenwood) Carried.
Country Representative Ð Keith Farrell (Proposed Peter Cassettari, seconded Peter Dorhauer) Carried.
Member Without
Portfolio Ð Brett Tindall (Proposed Andrew Bird,
seconded Peter Parr) Carried.
At this stage of the Meeting, Peter Parr took the chair as President and Chairman.
8. Appointment of
Auditor
Motion: That Ross
A Hamilton, Chartered Accountant be appointed Auditor for the ensuing year
(Proposed Bill Gletsos, seconded Jason Lyons) Carried.
9. Appointment of
Appeals Committee
It was agreed that the NSWCA Appeals Committee be declared
elected as follows.
Bill Gletsos
Shane Burgess
Richard Gastineau-Hills
Alternates -
Peter Parr
Peter Cassettari
5.
10. Other Business
The Chairman called for any other business.
a)
Chess is Not
a Sport
Richard Blake raised the matter of Government funding for chess and distributed a three page memorandum, together with a letter from the Office of the Hon Kate Ellis, Minister for Sport, setting out his argument that chess is not a sport.
It was noted that the Motion had been raised at the last Annual General Meeting and was defeated. Bill Gletsos advised that the ACF had a petition circulating around Australia for support that Chess is a sport. The IOC recognizes that Chess is a sport but, doesnÕt recognize it as an Olympic sport. Bill advised that there were insufficient signatures on the petition to present to the Minister of Sport.
Richard Blake, Jason Lyons, Brian
Jones, Fred Flatow and Max Fuller spoke on the
motion.
Motion: With regard to requesting governments for funding for
chess, this association should have the position that: (a) chess is not a
sport, and (b) the basic grounds for the request should be that Òchess is a
competitive activity of great national and international significanceÓ (Moved
Richard Blake, seconded Jason Lyonsl) Defeated.
b)
Three Minute
Games with Two Seconds Increments
Andrew Bird asked if the Council will consider tournaments of Three Minutes Games with two seconds Increments for lightning tournaments.
c)
Advertising
Tournaments
Fred Flatow
raised the matter that the Communications OfficerÕs distribution of emails on
Sunday nights is too late for the Canterbury Chess Club. Keith Farrell
commented that perhaps the Publicity Officer may be able to contact radio
stations and mainstream press about tournaments.
d)
Website
Attila Mag raised the issue that the Website is not user friendly and it is difficult to obtain information. Andrew Bird commented that there should be students available who should be able to do the updating of the webpage.
e)
Grand Prix
Brian Jones advised that he needed the NSW events to record in the Grand Prix. It is intended that a Calendar of Events for 2010 will be issued prior to the end of December 2009.
6.
f)
Katoomba Chess Club
Mr Peter Dorhauer thanked the NSWCA for the presentation of a digital clock for the ClubÕs success in the 2009 Western Region Competition.
Closure of Meeting
There being no further business, the Meeting was closed at 4.03pm.
Confirmed as a correct record.
ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.. DatedÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.
Chairman
7.