Issue 162 : 22 September 2024
Talofa Lava, Kia Orana, Malo E Leilei, Tena Koutou, Hello ...
... and welcome to the latest issue of “For The Love Of The Game”, the official e-zine of the New Zealand Amateur Sport Association Inc., founded in Wellington, New Zealand in 2017.
If you have any feedback on this issue, ideas for future articles, or would like to contact the Editor, please click here. And, you are invited to forward the e-zine to others you know, who may be interested in reading it. An archive of earlier editions of the e-zine can be found here.
For those who follow Twitter, you can also follow the Association, @AmateurSportNZ. If you are interested in applying for membership of the Association, please click here.
The week, we visited the Clovelly Bowling & Recreation Club, in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Founded 77 years ago in 1947, the club is one of 128 lawn bowling clubs in the greater Sydney area. Over the past 25 years, the number of lawn bowls clubs in Sydney has fallen by 40%, but the Clovelly club continues to be an important social hub for the local community. As the club proudly states, "... at the Clovelly Bowling Club the beer is cold, the BBQ works and the members are always close by to lend a helping hand."
Most non-profit community sporting clubs in NSW are incorporated as "Associations" under the "Associations Incorporation Act 2009" (NSW). The Act provides sport clubs with a simple and inexpensive means of becoming a legal entity.
National Sport Club Survey, “En France” ...
New Zealand is only one of three countries globally which undertakes a national survey of sport clubs, (the others being Canada and Germany), underlining the growing importance of the “National Sport Club Survey” in the context of world sport.
(The National Sport Club Survey is one of only three surveys of its kind, globally)
Earlier this month, representatives of the project team presented at the European Association of Sport Management Conference (EASM) in Paris at Université Gustave Eiffel. The theme of the Conference was “Sport Management and Social Inclusion”, coinciding with the Paralympics, which the project team also attended.
(Linden Moore, Mike Naylor and Mel Johnston at the Paralympics in Paris)
Association Life Member Michael Naylor and Association Board Member Mel Johnston presented to a standing-room only audience at the conference on the topic of “Sport Club Practice and Perspectives on Disability Inclusion”, based on insights from the 2023 National Sport Club Survey. Mike and Mel’s presentation looked at how New Zealand’s sport clubs are providing (or not) for those with a disability.
The 2024 National Sport Club survey has now closed, with preliminary results across all survey areas to be advised in the near future through a general Media Release, which will be followed up by workshops in various locations around New Zealand before year end.
Dynasty Sport Survey Winners Confirmed ...
Dynasty Sport’s Paul Latham was on-hand last week on a glorious Wellington morning, to make the 2024 NSCS Prize Draw for $500 of Dynasty Sport sportswear. Congratulations to the “Charteris Bay Yacht Club Inc.” located in Lyttleton harbour on Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula, who were the Prize Draw winner! Our thanks to Dynasty Sport for their ongoing generous support of the National Sport Club Survey.
(Paul Latham from Dynasty Sport, left, makes the 2024 Prize Draw, in Wellington)
Charteris Bay Yacht Club aims to "inspire and empower its members to achieve their full potential in sailing in a welcoming, fun and supportive environment". The club was established 85 years ago in January 1939, by "the weekend residents" of Charteris Bay. The bay (opposite Lyttleton) is known as the "home of the Optimist", as the Optimist sailing dinghy was first sailed in New Zealand, in Charteris Bay.
(Charteris Bay Yacht Club have won the 2024 Dynasty Sport $500 apparel prize)
Four $100 Prezzy-Card vouchers were also awarded to the following sport clubs: the Wellington Competitive Bowlers Association Inc.; the Ashburton Olympic Weightlifting Club; the Merivale-Papanui Rugby Football Club Inc., (Christchurch); and the Ashburton Rowing Club Inc.
Association To Meet With Minister’s Advisers On 26 September ...
Following a further round of active lobbying and with the active support of ACT’s Laura Trask, the Association will be meeting with advisers attached to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Andrew Bayly next week to further discuss options for regulatory reform of the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 to benefit small societies.
(The Association is continuing to lobby for regulatory change with Government)
The meeting has been prompted by preliminary results from the 2024 National Sport Club Survey, which estimate that thousands of incorporated community sport organisations will not re-register under the new Act, with less than half of survey respondents agreeing with the statement that “overall, the legal and compliance framework for incorporated community sport organisations is “fit for purpose”, (i.e., straightforward and easy to comply with)”. Of those who are considering re-registering, only 4% say they know what to do.
Manawatu "Pokie Policy" Under Review ...
The Manawatu District Council is the latest local authority in New Zealand to consult with its local community about its Class 4 gambling (or “pokie”) policy, in accordance with the requirements of sections 83 and 87 of the Local Government Act 2002. The Council reports that the various incorporated societies that operate the 90 gaming machines in the Manawatū District awarded a total of $2,309,760 in grants to a range of community groups, services, charities, and sporting groups in the Manawatu District in 2023.
(90 gaming machines result in $2 million of community grants in Manawatu)
The Council has considered three options in relation to the number of gaming machines that may operate in the Manawatu District: a. retaining the status quo, (retaining the cap of 90 gaming machines); b. increasing the current cap; or c. changing to a “sinking lid” policy (which is an option that has been adopted in other metropolitan areas, including Wellington city).
(Unlike some other New Zealand regions, Manawatu favours the status quo)
The Council favours the first option noting that there is not expected to be any increase in adverse social impacts; gambling venues provide entertainment and contribute to the vibrancy of town centres; and there will be no change to the amount of grant funding available to those charities, community groups and sporting groups that rely on this funding.
You can read the Council’s full report, here.
Viewpoint : “Community Sport Clubs Are Not Companies” ...
And community sport volunteers are not company directors. Yet the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 and the Incorporated Society Regulations 2023 place new obligations on volunteers equivalent to those placed on directors of public companies. For example, under section 47 of the new Act, those who volunteer to undertake statutory governance roles with a local incorporated sports club are required to make a similar declaration concerning their qualification to act in their role, as would be made by the director of a public company.
(Legislation fit for purpose for companies, is not for volunteer organisations)
Last week, the Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs announced moves to encourage more New Zealanders to step forward to undertake governance roles for publicly listed companies by proposing to lift some of the regulatory burden associated with being a company director, noting that “company directors are a crucial part of the puzzle when it comes to growing the economy and creating wealth for New Zealanders.”
(Section 47 of the Act treats sport volunteers as company directors)
Meanwhile, for community sport volunteers, the opposite is happening, with the new Incorporated Societies legislation and regulations acting as a disincentive to many who would otherwise support the governance of their local sport club. The Association notes that “club volunteers are crucial for growing our national physical and social well-being.”
You can read the Association’s full Media Release, here.
Association Meets With Community Networks Aotearoa (CNA) ...
The Association met with Community Networks Aotearoa’s acting CEO Holly Snape and Executive Assistant Patrick Davies in Wellington last week, to discuss the collaboration between the two organisations in terms of essential regulatory reform.
(Patrick Davies, second from left and Holly Snape, second from right)
CNA are about to publish the results of their 2024 State of the Sector Report, which provides invaluable insights into New Zealand’s community and voluntary sector. The report is highly anticipated by several Government ministries and organisations, and preliminary results indicate a strong alignment with themes which are emerging from the 2024 National Sport Club Survey.
(The State of the Sector survey mirrors findings from the NSCS)
From The Archives ...
EMPIRE BILLIARDS
Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 15
NEW ZEALAND SELECTIONS
“Matters in connection with New Zealand representation in the Empire amateur billiards championship, to be held in Australia, commencing on June 6, were discussed at. a meeting of the New Zealand Billiards Council in Wellington this week.
It was decided that New Zealand should have two representatives in the contest, in which England, South Africa, and the Australian States would also be represented, S. Moses (Wellington) New Zealand champion in 1936-37 and Wellington champion in 1937, and A. Albertson (Christchurch), New Zealand champion in 1935.”
Samuel Leon (“Sam”) Moses was born on 11 November 1910, the eldest child of Jacob (known as” Jack”) Maurice and Phoebe (nee Barnett) Moses, who married at Finsbury Park Synagogue, London, in 1908. He had a younger sister Yetta and younger brother Jacob. The Moses family lived at 169 Hansen Street, in Newtown, Wellington.
Jack Moses was the proprietor of the “Ideal” Billiard Parlour at 148 Riddiford Street, Newtown which opened its doors in January 1923. In that era, access to billiard rooms was restricted to those aged 18 years of over, however Jack allowed youth to play the tables "after hours", (and was prosecuted for doing so in 1926).
(Sam Moses, left, Wellington Provincial Billiards Champion in 1940)
Sam learned billiards "at his father’s elbow". On leaving Newtown school, he studied electricity at the Wellington Technical College before being employed by the Post and Telegraph Department, where he joined “the Pastimes Club” under whose banner he “took cue to felt” competitively. Having first entered Wellington’s inter-club provincial amateur billiard championship in 1930, he entered the New Zealand amateur billiards championship in 1931 and the following year won the Wellington amateur title.
Sam gained his first Zealand championship in 1936, and in 1938 he was selected (as New Zealand amateur champion in both billiards and snooker) to represent New Zealand in the British Empire amateur billiards championship in Melbourne, where he finished fifth overall.
(Sam Moses, in 1932, as a finalist in the Wellington Billiards Championship)
He won the Wellington provincial amateur billiards championship a further three times in 1937, 1939 and in 1940, when he again won the New Zealand championship. Sam continued to play competitively into the 1950s.
Sam married Molly Thompson in 1935 with whom he raised one son, Leon John, and the family lived at 19 Argentine Avenue, in Miramar. During World War 2, Sam served in the Army Postal Service (T Force) in Tonga. On his return from the war, he separated from Molly (in 1946). Continuing his career in the postal service, Sam moved to Hawkes Bay (Hastings) where he died on 24 April 1983, at the age of 72.
As Robert Byrne (a member of the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame), once said about billiards, "a game is great, in my view, only if it can be played happily by a sane person of at least average intelligence for several hours a day for fifty years." A sentiment following a lifetime of devotion to the game that Sam Moses may well have endorsed.
The Final Word …
"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."
(Bill Bradley, 1964 Olympic basketball gold medallist)