An update on Incorporation of Moonee Valley Cricket Club

On Thursday 16 September 2010, a Special General Meeting of members voted overwhelmingly to incorporate your Cricket Club.

Unfortunately there had been some misinformation circulated regarding your Committee’s intentions and course of action, and this was demonstrated in some of the questions which were asked at our meeting by people associated with other sections of the sporting club.

Hence, your Committee has asked me to outline again the reasons for incorporation of the Moonee Valley Cricket Club so that you, the members, have a clear understanding of why your Committee felt strongly that incorporation was the right way to proceed.

It is important to recognise that your Committee see the move to becoming an Incorporated Body as an administrative task – one that will improve members’ rights and interests without compromising any parts of our cricketing life.

There are considerable advantages in being incorporated, which is why our parent body, the Moonee Valley Sporting Club Inc. is incorporated.

Your Committee has taken the view that the position of the Cricket Club is not guaranteed by the fact that our parent body is incorporated and this view is not a reflection of the competence or otherwise of the Sporting Club.

Nor does it mean that the Cricket Club being incorporated cannot be a member of the Sporting Club – we know that the Bridge Club is a member of the Sporting Club and it is separately incorporated. A more obvious example is that of the VTCA, MMVCA and NWCA (all incorporated bodies) who are members of Cricket Victoria (an incorporated body), who is a member of Cricket Australia (an incorporated body).

3. The Sporting Club can effectively deal with issues that travel across the clubs (for example the transition of seasons between the cricket and football clubs).

4. The Sporting Club can seek government grants that are available for our clubs as a collective.

5. The ability of the Sporting Club to negotiate deals (including sponsorship) when it can use the ‘clout’ of the total membership.

6. The Sporting Club can pay invoices relating to fees or charges that apply across the group.

1. Separate Legal Entity

* The ability to conduct business – for example we can create legally binding contracts, operate a bank account, buy and sell assets and obtain government grants in our own name.

2. Limited Liability

*This means that in most cases, the responsibility for debts of the Cricket Club or any legal costs the Cricket Club may be ordered to pay, is limited to the amount of money and assets held by the Cricket Club. This helps to protect the people involved in the Cricket Club from being personally liable if anything goes wrong with the Cricket Club (that is, from being required to pay any debts or costs from their own money or assets).

1. Surety of our position with our parent Cricket Bodies – several of the public liability insurance policies required to be held by us can only be held by an Incorporated Body.

2. The ability to manage our own finances within the Cricket Club financial year which runs over two financial years of the Sporting Club.

3. Confidence from our sponsors and contracted members that they are dealing with a reputable organisation who can show proper financial records.

4. We can apply for government grants that are not available to the Sporting Club – for example if the sporting club has accessed a grant that is rightly used to improve the bowls section, it may not be eligible for another grant for the cricket section, even if we are the most deserving of the applicants.

5. Protection of the Committee from personal liabilities (as long as we do not deliberately break the law).

6. Clarity to the Sporting Club members of our finances and our contribution to the improvement of the Sporting Club membership as a whole.

If you have any questions on our incorporation and how it might affect you, please do not hesitate to call me on ph 0419 009 721 or email goldingp@optusnet.com.au.

Peter Golding
Secretary – Moonee Valley Cricket Club