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26 THE ESMBA “Administration Press Release”
THAT WAS NEVER SENT TO THE PRESS

It apparently read:-
Effective as of May 1st, Keith Hawkins and Chris Hopkins will be taking on the administration
for an initial period of one year. The concept agreed by the management committee was that with
the vast experience held by Chris and Keith it would be possible to enhance the services already
provided by the ESMBA on a more professional and timely basis thus allowing the committee time
to focus on future planning and events rather than spending time fire fighting past events as in the
case at present.
Keith will concentrate on the insurance aspect as his primary responsibility and Chris will ini-
tially set about resurrecting the coaching scheme and all its various aspects.
Keith and Chris will be available on a daily basis between 10.00am and 6.00pm and can be
reached on their usual numbers although there are plans to put an 0845 number in operation thus
giving all of our members the ability to make contact at a local call rate charge.
Counties and clubs will be able as part of the operation to call upon both during the weekdays
should they wish to put on special functions where they may not have the necessary personnel to
operate it.
The setting up of this particular administration presents a win win situation for ESMBA as
both personnel will be financed by a third party which will save not only on an administration fee
being paid but will also allow a saving on some expenses currently being claimed.
The concept being discussed is that it will give the ESMBA an opportunity for the committee
to spend more time moving forward and will also give an insight into further savings which can be
gained by slimming down the committee in the future which will have a knock on effect with regard
to travelling expenses and future expenses.
Both Keith and Chris are excited about the future and see these steps as positive movement
forward for the betterment of our association.

Apparently this was sent to every county in the ESMBA and this was what I extracted from
one county but as usual the ESMBA Committee being its own Sometime Secret Society never
bothered to send the only magazine for the sport a copy - so what’s new? I have held back on
speaking my mind for a number of years on what I see as the dictatorial attitude of the ESMBA
Committee.
I have heard a lot of what has gone on at committee meetings the big personality clashes
and the fallouts and the private views expressed to me etc. etc. which horrified me but nothing of
this has ever been reproduced in the magazine, nor will it be unless it ever becomes really critical.
I would stress very strongly that this article is my private view created by the frustration I have felt
for a number of years and I’m “getting it off my chest.” And I do not need any replies or comments
to print please!
It seems to me that the committee reached the limits of its ability some time ago and giving
notice of this article to a committee member I said the ESMBA has lost its way, he replied “the
ESMBA lost its way 10 years ago”. I would be the first to say that they may have worked hard in
some areas and having previously served over 14 years on the committee I would be the first to
recognise this but where’s the sports promotion, what happened to the much lauded Coaching
Scheme and why are committee vacancies not published more openly? Sending AGM notices
out to counties, who mostly don’t pass on ESMBA information, is certainly a poor way of recruiting
skilled people. Personally, I would put a time limit on committee membership, say 10 years then
a year of before they can serve another 5.
I certainly do not believe the committee should vote on matters of finance as it’s the member’s
money. If I remember right, when they put a proposal forward to increase membership fees by a
pound, the majority of counties present at the AGM did not vote in favour but the Committee votes
carried the proposal. At the last AGM I asked how much money the ESMBA had and the answer