2022 CASPA AGM

COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN SCRABBLE PLAYERS' ASSOCIATIONS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - MINUTES

Friday, April 15, 2022 3.00pm

13 Dobell Ave, Paradise Point

MINUTE TAKER: Carol Johnsen

State	No. of Members March 2022	Voting Numbers
Australian Capital Territory	30	1
New South Wales	180	3
Queensland	83	2
South Australia	36	1
Tasmania	18	1
Victoria	136	2
Western Australia	48	1

ATTENDEES:

(In Person) Carol Johnsen (Coordinator), Norma Fisher (Vic); Jane Brown (QLD President), Paul Richards, Martin Waterworth, Sandra Woollard (Qld); Bob Jackman (NSW President), Liz Jackman (NSW); John Hamilton (President, ACT)

(By Zoom) Barry Harridge (Website & Ratings Officer, Vic); Martin Rose (President, Tas)

(Proxies) Nick Ivanovski (President, Vic); Russell Honeybun (A/g President, WA)

APOLOGIES: Richard Birch (ATB Editor), Tony Hunt (Youth Coordinator) NSW; Nick Ivanovski (President, Vic)

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS AGM (attached):

MOTION: THAT THE MINUTES OF THE 2021 CASPA AGM (AS AMENDED) BE ACCEPTED.

Moved: Jane Brown Seconded: Bob Jackman CARRIED.

BUSINESS ARISING OUT OF MINUTES:
1. CASPA Publicity Officer role. The 2 ATB and website advertisements for the role had not attracted any applicants.
2. CASPA Youth Committee. Tony and Tisa Hun continued to promote youth particularly in NSW. However, not much interest from players in being on the committee had been received.

MOTION: THAT TONY AND TISA HUNT BE THANKED FOR THEIR ONGOING WORK WITH PROMOTION OF SCRABBLE FOR YOUTH IN AUSTRALIA.

Moved: Norma Fisher Seconded: Martin Waterworth CARRIED.

1. Across the Board (see Editor's report below)
2. Strategic Plan. Whilst a special CASPA meeting had been held in September 2021, it was unfortunate that more COVID-19 lockdowns after that had not seen much progress. It was hoped that CASPA could now starting promotion, including spending money on state/national advertising of events, e.g. Trans Tasman (November 2022) being held in NSW. Daniel Piechnick had written an excellent article in the March 2022 ATB re attracting new players.

CASPA BOARD NOMINATIONS:

Co-Ordinator: Carol Johnsen

Editor ATB: Richard Birch

Trademark (Mattel) Liaison Officer Carol Johnsen Youth Co-Ordinator: Tony Hunt

Treasurer: John Hamilton

Rules Officer: CASPA Coordinator

Web Coordinator: Barry Harridge

Ratings Officer: Barry Harridge

The meeting agreed that the position of Records Officer be removed from Item 3 as it was not a constitutional requirement.

MOTION: THAT THE NOMINATIONS BE ELECTED UNOPPOSED.

Moved: Paul Richards Seconded: Bob Jackman CARRIED.

OFFICER REPORTS:

Co-Ordinator Carol Johnsen (attached)

There was an increase of 22 members from the States for 2021-22.

The Treasurer reported that only 3 2021 Virtual WESPA Australian representatives had sought the CASPA subsidy.

MOTION: THAT THE CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT BE RECEIVED.

Moved: Norma Fisher Seconded: Martin Waterworth CARRIED.

Editor - Across the Board Richard Birch - (attached)

Bob Jackman reported that Richard Birch was unwilling to continue in the role if he was required to carry out the printing and distribution of physical copies. Richard’s interest was in the artistic side of the publication (which he did very well) and he was also disillusioned with the publication being in black and white. Most States only required the digital copy anyway and the printing can be done at any Officeworks.

MOTION: THAT THE PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF ACROSS THE BOARD WILL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH STATE COMMENCING WITH THE SEPTEMBER 2022 EDITION. THAT THE STATES WILLL PROVIDE FEEDBACK AS TO HOW THIS IS WORKING BY 31 JANUARY 2023.

Moved: Jane Brown Seconded: Martin Rose CARRIED.

Victoria - Dissented.

Nick Ivanovski had submitted that he considered there had been no justification listed in the report to explain the lack of service now being provided in the role.

MOTION: THAT THE EDITOR OF ACROSS THE BOARD'S REPORT BE RECEIVED.

Moved: Norma Fisher Seconded: Martin Waterworth CARRIED.

Victoria - Dissented

Trademark (Mattel) Liaison Officer - Carol Johnsen

WESPA was currently in discussions with Mattel, and it appeared that Scopely Go (Mattel licence-holder) was the avenue through which funding might be accessed, as recently funds had been given to a tournament in USA. This will now be followed through by CASPA Coordinator.

Treasurer - John Hamilton (attached)

John officially took over Treasurership from Rene Chelton in March 2022. He thanked her for her ongoing stewardship until then. There had initially been difficulty in changing over the signatories and, for the present time, Rene remained as a signatory along with John. The balance of the Youth funds was currently $1,803.

MOTION: THAT A BANK ACCOUNT BE OPENED BY CASPA FOR THE SOLE USE OF YOUTH FUNDS. THAT THE TREASURER AND YOUTH COORDINATOR BE COUNTER- SIGNATORIES.

Moved: John Hamilton Seconded: Carol Johnsen CARRIED.

MOTION: THAT THE TREASURER AND COORDINATOR BE COUNTER-SIGNATORIES OF THE CASPA MAIN ACCOUNT.

Moved: Carol Johnsen Seconded: John Hamilton CARRIED.

MOTION: THAT THE TREASURER'S REPORT (AT DECEMBER 2021) BE ACCEPTED.

Moved: John Hamilton Seconded: Martin Waterworth CARRIED. Web Coordinator & Ratings Officer - Barry Harridge

2022 WEBMASTER REPORT

Some pages have been fixed with more up to date data, and improved layout which works on all devices.

I need to be told about changes to state committees to update https://www.scrabble.org.au/about/states.htm Similarly about clubs, where the information on the national website points to pages maintained by the states, except for ACT and Tasmania.

The page https://www.scrabble.org.au/about/index.htm tries to give a quick summary of state committees, state clubs and CASPA. There is a link which is supposed to give information on number of members in each state, but it is out of date.

Some work has been done in trying to simplify the many pages of legacy information.

Daniel Piechnik has offered to move data to his father's server, but I have not yet resolved a simplified structure.

2022 RATINGS OFFICER REPORT

The number of tournaments has increased since COVID restrictions have eased. However long term planning has often been difficult. I have promptly updated the national calendar to ensure that the required two weeks notice has occurred. I have assumed that all tournaments use Australian Draw, but please note that the advertising should state the pairing method being used, and preferably sections.

It is apparent that some states are using very old software. There are old hands who have been using the AUPAIR software for years, but both old and new hands should check out the revised guide

at https://www.scrabble.org.au/resources/software.htm for guidance. Note that it is now recommended that the vDos environment be used rather that the old DosBox, and I have created a setup program which will install all the required pieces.

There are no procedures in place for selecting players for selective events, because I have not been informed of any such events. Recent such procedures have been makeshift because there is not sufficient lead time to do the usual twelve month qualification period.

Most tournament organisers are good at promptly submitting the TOU file for rating, and so interested parties can get a quick summary of a few recent events and a few upcoming events at my newly designed page

at https://www.scrabble.org.au/tournaments/

2022 RECORDS OFFICER REPORT

There is really no designated CASPA office for this It uses data from submitted TOU files in the main, but some achievements can only be received as submissions.

I usually try to do this once a month, or when I receive a submission. I advise tournament directors to display a printed copy of the current records at

https://www.scrabble.org.au/records/index.htm in order to prompt players to submit better achievements.

Barry further advised that the tournament software will be better run on vDos and all instructions will be appearing on the Resources page of the national website. Currently, the website was on Edward Okulicz’ server and cost nothing, however, a move to Daniel Piechnick's father's server would allow for more

powerful operation. There is a new Records category for 1000, 2000, etc. games milestones. John Hamilton said that ACT acknowledged 1200 ratings milestones.

MOTION: THAT THE WEB COORDINATOR, RATINGS & RECORDS OFFICER'S REPORT BE RECEIVED.

Moved: John Hamilton Seconded: Martin Waterworth CARRIED.

Rules Officer - CASPA Coordinator (Carol Johnsen)

Subsequent to a failed clock situation at the recent SA championships, Queensland Rules representative, Arnold Appelhof and the Queensland committee are drafting a rule to cover these situations for forwarding to CASPA Rules Committee. (Probably a simplified version of the current WESPA rule which is rather complex, as usual.)

Youth Coordinator - Tony Hunt (attached)

OTHER BUSINESS:

Word Reference in Future Tournaments

Much discussion had ensued over the months online and it was pointed out that all States, except Victoria, continued to operate tournaments under CSW19 and would continue to do so and that obtaining a WESPA rating did not appear to weigh heavily in their decisions. There also were other countries who continued to refuse to operate under CSW21. Though this could be a moot point when the new word list would be produced in 2024 most likely.

MOTION: THAT, IN AN ATTEMPT TO CREATE UNIFORMITY AND CERTAINTY THROUGHOUT THE COMPETITIVE AUSTRALIAN SCRABBLE ENVIRONMENT, I PROPOSE THAT, WHEN A STATE IS HOSTING ANY AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL COMPETITION UNDER THE AUSPICES OF CASPA, E.G. THE NATIONALS, AMSTC, OR ANY FUTURE CMPETITION OF A SIMILAR NATURE, THE WORD REFERENCE THAT IS USED AT THESE EVENTS IS THE ONE THAT IS CURRENTLY IN USED BY THE MAJORITY OF STATES AT THAT TIME. IF THE SITUATION ARISES THAT THERE ARE AN EQUAL NUMBER OF STATES PLAYING WITH DIFFERENT WORD REFERENCES, THEN THE STATE HOSTING THE EVENT DETERMINES THE WORD REFERENCE TO BE USED.

Moved: Martin Rose Seconded: Jane Brown CARRIED. Victoria - Dissented. ACT - Abstained.

In answer to a question from Martin Rose, Carol Johnsen reported that the Victorian Committee had voted on which word list would be used in Victoria and that the Victorian membership had not been surveyed about it.

CASPA levy

Note: attached submission from Nick Ivanovski.

MOTION: THAT THE QUARTERLY $3 PER MEMBER LEVY IS $0 FOR THE SEPTEMBER 2022 AND DECEMBER 2022 QUARTERS.

Moved: Bob Jackman Seconded: Jane Brown CARRIED. Victoria - Dissented.

MOTION: THAT THE ANNUAL LEVY OF AN AMOUNT TO BE DETERMINED IS INTRODUCED IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2023. THE TREASURER WILL PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION BY 31 JULY 2022 TO ASSIST IN THIS DELIBERATION.

Moved: Bob Jackman Seconded: John Hamilton CARRIED.

Nationals - Resets

MOTION: THAT A WORKING GROUP BE APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE DIFFERENT FORMATS FOR THE EVENT AN REPORT ON THE LIKELY RAMIFICATIONS OF THESE FORMATS FOR ALL PLAYERS.

THAT THE WORKING GROUP COULD CONSIDER ALSO HOW DIFFERENT FORMATS WOULD WORK WHEN THERE ARE A LARGER PROPORTION OF PLAYERS WITH HIGH RATINGS, AND SIMILARLY FOR THE OPPOSITE SCENARIO.

IT MAY BE THAT THE GROUP RECOMMENDS A CHOICE OF FORMATS, DEPENDING ON THE NUMBERS AND RATING DISTRIBUTION OF PLAYERS. THIS WOULD HELP THE HOST STATE DECIDE ON THE BEST FORMAT FOR THAT YEAR.

THE WORKING GROUP SHOULD CONSIST OF PLAYERS WITH EXPERIENCE OF DIFFERENT FORMATS, A GOOD GRASP OF THE MATHEMATICS NEEDED AND A DESIRE TO PRODUCE THE BEST OUTCOME FOR ALL AND WILL REPORT BACK BY 31 JULY 2022.

Moved: Jane Brown Seconded: John Hamilton CARRIED.

Paul Richards, Barry Harridge, John Hamilton, Martin Waterworth expressed interest in being on the Working Group. The Coordinator would open the membership of same to the general membership.

Funding for:

Australian Championship (currently $3000)
Masters /State Challenge (currently $3000)
Trans Tasman Challenge (currently $1000)

MOTION: THAT THE 2022 TRANS TASMAN CHALLENGE BEING HELD IN AUSTRALIA BE ALLOCATED $2000.

Moved: Carol Johnsen Seconded: Bob Jackman CARRIED. Victoria - Dissented.

Western Australia Presidency

Russell Honeybun was acting in the role until the WA AGM in July 2022.

Host States for -

Australian Championships

2023	Victoria
2024	Western Australia (WA will be reviewing their willingness to host this event)
2025	South Australia
2026	Australian Capital Territory
2027	Tasmania
2028	Queensland
2029	New South Wales

Masters/State Team Challenge 2022 Victoria

2023

Trans Tasman

2022 Sydney, Australia

2024 New Zealand

2026 Australia

The meeting agreed that the qualification criteria for the Australian team for Trans Tasman 2022 would be the ratings for 6 months from 1 April 2022. There would be 12 players from each team.

The Trans Tasman is on 5-7 November 2022 preceded by the Seniors tournament on 1-3 November 2022 in Revesby, NSW.

CLOSE: 5.40pm