Table Tennis
AGM Resolutions 2022
26 May 2022
Resolutions for the AGM 2022
This paper is my view of the resolutions that have been published. The Documents are described as “Request to change resolution form” which presumably is an internal name for them as the consideration of them may be to “Change to the Articles of Association”, but not the resolutions themselves.
Also, the numbering is a little odd. They should read: Resolution>number>special or ordinary.
Just a reminder, a Special Resolution needs a >75% majority to be passed at the Annual General Meeting. An ordinary Resolution needs >50% to pass.
Resolution 1 – Special
Amend article 23.1 – Company members shall elect 4 members.
This will be presented or even re-presented by Peter Charters.
Members will be aware that a similar Resolution was presented by Peter Charters (Berkshire) to the AGM in 2021 which the Board heard and understood.
The request to increase the Table Tennis knowledge on the Board, through increased Member representation, has subsequently been considered by the Board and the proposal is one that the Board is fully supportive of.
The Board has engaged with Peter Charters to represent the Resolution this year and the amendment to the current Article is recommended to the Members for adoption.
The Catt’s Eye View – this resolution narrowly missed passing in 2021. It is good to see the Board supporting this as it is the overwhelming view of the membership.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 2 – Special
New Article 23.8 – Nominations received for Elected Directors shall be considered by the Nominations Committee taking account of the candidate’s ability, experience and expertise to fulfil the identified role on the Board, and of the need to ensure that the Board has the appropriate balance of skills, experience, diversity, independence and knowledge.
The Catt’s Eye View – the Board is making the point that this is in line with the Code for Sport Governance, which it is.
In many ways, it makes sense that the Board assesses the skills of the Members of the Board and compares those to its business needs on an ongoing basis. Then, as vacancies arise, it then endeavours to fill any perceived gaps.
However, the Board has the opportunity to address this issue when vacancies arise for appointed Directors. The Membership elects 4 Directors, there is the Chair and CEO, which leaves 6 opportunities for the Board to ensure that the Members of the Board have the balance of the required skills.
The Board missed the opportunity to apply the skills matrix in 2021 when two accountants left the Board and no accountant was chosen to replace either of those departing Directors.
The main question is how the skills matrix will be used when assessing candidates for the Member Elected Director vacancies. Each prospect would need to complete a version of the skills matrix. Do the Members of the Nominations Committee have the skill set between them to assess the completed documents? What is their qualification to do so?
The Membership is concerned that this will be used by the Board to filter out “undesirable” candidates that the Membership may choose to represent them.
The Membership has a good record of electing suitable Member Elected Directors and is likely to continue to do so as it is in the interest of running our sport to elect good quality candidates.
The most important point of the summary of the process is:
- All candidates will be presented to the Members to vote for their preferred candidate
The current level of trust between the Membership and the Board will raise doubts about the application of the skills matrix. The members want to be able to choose any candidate without any censorship from the Board.
In my opinion, the Board is making a rod for its own back by trying to force feed this element of the Code for Sport Governance to the Membership in isolation. It would be better served by presenting a resolution that simply says:
Whilst Table Tennis England is in receipt of Sport England funding, it must comply with the Code for Sport Governance.
This would need to be accepted by the Membership or there would be a risk to future funding.
But this would enable the Board to manage the sport – set the agenda and strategy, manage the personnel on the Board, manage the budget etc. Obviously, this would not get the backing with the current Chair of the Board in place.
On the current wording of this resolution, I will be encouraging Sussex to vote AGAINST this resolution.
Resolution 3 – Special
Amend article 24.2 – Such directors shall be appointed by resolution of the Board following an open, formal, publicly advertised and transparent selection process by an appointments panel the Nominations Committee, taking account of the candidate’s ability, experience and expertise to fulfil the identified role on the Board, and of the need to ensure that the Board has the appropriate balance of skills, experience, diversity, independence and knowledge.
The Catt’s Eye View – this resolution is complaint with the Code for Sport Governance and is simply the application of good practice in the selection process for Directors to meet the business needs of the Board on an ongoing basis.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 4 – Ordinary
That from 1 August 2022 the following affiliation fees apply:
- Senior Compete Member £20
- Junior/Cadet Compete Member £10
- Compete Plus will remain at a £22 upgrade for senior and £11 for Juniors/Cadets
The Catt’s Eye View – this is the increase to fees that was agreed in 2016 to reach £20 in 2020.
My issue with this increase is the arbitrary nature of the increase. Do we know that this is the right level of fees for Table Tennis England (TTE) to finance all the things that the membership wants/needs?
This comes back to transparency and accountability. These ideals form a major part of the Code for Sport Governance and it is one of the major complaints that the membership has about the management of Table tennis in England that this has been absent.
I have been on the Board in the Finance & Audit Committee and I cannot be clear about what the membership fees are actually used to finance. So, the membership has no chance.
If the membership could understand how its fees are applied within the financial structure of TTE, in conjunction with public funding, then fee increases would be easy to justify.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 5 – Ordinary
That from 1 August 2022 the following affiliation fees apply:
- Senior Club Play Member £6
- Junior/Cadet Club Play Member £4
Rationale – These fees are in accordance with the proposed resolution at the 2020 AGM, that were made £free due to the pandemic and held at free for 2020 and 2021 whilst there was limited club play.
The Catt’s Eye View – this may well increase the revenue for TTE. It will be interesting to see whether clubs incorporate this fee into their own membership fee structure or whether it becomes additional for club members. Due to the fact that these members are unlikely to affiliate individually to TTE, then it may well be difficult to monitor whether people are playing without paying.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 6 – Special
Remove Article 34.3 – Article 34.3 states ‘Affiliation fees shall be set only at a General Meeting
The Catt’s Eye View – The main problem with this resolution comes back to transparency and accountability issues and the lack of trust in the Board and management of TTE by the Membership. Although this could change if the Chair of the Board were to change.
It is good practice that the Board sets the strategy and the budget and by definition this would include the setting of membership fees in conjunction with the other funding that is received by TTE.
- A long-term plan that limits the increase of fees to no more than £2 annually over a 5 year period (to 2027/28), save that the Board has the ability to review should the organisation be faced with exceptional circumstances.
This undertaking makes no business sense. Again, it involves arbitrary increases rather than increases that are in line with a strategy for the sport over the next 5 or 10 years.
What is stated within the rationale is an open dialogue, which happens now.
As stated above, this could be covered by an article simply stating adherence to the Code for Sport Governance rather than trying to get this through in its own right.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote AGAINST this resolution.
Resolution 7 – Special
That throughout the Articles all references to ‘Individual Company Member’ shall be amended to ‘Director Company Member’.
The Catt’s Eye View – This will go some way towards tidying up the very poorly worded Articles of Association.
The Articles of Association should be revised to mirror or very closely follow the guidance in the Code for Sport Governance. There are some discrepancies that should be tidied up.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 8 – Special
Amend Article 41.4 – In the case of an equality of votes, whether on a show of hands or on a poll, the person who is chairing the meeting shall have a second, or casting, vote on matters relating to finance but not on any other matters; in any other case the resolution shall fail.
The Catt’s Eye View – I am puzzled that this article was ever changed as I cannot find any record of it ever have been passed with the wording that is now being struck out.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
I am not sure whether the likely failure of the resolutions 2 and 6 will mean that Sport England will judge Table Tennis England as non-complaint.
Resolution 9 – Special
Amend Article 51 That throughout Article 51 the phrase ‘Board of Appeal’ shall be replaced by ‘Appeals Panel’
The Catt’s Eye View – This is simply a re-badging exercise.
I think that the Appeals Panel should have its terms of reference and scope of jurisdiction widened. It is set up to deal with issues revolving round breaches of the Articles of Association. This is too narrow as many issues causing complaints are not matters that are within the articles. Therefore, the Appeals Board serves no useful purposes under its current remit.
Sport Integrity, a new independent disclosure and complaints service pilot, is being launched in May to support athletes, coaches and all support personnel within the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community across the UK. https://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/2022/04/07/sport-integrity-a-new-independent-disclosure-and-complaints-service
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 10 – Ordinary
Put forward by Richard Hudson, Jos Kelly, Alan Ransome, Alex Murdoch, Neil le Milliere & Peter Charters
We consider that over the last few years the relationship between the Board and its membership has been unhelpful and has damaged the sport. It needs to be strengthened. This meeting requests the Board to confirm that they understand that the members are the key stakeholder in the sport and should be considered as such with this longstanding understanding remaining in place.
The Catt’s Eye View – This is an interesting resolution. Confirmation of a “longstanding understanding” between ETTA/TTE management and the membership.
It would probably be better to make real arrangements to repair the relationship and understand all of our relative positions in the ongoing management and running of the sport.
The Board is likely to make an acknowledgement, but this will simply be a gesture until attitudes and practices (and possibly some senior personnel) change. There should be a clearer understanding of the Code for Sport Governance and a closer alignment of our Articles of Association to ensure that TTE remains compliant and the membership understand why certain actions are necessary. Better communication is the key.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 11 – Ordinary
put forward by Richard Hudson, Jos Kelly, Alan Ransome, Alex Murdoch, Neil le Milliere & Peter Charters
There is a concern that the pathways no longer appear to be open for talented committed volunteer officials to make progress into decision making roles within the operational side of the Associations work. This meeting requests the Board to consider ways that senior, knowledgeable, and experienced volunteers can have much greater inclusion in the operational side of the work of the Association which would be to the benefit of the sport as it has been for the large majority of the Association’s existence.
The Catt’s Eye View – Another interesting resolution dealing with the relationship between ETTA/TTE management and the membership and how volunteers are valued and treated.
TTE has been wasteful of the resources available from within the membership. Many members are professional people with skills and knowledge from most walks of life. But then the skill sets of the Board members are not currently used. There are many people who would be willing to provide help on a pro bono basis, if they felt valued and trusted the management team of TTE. I count myself in that number.
The Code of Sports Governance has various applications for skill sets. It would be great if TTE management followed the guidance available in that document.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 12 – Ordinary
put forward by Richard Hudson, Jos Kelly, Alan Ransome, Alex Murdoch, Neil le Milliere & Peter Charters
This meeting accepts there is a concern that a significant number of decisions taken by senior staff have had a negative effect on the sport in England. Therefore, included within the skill sets required when employing staff should be a factor that applicants have a good knowledge and passion for table tennis, particularly for senior appointments in the Performance, Competition, and Development areas of the sport and request the Board to confirm that the above will be included in future requirements.
The Catt’s Eye View – Another interesting resolution dealing with the relationship between ETTA/TTE management and the membership.
These issues should be addressed in the recruitment process for all roles, but most importantly for decision-making roles.
The most recent iteration of the skills matrix that I have seen contains the first section on table tennis. I have already written a summary of the skills matrix that you have seen.
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Table Tennis |
A passion for table tennis! A crass patronising statement |
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Knowledge of the membership of Table Tennis England and the interests that impact internal stakeholders |
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Experience in running clubs, leagues or holding administrative positions at local, national or international level within table tennis. |
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Experience playing at a high-performance level and knowing ‘what it takes to win’ at a World, Olympic or Paralympic level Form designed by performance staff! |
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Experience developing and executing talent development strategies |
Obviously, this area of the skills matrix should be expanded in order to increase the likelihood of ensuring table tennis knowledge in the future.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 13 – Ordinary
put forward by Richard Hudson, Jos Kelly, Alan Ransome, Alex Murdoch, Neil le Milliere & Peter Charters
This meeting is concerned about the negative effects that Sport England, and, in particular the PORTAS report, has had on the progress of our sport over the last decade, as recently highlighted in the national press, and that these concerns should be raised with the appropriate people in DCMS and/or Sport England in order to seek a review of those negative effects and request the Board to facilitate this.
The Catt’s Eye View – Another interesting resolution dealing with the relationship between ETTA/TTE management and the membership.
The main issue has been the quality of the management in place and their understanding of the particular needs of our sport. Over reliance on the funding has led to a bloated, but ineffective organisation compounded by poor management
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Resolution 14 – Ordinary
put forward by Jos Kelly & Peter Charters
This meeting instructs the Board of Table Tennis England to delete from its Ranking Programme the inclusion of an ITTF Override element from the start of the 2022/23 season.
At present the Override gives precedence to the ITTF Ranking over TTE’s Ranking lists, creating a distortion and imbalance of TTE’s ranking which renders it inaccurate. The results, both wins and losses of the English players who compete in international tournaments, enter the TTE ranking system via the Equivalence Table which gives a Dummy position for each of the foreign opposition. The ITTF Ranking does not include losses which goes some way to explaining why the English top ranked Junior Boys in particular, have fewer points than those below them. So why the need for an ITTF Override?
The Catt’s Eye View – Another interesting resolution dealing with the relationship between ETTA/TTE management and the membership.
This is an effect of having a domestic competition structure that is not fit for purpose in developing our players. The pursuit of international ranking points is given greater importance than developing the playing standards of our potential top performers. This should be addressed by the Competition Review, but it is unlikely to be.
The ITTF points issue is being dealt with by the Performance and Talent Committee chaired by Donald Parker.
There needs to be a review of the ranking system being used in this country. This has been going on for years but being undertaken by ineffective people who have not been able to decide how to proceed.
I will be encouraging Sussex to vote FOR this resolution.
Summary of Resolutions
The first set of resolutions that I looked at were from the Board. This full set includes resolutions put forward by a group of National Councillors.
The Board resolutions are an improvement on the original ones that were published as they have split out issues into separate resolutions rather than tying things together. I sent my reaction to the Board resolutions and advised that they did not need to proceed with a couple of the resolutions, but they seem to have disregarded my advice.
I am not sure whether the likely failure of the resolutions 2 and 6 will mean that Sport England will judge Table Tennis England as non-complaint. But this may well be tested and if so, suitably worded resolutions are likely to be passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting rather than put the funding at risk.
The resolutions put forward by the National Councillors are about the relationship between the Board, the Senior Leadership Team and the staff of TTE with the membership. Each of the resolutions would represent a step towards trying to acknowledge the issues and to try to restore the trust.
These National Councillor resolutions make me even more certain that the resolutions 2 and 6 will not pass at the AGM. This is frustrating as the two resolutions were not needed to ensure compliance with the Code of Sport Governance.
It is hoped that the appointment of Adrian Christy as Chief Executive Officer will usher in a new era of transparency and accountability that will repair the fractured relationship between the Membership and the Board and management of Table Tennis England. I wonder whether he knew what he was signed up for. Good luck to Adrian.