West Midlands Basketball League

WEST MIDLANDS BASKETBALL LEAGUE

40TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TUESDAY 7 JUNE 2005

1.Chairman's Report:

Apologies were received from Dave Percy, Herbie Johnson, Mark Harrison, Denise Kearney and Barrie Viner

All parties attending signed in on entry to the A.G.M.

The meeting started with one minute's silence in memory of Clive Hirst who had died recently. Mike went on to explain that Clive had been connected with the League for many years and was Vice Chairman from 1973/75 and Treasurer from 1975 until his untimely death. Clive will be missed by the League and the thoughts of the League are with his family.

Mike opened the meeting thanking all officers for their work over the past year, and in particular thanked John Taylor, who had not only produced the Handbook and Rule Book but also an in depth history of the League.

 2. Minutes of Previous A.G.M.

Copies of the Minutes of the 39th A.G.M. were circulated with the document package issued to all upon arrival. The Minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman. There were no matters arising.

3. Officers' Reports:

Written reports were circulated and accepted by those present. However with regard to the Referees' Secretary's report, Stephen Barnes (Breakers) questioned the lack of a common policy of referees' decisions. The reply from Keith Kershaw was that all referees are individuals who interpret the rules as they see them at the time. Brian Miller (Bromsgrove) suggested that as the pool of referees was increasing in age yearly, it would be in the interest of clubs to encourage younger players to qualify as referees.

4. Allocation of Honoraria:

The Honoraria will remain at its present level for the forthcoming season.

5.New Clubs:

Two new clubs have applied to join the League - HMYOI Swinfen Hall and Stoke Basketball Club. Members from both clubs gave an outline of their playing potential and they were welcomed into the League.

6.Approval of Divisions:

The Committee have invited the following teams to form the Premier Division:

Aston A's: Black Country Bears: Chase Panthers A: Great Barr Lasers: Kidderminster: Redditch Regents: Shropshire Warriors: Warley A: West Midlands Police: Wolverhampton C.C.

Both Proguard and Warley B declined the invitation to join the Premier Division and Smithswood Sabres failed to respond to the invitation

The remaining Leagues will be formulated by a Sub Committee when all remaining teams are known.

7.Alteration of League Rules (Proposed by Executive Committee):

A) Rule 4d(ii) following a ruling by West Midland Area, the rule has been altered. Please add the following to the end of the rule......

For Clubs with more than one team in the League, the number of games suspension shall relate to the team the player was playing for or representing, when disqualified. The player cannot play for any other teams in the Club during this suspension period.

John Griffiths voiced his concerns that this penalised people who were prepared to play for more than one team. Jeff Bootton explained that the basis of this rule had been in existence for many years although not written down. The motion was carried.

B) Rule 4c(i) add the following to the rule.....

All appeals must be accompanied with a £10 surety fee.

Motion carried.

C)  Rule 4c(iv) change £5 surety fee to.....

A surety fee of £10.

Motion carried.

D) Rule 6c(iii) add the following to rule 6c.....

Playing an ineligible player will result in forfeit of the game and any other penalty at the discretion of the Management Committee.

Motion carried.

E)  Any reference to the EBBA will now change to the EB (England Basketball).

8. Election of Officers:

The following Officers were re-elected unopposed:

Chairman - Mike Neal

Vice Chairman - Dave Slade

General Secretary/Results/Fixtures - Andy Millington

Referees Secretary - Keith Kershaw

Appeals Secretary - Martin Bromage Griffiths

Publicity - Herbie Johnson

The post of Treasurer was taken by Jane Huffer

Committee members: Anthony Johnson: Jim Smith: John Taylor: Barrie Viner: Nigel Evans: Dave Percy. Two further committee members were elected at the meeting: Alan Bean and Stephen Barnes.

9. Presentation of Trophies:

Trophies were presented to:

Warley A - Premier Champions

Wolves C.C. - Runners up

Warley B - Div 1 Winners

Proguard - Runners up

Just Hoops - Div 2 Winners

Breakers - Runners up

Aston Uni - Rosebowl

Shropshire Warriors - Stanley Pears Trophy

Mac Fessall Award - Denise Kearney

Bernard Patrick Award - Richard Jones, Referee

Junior players award - from Jeff Bootton to Paul Groves and Tom Taylor of Summerhill Hawks.

10. Player Registration:

Mike explained the problems with insurance cover by England Basketball and that there will be no cover on existing licences from 31 August 2005. England Basketball are expecting to issue new registration forms in July but until players have received their registration numbers, they must not play. In view of this the season will not commence until the first Sunday in October.

11.Any Other Business:

There was no "any other business".

12. Date of Next Annual General Meeting:

The date of the next A.G.M. will be on Tuesday 6 June 2006.

Mike formally closed the Meeting at 830pm.