My take on the NSWCA AGM

On the 28th of November a portion of the NSW chess members turned out to
what promised to be an interesting AGM.

Beforehand there was talk of
Jason Lyons and Peter Parr, as well as others taking positions on the NSWCA
council. I think Jason Lyons may have mistakenly assumed after having a chat
with Bill Gletsos (the current President) that bill would not contest the
Presidents position

When I arrived on the day (Late due to catching a
later train than i would have liked) i walked into a largerAgm than the previous
year however when i looked around the roomI noticed that Lyons and Parr was not
there.

I later learnt that when the meeting was called to order Jason
Lyons was not a member and thus was not eligible to run for President. So
because of this Lyons, Parr and whomever was with them decided to up and leave.

Now, I have heard various versions of the event. Apparently Jason's first attempt to Join the Association when the meeting was
called to order. Now, I personally would be lenient and let a person who wishes
to join the NSWCA on the day of the AGM.

HOWEVER, however i would not
let him be President. According to the NSWCA Registrar he has not been a member
since his tenure as registrar has started...... which was back in 1991! Now i
know that Jason Has Arbited a few tournaments and run some excellent tournaments
before I was involved in the chess community, but i really think a person who
wants to be the President of the NSWCA must support the NSWCA beforehand. Even
if it is only with paying the $25 membership fee earlier in the year or perhaps
even more than one year. I mean what are people to think? A person who is
friends with a chess shop owner tries to obtain the presidents job without
supporting the NSWCA in previous years it may make one wonder whether he is just
a puppet for the chess shop owner

Also Peter Parr, the chess shop owner,
was planning on going for the Vice Presidents job. And I can tell you... there
would have been a tough fight for that position if Jason Lyons got in. There was
a reasonable sized contingent at the AGM woul were going to nominate and support
another person in the event that Jase got the Job.

There were two trains
of thought in this matter. There was one arguement that Peter Parr may have had
a conflict of interest being on the executive of the council. Another Argument
was that between Lyons and Parr, they control half of the Executive positions,
and could possibly make decisions that may be beneficial to themselves due to
the executives being able to carry out business between meetings.

Now make a comment on a couple of things:

Quoting BG from chesschat.org (Australia's Chess community forum):

He then went on to discuss the other existing members of Council. He
pointed out
he wasnt interested in having Trent remaining on Council.

Well Jase join the Association. You might discover what i do. I
admit i may not exactly be a publicity whiz but at lease i am paying my
membership and contributing to the association the past few
years.

And from the Closet Grandmaster

I will leave the last word to Jason Lyons: "I'll continue to support ACF
initiatives, the GP if I can help in some way, Olympiad Appeals and the
like,
and Junior Chess. But these blokes have lost me."

Mate, we never had you! You never had a membership. I really hope you will reconsider your stance, Join the NSWCA and perhaps run next year?

Anyhow congratulations to the new members of council Andrew Bird( vice president), Brett Tindall (Tournaments Officer), Laura Moylan (communications officer), Rick Keuning (club liason officer) and Gareth Charles (member without portfolio)

For the first time in years the NSWCA has a full council!