Canberra Boxing Bulletin - Edition 37 - April 2004

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The annual general meeting of Boxing ACT Inc will be held at the RSL Club, 13b Moore Street, Canberra at 7.00pm on Wednesday 19 May 2004. All financial members are entitled to vote at this meeting, and affiliated clubs may nominate a voting representative. The business of the meeting will be as follows:

Nominations are invited for the positions of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Assistant Secretary and three (3) ordinary Board members. These will be accepted at any time up till the beginning of the meeting. Nominations must be in writing by two financial members and the nominee must also be financial; the nominee must sign the nomination to indicate consent. A person may be nominated as a candidate for more than one position.

Report on ACT team to Australian Championships

The recent Australian championships in Adelaide saw junior ACT athletes win 2 gold and 2 silver medals whilst senior boxers won 3 silvers. The team of 12 boxers, 4 coaches and 4 judge/referee officials have again sent a message to the bigger states that the Canberra region can and does produce great talent. Congratulations to all team members!

The team comprised Senior male: Dean Livanos 57kg, Goran Pavic 64kg, Gerard O'Mahony 69kg, Adam Lovelock 75kg, Simon Mitchell 81kg, Steve Rudic 91+kg. Under 19 male: Dennis Arthur 75kg, Lorenzo White 91+kg. Under 17 male: Michael Leane 50kg, Kobi Guarini 57kg, Jaron Realf 60kg. Under 15 male: Paul Utia 57kg.
Coaches: Don Abnett, Garry Hamilton, David Delfino. Manager: Marc Tawton.

Medal results as follows:
69kg senior - Gerard O'Mahony (Underground Gym) - Silver Medal
75kg senior - Adam Lovelock (Tuggeranong PCYC)- Silver Medal
91+kg senior - Steven Rudic (Underground Gym) - Silver Medal
60kg under 15 - Paul Utia (Turner PCYC) - Silver Medal
60kg under 17 - Jaron Realf (Tuggeranong PCYC) - Gold Medal
81kg under 19 - Dennis Arthur (Tuggeranong PCYC) - Gold Medal
91+kg under 19 - Lorenzo White (Turner PCYC) - Silver Medal  

Gerard O'Mahony and Steven Rudic are now training at the AIS prior to leaving for Tonga on 22 April to compete at the Oceania Olympic selection event.

Amongst the gold medal winners from other states were Oceania Champion Claire Ghabrial who has relocated from Canberra to Perth, and NSW boxer James Ronaldson who trains regularly in Canberra with Tuggeranong coach Don Abnett.

Three of our judges/referees also sat for their national qualification at the Championships. Bob Chittenden and Rob Barron are now national level judges, while Clayton Tidbury is a national judge/referee. They now join Oceania judge Tony Whelan in being available to officiate at national events. We look forward to seeing several more of our ACT R&J sit for their national qualification at the 2005 Championships in Perth next March.  Results of the Championships will be on the Boxing Australia website (boxing.org.au).

About our office and responses to your enquiries

A reminder that our office at ACT SPORTS House is unstaffed and that messages, emails and faxes are collected once or twice a week. Registration forms etc need to be sent earlier enough to give us time to process them.

O'Mahony wins ClubsACT Sportstar Monthly Award for March

Gerard O’Mahony has won the Clubs ACT male sports star award for March, for his outstanding performance in Adelaide. The ACT Academy of Sport boxer is one step closer to the Olympics after winning silver in the 69kg divisions at the Australian Championships. Gerard outscored AIS boxer Jarrod Fletcher to win the semi-final bout by 10 points and then went on to front Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Daniel Geale (TAS/AIS) in the final.  

With more than 130 fights under his belt compared to Gerard's 50 fights, Geale’s experience was going to make him hard to beat. At the end of round three, Gerard was down by seven points but finished strongly in round four to reduce the margin to just four points behind.  

Gerard has trained with Garry Hamilton at Underground Gym for the past five years, and like Daniel Geale he now qualifies for the Oceania Championships in Tonga (26 April – 2 May) where he will have to win gold to secure the sole 69kg spot for the Australian Olympic Team.

Upcoming tournaments in Canberra

As most members would have known, the tournament originally scheduled for 4^th April was cancelled as it was considered too close to the Australian Championships. A few people were unaware of the cancellation and showed up on the day; we apologise if you were one of those. If you have an email address and are not yet on our email broadcast list, email admin@boxingact.org.au and ask to be added, so we can update you quickly with any news.

Our next ACT tournament is on Sunday 16 May at the Italo-Australian Club, Franklin St., Forrest. Show commences at 3pm, weighin for boxers is 10-12am. Any new boxer registrations must be received by 2 May or they will miss out on this tournament. The subsequent Canberra show on Sunday 27 June is planned to be a showdown between South Australia and the ACT. On our last visit to Adelaide, ACT boxers brought home the state trophy and the crow-eaters are keen to take it back again in June.

PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS FOR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Constitutional amendment #1 – Life Membership

Our constitution currently has no explicit provision governing life membership. It is proposed that:

·       Paragraph 7 of the Constitution be amended to include the category of “Life membership”

·       Paragraph 19 of the Constitution be amended by adding the words “However life members shall not pay a fee.”

·       Paragraph 20 of the Constitution be amended to replace the words “All memberships become un-financial on 1 January” with “All memberships except life memberships become un-financial on 1 January”

·       Add a paragraph to the Constitution as follows:

“Appointment of Life Members

124. A person may be appointed a Life Member of the association by a majority vote of a General Meeting.” 

Constitutional amendment #2 – Athlete membership

Paragraph 117 provides for registration of females who live interstate, and was included originally to address the fact that NSWABA would not register females. Since that problem no longer exists, it is proposed that paragraph 117 be reworded. At the same time a provision for residency is introduced, as follows:

“117a. A person resident in the ACT wishing to box competitively must register as a boxer with this association. Boxers from other states or territories who are resident at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra may retain registration with their home state or territory.

117b.  A person not resident in the ACT who trains regularly at an ACT-affiliated club or gym may register as a boxer with this association.

117c. In every case, the person must meet the definition of an “amateur” in this constitution.

117d. The Board may make regulations defining what constitutes proof of residency. 

Constitutional amendment #3 – Remove casting vote for chair of meeting

Paragraphs 62 & 93 currently provide that the presiding officer at a meeting shall have a second (casting) vote in the case of an equality of votes. Contemporary practice now favours the abolition of casting votes. Accordingly I propose that paragraph 62 be replaced with:

“62. Each member present at a meeting of the board or of any committee appointed by the board (including the person presiding at the meeting) is entitled to one vote. In the event of an equality of votes on any question, the motion shall be lost. The person presiding shall not have a casting vote.”

and  that paragraph 93 be replaced with:

“93. In the case of an equality of votes on a question at a general meeting, the motion shall be lost. The person presiding shall not have a casting vote.” 

Constitutional amendment #4 – holding multiple positions

Paragraph 40 provides that a  person is not eligible to simultaneously hold more than 1 position on the board. When the Constitution was amended to allow the Board to appoint a Coach Coordinator and R/J Coordinator to its membership, it was not intended that existing Board members be prevented from holding these positions. It is proposed that in paragraph 40 the words “more than 1 position” be replaced with the words “more than 1 elected position”. 

Constitutional amendment #5 – Board members to be adults

There is currently no age limit for candidates seeking election to the Board. It is proposed that candidates must be aged 18 or more by replacing the repealed paragraph 41 with the following:

“41. A person aged less than eighteen (18) years is not eligible to be a candidate for election to the Board.” 

Constitutional amendment #6 – define ‘residency’

That Para 4 (Interpretation) have the following added:

· “resident in the ACT” means residing at least 4 days per week in the Australian Capital Territory