Friends of Great Northern 8 Ball Association Inc.

I have been told that the new Committee have reversed the suspensions that were given to Mick Van Kampen and Julie Amos by the previous Administration.
If this is true the new Committee have sent a powerful message to the Association:
It is ok to conduct illegal Raffles and to distribute the funds for personal gain
Congratulations....What a joke!

Mick Van Kampen
On the 26th of September Mr. Van Kampen published a lengthy document on this page and the Geraldton Pool Players page.

This is a response to the lies and misrepresentations contained in his document.

Sorry about the length of this but if you want the truth read on.

The full description of the actions taken by the Committee;

Mr. Van Kampen was initially given a limited suspension excluding him from holding office in the Association for a period of 12 months. This came about because he admitted mismanaging the Association accounts and for using Association funds to pay his country week fees of $150-00.
His admission was made in front of the full Committee and immediately following this the Committee moved a vote of no confidence in him as Treasurer (9 votes for and one abstention) and he was dismissed from the position of Treasurer and the suspension was imposed.
The penalty was imposed under sections 34, 34(a) and 34(b) of the Constitution, he was however allowed to continue playing and was allowed to continue coaching juniors provided he agreed to a set of conditions.
The method of appeal is outlined in the Constitution however Mr. Van Kampen did not appeal the Committee’s decision.
Mr. Van Kampen agreed to all the conditions set by the Committee but then proceed to delay and avoid compliance wherever he could and to ignore the condition set on the collection of fees from the juniors. He to convince one of the newer bar staff at the Italian Club that it wasn’t their job to collect or hold funds for our Association. This was complete hypocrisy as he had used the same staff to collect and hold funds for the Association selling chocolate bars for his entire 4 years as Treasurer. The President and Vice President of the Italian Club agreed with us that the staff could continue to help us out and they instructed their staff accordingly.
Later on in the year Mr. Van Kampen committed Association funds by ordering shirts for the juniors without any authority to do so. Prior to this he was told to work out what he needed for the juniors and to report back to the Committee, he says that he was never invited to a committee meeting to do this. This is a lie. The delegates meeting minutes of 28th June 2022 clearly contain his invitation to the Committee meeting and the date time and place of the meeting is stated below the invitation. The minutes were sent to him as a delegate of the Choppers team prior to the Committee meeting being held however, having been given the opportunity to attend, he simply didn’t turn up and didn’t contact us. The next thing we heard about shirts is when we received the invoice from the manufacturer.
The Committee then decided enough is enough. Mr. Van Kampen’s suspension was increased to a full suspension of membership and a fine of $200 was imposed. Provided the fine is paid he can re-apply for membership at the start of the long season. There was a delay in the imposition of the full suspension. This was deliberate to allow him to attend the Wind-Up and present the trophies to the juniors. Now having read the rubbish he has written I have no idea why we gave him this concession.
All the above is supported by documentary evidence.

Response to Mr. Van Kampen’s document point by point
The preamble

As stated above the offences against the association, the suspension and the method of appeal are all covered by the existing Constitution. Reference to the model rules is therefore not required. This section of his document is irrelevant and misleading

Points 1 and 6.
Mr. Van Kampen says he was not invited to a Committee meeting. This is untrue; documentation exists to prove that he was invited.

Point 2
I agree that the parent paid for a shirt however his statement that he had a conversation with me about it is false. I had no conversations with Mr. Van Kampen without a witness being present following his complaint at a Delegates meeting that I said “Hello” to him.

Point 3
Staff are not allowed to collect money for the Association, this is already covered above, Mr. Van Kampen has proved himself to be dishonest and a hypocrite

Points 4 and 5
Verbal comments and complaints about his sledging both the Committee as a whole and individual Committee members contribute to the overall picture of his unacceptable attitude. They do not have to be referred to a P&D Board as he suggests as the offences were against the Association and are not related to any dispute between individuals

Point 7
There was no mention of the last Raffle Mick advertised being run for a team of five people. This is irrelevant anyway. Advice from the Department of Racing and Gaming is that raffles run to meet personal expenses are illegal as they are conducted for personal gain.
Mr. Van Kampen then says everything he did was caused by members of the Committee not communicating, what an absolute load of …. He ran raffles without approval, manipulated the books and took money for personal gain. He thoroughly deserves everything he got.

Point 8
Completely irrelevant

Point 9
Refusing to give Oscar Hogarth a trophy for being a junior competing against seniors, How pathetic! This was an encouragement award for a kid. The same thing was done for Jack Amos the previous year even though Van Kampen said it was not

Point 10
This is just another example of Mr. Van Kampen ignoring the Committee. He was sent notice of his full suspension which included coaching juniors and on the same day the A/President sent a notice that junior coaching was cancelled and would resume after the School Holidays. The following day Mr. Van Kampen sent a text to the parents telling them to ignore the A/Presidents text as it was internal politics. More dishonesty and complete disrespect for due process.

Point 11
John Nestoridis made an umpiring error (Well, according to Van Kampen he did) and this is the fault of three Committee members who were watching the game. An absolute fairy story, perhaps these people started the war in the Ukraine as well and forced petrol prices up.

Point 12
Van Kampen attacks me personally for not helping out with junior coaching. I do not hold a working with children card and legally I couldn’t help if anyone asked me to. He was offered help by two suitably qualified people and rejected it. Another breach of the conditions that were set for him to continue coaching

Point13
Another attack on me.

Point 14
Another complete misrepresentation of the facts. This has been covered in minutes and isn’t worth me wasting any keystrokes.

Summary
Mick Van Kampen has proved himself to be a dishonest and incompetent Treasurer. He has admitted offences to the full Committee and has continued to act in a disrespectful manner. He thoroughly deserves the penalty he has been given.

Sorry I couldn’t post the previous article on the source page But I’ve been banned from the page by a lady who lets personal prejudice get in the way of fair play.

Without Prejudice

I’ve just read the article posted on the Geraldton Pool players group following the well organised coup conducted on Monday night at the AGM.
Our new President continues to be ungracious and arrogant.

I challenge him to tell us which of the positive changes made over the past year he intends to reverse. The changes are all listed in the Presidents report published on this page.

It’s interesting to note that many of the people who caused the fights and arguments he refers to and who white anted the efforts of the previous administration are now on the Committee.

Congratulations to the “good people” who have put their hand up for voluntary work for the right reasons and good luck…you are going to need it.

John Dibble, ex secretary and proud member of the previous administration.

Presidents Report for AGM

Members and Friends

2022 has been a year of change. I want to thank all of our members and others who have supported us through this time with special thanks to the Committee who has worked tirelessly through the year to move our sport forwards and all of the players who have competed in the numerous competitions that have been held.
Special thanks are also given to all of our sponsors, the Italian Club for hosting our Association and the Junior players who represented us with distinction at Country Week.
The Association has achieved a great deal this year, we have;

• Introduced a system for table allocations to ensure all teams played matches on the show tables (Tables 1 and 7) regardless of what division they are in.

• Introduced Poolstat with a player grading system

• Introduced a system for Country Week Selection and included it in the Byelaws

• Introduced a Protests and Disputes Board to ensure all parties had a two stage process for resolving disputes and the right of a final appeal to the full Management Committee, and included the detail in the Byelaws

• Reduced the cost of player participation at Country week from $150 to $50

• Included the Juniors in our wind Up and Trophy presentation

• Completely rewritten and modernized the Byelaws to accommodate the above changes

• Provided financial reports to the Department of Commerce for the past 7 years thus achieving compliance with their Rules

• Introduced the Reckon One accounting system to manage the Associations financial affairs and placed the Books of the Associations in the hands of a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) for a full compliance audit.

• Recommenced the process to develop and adopt a new Constitution that is consistent with the requirements of the 2015 Associations Incorporation Act.

It also has to be said that the year has been difficult at times as along with change some resistance always seems to be encountered.
It is unfortunate that we have had to issue suspensions to members a couple of times for unacceptable conduct and that we had to respond to anonymous complaints by a couple of our members to our parent body, the West Australian Eightball Association. I am delighted to say that we received a clean bill of health from their investigations and that they are satisfied that we have done everything by the book for the benefit of the whole Association.

In closing I would like to extend my best wishes to the incoming committee and trust that they will have a rewarding and satisfying experience

Yours in Sport
Dale Hogarth
A/President.

Annual General Meeting
Monday 3rd October 2022
7pm at the Italian Club
Agenda
Presidents Report
Financial Report
Amendment to Constitution section 16(d) - Reduce the number of financial members required to form a quorum from Fifty (50) to Twenty Five (25)
Election of Office Bearers

Pleased be advised that;

At the Committee meeting held on 23rd August 2022 it was resolved that Mick Van Kampen’s membership of the Great Northern Eightball Association be suspended from midnight Sunday 18th September until the commencement of the 2023 Trophy season and that he would be fined the sum of $200.00 for conduct prejudicial to the Association.

These penalties were imposed because he agreed to conditions set following his removal from office as Treasurer, with a concurrent limited suspension, and failed to comply or significantly delayed any full or partial compliance with those conditions and attempted to influence bar staff not to receive money on behalf of the Association. The Association also received witnessed written complaints about his verbal adverse comments about committee competence and Officers have also received verbal complaints from parents about his coaching style and the degree of attention paid to their children. He also committed the Association’s funds to purchase equipment without permission or approval and failed to keep the Association informed in a timely manner of matters relating to Junior competitions and the State Junior Championships. The Committee also noted that he has been running a raffle for, what the Committee believes, is personal gain, this has been separately reported to the authorities.

The WAEBF and the Italian Club have been notified of his suspension and he will be eligible to re-apply for membership at any time from 1st February 2023 provided that the fine is paid in full.

John Dibble

Secretary GNEBA

2022/23 Short Season
The format for the short season will be;
Teams of 4 playing in one division
Teams may be made up of mixed A and B grade players
There will be 12 games in a match, 8 games of Singles played in 2 rounds of 4 and
4 games of doubles played in 2 rounds of 2. (4 Singles, 2 Doubles, 4 Singles 2 Doubles).
Matches start at 7-30pm and should be finished by 10pm.
There will be one point for each game won during a match with an incentive bonus point given for each Singles match in which a B grade player beats an A grade player.
The Competition will commence on Monday 10th October (The week following the AGM).
There will be NO individual registration fee for this competition.
Match fees will be the same as usual, $30 per team per match.
Please forward your team nominations to Marama Rule along with a list of players.

Any queries please contact Marama or myself

John Dibble

Wind Up and Presentation night (17/09/22)
All times are approximate
6:45pm junior trophy presentation
7:00pm $2 drink subsidy starts
7:15pm buffet meal (catered by Frank and Angie)
8:00pm the Annual Quiz presented by Ehsan
8-30pm senior trophy presentation.

The Association Wind Up and Trophy presentation is on this Saturday September 17th commencing at 6-30pm at the Italian Club

The Finals are on this Saturday 10/9/22
Div.1 Shooters vs Choppers
Div2 Eureka Aces vs Eight Ball Ninjas
Both matches at 7pm. Drinks are subsidised at $2 per drink from 7pm until the pot runs out.
Junior Singles finals are running from 4 - 6pm
Good Luck to all Players

The Annual General Meeting of the Association will be held on October 3rd 2022
7pm at the Italian Club