COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN SCRABBLE PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATIONS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Friday, April 19 – 2.00pm Hellenic Club, Federal Street, North Hobart MINUTES TAKER: Carol Johnsen

ATTENDEES: Queensland – Martin Waterworth, Jane Brown New South Wales – Wayne Willis, Rene Chelton, Tony Hunt, Bob Jackman Victoria – Carol Johnsen, Norma Fisher Tasmania – Martin Rose South Australia – Adam Kretschmer Western Australia – Alan Matthews Australian Capital Territory – John Hamilton APOLOGIES: Graham Bell, Richard Birch

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS AGM: MOTION: THAT THE MINUTES OF THE 2018 CASPA AGM BE ACCEPTED. Moved: Martin Waterworth Seconded: Wayne Willis CARRIED

BUSINESS ARISING OUT OF MINUTES: (a) Rene Chelton advised that Tasmania was the only State which still did not direct debit their quarterly fees. Martin Rose would liaise with the Treasurer re direct debit. (b) The 2018-19 budget was not varied from that presented to the 2018 AGM. (c) CASPA would revisit the following decisions at the 2020 AGM. MOTION: THAT THE REMUNERATION FOR THE RATINGS OFFICER / ARCHIVES / TOURNAMENT CALENDAR ADMINISTRATOR BE $7 PER TOU FILE. MOVED: Bob Jackman SECONDED: Russell Honeybun CARRIED

MOTION: THAT THE REMUNERATION FOR THE RATINGS OFFICER / ARCHIVES / TOURNAMENT CALENDAR ADMINISTRATOR BE PAID MONTHLY OUT OF CASPA FUNDS AND THIS TO COMMENCE FROM 8 APRIL 2018. MOVED: Carol Johnsen SECONDED: Martin Waterworth CARRIED

(d) Rolling criteria for selection Oliver Jenner-O’shea and Adam Kretschmer had not undertaken this project yet.

CASPA BOARD NOMINATIONS: Co-Ordinator: Carol Johnsen Editor ATB: Richard Birth Trademark (Mattel) Liaison OfficerCarol Johnsen Youth Co-Ordinator: Tony Hunt Treasurer: Rene Chelton Rules Officer: Wayne Willis Web Coordinator: Nick Ivanovski, Martin Waterworth Ratings Officer: Martin Waterworth Records Officer: Martin Waterworth MOTION: THAT THE CASPA BOARD NOMINEES BE ELECTED UNOPPOSED AND THAT NICK IVANOVSKI AND MARTIN WATERWORTH JOINTLY UNDERTAKE THE WEB COORDINATOR ROLE FOR THE TIME BEING. Moved: Bob Jackman Seconded: Wayne Willis CARRIED

OFFICER REPORTS: Co-Ordinator – Carol Johnsen - tabled. MOTION: THAT THE CO-ORDINATOR’S REPORT BE RECEIVED. Moved: Tony Hunt Seconded: Rene Chelton CARRIED

Editor - Across the Board – Richard Birch - tabled. MOTION: THAT THE EDITOR OF ACROSS THE BOARD’S REPORT BE RECEIVED. Moved: Bob Jackman Seconded: Jane Brown CARRIED

Trademark (Mattel) Liaison Officer - Carol Johnsen - No report. The meeting suggested that Carol Johnsen contact Mattel to see what resources could be obtained.

Treasurer - Rene Chelton – tabled. Bob Jackman sought the opinion of State on lowering the CASPA State levy as it was, in his opinion, only supposed to cover the expenses of the ATB and insurance. Member states did not consider this was so and were averse to lowering the CASPA State levy. MOTION: THAT THE TREASURER’S REPORT BE RECEIVED. Moved: Wayne Willis Seconded: Alan Matthews CARRIED.

Records Officer, Ratings Officer & Web Coordinator - Martin Waterworth – tabled Martin advised that with more tournaments happening during the weekdays, there was usually not a complete update of the ratings till Thursday. The records pages had not been updated until early March – he would ensure that it is earlier in 2020. Records were archived after 10 years. Returning players would receive a provisional rating determined by previous performance.

So far, it had proved equable.

MOTION: THAT THE RECORDS OFFICER, RATINGS OFFICER & WEB COORDINATOR’S REPORT/S BE RECEIVED. Moved: Tony Hunt Seconded: Jane Brown CARRIED

Youth Officer’s Report – Tony Hunt – tabled

Tony Hunt reported that he was more concentrated on the local community scene in NSW which was encouraging – it did appear to require “inside” help within the schools which he had with the help of his wife. Edie Mueller was standing down as the WA Youth Rep. Tony suggested that a committee could be established to promote Youth Scrabble. MOTION: THAT THE YOUTH COORDINATOR’S REPORT BE RECEIVED. Moved: Rene Chelton Seconded: Bob Jackman CARRIED

Rules Officer – Wayne Willis Wayne Willis advised that the following had been approved by the Committee for inclusion in the Rules. He was advised by Alan Matthews that Jegatheva (Jay) Jegathesan was the WA rules rep. Wayne advised that the following would be added as Etiquette Rule 22: "All players are requested to maintain a reasonable level of personal hygiene to minimise mouth and body odours, and to maintain a clean, undistracting appearance." MOTION: THAT THE RULES OFFICER’S REPORT BE RECEIVED. Moved: John Hamilton Seconded: Martin Rose CARRIED

Discussion ensued on whether CASPA Presidents should vote on any rule or etiquette changes recommended by the Rules Committee before being introduced. Wayne clarified the rule, following a query to him, that it was not the tournament director's role to approach a game, stop the clock and point out an error by one of the players, without being called upon to do so.

OTHER BUSINESS:

(a) National Championship 2019 – Unfortunately, advertising of Plate being 1250 rating cut off (CASPA Policy is 1300) was done and entries were accepted before the mistake was discovered. Thus it was allowed this year.

(b) CSW19 – Commencement date in Australia MOTION: THAT THE COMMENCEMENT DATE FOR CSW19 BE 1 JULY 2019, WITH A REVIEW BY CASPA AT 1 JUNE 2019 TO ESTABLISH THAT EXTENSIVE REFERENCES WERE AVAILABLE BY THAT DATE. Moved: John Hamilton Seconded: Carol Johnsen CARRIED

(c) CASPA & WESPA Events in Australia – Banned Players - email from Qld committee – Jane Brown (2) jb.edits@bigpond.net.au to CASPA

Sorry to be tardy in bringing this up again - personal circumstances. The message I get from the comments below is that a player banned in a certain state is still eligible to play in both WESPA and CASPA run events. So as David More has been banned from playing in Qld tournaments, this applies to him. I understand that as the WESPA World Seniors at the Gold Coast this year is not being run by Qld committee then his entry has been accepted. The organisers (Karen and Paul Richards) are showing their support though by pre-warning him that his behaviour will be watched. Situation accepted by most of Qld committee. Qld committee is not happy though that he should be allowed to play in the Nationals being held in Qld in 2020. Yes, this is a CASPA event, but it will be the members of Qld committee will be organising, hosting and running it. We are the people David has been insulting and maligning, and we are the people who voted to ban him. So we strongly object to having to accept his entry. We would like the choice. MOTION: THAT BANNED PLAYERS BE PROHIBITED FROM PLAYING IN CASPA EVENTS IN THE STATE WHERE THEY ARE BANNED. Moved: Jane Brown Seconded: Martin Rose CARRIED

(d) ASPA ACT has requested CASPA adopt the following. ASPA ACT committee is open to wording being adjusted if it helps get more votes over the line. Lastly, ASPA ACT understands that etiquette is unable to always be enforced. MOTION: TO INCLUDE IN THE CASPA ETIQUETTE DOCUMENT: “ALL PLAYERS ARE EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN A REASONABLE LEVEL OF PERSONAL HYGIENE TO MINIMISE MOUTH AND BODY ODOURS, AND TO MAINTAIN A CLEAN, UNDISTRACTING APPEARANCE. Moved: John Hamilton Seconded:

See under Rules Officer’s Report.

(e) MOTION: “THAT CASPA ADOPT WESPA RULES AND THAT THE STATES RESERVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE REGIONAL VARIATIONS AND TO SPECIFY OMISSIONS.” Moved: Tony Hunt Seconded: DISALLOWED.

It was agreed that John Hamilton and Tony Hunt could work on the comparison of CASPA and WESPA rules for the enlightenment of the Australian tournament players by the end of 2019. It was pointed out that Canada,USA, Singapore and Australia were countries which had not adopted the WESPA rules.

(f) Electronic devices – It appears that the following was not communicated to the Rules Officer. It will be dealt with in the near future. ASPA (Vic) recommended the following to the CASPA Rules Committee: “10.3a (Self-adjudication at External Device) Both players cover or turn face down any tiles on their racks, and proceed to the adjudication computer. The challenger types the word(s) being challenged, the opponent verifies the word(s) and executes the adjudication command. 10.3b (Self-adjudication via Smart Device) The challenger types the word(s) being challenged, the opponent verifies the word(s) and executes the adjudication command. Use of the Smart Device must be agreed to by both players. The device must be used in adjudication mode and may not be used in other modes. This mode must be capable of accepting multiple words to be challenged at a time. While in use, the screen must remain visible to both players.” “10.7 Once the clock has been neutralised (or, without clocks, once the challenge slip has left the table or both players have agreed to self-adjudicate) the challenge may be neither conceded nor retracted.” “12.1 No dictionaries, word lists, personal electronic devices or similar may be consulted or used for word adjudication (except as per Rule 10.3b) during a game in a rated tournament. The official reference for adjudication at tournaments is as approved by CASPA from time to time.”

(g) Host States for – Australian Championships 2020 Queensland 2021 New South Wales 2022 Victoria 2023 Western Australia 2024 South Australia 2025 Australian Capital Territory 2026 Tasmania

Masters/State Team Challenge 2019 Australian Capital Territory 2020 New South Wales 2021 Victoria 2022 South Australia

Trans Tasman 2020 Australian Capital Territory 2022 New Zealand

(h) Alchemist Cup – Selection of representatives in the future – The meeting determined that the same cut-off and period dates would be as for the Master/State Challenge.

CLOSE: The meeting closed at 4.00pm.