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Time for new blood

striker14

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I see that the AGM has been held and there are some new faces on the board, although to be quite honest I am not sure they bring any new ideas or philosophies.

For all the moaning that goes on around here, you'd think there'd be a little more activism when the AGM comes around.

Was there any action at the AGM? Did anyone go?

I went...but, again, I ducked out a bit early...but not much moaning and groaning done at the AGM...only here, behind a computer screen.
There was a vote taken...not sure what the results were...anyone know?
 

Trundler

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At the MWSL AGM, there was a motion that passed which specified that if the scheduler rescheduled a game with 10 days notice, a team would default if they didn't play it.

If the scheduler provided less than 10 days notice, then the teams could decide whether or not they could each field a team and if not, the scheduler would have to try again.

This motion was raised to address the issue with so many games going unplayed this year due to the weather AND the fact that many teams simply refused to play certain rescheduled games presumably because the time and place "didn't really work for them".
 

akabaggio

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you get the governement you deserve. Been following this for awhile and now the moment of truth and...and....well... nothing. love it. Very entertaining though
 

Trundler

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Hear, hear, akabaggio ...

Where were all the new high energy exec nominees stepping up to fix everything! :rolleyes:

BTW, one additional joke at the MWSL AGM was the standard motion to pass the budget for next season (which passed) ... despite the executive saying they didn't have time yet to create a budget and wouldn't be doing so until May and also that they were overworked and would be hiring a full time administrator to do all the work and so fees would be going up an undetermined amount next year.
 

Fat Bastard

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Several years ago, when I was on the board, we tried to hire a part-time administrator (or executive director). It fell through because of some personal problems amongst the board at the time. I tend to think this is needed, but I wonder what form it will take.

I understand that the President indicated that he will be stepping down from his position after this coming season. Can anyone confirm that?

As for the budget. Folks, that's rubbish. Anyone at that meeting should be ashamed. They absolutely MUST provide a budget as part of their financial statements. Further, those financial statements must be provided to the membership three weeks prior to the AGM. There is no excuse for this. It's been happening all too often in the past ten years. Perhaps someone should bring this to the attention of BC Soccer, who are also supposed to be reviewing the Annual Financials for all senior Leagues and youth Districts.

How can you approve budget that doesn't exist? The AGM should have been stopped right there.
 

Trundler

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I believe that he said that this was his last "term" (whatever that is? 2 yrs? 3 yrs?) as opposed to his last year ...

Although he seemed very sincere, I am also told that he has made this sort of statement more than once in the past ;)
 

coachrich

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FB you hit a lot of the BCSA Consitution & Regs right on the head for senior & youth:) Unless one works w/ BCSA staff its hard to get problem areas addressed as they are very busy & can't cover a lot of the bases that need covering & enforcing in their mandate. Hence alot of things fall through the cracks or don't get done. A large part of it has to do w/ a PSO that is not digital w/ all their members but they are moving in that direction & they do a good job w/ what they have. I'm impressed w/ the changes & the people there.

A general theme I hear on this thread is paid staff. I'm not sold on that as a league of 200 teams is pretty small when you look at girls having 660 teams w/ no paid Board. As I mentioned before, IMO a lot of the issues the MWSL has is how it is organized.

The structure of the MWSL's League to Teams is really ineffective in a lot of ways compared to youth where they have League, District, Club & Teams. More importantly, the MWSL has a couple of pages of Operating Rules on the Internet to run the league. You can't run a league like that w/ no official Leauge Guidebook or Operating Rules in black & white. It's the same as having no Consitution or Policies. Makes it hard for newbies, creates ineffective communicaton, he said she said, puts the league rules in peoples heads rather than out front in black & white for all to see & more importantly no plan of cession. I spent so much time this past season reading Emails from the League & asking them about rules & precedence that could have been in a book. All I can say is that youth leagues are easier.

Scheduling is always tough but to not have the season laid out is a joke. It's fine to have all the league games up front but to have the MWSL Cup games & Provincials not blocked off really ticks off a lot of players. I had several weekends we were told to be ready to play cup but didn't happen so the players loose out on their work & etc as they need a couple of weeks notice. I hate that as that is why the League should exist is to let the players play rather than be up in the air or week to week.

Oophs, I'm ranting so to get some closure here, I really feel the MWSL for me has to get connected w/ their members as they are not. I've experienced it, heard it, read it here on TTP & seen it at meetings. There is a huge gap that needs to be bridged & the only way to do it is for the MWSL BOD to get out of their castle & go out to meet the members or use committees to find out what changes are needed. Sure the members need to belly up to the bar but right now they can't even find the pub as it's always moving.
 

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Fat Bastard

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Having been involved with womens soccer for the past 11 years, and girls soccer the past 4, I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to administration of the sport at the grassroots level.

I just take issue with a couple of things.

(a) Paid staff is a good idea. Clubs are starting to do it, and so are the Leagues. Two reasons for paid staff: (1) accountability - no more of the "I'm only a volunteer" excuse which drives me nuts; (2) professionalism and expertise - assuming of course the hiring process is run properly. Having said that, BC Soccer has taken it to the extreme, with over $1 million in annual salaries paid to staff. I am old enough to remember when that office ran more efficiently with three people. Example: I was told to fax in two Travel Permits two weeks ago for a youth team. I was told they'd be sent right back. Still waiting. In any case, there's no reason the MWSL shouldn't hire an executive director, even part time.

(b) This notion that Youth soccer is efficient is farcical. Sorry Coachrich, but my experience with youth districts/leagues is as bad, if not worse, than the MWSL. The only difference is that the MWSL seems to have some personality conflicts effecting decisions. At the youth level, it appears to be a case of well-meaning people who are overworked or overstretched (by choice or otherwise) - which seems to be thrown out as an excuse for their mistakes. Bottom line, volunteer or not, a job needs to be done right.

There are lots of things that Youth Soccer could learn from the senior side. And we're starting to see some synergy between the mens leagues and the boys leagues/districts. Boys Select will have a reserve or 'CAT'-like system in place this year. About time. And youth soccer is held back by districts. We should be more club-centric. But that is a debate for another time and another thread.

Bottom line. Coachrich is right in that MWSL needs a thorough and complete set of Operating Rules that all teams are given and instructed to understand fully. Those rules are then enforced to the letter, same way for every team. If that enforcement, and general league management, can be handled by a paid professional, so much the better.

But until then, the MWSL will have the same problems, where there's no sense of consistency and structure. But since I'm not going to be stepping up to be on the MWSL board, I think I'll just move on from this point. (Said that before!) I've nothing left to say that hasn't been said.

Would like to wish all of you out there best of luck with your teams, on and off the field. And just keep these MWSL peeps on their toes and accountable. It's your league, not theirs.
 

coachrich

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Some good points FB.

Paid Admini's - I could live w/ provided they could do what is needed w/out the BOD interference. IMO even though you have paid people the vollies are still the ones that paper the League's Rules, Constitution & etc.

Also, w/ paid admini's, paid coaches & etc there are certain requirements one has to be careful w/ reqarding legal, insurance, taxation, WCB & etc.

Biggest downfall of soccer right now is a digital management system that ties everything together, creates league schedules for games & refs, risk mgnt & etc. As a geek, it amazes me how stone age the soccer community is but things are being worked on.

Youth - We will have to disagree here as the youth structure is way more effective. In it's simplest form on how they communicate it's way easier to manage. BCSA/Leagues/Districts/Clubs/Teams. This when if you look at the Girls 5 District it's over 3 times the size of MWSL. They are able to publish their schedule including cup days for the whole season but mind you this season the weather created some fun times on getting some games done.

There might be some problems in the District & Club levels due to politics but that's a fact of soccer at every level. By Youth being organized into Districts & Clubs is a huge advantage vs Senior where the majority of the organizations are teams who you can't communicate w/ or organize. I've found this out in trying to organize Vancouver fields issues & good luck but hats off to Westside as they show up. On the other hand Youth Districts are all on the same page on fields issues & speak w/ one voice.

The only clubs I know of in the MWSL are Club I, Lomas, Westside & the Youth Clubs that are bridging in the MWSL now. Outside of that the MWSL is organized into teams which in most cases are not legal entities.

Operating Rules - I offered to MWSL to help paper the MWSL OR's but no takers. Pretty black & white. Also, there are Competition Instructions that good out for all their Cups w/ additional instructions on how the Cup is run.

You can see how Youth Districts spell things out here in these PDF's. The boys is really impressive -

Girls 5 District - http://www.richmondgirlssoccer.com/...task=doc_download&gid=106&Itemid=51&mode=view

Boys 4 District - http://www.vysa.ca/documents/4dguide.pdf

Good discussions as it leads to solving solutions for better admin which lets us play.
 

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