MInutes of Committee Meeting - 7th April 2020
Minutes of the Committee Meeting of NOWIRUL
7th April 2020 at 7:00m - Held via Zoom
Attendees: Fred Swarbrick, John Powell, Peter Rhodes, Andy Thompson, Greg King, Ian Cosens, Paul Riordan, Craig Hine and Peter Harrison.
FS opened the meeting by thanking Paul for setting up this Zoom meeting and for all who have attended.
Finance: Our finances are in a relatively good state. There is £10,777 in the Benevolent Fund. We are still waiting for the 2nd tranche of funding from the RFU for £1,500, but due to the curtailment of the season and the reported state of the RFU’s finances this may not be received. GK asked members to submit their expenses.
It was agreed that there would be no fees for teams except for new clubs or those re-joining (£100 bond). It was also decided that “Codes of Conduct”
would only be required for new clubs/teams.
Trophies: All trophies had been returned and FS had spoken to the engraver who will add this year’s league winners. FS also raised the issue of the outstanding bills – He said he had pursued the matter with him and has left the ball in his court to raise them
League Setup: JP thought there would be about 150 teams in the leagues this year, but there is some doubt about that number due to the ADM league opening up to 2nd & 3rd teams (see later). He stated that he had contacted teams in the Premier and Championship about whether they wanted to keep the current set up including the conferences or go to a 14 team league. The vote was 12 to 7 in favour of 14 team leagues. This is a change of heart from last years AGM when the premier clubs were against 14 team leagues. A discussion took place around this and it was thought that below the Premier there would be a Division 1 and Division 2 N & S.
It is hoped that by the time we meet again we will have some clear idea of numbers and what the future structure could look like.
ADM Leagues: The ADM leagues that were set up as a Lancashire only league, outside of the RFU so that teams didn’t have to travel large distances to Cumbria and Cheshire. They had written to certain clubs (within a geographic area) to ask if they would like their 2nd and 3rd teams to join a new conference league.
At this early stage the ADM thought they had 12 interested teams. A discussion took place with regards to this and the committee’s approach to teams wanting to join ADM or what our approach would be, the 2nd teams went but 3rd teams didn’t. It was decided that we can’t make any decisions until we have met with the ADM leagues which was hoped to be at the beginning of May.
New Member Clubs: All applications to join the league to be made by 30th April.
Committee: All members agreed to carry on for another year.
Finals: Same venues as this year – Bowdon and Vale of Lune.
Presentation Dinner: The 2021 dinner had already been booked at Preston Grasshoppers. FS asked PR to pass on the committee’s apologies to Bowdon who were to have held the event this year.
AGM: The AGM is to be postponed rather than cancelled. We will have to check RFU website about our legal responsibilities.
Rule Proposals: JP to send out any proposals. Does the change to 14 teams leagues need to be approved by an AGM?
Meeting closed at 8:45pm