The Samford Netball Club's constitution is here.
Samford Netball Club recently updated its constitution to keep pace with how the club actually runs today, and to bring us in line with current requirements. Here's a plain-English rundown of what's changed.
Membership types
We've simplified who counts as a member. There are now three types: ordinary, junior, and life. Ordinary members include all adults registered in Netball Connect, including parents registered alongside a junior player. This makes it much clearer who can vote at general meetings and who can stand for the committee.
Discipline and appeals
If a member's registration is suspended or terminated by the committee, any appeal will now go to an independent appeals panel, rather than being decided at a general meeting.
Management committee
- The committee will now have five to seven members (previously fixed at five), giving us more flexibility. President, Secretary and Treasurer remain required roles, plus two to four general members.
- Committee members will serve two-year terms, with roughly half the committee turning over each year, so we always keep some continuity.
- Anyone who's served two consecutive terms (four years) as President, Secretary or Treasurer will need to take a break of at least 12 months before returning to one of those roles. It's a small change aimed at avoiding burnout and making room for new people to step up.
- We've also clarified committee members' legal duties, things like declaring conflicts of interest, acting in good faith, and avoiding insolvent trading, along with new requirements around declaring any payments made to committee members (or their families).
Meetings
Committee and general meetings can now be held using any technology that lets everyone take part in the discussion, think video or phone conferencing. Because members can now "attend" remotely, proxy votes are no longer needed or permitted.
Finance
Our financial year will now end on 30 September instead of 31 August, lining it up better with the netball season.