Attendees

Brad Johnstone, President; and all those that have signed the attendance sheet (45 members)

Agenda

Apologies
- Neville Meek
- Dave McNeish
Obituaries
- Jim Stuart
- David Iremonger
- Mrs Buchanon (Roy’s wife)
- Hal Bert - former member

3. Confirmation of 146th AGM minute

Unable to confirm minutes, as no minutes kept. Brad has asked if anyone has a copy of the minutes.
Welcome to Dave Gibson (North Harbour) and Chris Mitchell (Council of Clubs)

4. 2018 Annual Reports

Max introduces Chairman’s report
1. Licence situation - is subject to the reserve management act. Lease last done in 1993. Very restricted hours. Other clubs on domain have better licencing hours. All old special licences historically were issued in error. All domain clubs in same boat. We appealed this and have been working at it all this year. Management Act review plan is 5 years overdue. Cricket club and NSRFC appealed wanting more. Each club getting 6 per year. Bowling club now gone. Decision made to take the 6 and then fight on for more next year.
2. Roof - 57 years old. Needed to be replaced sooner rather than later. Asbestos dust found up in tiles. Don’t know what the implications are. Independent assessment has been done and will let us know. Roof quotes cost $150k. Waiting on assessment report. We may have no option to replace the roof depending on what assessment says.

5. 2018 Financial Report

Snow introduces financial report: Modest but pleasing.
Challenging year regarding licensing etc. Net gain 23k. Would have been better if we could have had seagulls luncheon.
Could borrow more. Exploring grant/funding options for roof. Grants becoming more difficult to come by.
Need to work hard to increase our sponsorship and membership. Junior club contribution has increased. Well done Brad W.
No contentious numbers

6. Subscriptions for 2019

Brad J moves for fees to stay the same -, $135 (Prems) + $120 (u21s) +$35 to harbour. Phil Eagles seconded.

7. Election of Officers and Committee

Everyone has put their name forward for another year.
Max says they are mindful of new blood on the committee. Karen to come onto committee to look after women’s rugby. Hoping to have women’s rugby team at NSRFC next year. Peter Burgess to come onto the committee to help with sponsorship.
Moved by Simon Gundry, seconded by Peter Bridger.

8. Service Awards

Brad J - asked Frano, Grant S, Claudia W to leave the room. Gold badges
1. Claudia Webb - Gordon Stuart to spoke on her behalf - Began her involvement washing drink bottles when Max got involved in 1998, then Joined the committee in 2001. Claudia did all the communication. 16 years Claudia has been helping, she took on 100 club, and 1st XV. Claudia mentored secretaries in MYOB. Sits in the background and makes club a success. Helps Max with her loyalty and wise counsel. Brad J moved she receive gold service award. AGM agreed.
2. Grant Simpkins - Chris Tankard spoke on his behalf - born in Rotorua, played NZ secondary teams, North Harbour, joined the navy. Started at North Shore in 1991. North Harbour Maoris, NZ combined teams. Coached Navy, North Shore Prems, North Harbour under 19s, TGS 1st XV, coached junior grades. North Shore committee member from 2016. Outstanding North Shore rugby guy. Brad J moved he receive gold service award. AGM agreed.
3. David Iremonger - Max Webb spoke on his behalf posthumously - Iremonger family most well known. David proud shore man, committee member, coach, player. David played from 1965 - later 1990s, played Presidents, played at TGS. Coached juniors. Committee member from the early 80s. Ran the bar in early 90s. Always prepared to voice his strong opinions. Loyal member his whole life, special Shore man. Brad J moved he receive gold service award. AGM agreed.
4. Frano Botica - life membership - been through his club his whole life. Buck Shelford spoke on his behalf - At 5 years old he started at club with his father. Frano’s still here now. Westlake college, 3 years in 1st XV. Made Shore seniors straight away after school. Played North Harbour 85-89, 2000-2001. 7s for NZ, 2 Hong Kong titles. NZ Maori 85-89, ABs 86-89. World cup winner in 1987. Played league for Wigan. 179 matches. Played for the Warriors and Castleford. Became a kicking machine in his league career. 1991-93, played NZ kiwis. Returned to rugby 96, played for Croatia, played 1 game for the Chiefs. Played again at North Shore. Prems coach 2009-2011. Head coach 2012-2015. Has supported and coached 7s. 7s Philippines head coach. Coaching Prems again in 2019. Has shown commitment and loyalty to the club since the age of 5, Frano mid 50s now. Brad J moved he receive the life membership award., AGM agreed..
Frano awarded life membership badge by Brad J.
Claudia awarded gold service badge by Brad J.
Grant awarded gold service badge by Brad J.
Ross Iremonger awarded gold service badge for Dave by Brad J.

9. North Harbour

David Gibson for North Harbour. Acknowledges those that have been recognised. North Harbour to have their AGM early March next year. Feedback:
- Lots of change, North Harbour are calibrating where we would like to go. Purpose is ‘Improving lives through rugby’.
- Community driven provincial union.
- Defining game plan
  - People - ensuring have right people in right positions
  - Maximising participation and quality experiences - driving initiatives through our programmes. Work around juniors. Focusing on climate of development, and participation. Pathways open at all stages to play rugby.
  - 9996 registered in August 2018.
  - Trend players 21 years + (4 percent drop), 13-20 years (7 percent drop). NZ rugby doing some work around this, hoping for recommendations.
  - Positives - women’s rugby up 11 percent, same number of coaches and referees as last year.
  - Performance - growing people to succeed. Finished 5th in NPC cup, would have liked to have got to semi finals.
  - Under 19s placed 3rd, as they did the year before. Female NPC team placed 3rd in competition..
  - Focus on head coach appointment. In the next 2 weeks there will be an announcement on who that will be. In talks with players to try to retain them for 2019..
  - Financials = building commercial and community partnership. 150k loss last year. Small surplus at the end of last year. 150k-180k in debt. Union to start thinking differently about revenue streams. Have gains with community and commercial partners (Kennards, QBE signed on for another 3 years)
- Stadium questions - around repurposing QBE stadium. The plan is to have the stadium as more of a performance hub. NH Marist on borrowed time. Baseball will have an established presence on site, so will occupy from Nov-Feb/March. Baseball pitch will be on, but will then be taken off. May cut into the stand on the side of the stadium. 13k seats. Davids focus is on what’s best for Harbour 1st, then Blues partners. There have only been 9 test matches for ABs at QBE stadium.
- Competition the same in 2019 for Prems as in 2018.

10. General Business

10.1 Peter Coleman - White shorts vs green shorts. Thinks white shorts looks better. Max says we have a unique green. Juniors prefer green shorts for laundering. Noted for next committee meeting.

10.2 Peter Coleman - keen to get old boys going. Supporters group rather than old boys. Max says Grant has a proposal to the committee, and it’s going to happen. Proactive things to organise for the supporters group.

10.3 Brad J - wants to mention hard work the committee has done this year. Good committee, fresh thoughts and a lot of debate, but are professional enough to keep moving forward. Growth in women’s rugby is phenomenal.

8.04 pm - meeting closed.

2018 Chairman's Report

Welcome to our 145th AGM. We’ve enjoyed another pleasing financial result but in many respects it’s been a difficult year. Essential fund raising by way of our Seagulls Luncheon and other functions held outside our liquor licensing hours as described in our lease have been curtailed. The Council discovered that they've been granting us Special Licenses in error over the past 25 years and this affects not only ourselves but all three remaining clubs on the Devonport Domain. After four hearings and a year long wrangle the Council now proposes to grant us, the Cricket Club and the MCC six specials each per year. Their logic beggars belief, no consideration was given to the fact we have by far the largest membership but we'll take the six and continue the battle for more. Our Rugby Union Club is the only one in the North Harbour Union to have such punitive liquor license restrictions. It's just another one of those things that make Devonport so unique, this maybe rectified when the Council finally reviews our antiquated Reserve Management Plan, already five years overdue.

We also now have to face the inevitability that our 55 year old roof needs replacement and our Committee is now in the process of investigating our options. The cost will be significant but unavoidable. As soon as we have all the necessary information we will launch the fund raising campaign, we've already begun to search out grant funding.There's an awful lot of hard work ahead for the Committee, our roof will be our major off field focus for 2019, there's exciting times ahead.

We sadly farewelled two well loved members and we extend our sympathies to the Stuart and Iremonger families for their losses. Life Member, Gentleman Jim Stuart following long illness and the sudden tragic passing of the effervescent David Iremonger. Both men served our club for a significant part of their lives and will be fondly remembered by us all.

Our on field results while not fulfilling our aspirations were encouraging. Both our Premier 1&2 teams were narrowly beaten semi finalists. We have a young squad with abundant talent so with this hard earned experience now behind them we are all entitled to look forward with enthusiasm for 2019. Daniel Hilton-Jones and Sione Mafileo again represented us at North Harbour and they were joined by Jacob Pierce, Sione Teu, and James Fiebig. Players with huge potential, Mosese Pepa and Brad Mc Naughton where in the U19's. We also had Cameron Dalzell, Josh Meyer and Conor O'Toole in the Harbour U85 team. Congratulations to all our representative players.

Sione Mafileo and Jacob were both retained by the Blues. Brad was selected to the wider NZ U20 squad and also received an interim Blues contract and will train with them for ten weeks. Jordan McGregor won the Harbour Cup for the leading Premier points scorer. At home James Fiebig was awarded the Murray Jones Memorial Cup as North Shore Player of the Year and the Pitcairn Rosebowl for our Most Promising Player went to Brad McNaughton. The Premier 2's were awarded the coveted Napier Shield as Team of the Year.

We had 148 registered senior players with 16 coaches and management to assist them. Sadly the numbers steadily decrease each season and attracting volunteers to coach and manage and young people to participate after they finish schooling is a challenge for all sports. The NZRU is consistently exploring how to make our game more appealing to a wider cross section of our youth. The increased interest in Woman's Rugby may be one answer to the dwindling numbers. This has already occurred in our Junior ranks as the boys decline, new enthusiastic girls appear. 25% our 403 players are now girls so our game is evolving rapidly, our numbers overall are improved. Our Junior sub committee continue to efficiently co-ordinate these inspiring children and there are 89 volunteers working hard to ensure that they all have a great time at North Shore. Our Club appreciates their contribution and the Junior commitment to our club's financial viability. Congratulations to Roller Mills representatives Harry Tu'sila, James Ford and Heath Barrett who was awarded Player of the Year.

Our financial results for the current year show a modest but pleasing surplus and a reasonably strong financial position, with no external debt. However financial commitments for basic ongoing costs and capital commitments including the proposed new roofing costs, continue to provide funding challenges. The costs for our club covering power,insurance,cleaning,player levies, administration etc are around $ 150k each year. This doesn't include the exceptional maintenance items and assumes the major costs for playing gear and equipment can continue to be covered from successful grant applications which are becoming increasingly unpredictable.

Player subscription collection has improved, the I00 Club and 1st XV continue to grow and the bar takings show moderate increase. All these provide a valuable contribution towards meeting our basic costs, our financial accounts clearly demonstrate our significant reliance on both sponsorship and fund raising activities, such as the Seagulls Luncheon. Undoubtably our reliance on these external sources will become even more important to us. We enjoy the support of many sponsors large and small. Harcourts Cooper & Co have significantly increased their commitment for the next five years and will feature predominantly as our major sponsor on the front of every players jersey along with the loyal Firth Concrete, whose 35 year support must be one of the most enduring sponsorships in amateur sport. We thank them all.

There are also many others to thank : All who gave their time freely to the benefit of our wonderful family club. To the cheerful gang who set the fields each Saturday and then attend all senior matches home and away, Neville Meek as always, Peter and Kay Svendsen who look after Neville and give the ref free advice, Peter Bridger who's the only person able to operate our flash scoreboard and Jane for supporting him, Claudia Webb for organising the 100 Club for the past ten years, the lovely girls from Harcourts that organise the programme, the folk at Mann Judd who prepared our financial accounts, Premier coaches,Toddy and Simo who are stepping down, Dean Rice who's responsible for our magnificent training facility, Physio Action and all their Physio people, Dr Martin Hadler, all who coached and managed our young footballers both Junior and Senior, the parents who organised the Leavers Trip, the ball kids, our Committee and of course the referees. A few also that were remunerated but have given extra : Secretary, Miles Marcroft a Taka man who saw the light for a few months and was forever changed, his successor, the super efficient Karen Hoshek, Jamie and his team behind the bar and our always relaxed caterer Heath and his pleasant crew.

Of course it's all of us that make this Rugby club " The Pride Of The Union" our players, volunteers, members, supporters and sponsors. Thanks and we'll see you all next season.

Max Webb

PROPOSED 2019 COMMITTEE

Many clubs struggle to attract quality people willing to give up their time to serve on Committees. We don’t share that problem, we have an experienced passionate group who relish a good debate and all wish to continue serving our club. We are also mindful of the importance of introducing new people. Our remunerated Secretary, Karen Hoshek is joining the Committee as a full voting member, her voluntary role will be as Women’s Rugby Co-ordinator. Long-time club member, Peter Burgess is also joining us to broaden our major sponsorship. We are proud that the Committee reflects our membership. We have many well-known family names, great past rugby players and a strong Junior representation with the current Chair, two sub-committee members and two past Chairs.

President: Brad Johnstone

Treasurer: Snow Hardy

Club Captain: Chris Tankard

Asst Club Captain: Grant Simpkins

Union Delegate: Chris Tankard

Junior Chair: Brad Westgate

Women’s Rugby: Karen Hoshek

Members:

Derek Armstrong - Maintenance
Peter Burgess – First XV/New sponsorship
Ross Iremonger – 100 Club
Iain McIntyre – Gear/Jersey Sponsorship
Jo Pettifer – Special Projects/150th
Wayne Shelford – Special Projects/Rugby
Gordon Stuart – Functions Co-ordinator/Boot Camp
Max Webb – Major Sponsors/Grants/150th

Article added: Monday 03 December 2018

Minutes and Chairman's report from the AGM 27th November 2018

The annual AGM was held on Tuesday the 27th of November at 7pm, at the club rooms.

Attendees

Agenda

Latest News