SECRETARY’S REPORT 2021-2022 (TERRY STEPHEN)
I am pleased to have completed my twelfth season as a member of the HBA Executive Committee, including my seventh season as Secretary.
Whilst the spectre of Covid continued to impact on most aspects of everyday life – minimal disruption was caused to bowls. Afternoon teas and sandwiches were on the way out anyway, and surely it won’t be long before masks and social distancing are behind us.
From an HBA perspective, the season continued as normal. All pennant matches and shield matches were played, all Champ of Champ events were successfully conducted, and all Divisions proceeded to finals as usual. Some disruption occurred in terms of Country Carnival, Country Round Robin, and some regional matches – but for the HBA it was business as usual.
The Association twilight championships have continued to be highly successful, and the finals series again proceeded very smoothly. The inaugural President’s Cup was a huge success, and it is anticipated that the event will go from strength to strength.
It was refreshing to see that after over 70 years of pennant competition the HBA Clubs were able to adopt and embrace a format other than four’s – with ongoing discussion occurring as to how to fine tune the Wednesday multi format competition in the future.
However, the task of being the HBA Secretary continues to be the “poisoned chalice”.
An extraordinary amount of work goes into constructing the Calendar and programming pennants and all HBA events. This then needs to be set up on Bowlslink. The online scoring and administration system adopted by Bowls Australia, and forced upon us, continues to be a source of frustration for both me and club administrators. There is also work involved in setting up and running all shield matches, champ of champ events, finals, and meetings. The secretary is also responsible for publishing all material on the HBA website, including photographs and reports on all events, and sharing that information where appropriate with The Courier.
Needless to say, it is a role which attracts far more criticism than praise.
It had been hoped that the introduction of the position of Assistant Secretary would alleviate some of the workload – but this was not the case.
It is even more disappointing that despite the Executive Committee constantly copping criticism – no one outside of the existing committee has nominated for any positions this coming season, and no one has nominated for the role of Assistant Secretary.
Two issues need to be addressed:
- Clubs need to show greater confidence and respect in the work undertaken by the Executive Committee, rather than continuously criticizing, and trying to micro-manage the committee via amended rules and motions.
- Proper attention needs to be given to a succession plan, if the HBA hopes to retain skilled and experienced Committee members. I am pleased that some discussion has already occurred with a view to formulating a way of delegating some of the tasks in the future.
Terry Stephen