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Interesting communication from the Rockingham Club today.
Greeting All,
First up as the clubs secretary I wish to apologise to any members that I have upset in the release of the AGM details. I should have included within the letter the reason why the AGM is being brought forward away from the traditional times in October and I had believed the letter had been released in early August when in a committee meeting it was first discussed to bring it forward. Having the club secretary at sea for the last three months is not a excuse but it does not help (I also admit I am not the best Secretary).
I hope now to make the reasons why it is being brought forward clearer to all of you.
I am sure you are all aware of the challenges faced by the senior grades this year, in the decision by RugbyWA and the community board to force a split in the grade teams for Rockingham into two differing divisions on the basis that Rockingham was not meeting its requirement to remain in Premier Grade.
The current committee argued hard on the basis that club had improved in so many areas financially, its juniors and its on field senior team performance that RugbyWA needed to be supportive not destructive to our endeavours. Unfortunately we were not given that opportunity and noting the hard work, personal time and their own financial contributions committee members had put in they have taken the lack of support from RugbyWA as a personal insult.
I personally admire the stance that many of the members of the committee are taking in the disrespect that was shown to the club by no longer wishing to continue their association with RugbyWA and hence no longer being capable of being a committee member. They have however agreed to not walk out of the club until the final siren is called on a Rocky playing team for 2013, which is this weekend when three of our junior sides play off in 4 of the Gold finals.
The end result is without several members of the committee no longer wishing to serve after Saturday and with myself having to return to sea again shortly, there will be no one effectively in charge. Hence this AGM was brought forward to elect a new committee and hopefully gain the necessary momentum required for 2014.
Notwithstanding the treatment of Rockingham by RugbyWA, the club itself did achieve so much this year, and I personally believe with the right support from everyone we can continue building on 2013 outcomes.
We do know that RugbyWA has a draft formatted change to the competition for seniors that includes Rockingham in Premiership, and a change for all clubs in the lower grades. The decisions required for Rockingham need to start being made now and we need to be at the table with RugbyWA and currently we are not. We have had groups outside of the committee working on the issues for the club next year and for that plan to be put in place it needs a committee to give it the scrutiny and authority to be implemented. It is also important for the retention of players and coaches that we provide some confidence that we have a strong administration as early as possible.
I do ask that we don’t take a negative approach to this. It’s a challenge that does not need to be made harder if we turn on ourselves. Please come down and support our junior teams in their Grand Finals on Saturday (Curtin Uni commencing 0900 with the mighty U13s), and come down and AGM next Saturday.
Yours in Rugby
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