Clubhouse clear out - Next Wednesday (4th May)

Clubhouse shelving clear out:
Please be aware we have our monthly clear out of shelves/coat-hooks etc, on Wed 4th May - so please ensure any personal kit you have in the clubhouse is removed by then otherwise it will be disposed of. 

The clubhouse will be open for the following times:

Wed 27th April - From 7pm for as long as demand remains (latest 11pm)
Sat 30th April - From 6pm for as long as demand remains (latest 11pm)
Wed 4th May - From 7pm for as long as demand remains (latest 11pm)
  
We have a regular clear out on the first Wednesday of each month (as notified on the posters around the clubhouse). 

This is a long-standing policy we have had in place and is especially important whilst we deep clean the club over the summer. We have limited storage space and priority must be given to club equipment.

BIERFEST! (after the england v rest of the world match) 7th of May

Just so you don't get confused (I know you are sometimes) here is a separate event post for BIERFEST!

it will be commencing directly after the England v ROW game on the 7th of May. there will be Bier and all the event niceties of a real millwall/bavarian beer festival in May.

it should be sunny so dig out your dirndl/lederhosen/shorts with braces/string vest with head-flannel, socks and sandals/board shorts and thongs/ for the biggest east london pre-summer beer themed party in the millwall park area.

Fun is almost guaranteed with our no fun = more schnorkel policy. So why wait? Make sure you get down and bask in the culture laden festival of fun that is the MIllwall Rugby Club Bierfest.

As usual the place to be will be:

Hide Map Millwall Rugby Club 75 Manchester Road, E14 3DN London, United Kingdom

and all set to kick off on the 7 May at 18:00hrs

Touch rugby roles - your views?

Hello all,

We posted recently about the idea of creating touch rugby positions on the management and playing committees.

Whether or not we actually have volunteers this year to fill them is not necessarily relevant, because we will find a way of managing by other committee members and helpers stepping in. But this is about making sure we have the right "ideal" structure for managing touch rugby at the club going forward.

But I am interested to know in advance of the AGM whether or not you think it's a good idea to create formal committee roles for touch or not.... Please drop me an email or speak to Matt or Nigel about it if you prefer, as there is no point trying to change things if this is not a popular idea.

Andrew
Communications Officer, Touch Rugby Ambassador (...& long term club member!)
andrew@millwallrugby.com

Summer Touch Rugby starts 25th April

It's nearly the end of the season and normal training sessions will stop on Wednesday 20th April.

During the summer months we play Touch Rugby on Millwall Park at the same time, in the same place.   We suggest you arrive anytime from 7pm for a 7.30pm start and we will play until there's no daylight left, finishing usually between 8.30pm and 9pm.

Afterwards, we'll always either go to our clubhouse for a drink or may go to one of the local pubs instead.

To help you plan your summer evenings, we've decided to let you know in advance that club touch rugby will run on:

• Sundays 12.30pm-2.30pm as usual
• Mondays 7pm for 7.30pm start until dark
• Wednesdays 7pm for 7.30pm start until dark

(This summer we are not currently planning on entering any club teams in the In2Touch leagues)

We're still looking for a new coordinator.... read more here.

Interim Touch Rugby Coordinator and new positions of Touch Rugby Chair and Touch Team Manager

It was great to see so many people down at Touch last Sunday; we managed to get two full-games going alongside each other.


Here are a few updates:

1. Nigel Webb Stepping Down

After 2+ years Nigel Webb (Flex) has decided he wants to step down from the O2Touch coordinator role to take a break.  We're very grateful for all Nigel has done to develop and grow O2Touch, including entering (and organising) our first few inter-club tournaments during the year.  I'm sure Nigel will still continue to help out with running the occasional session alongside Darryl, Mike and Scott.

2. URGENT - New Interim Touch Rugby Coordinator Needed ASAP

So this means that we need to find a new Touch Rugby Coordinator to step in right away and get things going for the summer season.  The most important things you need to do in this role are:

• Organise a rota to make sure someone runs every session
• Announce when sessions are and are not taking place
• Be a point of liaison for the club with the RFU O2 Touch team, which provides some sponsorship to the club

Even if you are very new to the club, please still get in touch if you can help with this. It's a great way to get involved and get to know people.

3. Possible new elected touch rugby positions

We are exploring the idea of adding the role of "Touch Chair" as an elected management committee role to sit equally alongside Men's, Ladies' & Youth Chair.  This would recognise the way that touch has grown at Millwall over the past 10 years to the point that it now happens all year round and we are now starting to enter club competitions. Additionally, it is now a key recruitment channel and attracts funding for the club.

Recognising that it can be a lot of work for one person to do alone, and noting the successes Venus has had in having two elected officers who support each other, we are also looking at creating an elected "Touch Team Manager" role whose responsibility it would be to manage competitive teams and fill in the touch rugby team sheet etc and work with the Touch Chair to manage the rota.

• The Touch Chair would be expected to represent touch on the Club Management Committee (CMC) and take an active role in managing the club.  
• The Touch Team Manager would be elected by touch players just like our other team managers, but would not be obliged to attend management committee meetings.

Just like now, we would still depend on a number of additional (unelected) touch session organisers to be on a rota.

We would probably need to find a way of making sure that the position handover happens in March/April each year so that the new people are fully up to speed for the summer season.  This would allow the Club Captain to focus on pre-season training instead of worrying about getting summer touch going.

This change carries the support of myself, Nigel and the current club management committee but we would like to know what you think.  It will require a small change to our constitution and articles of association and will be formally proposed at the AGM for you to vote on.

So...

• if you are interested in standing as Touch Chair,
• or if you are interested in being Touch Team Manager
• or if you would like to volunteer to be an interim coordinator from today onwards
• or if you would like to volunteer to run a few sessions 
• or if you have any views/comments/observations on proposal in 3 above, 

...then please speak to Nigel, Matt Bovaird or me. You can contact us at: andrew@millwallrugby.com, flex@millwallrugby.com or mattbovaird@millwallrugby.com


Regards
Andrew Hesselden
Club Communications Officer & "O2 Touch Rugby Ambassador"

Millwall Rugby Club Ltd Annual General Meeting 21 May 12pm

Annual General Meeting

Formal notice

Saturday 21^st May 12pm 

Millwall Rugby Club
75 Manchester Road
London E14 3DN

This is formal notice of the club's Annual General Meeting.  Business will include:

1.    Chairman's Report

2.    Secretary's Report

3.    Treasurer's Report

4.  Resignation of Officers

5.  Election of Elected Officers:

·         Chairman

·         Secretary

·         Treasurer

·         Men's Chair*

·         Ladies' Chair*

·         Youth Chair*

·         Communications Officer

·         Development Officer

·         Clubhouse Officer

·         General Committee Member 1

·         General Committee Member 2

·         Social Secretary

·         Fixture Secretary

·         1st XV Manager

·         2nd XV Manager

·         3rd XV Manager

·         Venus Manager

·         O2 Touch Coordinator

*after election, the three chairs will come to a mutual agreement to decide which of them will take on the externally-representative role of "Club Captain" for the season.

6.  Volunteer vacancies to assist the above elected officers. 

     These roles (and more) are ideal if you want to help out but don’t want the obligation of being a full officer.  Alternatively, if you can help out as general assistants to an elected officer, it is a good introduction to club management and your help will be greatly appreciated.

·         Registration Secretary

·         Membership Secretary

·         Accountant/Book-keeper

·         First Aid Officer

·         Press Officer

·         Sponsorship Officer

·         Programme Producer

·         Webmaster

·         Transport Officer

·         Coaching Coordinator

·         Statistics & Caps Secretary

·         Youth Safeguarding Officer

·         Men’s Tour Co-ordinator

·         Merchandise Officer

·         International Tickets Co-ordinator

·         Events helpers 

·         Clubhouse Maintenance People

·         Men's Playing Subcommittee additional volunteers

·         Ladies' Playing Subcommittee additional volunteers

·         Youth Playing Subcommittee additional volunteers

·         Development Subcommittee additional volunteers

7.    Any Other Business

Important Notes:

Membership 

You must be a currently paid up member of the Club to vote (for elections or for awards) or to stand for an elected position.  If you're not a member yet, please see our website to pay online in advance of the meeting.

Nominations for Elected Roles

If you would like to stand for one of the ELECTED positions listed in item 5, you should submit a nomination in by email to Karen Anderson (secretary@millwallrugby.com) by 1pm on Saturday 14^th May. 

Please see the current list here

Those elected into CMC roles (in bold) can be made a formal Director of Millwall Rugby Club Ltd – but if you are not willing or able to be a Director you may nominate another to be the Director in your stead.  The use and identity of the Nominee must be stated to the membership prior to election of the member to that office. This does not affect your position as an elected officer on CMC for operating decisions of the club, only any formal Board of Directors meetings (which are rare).

Potential candidates are strongly encouraged to find out what is involved in the role by referring to the role descriptions on the club website committee page or by asking a current or past post-holder.

Candidates may be considered for election to more than one position if the electing members believe it is in the best interests of the club.

Volunteer Vacancies

The list of volunteer vacancies is a guide, based upon experience, of some of the ways you could still help out if you don't want the responsibility of an elected position.  However the club cannot run if we are left with too many of the elected roles left vacant, so the priority for the meeting must be to fill the Elected Roles.

Voting at the meeting

Voting will be carried out by secret ballot (on paper) and voters will be able to choose between each of the candidates plus an option "none of the above/re-open nominations".  

Per article 24.2 of the Articles of Association, where there is only one candidate for a particular position they must gain at least 50% of the votes cast to be elected.
Article 25 explains what will happen if any of the elected roles remain unfilled.

Voting in absentia by proxy

·                     Members are not obliged to vote if they do not wish to do so.

·                     If you are not able to attend the AGM in person, you may nominate a proxy to vote on your behalf by giving them and the Chairman\Acting Secretary notice of this in writing (email preferred) by 1pm on Thursday 19^th May. Where this is not done, the proxy vote will not be accepted.

·                     Your proxy must be a current club member and no club member may carry more than 5 proxy votes. You should instruct your proxy how to vote on your behalf.

·                     If you are unable to find a willing proxy, current club officers will act as proxy for you and will accept written instructions on how to vote on your behalf.

·                     We want members to attend the meeting and take part in the discussions so please do make every effort to attend in person. It's your club and it’s run by the members for the members.

Want to understand more about how the club committees work?

We recommend all members acquaint themselves the Operating Guide to the Management Committee and Subcommittees  which can be found on the website in the "Club" section.

Karen Anderson, Secretary

Larry's Last Game - 7th May

Dear all

Founding member and long term club stalwart Larry McCabe has finally decide to hang up his boots. Playing in excess of ??? games and having held multiple roles within the club such as Club Captain, Chairman and "old drunken xxxxxxxx" in the corner, Larry has certainly put his time in. 

To celebrate all his efforts and contributions, we will be organising a game on the 7th May to coincide with the Rest of the World match which is also scheduled for that date (more details of that will follow soon from Boris).

The plan for Larry's last game will evolve over the next few weeks but in the main it will be drink, play, drink, eat, drink, dance and then drink.

At this point I would like to know a few details to help the planning:

• Will you be there?
• Can you play?
• Which position?
• Would you like a commemorative jersey?

Please email me now by clicking here: rocky@millwallrugby.com

I look forward to hearing from you (please feel free to pass on to anyone you feel would be interested).

Rocky (Jamie Rockman)
rocky@millwallrugby.com