Positive news come out of BBF AGM

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The British Baseball Federation held its Annual General Meeting on Saturday. The turnout was high with 61 voting members represented, reflecting the forward momentum within British Baseball at present.

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New BBF Board members were elected filling all vacant positions. The BBF President position was taken by Earl Dix, who in 2012 acted as the BBF Southern Youth League Commissioner. Dix is currently a member of the London Mets, but fans of Herts Baseball will remember that he was also a player and manager of the Herts Falcons in the late 90s and early 00s.

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The BBF Board is now fully staffed, which is very positive news for British baseball. The organisation will now have the capacity to handle the increasing volume of work, manage league competitions and support the growing number of British baseball teams around the country.

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There are also very positive signs that clubs, umpires and other baseball participants want to focus on positive actions to make the game of baseball a big success in this country and to fulfil its enormous potential. The baseball community is growing at a very good pace and these are exciting times for everyone in the sport.

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A presentation by BSUK provided details of the many opportunities available for clubs to grow further and get funding to support their development and expansion.

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Clubs which currently do not have a youth team seem determined to make it their top priority to add a youth programme. The successes of many of the clubs in recent years suggest that this is the most important step towards transforming a small club into a professional business. The evidence shows that there is enormous demand for baseball in this country for those clubs which are willing to make the effort.

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In an earlier post by Herts Baseball Club on Facebook, the club congratulated all of the newly elected Board members as well as the existing members of the BBF Board. The post went on to say that “The Board members have generously volunteered to make a contribution to the sport. Everyone at Herts Baseball Club is grateful to all current and past members of the BBF Board for making the sacrifice. Our club will do its very best to support these positive developments.”

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At the bottom of this article is a list of the motions covered at the AGM and the voting results.

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Among the motions put forward by member clubs were several demanding proportionate postseason qualification for each conference, Midlands, North and South. At first glance the word “proportionate” would indicate that such a motion is fair and there appeared to be a unanimous agreement on it, however a closer assessment of the implications would suggest that these motions are likely to tie the hands of the League Commissioners and they would no longer have the flexibility to react to special circumstances. For example, several seasons ago the Midlands division needed a boost and the league assigned them with more than the proportionate number of postseason spots. The Midlands is now a thriving division however it is likely to be the big loser as a result of this motion being passed. Last season 80% of the teams in the Midlands division could look forward to playing in the postseason with the North and South at 50% and 54%, respectively.

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In the Youth Leagues, it will be a real blow to the Northern Conference. The Northern Youth League is badly in need of a boost and the club delegates probably didn’t realise that their vote would hit that division. Hopefully, the members will show understanding if the Commissioners deviate from the terms of this motion in an effort to protect the smaller divisions.

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Immediately after the AGM member clubs were beginning to realize that the motion could have some unintended implications. There are many examples where the League could benefit by allowing League Commissioners some flexibility on these issues and showing trust in the judgement of the Commissioners, when special circumstances arise.

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The motion to change voting entitlement in the BBF Constitution by giving members “one vote per club” instead of the current entitlement of “one vote per team” was rejected. Clubs certainly saw the positive intent in this motion as it would have provided greater recognition for smaller clubs. However, given the fact that the clubs with two or more teams cover a much larger proportion of the federation’s costs than those with one team, they were always likely to see this motion as inequitable. The result of the vote confirmed the preference of the members to continue with the widely accepted model in corporations where the number of votes corresponds to the number of paid-up shares.

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