Minutes of the Council of Australian Scrabble Players Associations (CASPA) Annual General Meeting held on Friday 6th April, 2012 at 2pm at The Hellenic Club, Federal Street, Hobart, Tasmania

  1. Present Carol Johnsen, Martin Waterworth , Norma Fisher , Alan Matthews , Glenys Lawrie , Wayne Willis, Mark Smith , Richard Birch , Olga Visser, Jane Taylor All states except ACT represented. Carol Johnsen, Coordinator – Chairperson. Jane Taylor – Minutes Secretary.
  2. Apologies Frances Adams, Katie Rowe, Adam Kretschmer, Russell Honeybun
  3. Previous Minutes “That the minutes of 2011 CASPA AGM be approved” Moved Tasmania, Seconded WA-carried
  4. Business Arising 4a Causeway cancelled 4b Mattel Rep As later reported in 2011 by Carol Johnsen after a face-to-face meeting with Paul Perifanos of Mattel, the sponsor was only interested with being kept up-to-date by email and ATB and having a Victorian representative rather than another State would not be an advantage. 4c ABN The Treasurer had obtained an ABN for CASPA. 4d Australian National Championship format Need to discuss via email in May the format of the 2013 Nationals; 1/2/3 divisions. how many resets, cut off for the Plate NB CC Barry Harridge, Martin Waterworth
  5. Motions via email “That the 10 motions voted upon via email over the last year be officially recorded in the AGM minutes” Moved SA, seconded Victoria, carried.

2011, May CASPA has decided to disband the RAC effective immediately. For future ratings management and to spread the day to day workload and effective immediately :-

Peter Kougi has been appointed to understudy Barry. Michael McKenna has been appointed to understudy Martin and Edward. Karen Richards will have an advisory role on selection criteria. Should CASPA require technical advice concerning ratings in the future, members with expertise in ratings matters and systems will be approached to provide that advice.

2011, May That the 2012 Collins Word List 3rd Edition will come into effect on 1 January 2012.

2011, June That the Criteria for Rating Tournaments reads:

  1. TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAYERS. A tournament or a section in a tournament will have a minimum of six players. If the number of players falls below 6, subsequent games are not rateable, unless in the opinion of the CASPA Ratings Officer extraordinary circumstances caused the number of players to fall below six.

2011, June That the tasks of the Ratings sub-committee are: (1) Keep an accurate list of played and upcoming tournaments and show this on the web site. (2) Process ratings and show this on the web site. (3) Process qualification status and show on web site. (4) Maintain an archive of tournament results & rating history and show on the web site. and for consideration (5) Software for running tournaments, and showing progress of major tournaments on the web site

2011, June That the CASPA Constitution is amended as follows: 3.4 and 5.1 - delete "s" from the end of the word "Championship" 5.1 Insert the word "Scrabble" 6.1 Change "A Ratings Coordinator" to "A Ratings Officer" 2011, July That CASPA – NASPA have in place reciprocal membership benefits for entry to their respective tournaments.

2011, Oct That Special Rule 5 be added to the Australian Masters / State Challenge page on the national website:

  1. In exceptional circumstances the Tournament Director may consult with the competitors and vary the ruling regarding no-shows.

2011, Oct That Russell Honeybun be allotted $50 to explore a revised tournament software. (Please note, this did not proceed).

2012, March That the 2012 Bindoon/Windmill tournament be rated

2012, March That the Youth Tournament held on 6 April 2012 in Hobart be rated.

Further Motion: With regard to reciprocal membership benefits for entry to respective tournaments, that CASPA also needs to investigate extending reciprocal arrangements to the British and New Zealand Scrabble Playing Associations” Moved Martin Waterworth, Seconded: New South Wales -carried

  1. Reports

6a Co-ordinator “That the Co-ordinators report be received with the amendment that it should read Council (not Association)” Moved Martin Waterworth. Seconded Tasmania-carried

6b Treasurer “That the Treasurer’s report be received” Moved WA, seconded Tasmania, carried

“That an amount of $500 per player for World Championship and eligible World Youth representatives be allocated”-withdrawn by proposer and amended to: “That in 2012 each eligible World Youth participant be allocated $500 towards travel costs to Birmingham”, moved WA, seconded Queensland, carried.

“That an additional amount of $1500 be allocated to the budget for the Trans Tasman Challenge”, moved WA, seconded Richard, carried.

The amount of Mattel funding has not yet been received.

Query from Queensland re subsidy amount for Nationals and when it came in-$1500 in 2008. Each state is to be encouraged to seek sponsorship for representative and major events, e.g. State Tourist Authorities, local councils, etc.

6c Newsletter (ATB) Editor A verbal report was given by Richard Birch in the absence of Katie Rowe “That the verbal report be received” Moved Richard Birch, seconded Victoria, carried “That the cost of advertising in Across the Board be increased by 10%”, moved Katie Rowe, seconded Victoria, carried. Richard to investigate getting an ISSN so as to get cheaper postage for ATB “That ATB be printed in an A4 format”-withdrawn after discussion and amended to: “That Richard provides a sample of ATB in A4 format for individual states to provide feedback on and CASPA to vote on”, moved Richard Birch, seconded WA, carried. Need to develop a culture of providing more photos for ATB articles

6d Trade Mark Holder (Mattel) Liaison Officer “That the Mattel Liaison Officer’s report be received”, moved WA, seconded Queensland, carried

6e Ratings Officer/Records “That the reports from the ratings Officer and Records be received, moved Martin, seconded SA, carried “That the records of players who have not played for 5 years and have a rating of less than 600 be archived into a secondary file”, moved Martin, seconded WA, carried. NB Martin removes the names of deceased players if he is informed of their death.

6f Rules Co-ordinator “That the Rules Co-ordinator’s report be received”, moved Wayne, seconded SA, carried. Discussion re proposed rules on cheating which have recently been distributed to state rules reps for comment-decision will be forthcoming. Wayne to write an article for a future edition of Across the Board re the interpretation of rules Wayne will also look at the Tournament Director guidelines after checking wording of rules against WESPA guidelines.

6g Youth Co-ordinator “That the Youth Co-ordinator’s verbal report be received”, moved Queensland, seconded Martin, carried. Olga assists Karen Richards with youth events and she further reported that Queensland is having trouble finding new youth. WA has invested $1300 into a new schools programme and will submit details of it to the website once its success is gauged. “That the position’s title be amended to Youth Team Co-ordinator”, moved Victoria, seconded Queensland, carried.

6h Website Co-ordinator

“That the Website Co-ordinator’s report be received”, moves Martin Waterworth, seconded SA, carried. Carol offered to assist Martin with the archiving of records. Action: NSW to archive their sub-section of the website.

  1. Constitution “ That the CASPA constitution, section 7.1 be amended to read: CASPA decisions are made by votes at the annual general meeting, email, correspondence meetings or telephone meetings”, Moved: WA, seconded Tasmania, carried.

Action: Martin to change website once minutes available and advise Oz Scrabble that he has done so.

  1. Australian Scrabble Championship 2013 Brisbane-Southport RSL, Gold Coast, lunch $10-$15 must be purchased at the venue, 8 games Saturday, 9 games Sunday, 7 games Monday, dinner at the venue, OK for cost of lunch to be included in the entry fee, ensure venue caters for special dietary requirements. 2014 Sydney 2014 Melbourne

“That the number of games per day for the National championships must be determined and advertised at least 6 months before the event”, moved NSW, seconded WA, carried.

  1. Representative Events Australian Masters/State team Challenge, 1st and 2nd September, 2012 Sydney

“That the motion re Australian Masters/ State Team Challenge be hosted in the second week of September be rescinded and the event to be hosted in the first half of September”, moved Victoria, seconded WA, carried.

“That the Australian Masters/State Team Challenge be hosted on a three city rotational basis between Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide”, moved SA, seconded Victoria, carried.

Funding for Australian masters is $3500 in 2012, Hosts: 2013 Melbourne, 2014 Adelaide. Trans Tasman dates 16-18 November to be held at Doncaster Shopping Complex, Victoria. NB not rated in Australia, WESPA rated.

WYSC-Birmingham, 7-9th December, 2012 WSC-2013-no details as yet

  1. Election/ Confirmation of Office Bearers

“That the nominations listed below be declared elected unopposed”, moved Victoria, seconded WA, carried.

Coordinator – Russell Honeybun Treasurer – Katie Rowe Newsletter (ATB) Editor – Richard Birch Trade Mark Holder (Mattel) Liaison Officer - Carol Johnsen Ratings Officer, Records – Martin Waterworth Website Coordinator – Martin Waterworth Rules Coordinator – Wayne Willis

NB: Carol Johnsen withdrew her nomination as Co-ordinator and instead nominated for the position as Trade Mark Holder (Mattel) Liaison Officer. Thanks were expressed to Carol for her work as Co-ordinator over the last year.

  1. General Business

“That the minutes and associated papers and financial statements are archived on the National website”, moved Victoria, seconded WA, carried.

NB: Glenys can provide some of this information if records are unavailable. “CASPA ask the rules committee to draft a clause regarding the use of headphones and electronic devices during tournament play”, moved Victoria, seconded NSW, carried.

Meeting closed at 5pm, next meeting 29th March, 2013, Queensland.