ABA OF ENGLAND LIMITED BOARD MEETING
9am FRIDAY 14TH NOVEMBER 2008
THE ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL
Item 1
Present
I = Information
D= Decision
A= Action
K. Walters (KW) – Chairman, P. King (PK) – CEO,
C. Andrews (CA), D. Cockell (DC), D. Mapp (DM),
E. Goreham (EG), A.D. Lynch (ADL), R. Scott (RS),
R. Caborn – Hon. President (RC),
In Attendance
B. Jones (BJ) – ABAE Child Protection & Equity,
Item 2
Apologies
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P. Joy, S. Rush, D. McElhinney.
Item 3
Declaration of Interest
B. Jones – Police & Community Clubs of Great Britain
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C. Andrews – Board Member – relative of an employee
of ABAE Auditors Ormerod Rutter
D. Mapp – various agencies and Directorships
Item 4
R. Caborn – numerous agencies and trusts
Company Secretary
4.1 CEO Secondment / Other alternatives
PK left the meeting for the Board to discuss this
particular item. The Board unanimously agreed to the
following:
a) It was agreed to sign a new Secondment
Agreement immediately, if this was PKs preferred
option.
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b) By preference the Board would prefer PK to be a
permanent employee of the ABAE.
However PK may prefer for financial reasons (eg.
Personal Pensions) to maintain the current status
of Secondment, PK to advise the Chairman of his
preference and any financial implications should
then be reported back to the Board for a further
discussion if the ABAE employee option is taken.
c) A Resource Working Group was formed the
Chairman, President and CA will meet with PK in
the near future to discuss and present to a future
Board Meeting the level and direction of all
resources internally or externally required to
ensure we have a planned programme for the
future, seeking to maximise ABAE expenditure
and funding.
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The Board thanked PK for his effort and
commitment towards ABAE over the previous
three years and look forward to a further
expansion of ABAE profile and success in the
future.
4.2 Re-election of Chairman or nominations from the
Board
K. Walters was Proposed ADL, Seconded EG and a
unanimous vote was taken 8 for none against KW’s reelection as Chairman of the ABAE for the forthcoming
year.
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4.3 BABA / UK Sport Update
Minutes of the recent BABA Board Meeting 8/9/08 were
detailed within the Board Pack. These gave a full
summary of the following items:
 Status of Elite Funding from UK Sport and
disposition to BABA
 Agreement of amendments to the Memorandum
of Articles of Association
 Timetable of actions required to position BABA to
manage the Elite Programme, as soon as possible
 Matters arising from the timetable.
ACTIONS
a) Agreement of BABA Board and Management
Structure
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b) Advertisement of the appointment of Performance
Director
c) Advertisement of Administration Director (formerly
referred to as Programme Director)
d) Business Plan and Budget 2009/2013
e) Existing staff implications, calendar of future
events, managing sponsorship of BABA
opportunities and its links with Home Nations,
contractual commitment of boxers and disciplinary
arrangements for breach, insurance requirements
and provisions, regularity of future Board
Meetings, any other business.
D. Mapp as BABA Chairman gave an overview of the
current status of BABA who had now formally sought to
assume responsibility for the GB Boxing Programme with
the three Home Countries being equal partners England,
Scotland and Wales. DM was thanked for the update
and his efforts in ensuring boxing retained the
stakeholders responsibility through the Home Nations for
potentially the 2009/2013 Olympic cycle, minutes and
actions accepted unanimously.
4.4 ABAE Commercial Company nomination
replacement to be sought / ABAE Property Company
nomination replacement to be sought.
Item 5
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Both these positions to have nominated names by the
next meeting were the relevant forms will require signing
for registration with Companies House, individuals to be
approached by PK.
Board Minutes of the last Meeting
5.1 Board Minutes of the 3rd September 2008
Minutes of the last meeting 5.3 the BABA Minutes of the
meeting 4th August 2008 update. D.Mc had disputed that
a vote had taken place concerning the appointment of
the BABA representatives from ABAE and the ABAE
commitment to the BABA taking lead status for the GB
Boxing Programme. The Board were uncertain if a vote
had taken place but unanimously agreed with the content
of the discussions and the decision made to support the
detail of the minute accordingly. A vote took place 8 for
none against.
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5.2 BABA Minutes 8th September 2008
These were accepted unanimously.
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Item 6
England Team Manager Reports
6.1 Commonwealth Youth Games India
England won 3 gold medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze. An
excellent return from the 6 athletes who competed in this
development standard tournament.
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6.2 European Womens Championships Liverpool
England won 2 gold medals, 4 silver and two bronze. An
excellent return on the first multi international event
staged by the ABAE for women athletes.
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Item 7
All those involved in the two above events were
congratulated on their success and standard of
performances.
Review of Action Logs
7.1 ABAE Action Log
ABAE key objectives – the Status Report on the key
objectives out of the current Whole Sport Plan 20052009 were distributed within the Board Pack and had
fundamentally now reached nearly 100% completion and
target levels
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7.2 AHL Action Log
The majority of the AHL report had been now completed
and was included within the Board Pack for reporting
purposes.
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7.3 Risk Register / Adoption
Currently six issues were identified and these had been
given action points, current status, lead, target and
resolution time with Board members accordingly
allocated, different issues.
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7.4 Sport England Self Assurance Rating
NGB Self Assessment had been submitted on time and
ABAE had received a high amber rating. A number of
policies and issues needed to be embedded and this
would need to be done before the end of January 2009
to access a green rating ensuring access to further Sport
England Funding for the next four year cycle 2009/2013.
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Item 8
Chief Executive Reports
8.1 Database Report
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8.2 Web Stats Report
None available for this meeting
8.3 Whole Sport Plan 2009-2013 (Presentation)
PK presented the submission of the Whole Sport Plan
which would potentially receive support from the Sport
England Funding Panel late in December 2008 for the
forthcoming four year period.
A breakdown of the targets, interventions outcomes and
financial breakdown was given by PK. The Board
thanked PK for his and all ABAE staffs effort in making
the submission in such an in-depth manner seeking to
raise proportionally the amount of funding provided by
from Sport England.
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PK to report back to the Board and Council when a
funding decision has been agreed by Sport England and
offered.
8.4 EUBC Update
The European Boxing Confederation had called an
informal meeting at this week’s European Elite Boxing
Championships being staged in Liverpool. This was to
outline the future structure under AIBA. There would be
an EUBC Extra-Ordinary General Meeting in January
2009 either in Paris or Madrid and we await confirmation
of the venue, agenda and dates, PK to report back
following the meeting.
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8.5 AIBA Update
PK informed the Board he was to attend an AIBA
Executive Meeting in Lausane on 18 December 2008 to
discuss a number of disciplinary issues within the World
Governing Body and other general items. A report would
be given back at a later stage when minutes are received
from the World Governing Body.
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8.6 Pro-Am Coaches (ABAE and BB of C re. London
ABA)
London ABA had received a number of complaints
concerning some registered ABAE coaches working
within the professional sport and being seen on televised
events working at these particular events under the
professional code. A brief discussion took place
concerning this issue and as a point for the ABAE Risk
Register an item would be raised for a working party
concerning Pro-Am relationships in general. The
Working Party would consist of K. Walters, D. Cockell, R.
Scott, S. Brooks, A.D. Lynch. A meeting was set for
Friday 19th December 2008 in Birmingham before the
England Germany match the same evening. A report to
be produced back for the Board and the Council’s
consideration.
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8.7 Setanta / BBC / Channel 4 Updates
a) Setanta had voiced concerns around the recent
credit crunch and their ability to broadcast
amateur boxing in what was hoped would be a
new agreement from April 2009. This now
potentially would not occur and a high profile
opportunity maybe lost to the sport. We await
confirmation at the next Board Meeting.
b) BBC TV had indicated they were to continue with
potentially a 2 or 3 Event Agreement with the
ABAE per annum 2009-2012. However a formal
Agreement had not been submitted to ABAE and
this would be chased up very early in the New
Year as the BBC was now setting budgets and
sought extra time to review their boxing budget in
general. We await a response from BBC.
c) Channel 4 had agreed a Memorandum of
Understanding which the ABAE had signed up to
and were now seeking to identify events (with no
rights fees payable) for 2009 which PK was
formerly discussing which would include
potentially ABAE Junior and Schools
Championships. An update to be given at the
next Board meeting when further information is
made available from Channel 4.
The 1st Channel 4 broadcast on boxing would go
out Sunday 25th January 09 8pm 4Sport and
repeated on Channel 4+1 later (first of the series)
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Item 9
Financial and Legal Reports
9.1 Financial Report
A financial report was submitted by D. McElhinney, who
was not in attendance. However a number of points
were noted within the report under the following report
items:
(1.6) The ABAE Board felt that certain financial GB
Reports would still have to be accessed to complete
the reconciliation going forward between April and
October 2008 to resolve the financial status between
ABAE and UK Sport.
(2.2) It was agreed that a meeting would need to take
place as soon as possible with the Financial Director
for PK and EG as a representative of the ABAE Audit
Committee to attend. To discuss this realignment and
if required the Board would also conduct an interim
audit if it felt necessary.
(3.2) All of the points raised were discussed and
noted
(3.3) As indicated earlier within these minutes the
Board had unanimously agreed at this meeting that
the relevant BABA members have been given the
mandate of ABAE to act on behalf of BABA to ensure
a smooth transition for the GB Boxing Programme
and the Home Nations and particularly ABAE to be at
the heart of this organisation.
(3.4) A number of these issues were discussed and
The ABAE Board were satisfied that all relevant
actions had been taken.
(3.4.1) It was indicated UK Sport had triggered the
removal of Lead Home Status from ABAE. It was
viewed by the Board that we would have been
required potentially to seek legal action against one
of the Government’s Funding Agencies and this was
not seen as the best route forward, as a
consequence a negative impact had been felt by
ABAE by this withdrawal of Lead Home Status.
However this had been caused by UK Sport’s
dissatisfaction with the hosting of the Programme
within ABAE around the relationships and financial
issues.
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(3.4.2) The Board indicated it was satisfied that TUPE
had been properly processed in terms of the former
ABAE employees to BABA.
It was noted that a former ABAE employee may
take an opportunity to appeal against a written
warning received through BABA.
(3.4.3) The Board discussed this item and the
individual bullet points and were satisfied with the
current status.
(3.4.4) Noted
(3.5) Noted
(3.6) Noted
(3.7) Noted
(3.8) The budgets needed to be realigned and would
be at the forthcoming meeting between D.Mc, PK and
EG.
(3.9) Board agreed
(3.10) Noted
(3.11) Noted
(3.12) The Board agreed and a report to be submitted
for the next Board Meeting concerning this project.
(3.13) Noted
(3.14) Noted. DC questioned the Midlands
outstanding amount concerning £7,432.
(3.15) A full reconciliation of the GB Programme upto
the 30th October 2008 had been completed internally
within ABAE but had not been ratified and resolved
with UK Sport. This meeting will take place in
December 2008.
(3.16) Noted
9.2 Insurance Renewal
D.Mc submitted a report concerning the ABAE Insurance
and it was Proposed EG, Seconded RS and unanimously
supported to continue the current arrangements through
Hendersons Insurance (UK).
(3.3) The claims history of the ABAE is nil over the
last three years. A further two claims remain
outstanding with potential claim values of £175,000 in
total. This will have a significant impact on any
2008/2009 renewal premium. It also underlines the
importance of a low claims culture and a robust
defence of claims and D.Mc was thanked for his
policing of this essential area of prudence.
(3.6) ABAE Board had recently considered the
proposed tender of Public Liability Insurance cover for
all clubs which currently is a significant gap within our
Insurance Scheme and presents potentially a real
risk. Therefore a proposal that the tender for this
work be considered as mandatory cover for season
2009 / 2010 at a cost of potentially £99 per year per
club which would need to be added to the affiliation
fee. It was essential that this issue be raised pre the
Annual General Meeting of 2009 with a very clear
report and rationale with the reasons for this new
attachment of insurance to the ABAE Schedule for the
benefit of all clubs.
Item 10
PMG Minutes / Reports
Item 11
Now ceased
Commercial Reports
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A
11.1 Adidas
Adidas had raised issues concerning the over arching
responsibility for the GB Boxing Team and wished to be
clearly attached to this particular group whilst maintaining
its broader relationship with the ABA of England Limited.
BABA were currently in discussions with Adidas
concerning equipment for the Elite Programme which
would have potential benefits for ABAE in terms of value
in kind (equipment and clothing) for all ABAE athletes
within all ABAE squads.
We await the Adidas submission to be formally agreed
and signed off to ABAE satisfaction.
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11.2 Ball In Update
To be presented at the next ABAE Board Meeting
Item 12
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Commission / Boxing Directors Reports
12.1 ABAE Membership
The Board approved the setting up of a Working Group
to study this area of membership to be formed out of PK,
ADL, D.Mc and CA. This group should meet very early
in the New Year.
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12.2 Medical Registrars
ADL gave a report from the recent Medical Registrars
Meeting with the minutes recorded from this meeting also
attached.
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12.3 Boxing Foundation Update
The Small Grants Scheme was working very well at this
moment in time and as a consequence the Boxing
Foundation had been accessed by 135 clubs. This was
an exceptional number and was a superb scheme to
assist clubs.
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12.4 Update of Online Matchmaker
This was working well at this moment in time and clubs
still needed further assistance and the policing of the
Online Matchmaker was being carried out by ADL who
was thanked for this effort.
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12.5 National Identity Badges
These were now in a number of regions and this new
identification process carrying both photographic
evidence, club, status of coach CRB expiry date etc. was
a superb addition for all coaches and officials throughout
the ABAE.
Item 13
D
Child Protection and Equity Reports
13.1 BJ submitted the amended Discipline & Appeals
Procedure which was accepted by the Board
unanimously. Amendments to be attached to the current
policies placed on the ABAE Website.
D
13.2 The ABAE Board discussed and agreed the
provision of a questionnaire to all clubs within the ABAE
seeking views from children and young people regarding
our organisation, systems and procedures. This was
supported unanimously. BJ to forward a paper outlining
the process for the next Board meeting.
13.3 IPSOS MORI had been given the remit by Sport
England to carry out a national survey concerning
recreational, competitive boxing involving athletes,
coaches and officials throughout the ABAE as well as the
other 46 sports Sport England currently funds. The
process for this research programme is due to be
forwarded to ABAE and as a consequence access to the
ABAE database will be sought early in the New Year for
the sample group to be identified. An update and a copy
of the procedures and rationale behind the survey will be
shared at the next Board Meeting.
The Board support the sharing of information for this
survey which could benefit ABAE in the future.
Item 14
A
Any Other Business
14.1 EG raised the issue concerning the recent
suspension of BJ Saunders and voiced about the current
issues regarding suspensions by the Referral Panel. He
did indicate before we suspend we should need to be
certain of the case against the individuals or individual.
BJ indicated that within our Discipline Procedures
suspension in the interim by the Referral Panel was an
immediate measure which could be taken and was part
of our policies.
Item 15
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Date of next meeting
Thursday 15th January 2009 at EIS Sheffield at 11.00am
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