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PetFedAust

Page history last edited by Tom van Bodegraven 15 years, 1 month ago

16/10/2008

PETANQUE FEDERATION AUSTRALIA right of reply

 

PETANQUE FEDERATION AUSTRALIA ACN No. 099 110 460 ABN No. 76 099 110 460 PO Box 2258 Richmond South 3221 Vic Australia www.petanqueaustralia.com Petanque Federation Australia Melbourne 15 October 2008,

 

Dear Tom (Ed) Under the right of reply I have read with interest correspondence sent to your site by WHRPC.

 

I have with the other Board Directors chosen to not answer any media and give interviews on the matter. No public statements were released by PFA Board during all of the negotiating period to avoid worsening the situation.

 

An Agreement has been reached by both parties, and WHRPC member Mr Chinka Steel chose to have a personal media release when the agreement indicated clearly that a joint release should be made!

 

I will only make the following comments:

 

The actual agreement is the same as that put forward to the President & Committee of WHRPC with the exception of one condition. I have read in the local media the claim by Mr Chinka Steel that the amount of money spent by WHRPC ($15000) before the engagement of a barrister.

 

We have held discussions with 2 appointed WHRPC Committee Members of the club and mapped out an agreement believing that they had authority to negotiate, only to later find out that they had to report to Mr Chinka Steel. Same with phone discussions held with the WHRPC President Mr Ken Helmore. PFA Board met with a Club representative and WHRPC barrister, our Secretary and their Barrister drafted an agreement which as always was rejected.

 

Of the 50 clubs in Australia it is quite indicative that we have a problem with one club only! It must be pointed out that a member of this Club was a member of the PA Board in 2006. The Board did resign to avoid facing a motion of no confidence from (90 to 95%) of Clubs in Australia. The same member attempt to be elected to the Executive Committee of Petanque Victoria; however he was rejected by the Victorian Clubs.

 

The same member was appointed as Petanque Victoria Administrator; however, his appointment was terminated by the majority of Clubs in Victoria.

 

So to state that PFA has acted because of its “dislike of a member” is far from being correct, a large majority of Clubs and their Members don’t have a lot of time for the person, and it has sadly now reflected on the Club itself.

 

PFA action was not against a Member but against the club WHRPC for its inability to control one of its members. The correspondence addressed to you on the 25 September 2008 is a clear evidence of a Member acting on his own accord without his Club’s knowledge.

 

The constant self praise for the activity and contribution of this Club to the game of Petanque in Australia is laughable: - An Umpires course with a large grant of $5000 did not produce even one single umpire and no leads to work with. As the acting PV State Umpire, I have requested the course results and the names of participants. Has a report been circulated??? - On behalf of Petanque Victoria, I did run a course which produced 9 qualified umpires for a very low cost. - WHRPC’s preferred option is to communicate with overseas officials and use it to create unnecessary tensions with our qualified International Umpire and National Director of Umpiring as per the Easter 2006 National Australian Championships held at Woodend Hanging Rock Petanque Club. - A Club trying to dictate the way Petanque is played and administered with a Membership that we hardly ever see play in Tournaments across the State of Victoria. - Players who do not enter State Championships and thus do not qualify for selection in State teams or National teams.

 

As one of the comments on your website “Hope that it doesn’t happen In NZ” I hope so for you, but it will happen if you have a similar type of Member (Club) or player intending to argue and discuss everything and anything and set about wrecking the whole organisation.

 

PFA will embark on a review of all of its Constitution, By-laws and Policies at a large cost because of one Club.

 

The Board Members and numerous Club Committee Members are tired and would prefer to deal with positive and interesting Petanque matters, some Clubs have indicated that they would prefer to get out and create another organisation than to have to deal with WHRPC’s constant type of behaviour.

 

Committed Club Members and Board Members are and will walk away from the game as they have better things to do in their life than to face this situation.

 

We as Board Members are all volunteers and have jobs and family and don’t intend to be verbally abused and defamed. Apologies are cheap, and I for one don’t accept them coming from this type of individual, question of education maybe!

 

In conclusion, I believe that you should review your publishing policy and not get involved in other Federation’s affairs. I have noticed on your site that there is a complaint from a Club or member about your Federation. You won’t find it on our website and we won’t comment out of respect for the elected PNZ officials and members. Happy to supply you with “Happy stories” from the land of OZ.

 

Yours in petanque, Andre Deramond.

André Deramond President Petanque Federation Australia.

 


 

Comments: 1

17/10/08

At 7:08 AM, NZPC Editor (Tom) said...

This Blog[1] has a long history of publishing national and international petanque news. This includes the funny, the good and the not so good. 



 

By simply making a link to a petanque related article in the Melbourne Age newspaper and publishing other contributions related to this article, this Blog is not getting “involved in other Federation’s affairs”. Neither should this be seen as a sign of disrespect to any one party.



 

This Blog will continue to provide a forum for open debate, and as editor I will not refuse or sanitize content. -Tom.

 

PS. This is interesting: "You won’t find it on our website ...." Could this be because there is no news on your "Newsletter" page, and the news on your "News" page is over 16 months old?


See also State of Petanque in Australia.

 

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Footnotes

  1. This item first appeared on our NZPC Blog and was later permanently moved to this Wiki.

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