Basis of a Club Constitution

A Club constitution is a document that defines a framework under which the club operates or should be operated. It should be a compass and a standard for all situations and eventualities that the club might find itself in and how the affairs of the club should be conducted.

It defines a best practise within which the interests of democracy and integrity are consistently upheld. It defines rules to govern committee boundaries to maximize committee performance and thus maintain and maximize club performance.

Background

The Club has been operating under a limited set of rules since its inception and the inadequacy of these rules became obvious during the course of the 2004 AGM with the proposal to the incoming committee to look at and form a proper club constitution for approval by its members. This was presented during the 2005 AGM and after the discussion of a few motions of amendments and attention being drawn to some missing details, the broad consensus was that it should go back for further study, should be reviewed by the club solicitor and some benchmarking be completed.

The Club Solicitor was consulted. Two Constitutions of 2 very reputable and established sports clubs were consulted. Sundays Well & Kinsale Golf Club.

The constitution as presented in the 2005 AGM was noted as missing provisions in the following general areas:

Trustees / Disciplinary Procedures / Junior Management

Following a review with the other clubs, other areas were noted as having gaps and no inadequate listed control mechanism in our framework.

Changes to Constitution / Regulations governing Meeting Management / Financial Management /Subscriptions /Visitors. etc

The committee takes the development and approval of the constitution very seriously as should all its members. To that end the discussion of the document and its provisions should engage the maximum number of the membership.