Media Release - 4th December 2003

At a Special General Meeting of the Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey held at Highland's College at 8.00 p.m. on Thursday 4th December 2003, the proposition to adopt a new constitution was accepted with a large majority of 40 votes in favour and only 8 votes against its adoption.

The major changes as seem in the Association's new constitution include -:

• an expansion of the Association's objectives and its role in encouraging the development of sport and sports people in Jersey with a clear understanding that those selected for a Commonwealth Games are representing the Island of Jersey.

• A shift of the day to day management of the Association from being the responsibility of the Executive Committee to it being now the responsibility of the Officers of the Association i.e. the President, two Vice Presidents, the Hon. Secretary and the Hon. Treasurer..

• A change in the length of the term of office for all of the Association's Officers moving from one year's duration to four years.

• A change in the eligibility of local sports bodies to affiliate to the Association with the entitlement, in the new constitution, for only one local body to represent each of the recognised sports within the Commonwealth Games programme. This means, in effect, that the various disciplines/associations within the sports of, for example, bowling and shooting will now be represented by just one umbrella organisation. This change is in line with the internationally accepted constitution of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

The Special General Meeting was followed immediately by a Council Meeting. The main item on the agenda for that meeting was the acceptance of a revised set of guidelines for Selection and Appeals procedures for future Games. These guidelines had been compiled by elected delegates of the Council representing a wide cross-section of sports included within the Commonwealth Games programme. The strength of support for the new guidelines was shown when approved by the Council delegates with, once again, a sweeping majority of 30 votes in favour of their acceptance and only one vote against.

The Council were then reminded that, as a result of the adoption of the new constitution and the acceptance of revised Selection and Appeals procedures, a series of deadline dates would need to be observed for nominations to be received for the appointment of Officers; for the appointment of a General Team Manager for the Melbourne 2006 Games; and for positions on both of the validation and appeals panels responsible for dealing with all aspects of selection for the next Games. The Validation Panel will include the President, the Hon. Secretary and five other elected members. The Appeals Panel will include an independent Chairperson (i.e. a person who is not a member of the Association's Council) and four additional members, one of whom may not also be a member of the Council.

The Association's acceptance of the new constitution and procedures for the selection of a Jersey Team for future Commonwealth Games has been a major breakthrough for the new regime of officers who were appointed at the AGM last April. Martin Hebden, as the newly elected President; Alan Cross as Secretary and Paul Huddlestone as Treasurer will all be standing for re-election at the next Special General Meeting which is to be held on 29 th January 2004 and are pledged to continue to provide an administrative and management structure for the Association that will ensure that Jersey is able to send its strongest team of competitors to the next Games to be held in Melbourne in March 2006.