Issue 114 : 25 September 2022

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.


Association To Meet With Minister ...

The Association’s Patron (and Life Member), Andy Leslie, Vice-President John Morrison and Chairman (Gordon Noble-Campbell) will be meeting with the Hon. Dr. David Clark (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs), on Thursday this coming week.



The purpose of the meeting is to highlight the unintended consequences of the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 in respect of community sport and to present the Association’s proposals to use the draft regulations to potentially lessen the impact of the new law. While the Association can't be certain that the meeting will result in the outcomes it seeks, it will at least ensure there is awareness of how the Act will impact the viability of many of our grassroots sport clubs.


Viewpoint: “Value Of Volunteers A Cost Concern For Community Clubs” ...

In 2018, “Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa” (New Zealand's official data agency) estimated there were 139,400 volunteers contributing to the “culture, sport and recreation” sector in New Zealand, who each contributed (on average) a total of 15 unpaid hours monthly.


(The estimated value of a sport club volunteer's hour of unpaid work is over $50)


Using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2021 figures, the estimated value of a volunteer hour of labour is A$46.62, (or NZ$53). We can therefore estimate that the total annual value of voluntary labour in the “culture, sport and recreation sector” (based on the volunteer hours worked in New Zealand in 2018) is around NZ$1.3 billion.

If we assume that most volunteers in the "culture, sport and recreation sector" provide service to entities that are registered as incorporated societies, the value contributed to each entity (estimated to be around 10,500 in total), is $125,000 annually.


(Community clubs face reduced unpaid volunteer hours and increased compliance costs)


The 2021 National Sport Club Survey (NSCS) revealed that the average number of volunteers at sport clubs nationally had fallen by 45%, to 17 (from 31 in 2019). While this sudden and sharp decline in volunteering will no doubt have been influenced by the impact of COVID, it does bring into sharp focus the loss of value to community sport should this statistic prove to be sustained.

A reduction in volunteer “unpaid hours” can only be compensated by “paid hours” (i.e. by employing staff), or by reducing services. If you add in an increased compliance burden (in terms of both time and money) arising from new legislation (and associated regulations), increasing fears of an "extinction-event" for many community sport entities are truly warranted.


Members Only Board Briefing – Monday 7, November ...

All financial members of the Association are invited to an exclusive briefing with the Association’s Board at 6.00pm on Monday, 7 November. The briefing will provide an update on the Association’s activity in each of its three strategic pillars ("amateur advocacy", "thought leadership" and "community engagement") and for the Board to receive feedback from members on areas which can inform the Association’s strategic plan over the coming year.



Members in the Wellington region are invited to attend in person, while ZOOM details will be provided to those unable to attend in person. An invitation will be sent directly to all members.


National Sport Club Survey (NSCS) To Feature At World Rugby Conference ...

Association Board Member, Dr. Michael Naylor together with Dr. Mel Johnston, are representing the National Sport Club Survey (NSCS) as presenters at the fourth Global Conference of the "Global Rugby Leadership Institute", to be held on 9 and 10 November in Auckland.



The Conference is organised by Institute, which is based in the United States. It was founded in June 2021 to promote leadership and educational opportunities for the rugby community around the world. Michael and Mel will be presenting a workshop on “creating female friendly sporting environments”, based on data sourced from the NSCS in recent years.



Now in its fifth year, the NSCS is increasingly becoming an important research pillar in terms of our understanding of the importance of sport clubs in delivering sport to Kiwi communities, with growing international interest in (and recognition of) the survey's insights.


Ashburton And Timaru Seminars Share National Concerns ...

At the invitation of Sport Canterbury, the Association visited Ashburton and Timaru last week as part of its ongoing national seminar series on the Incorporated Societies Act 2022.



Community sportspeople from throughout mid and south Canterbury, (including from Geraldine and Fairlie), made the effort to attend. Many of those present raised practical issues associated with the new law, including the likelihood of "annual affiliation fees" paid from club member subscriptions being classified as "operating payments" for the purposes of determining if a club is a “small society”, for financial reporting purposes.



Concern was also raised at the prospect of audits becoming more commonplace, given the lack of registered auditors in many rural and provincial communities. The Association will carry these concerns (and others raised) to the Minister’s office next week.


Minister Has The Power To Lift Regulatory Burden ...

Tucked away in the 270 sections of the new Incorporated Societies Act is a clause which provides an opportunity for incorporated community sport entities to lobby the responsible Minister, (currently the Hon Dr David Clark) in respect of new audit obligations.



Section 254 (3) (b) allows the Minister to make recommendations to the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) where the Minister considers it is desirable to avoid “unnecessary administrative burdens, and unnecessary compliance costs, for incorporated societies”.



Noting that there are around 23,000 incorporated societies (and that a significant proportion of these are community sport entities), the bar at which the requirement for an audit will be set will have profound consequences for the community, in terms of cost and available resource.

If, for example, a third of existing incorporated societies are required to undertake an audit under the new regulations, who will be available to undertake another 7,000 audits a year? And at what price? You can read more on the new financial reporting requirements, here.


From The Archives ...

FREE LANCE, VOLUME XVII, ISSUE 905, 16 NOVEMBER 1917, PAGE 20

“In last week's "Notes", I made reference to a rink of Thorndon bowlers, playing in the match against the Wellington Club, whose united age's were 302 years. This week I have to record the death of one of the aged quartette, Mr. Everard W. Seaton, the well-known surveyor.

It was an exceedingly sudden call. He was engaged in the inter-club match against Petone, playing on the home green as No. 3 opposite Dr. Ross, when, in walking up the green to change ends after delivering his bowls, he suddenly pitched forward and when they went to his assistance, he was dead. A terribly sudden shock, of course, for his family; but how swift and painless the translation to the Summer Land! It hardly needs to be added that there were no more bowls or croquet on the Thorndon green that day.”


Everard William Seaton was born in 1849, the eldest son of the Reverend Charles Abdiel Seaton, Rector of Colton, Staffordshire, England and his wife Susanna. He emigrated to Dunedin from London in 1875 aboard the “Andrew Reid” (at the age of 25, as a qualified engineer and surveyor), initially settling in Timaru.

In the early 1880’s he moved north to Wellington, where at the turn of the century he established a civil engineering and surveying business, eventually with Hubert Sladden, located on Brandon Street. He married Frances Mary Irwin (from Maryborough, Ireland) on 25 July 1888, with whom he had two sons (Arthur and Jocelyn) and a daughter (Mary). The family lived nearby the Thorndon Bowling Club, in Molesworth Street.


(Everard Seaton, circled, with fellow bowlers, in 1905)


Seaton first became a Director of the Thorndon Bowling Club (established in 1895) in 1900, at a time when the club had over 80 members. By the time he was elected President of the club in 1911, the player numbers had swelled to over 150 and there were 14 rinks on the club’s grounds. In 1913, he unsuccessfully proposed that a green be opened for Sunday play. He continued to act as a Director of the club and as a member of the club's Greens Committee from 1910, to the time of his death seven years later.


(Seaton volunteered at the Thorndon Bowling Club over two decades)


As noted above, playing in the "B Section" of the Wellington inter-club pennant championship against Petone at the Thorndon green, on Saturday, 10 November 1917, Seaton suddenly died, ten minutes after he had enjoyed afternoon tea. He was 68.


The Final Word ...

“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections trienially, but when you volunteer, you vote daily about the kind of community you want to live in.”


© New Zealand Amateur Sport Association Inc. (2669211), 2017

Registered Office, Level 1, 57 Willis Street, Wellington, 6011

P O Box 582, Wellington, 6140


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