CA CONSULTATION CONFERENCE ON WORKING PARTY REPORT ON FEDERATIONS

Canalside Sports Complex, Huddersfield.  Saturday 15 February 2014

The Working Party Report on Federations generated further debate today at a CA organised Consultation Conference at the superb Huddersfield FC sports complex.  Surprisingly, only about 45 delegates attended this event, representing clubs from the North West, North, Yorks and Humberside, West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglian Federations.  About 14 north west members were in attendance representing: Bowdon; Bury; Chester; Crake Valley; Fylde; Liverpool; Pendle; Southport; Westmorland.

The meeting was led by CA Chairman, Jeff Dawson, assisted by CA Secretary, Dr Ian Vincent and Vice Chairman of Council, Dr Tim King.

Jeff Dawson welcomed everyone explaining this was the second meeting organised by the CA to explain the issues and engage in consultation with clubs, it was not a decision making forum.  He set out the Agenda for the meeting, focussing on: (i) Federations as Members of CA Council; (ii) Federation Boundary Changes; (iii) Fee Structure for Clubs and Players.

Federations as Members of CA Council.

The current constitutional position allows for Federations to elect a person to serve on CA Council who then becomes a ‘Club Representative’ rather than a Federation representative.  These ‘Club Representatives’ make up one third of Council and means Federations are completely independent of Council.  The proposed change in the Constitution would simplify election procedures and change these ‘Club Representatives’ to ‘Federation Representatives’.

Whilst it was stressed that in practice, this alteration would not change anything, it has to be recognised some Federation independence would be lost and there is always the possibility of unintended consequences.  The discussion ranged from the logical need for more integration, advantages of full independence (especially when bidding for Grants), advantages of closer links to Council, more coherent framework for the development of Croquet, the status of clubs within Federations.  One interesting idea emerged that if Federations became affiliated to the CA, this could lead to a practical solution.

A straw poll indicated a majority in the room favoured constitutional change.

Federation Boundary Changes

The nine Federations vary significantly in size ranging from 41 clubs to 8 clubs.  This situation creates differing opportunities for competitive play resulting in some clubs becoming members of more than one Federation in order to participate in appropriate level and quantity of league play.  Issues of representation were discussed, should larger Federations have more places (or votes) on Council?  Is the balance on Council equitable?

The meeting seemed to agree the issue needed addressing but could be progressed by the CA facilitating discussion and negotiation between Federations.

Fee Structure for Clubs and Players

At present 57% of CA income is derived from individual tournament members (paying about £40 each, totalling £56,000) in addition to a levy imposed on CA tournament fees (£13,000).  The remaining £46,000 is generated from clubs paying about £8 per playing member.  Whilst there is no intention to increase revenue streams the long term trend is a reducing tournament income, consequently the WP proposals are attempting to change the balance between the income streams and at the same time reduce barriers to players entering tournaments.

Whilst the number of players entering CA tournaments has decreased, the number of Federation tournaments and league games has increased.  Delegates highlighted the high cost of travelling and subsistence when entering national weekend tournaments, (notwithstanding family commitments), compared to the low costs of local one day competitive league play.

Over lunch, delegates, in four groups, discussed these financial issues including increasing the club player levy and the concept of a levy on all competitive games in Federations (Pay to Play concept).

The majority of delegates supported the strategy of making all club players, members of the CA,  through replacing the individual tournament member fee by an increased club levy on members.  A strong viewpoint emerged that since every club member benefits from the CA infrastructure so everyone should pay for it.  It is estimated club individual membership fees would need to increase by about £10pa to cover this.  Whether this should happen in one step or be introduced gradually caused much debate but conference seemed to favour the one step approach.  Pleas also emerged that the CA should spend more on Development and be more active in marketing the Association.

There was concern in the room about whether there should be a differential levy depending on the status or size of clubs.  However, one small club stated they were in favour of the one step approach and would use a fund raising event to pay for it rather than increase membership fees.

A proposal that clubs should pay their individual member levies to Federations, who then paid the CA, received no support; clubs not having any problems about paying the CA in addition to paying their Federation Membership Fees separately.

The concept of Pay to Play received no support if applied to Federation league games but some limited support if applied to Federation tournaments.  Jeff Dawson also reported that at club level, the concept was probably now a ‘non starter’.

If all players became CA members, they would each be entitled to receive the Croquet Gazette, increasing its circulation to about 6000.  Whilst this could generate increased sponsorship or advertising income, there would be significant increases in distribution (postage) costs.  There were positive suggestions about offering the Gazette both electronically as well as hard copies, even if members had to pay extra for hard copy.  It was also pointed out there would be increased VAT expenditure if the Gazette was distributed by email.  It was also suggested that a ‘News and Article’ website could be set up,  updated on an ongoing basis, as opposed to a bi-monthly magazine format.

Jeff Dawson brought the meeting to a close, stressing the need for further consultation and invited clubs to convey the views of their members to him over the next few weeks.  He also stressed the next steps would be to offer every club and every CA member a vote on each of the separate proposals – only after this exercise would a ‘roadmap’ be designed for consideration by CA Council and AGM in November.

Tony Thomas (Personal Interpretation of Meeting)

The CA Working Party Report on Federations has been studied and discussed at great length by clubs in the region.  Today the Federation organised a conference at Culcheth to exchange views and gain a greater understanding of the issues involved, all in preparation for a CA Conference for all northern clubs to be held in Huddersfield in two weeks time.  About 25 delegates attended from our league clubs.

The conference was facilitated by Brian Storey from Bowdon who had produced an excellent analysis of the WP proposals which was circulated prior to the meeting.  The proposals are many and varied and would, if implemented, create a major change to the organisation of Croquet in the region.  It was stressed several times by senior croquet people in the room that the WP Report was not attacking the Federations but was looking for ways of integrating members, clubs and Federations to create a structure more suited to the development of Croquet than at present.  Unfortunately, the report is complex and unintentionally does create a feeling that the Federations should be managed by the CA in a different manner to what happens at present.

Brian Storey set out a logical Agenda for discussion focussing on Structural Changes, Financial Implications and the Role of Individual members.

Structural Changes

The Working Party focussed on size of Federations, their playing strength and role in decision making.  Clubs in the north west are proud of their Federation with its support for smaller clubs, excellent Flying Circus coaching system, competitive leagues and tournaments plus strong communications.  The consensus was that our Federation was successful and whilst not being complacent, did not require any changes being forced upon them.  The WP report also recommends that the NWFCC Representatives to CA Council should become a Federation Representative instead of a Representative of Federation clubs.  This concept has caused confusion amongst clubs and a satisfactory explanation was still not forthcoming at the meeting.  Delegates felt this issue had become over complex and could be addressed by amendment to the CA Constitution.

Financial Implications

The WP Proposal that would prevent club subscriptions or individual payments being made to Federations found no support amongst delegates, clubs feeling this would attack their autonomy and the Federation freedom to act quickly when situations require a rapid response.  The very contentious concept of “Pay to Play” also found no support, delegates feeling this would not encourage members to engage in competitive play and clubs do not wish to implement any further financial burden.

Role of Individual Members

The concept of making all club players, members of the Croquet Association by way of increasing the individual club levy, had total support.  In practice this would cause individual club subscriptions to increase by about £10 pa – a figure delegates thought would not cause clubs to leave the Federation or indeed lose club members.  The concensus view seemed to be that this concept should have been implemented decades ago and for our national organisation to only have 22% of players as members was not acceptable.

Finale:

So after about two hours, delegates retired back to their clubs to consider their position in readiness for the meeting at Huddersfield in two weeks time.  Some clubs are presenting their views directly to the Working Party Chairman in writing.  There is uncertainty about the next stage after the Huddersfield Meeting, however, we were informed, there would be a further paper with firm proposals before any definite decisions are made.

The above represents my view of the proceedings, so should not be regarded as the official view of the North West Federation.  It was a complex meeting and if I have misinterpreted club views, I apologise – Tony Thomas