Issue 118 : 20 November 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.
We apologise for the delay in the delivery of this edition of "For the Love of the Game", owing to internet connectivity issues beyond our control.
2022 NSCS Workshops Kick-Off In West Auckland ...
The first in the Association’s series of six regional workshops focusing on insights from the 2022 National Sport Club Survey kicked-off in West Auckland last Thursday, with Association member “Sport Waitakere” hosting around 20 local sportspeople at the Te Pai Centre in Henderson.
Among the insights provided concerning sport club activity in the region, were that West Auckland clubs were more financially healthy than the national average, although average club membership size was smaller than the average of clubs nationally, with fewer clubs in the area reporting that their membership was increasing relative to other Auckland regions.
(AUT’s Katharine Hoskyn was among the presenters at the Sport Waitakere workshop)
As noted below in this newsletter, it’s not to late to book your place to attend one of the other regional workshops scheduled next week in Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Wellington and Manawatu. Please scroll further down this newsletter for the details of the dates, times and locations of these free-of-charge, informative and popular events.
Submission On ISA 2022 Regulations To Be Made This Week ...
Over the past two weeks, the Association’s submission on the proposed regulations for the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 has been finalised, with the submission to be filed with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on Tuesday next week.
(A 4,500 word submission is being sent in response to MBIE’s consultation document)
As part of preparing its submission, the Association has received external legal advice from Succeed Legal in Wellington and has also offered Association members an opportunity to provide feedback on the Association’s responses to the 27 questions raised by Ministry officials in their 21,525 word consultation document.
Reflecting wider concerns that the new Act and the regulations impose further burdens on overworked and under-resourced incorporated community sport organisations (ICSOs), in the past week the Association received a message from a regional sport organisation that had recently been dissolved by the Registrar for failure to file financial statements. The organisation was alarmed that no contact had been received from the Registrar and that very little effort had been made by the Companies Office to determine if the organisation was still operating.
(How “notices” are sent and received to ICSOs forms part of the Association’s submission)
As the President of the dissolved organisation noted, “there is almost nothing in the Act about what steps the Registrar needs to take to be satisfied that operations have ceased, as it seems they didn’t even get confirmation from the IRD if we were filing returns, which we were, or a check of our website for events, or our social media.” These comments (and others from ICSOs nationally) are incorporated in the Association’s submission.
If you would like to receive a copy of the Association's lodged submission, please click here.
Whanganui Amateur Sport Victim Of Spike In Crime ...
Reflecting recent media reports that property crimes, thefts and burglaries are increasing across the country (after a decrease during the pandemic), the Dr Alec Priest Memorial Pavilion at Victoria Park in Whanganui was recently the target of a cynical break-in and robbery of gear used to support the amateur cricket game in the region.
According to Cricket Whanganui, a grinder was used to break in to the green keepers shed. The thieves stole mowers, grass seed, the green keeper’s tools that belonged to the grounds man (who passed away earlier this year), chemicals, sprinklers and other assorted other bits and pieces necessary to maintain the park for the benefit of the community.
(All that remains of the greenkeepers shed following a brazen and cynical theft)
You can read more on the break-in and theft, in the Whanganui Chronicle, here.
National Sport Club Survey Team Presents At Global Rugby Conference ...
On 9 November, four members of the NSCS Project Team, (Mel Johnston, Michael Naylor, Linden Moore and Hannah Cartman), made a presentation at “The Business & Development Of Women's Rugby Conference” in Auckland. The presentation was part of the fourth conference of the Global Rugby Leadership Institute during the recent Women's World Cup finals week.
(Mel Johnston, Michael Naylor, Linden Moore and Hannah Cartman)
An international audience of those working with women and girls in rugby heard about National Sport Club Survey insights on “Female Friendly Environments”. The key message was that although rugby clubs are doing better in considering the needs or women and girls in and around club facilities, there is more work to be done.
Upcoming National Sport Club Survey Workshops ...
A reminder that upcoming workshops are scheduled as follows.
Tuesday, 22 November
Auckland North Shore, hosted by "Harbour Sport" at Albany Sports House, (7.00am)
Wednesday, 23 November
Napier, hosted by "Sport Hawkes Bay" at Old Boys Marist Rugby Club, (7.00am)
Wellington Central, hosted by "Nuku Ora" (Sport Wellington) at 223 Thorndon Quay, (5.30pm)
Thursday, 24 November
Hutt Valley, hosted by "Nuku Ora" (Sport Wellington) at Fraser Park Sportsville, (7.30am)
Palmerston North, hosted by "Sport Manawatu" at Squash Gym, (12.30pm)
If any of these workshops are close to you, you are warmly invited to attend. To register your attendance, please e-Mail support@asa.org.nz, as soon as possible.
Viewpoint: "The Risks Of Corporate Regulatory Values On Not-For-Profits" ...
In a 2022 report from the UNSW (University of New South Wales) Law Journal on "Regulating Volunteer Directors’ Duties", the report’s authors noted that, “not-for-profit organisations and charities engage in almost all aspects of society and form an integral part of Australian society. A 2016 report aptly described the sector as the ‘glue which holds much of Australian society together and allows it to function and prosper’.”
(UNSW scholars warn of unintended consequences of corporate regulatory values)
The report, “cautions against regulatory changes that impose unrealistic compliance obligations and complexity that could do significant long-term damage to the sector.”
One of the more contentious elements of the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (and the Act’s associated regulations) is the additional burden placed on volunteer officers of an incorporated community sport organisation (ICSO), through increased duties based on those of directors of public companies. There is a real risk that those duties (and the penalties and social opprobrium for non-compliance with those duties), will act as a deterrent to volunteers from stepping-forward to take on these necessary governance roles.
(For many sport volunteers, the labyrinth of new rules will act as a deterrent)
As the report notes, “corporate regulatory values should be imposed with caution on charitable companies and with due regard for their unique characteristics. Imposing unrealistic compliance and complexity that is beyond charity capabilities, while also depleting the leadership pool and stifling regulatory development, could do significant long-term damage to the sector. Given the importance of the charity sector in Australian communities, Australian society will also suffer. Changes to the regulatory structure should, therefore, be approached with circumspection.”
The Association hopes that MBIE takes on board its suggestions on how to mitigate this risk for the benefit of community sport. You can read the full UNSW paper here.
From The Archives ...
OTAGO'S TRIUMPH
TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
OTAGO DAILY TIMES, ISSUE 23892, 21 AUGUST 1939, PAGE 2
“Otago enthusiasts were optimistic that the men’s title would go to Dunedin; but it was something of a surprise when Miss M. Fogarty (Otago) won her way to the final of the Women’s Singles, in which she beat an attractive player in Mrs M. G. Valk (Wellington).
Miss Fogarty won her two earlier games in straight sets, but she dropped the first set against Mrs Valk, 14 - 21. Mrs Valk drove brilliantly, but she made too many mistakes, and the Otago player improved as the match progressed. Showing great steadiness and accurate placing. Miss Fogarty went on to win the next two sets 21 - 11, 21 - 16.”
Elizabeth Margaret (known as Margaret) Fogarty was born in 1916, the daughter of Thomas Christopher (a Dunedin painter and builder) and Mary Fogarty (nee Sheerin). She had three brothers and four sisters. The family lived at 79 Oxford Street, in south Dunedin.
Margaret attended St. Patrick’s Convent School on Macandrew Road in Dunedin, where in 1929 she received a gold medal for “good conduct”. Table Tennis developed momentum in the Otago region in the early 1930’s, with Margaret (and her older sister Doreen and younger brother William) joining the club associated with the St. Patrick’s community which was formed in 1933.
(Margaret Fogarty, circled, at the 1939 South Island Table Tennis Championships)
In 1934 she won the Otago Ladies’ Championship Singles (the second regional championship to be held). In 1936 she won the regional doubles championship with Doreen and she became a regional representative. In 1939, she was the South Island women’s double champion and (as noted above) she went on to become the New Zealand Ladies Champion. In the late 1940’s Margaret became a member of the executive of the South Otago Table Tennis Association.
(Margaret Fogarty, circled, 1940 New Zealand Ladies Champion)
Margaret married Norman Jerard O’Leary from Riverton on 15 June 1940. Norman worked on the railways and the couple moved initially to Oamaru, then to Clyde Street in Balclutha in the mid-1940’s, where they had a daughter (Sharon Rose Mary), born in 1946.
In Oamaru, Maragret joined the Celtic Table Tennis Club, and in 1940 she won the North Otago championship women’s singles, the mixed doubles (with William), and the women’s doubles (with Doreen), a title which they also won the following year.
Margaret and Norman eventually moved to Main Street, Foxton, in the Horowhenua, where she died on 21 September 1972 at the age of 56.
The Final Word ...
“It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”
(Lionel Messi, Argentina Captain, 2022 Football World Cup)