2010 ANNUAL REPORT - AllTeams

chaiRman’S RePoRt 20102010 has been a remarkable year in the long history of our greatclub. There are three signifi cant milestones for which the year will beremembered.First, the Gallaher Shield - we created history again by extendingour record to seven consecutive wins and nine out of the last tenyears. A great achievement in itself, it was truly remarkable giventhe diffi culties that occurred. Not only were we without clubroomsfor most of the season, but also the Head Coach resigned part waythrough the season. Assistant Coach Winston Hiliau and CaptainMark Hooper took up the challenge. With the benefi t and support ofa wealth of experience in the team, including a number of Ponsonbycenturions, they all worked together under the watchful eye of ourlegendary Director of Rugby, Bryan Williams, to produce superbperformances in the semi-fi nal against University and then in the fi nalagainst Grammar Carlton.Outstanding management by Greg Edmonds, Terrence McQuoidand Ciaran Overton, assisted by statistician Dennis Mansfi eld whoalso contributed. I was pleased to award my annual Chairman’strophy to Dennis for the erudite match reports and superb actionphotographs that he emailed us all the morning after each game.Second, for the fi rst time ever we fi elded more than 50 teams – 12senior (above secondary school age) teams and 39 junior (belowsecondary school age) teams. The growth in our junior section is theresult of a strong well-organised junior committee led for the eighthyear by Mark Darin and assisted by Pam Adams.Our junior section continues to inspire the club as a whole, managingto win two of the fi ve available Auckland championships and then anational tournament in Taupo in which teams from throughout thecountry participated. Congratulations to City Under 13 Open coachEddie Ioane and his assistants (Eddie also coached the winning teamin Taupo) and to Kelston Under 12 Restricted coach Craig Watt andhis assistants.Unfortunately, Mark Darin has announced that he is to retire this yearand Pam Adams has announced that she will retire in mid-2011. Weare greatly indebted to them for their dedication, passion and tirelessefforts for our club but have no doubt that their committee will fi ndworthy replacements.Third, we have fi nally achieved the renovation and extension of ourclubrooms, the need for which has been apparent since soon afterwe moved to Western Springs Stadium 13 years ago. In preparationfor RWC2011, Auckland City Council decided to upgrade thelights, playing surface, two of the changing rooms and the roof ofthe building in which we are located. We managed fi rst to persuadethe Council to also extend the new roof north to accommodate aclubroom extension, then to agree to closing in the new area so asto create both a new distinctive entrance and then increase the sizeof our club lounge by some 50%.Unfortunately, we were required to agree to pay for the extensionourselves, but with the assistance of a loan on favourable termsfrom the Council which we are hoping to persuade the new SuperCity Council to convert into a grant. Also, however, we have beenassisted by a two-year rent holiday and promised a new 15-yearlease on terms more favourable to those in the present lease thatexpires in 2012.Negotiations regarding those lease terms are ongoing, as are effortsto fund and complete the furnishing of the new clubroom. BryanWilliams has taken on responsibility for fundraising both to pay for thefurnishings and also to repay the Council loan early, if we are unableto achieve a grant instead.To allow the construction work to occur, we needed to fi nd anothervenue for our meetings and functions. We were fortunate indeed to beable to use the Point Chevalier Bowling Club in Dignan Street, PointChevalier, a classic old style club with a long heritage whose memberswelcomed us as theirs. They shared in the excitement of our GallaherShield win as if it was their own. We were pleased indeed to presentthem with a photograph of our victorious Premiers celebrating onfi eld at Eden Park. The photograph was framed and signed by BryanWilliams and myself and recorded our gratitude for their memorablehospitality. Our junior committee recorded their appreciation also, bythe presentation of an engraved commemorative plaque.Also, we needed to replace the income lost from our normalclubroom use. Fortunately, the Council agreed to assist with a grantthat helped club treasurer Mike Lomas maintain our fi nancial positionwithout the need to draw abnormally from the Ponies trust funds.We are again greatly indebted to Mike for his assistance for anotheryear as Treasurer.Efforts to ease our strained fi nances are ongoing. A new initiativethis year is the sale of scrolls for ongoing display in the clubroomsthat is being led by Ces Williams (who also again served the clubwell as senior delegate to ARU) and Susan Thomas. Also, efforts areongoing to raise funds from the use of the advertising capacity of ourAllteams facilitated web site. Finally, the Ponies trust fund is achievingcommendable growth thanks to the professional efforts of CraigsInvestment Partners and the ongoing oversight of my fellow trustees,Bryan Williams, Bryan Wentworth and Alan White, led by ChairmanGrant McCurrach.Thanks also go again to Milton Froggatt and Jack Huch for anothersuccessful Sevens campaign. Long may they continue, particularlyas they assist in our player recruitment, which will be affected bythe unfortunate decision of AUT to suspend its annual scholarshipprogramme for the next two years.Next year is World Cup year. Much will be required of our Executiveand Management committees, whom I thank for another year ofservice. A sub-committee of the Management committee, led byExecutive committee member Chris Clews, has been formed to planand organise a range of activities during RWC2011. His companyDE Group is planning extensive new display cabinets, screens andaudiovisual equipment for our new Clubroom. Included is hopedto be an era-by-era display of the Club’s magnifi cent collection ofmemorabilia, funding for which is the subject of an application to theRWC2011 fund provided by the Lotteries Commission for RWC2011events and activities.Regardless of RWC2011, however, next year will, like all otheryears, also be another one in which we must strive again to achievethe standard of excellence on and off the fi eld for which we arerenowned. As has been our good fortune for many years now, we willcontinue to benefi t from the outstanding work of Club Manager IanDerbidge and his staff and from the unfailing passion and pride withwhich President and Director of Rugby Bryan Williams continues toprovide his incredible contribution to our club. It is Ian and Bryan whohave borne the brunt of the disruption this year during the clubroomrenovation and expansion. In addition, Bryan has had the extraresponsibility of his Vice Presidency of NZRU, which has frequentlycalled him away from Auckland.As a result, whilst we do intend to make the most of RWC2011, theprincipal challenge for the year will still be to win the Gallaher Shieldagain and also to win as many other Auckland championships as wecan. Bryan Williams set the target of ten consecutive Gallaher Shieldwins in 2009. We all know that that goal it is achievable providedwe continue to pursue the standard of excellence that he himselfportrays in all he does.Peter ThorpChairman8 Ponsonby District Rugby Football Club (Inc.)