A.G.M. Summer 2009

A.G.M. August 24th 2009

The meeting started a little late with a very good turn out of players keen to get the league underway. Will Hall (Chairman) started the meeting by congratulating the Pear Tree Club on winning the league yet again without being beaten. As the cheering died down he did add that it showed the strength of the league that the Pear Tree had been knocked out of the Cup KO and it had been won by the Swan and the Red Lion. He then commended all the players in the league for their enthusiasm in completing the long seasons fixtures.

Graham Jellyman (Secretary) continued, that apart from one team, all monies were paid up to date and he apologised for the problems with KO held at the Pear Tree over the shortage of boards and the late start, although, the late start was in part down to myself, (Alan Hartley) as I was bending Grahams ear over the Web-site instead of letting him get on with the draw. He went on to say that lessons had been learnt and the KO held at the Mansfield had gone well. He felt that in future all KO’s should be held on one night at one venue, as in the past players have been drawn to play at different venues and then not turned up which has made a nonsense of the draw with some pubs only getting two or three players turning up. Robbie Scragg questioned if it would be possible to play the Ko’s in one night after the Pear Tree mess up. Graham emphasised that the KO held at the Mansfield had over 100 people in attendance and with more boards it was a very good night for all with no problems. Next he addressed some criticism over playing finals at the Castle. He pointed out that in many leagues secretaries get paid for their work, in some cases hundreds of pounds and he gets nothing for all the wok he does. The floor agreed that it was only fair that his pub should get a little extra custom by hosting finals night to give him a little compensation and thanks for all his efforts. Graham finally said that he was very pleased with the performances being put in by many players and surprised at the achievements by many of the ladies. He quickly tried to rephrase that in light of the fact that several ladies were present!

The leagues officers were then elected with Will Hall, Graham Jellyman and myself (Alan Hartley) being re-elected un-opposed. Geof Taylor sent a message that he wished to stand down due to other commitments and John Gartshore was not present, so two replacement committee members were elected in the form of Robbie Scragg and Neil Hutchings. George Hylton, Paul Williams, Steve Culley and Phil Mason stayed on as existing members. Will pointed out that Graham had done all the Committee work in the past and other members would be asked to do more in the future, especially with regard to the KO’s.

The first item on the Agenda was that there would only be one vote per team in future at any meetings. This was carried by 26 to 8.

The proposal to change to a 7 foot 9 ¼ throw caused much uproar with Graham pointing out that the ladies in Rugeley still throw from 7 foot 6 and that will not change. So that would mean Landlords would have to put two Oches down which would cause all sorts of problems. It was also pointed out that those who were used to throwing at the longer distance in other leagues could simply stand back a little. Ryan Herrington made some comment about the 3 inch difference and Graham said that Ryan should know how important 3 inches can be!!! In order to restore common sense to the room over the vote Will pointed out that it was now one vote per team and the vote was carried to stay at 7 foot 6 inches throwing distance.

A Blind Draw was proposed for both singles and doubles with some nonsense called from the floor about having to get special draw name cards made up. Dave Brown pointed out that a cheap pack of playing cards was the simple answer for those confused. The motion was carried 11 to 5 with the blind draw to include partners being drawn in the doubles.

The list of registered teams in the league was checked and it appeared (Unconfirmed) that there would be 3 more teams than last year.

This brought up the question of splitting the league into two divisions. Some players felt that the season would be too long and with the Bank Holidays it would take it over 12 months. Robbie Scragg asked why there were no matches on Bank Holidays and Graham said that many players had a life outside darts and needed time with their families at holiday times. Robbie made it clear that if players didn’t want to put darts first before everything else they shouldn’t be playing in the league!!!

Graham continued that with two divisions prize money would be considerably less for everyone as not only would it be split equally between two divisions, both having first, second, third places, etc, but with less matches in each season, there would be a lot less match fees from less games as well, reducing the prize fund considerably. This would then mean that fees would have to be increased. Furthermore, the shorter season would mean a long break before the next season and this would lead to teams disbanding and others forgetting to attend the A.G.M. when it finally came round again.

Dave Brown pointed that the league had grown from 7, when Graham had reformed it, to 21 now with the present format of one division, so as players obviously like the league as it is, why change it.

Eventually the vote was taken and it was narrowly decided with 11 votes to keep it as one large league.

The last item was to play the captains Cup first on match nights, because players were usually more interested in the sandwiches, or getting back to their own pubs than watching the Captains game after the match. Some even gave the game away to get their taxis and get back to their own pubs as they weren’t bothered about wining the game even though there is prize money for the captains league. Somebody shouted out that Will Hall always takes it seriously as he wants the money each year!!! Graham emphasised the point that only the Captain and Vice Captain should play in it. The vote was carried with 15 for, to play the captains game first.

The meeting was then concluded with Graham saying that fixtures would be sent out ASAP.