edinburgh | softball


2007 BSF AGM

BSF AGM Looks Forward to a New Era for Softball

A well-attended and constructive British Softball Federation AGM in London on Saturday, February 17, with 79 voting members and a total of over 90 people present, passed a number of Constitutional and other motions that will affect fees, governance and how the sport is played.

But the main theme of the meeting was a proposed change in the roles of both the BSF and BaseballSoftballUK that will mean the BSF keeping and spending its affiliation fee income starting this year and taking back a number of functions that BSUK has carried out or supported on behalf of the BSF over the past seven years.

Meanwhile, BSUK will now concentrate mainly on fulfilling Sport England development targets in return for Whole Sport Plan funding and on delivering high-quality development projects and services to both the Softball and Baseball communities.

The changes involved will be gradual during 2007, and will not be total. BSUK will still carry out some administration and communications functions for the BSF and BBF, this year under a broad agreement and in future under explicit service contracts that will be negotiated on an annual basis. And it will no doubt take much of this year for the new arrangements to bed down. But after the weekend's AGMs (the BBF AGM was held on Sunday, February 18 in Birmingham), there is no doubt that both sports - and BSUK - are entering a new era.

The day was also memorable for the induction ceremony held for the first 12 members of the newly-created BSF Hall of Fame. The AGM was suspended so that the ceremony could take place at 3.00 pm, and five of the inductees were in attendance, including two who had flown from the United States to be there. The enthusiastic reception given to the Hall of Fame inductees by the assembled members, and the professionalism of the ceremony organised by BSUK and carried out by Mike Jennings and Russell Porter, reminded everyone that Softball is now an established sport in Britain with a history that deserves celebration.

There were two morning workshops that preceded the formal AGM:

  • A question-and-answer session on the GB Women's Fastpitch Team programme was chaired by BSF President Tony La Fave, with GB Women's Team General Manager Bob Fromer and Assistant Coach Hayley Scott responding to questions.

  • A session explaining the proposed changes in roles and responsibilities for the BSF and BSUK, and the reasons behind the proposed Incorporation of BSUK, was chaired by BSUK Council Chair Geof Ellingham.
Finally, at the end of the AGM, awards were presented to individuals, clubs and leagues that have served the sport with distinction over time or during 2006 and the achievements of 2006 Nationals winners in all formats and categories, and of GB National and club teams playing abroad in 2006, were honoured. A full list of these awards can be found in a separate article on this website.





Created on 02/21/2007 08:35 AM by liz
Updated on 02/21/2007 08:41 AM by liz 		 Printable Version

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