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Sunday, November 05, 2006

Trying to make our game better

This is a permanent record of a MPC Blog posting

From time to time we hear people say (in relation to this Wiki and the Masterton Blog page). "we must get rid of negative views and vindictive attitudes". This is great as long as people who are trying to make our game better by speaking out are not seen as negative or vindictive. Please remember that the person trying to expose a crime or injustice is doing this for the good of society. It would be quite absurd to brand this person as someone who brings up negative and vindictive stuff.

From time to time we hear people say that it is not a good thing to use our Wiki or MPC Blog to discuss issues in public (the Web). People who think this way, often say that it will do damage if we display our "dirty washing" for the world to see.

As I see it we can look at this in two ways: We can say that anything that is not "positive" or "constructive" should be kept out of the public arena. Or we can say that free speech and open debate is a positive thing and should be celebrated and encouraged. I firmly believe that visitors arriving on our Wiki or MPC Blog from outside New Zealand will say; "hey, these people have open debate, what a great thing". I am also convinced that if we had all spoken out against the Dawn Gardner incident, it would never have festered on for an unbelievable 15 months. It would also have saved precious club finances.

Speaking out against a wrong or injustice is a positive thing to do. You can see a good example on this PAGE or this PAGE or this PAGE. or this PAGE or this PAGE or this PAGE.

I have said this in the past and I will say it again: If I see a "wrong" I will speak out, I will not turn my head away and say; oh that is none of my business. I hope you do the same.

Some people say that as editor of the MPC Blog and NZ Petanque Wiki I should not make editorial comment (I should be neutral). Any person who has ever seen a newspaper or magazine will know that editorial comment is standard practice in the print media. Some editorial comment in papers such as the Wellington Dominion is sometimes fiercely critical and political - not "neutral" at all!. Editorial comment under "Letters to the editor" is also common. Apart from all this, I am also a Petanque player and entitled to my view.

The fast majority of Petanque players have no problem with my editorial comment / personal views - many emails testify to this. -Tom.

posted by Tom van Bodegraven @ 8:03 PM 1 comments

1 Comment:

At 3:47 PM, Anonymous said...

I listened to a conversation recently where a discussion took place concerning a player representing a club in both an interclub and a regional competition when that player did not meet the criteria for playing in the said competitions. (No it was not Footie and the game did not involve England.)

Now this situation - should it have arisen - could only have occurred with the knowledge and agreement (implicit, tacit or overt) of the committees of both the club and the regional organisation concerned. If a person accepts a position on an executive body they also accept the obligations and responsibilities of that position. These surely include both abiding by the rules and ensuring that the rules are kept by all members and/or groups of members. The "chairperson" also has to accept vicarious responsibility for her/his organisation's actions.

In addition, if rules have been breached, it is the responsibility of the executive body to have the practice stopped forthwith and the offender/s suitably penalised.

If the rules do not allow for the imposition of a penalty the "rule" should not be there as it has "no teeth".

The conversation went on to discuss whether the alleged breaches should be brought to the attention of the "Ruling Body of the Code". It was thought that if this was done, the individual or group of individuals who did it would/could be considered as being "pinpricking" or even "vindictive" especially as they had not been directly affected by the breaches. Hello!

History is littered with "head-in-the-sand" "it-doesn't-concern-me" attitudes and I know of no good that has come from any of them. I wonder if any good has ever come from tacitly supporting wrongdoing? If a person/group of persons belonging to an organisation does not report when rules may be/are being broken, does this mean that they have no respect for the administrative body or is there a more deeply rooted reason?

Any reader of this missive who is a member of an executive body and feels that they cannot fulfil their obligations or duties, the answer is simple; RESIGN. -John Clark.

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