31/1/2007 - Tony Winterton on Club Statutes

CLUB STATUTES.

As requested by Graham Marlow I append a few notes on Club Statutes.

Spain is divided into 17 regional communities, each with its own government and the control of sports is one of the activities that have been devolved to them. Lawn Bowling is played in two regions, Alicante which is under the jurisdiction of the Comunidad Valenciana whilst Almeria and Malaga come under the Junta de Andalucia.

The laws that govern sport are in Andalucía Law 6/1998 of the 14 December and Decree 7/2000 of the 24 January and in Valencia, Law 4/1993 of the 20 December and Law 1/2002 of the 22 March. The Decree 7/2000 and Law 1/2002 detail the basic requirements that must be included in all statutes which can be expanded to include other matters. All of these are available and can be downloaded on the internet.

The statutes cover:

1. Requisites for membership. 

2. Rights and obligations of members

3. Governing bodies

     a) The Annual General Meeting and its duties.

     b) The Management Committee and its duties.

     c) The President and his duties.

4 The economic regime (e.g. non profit making)

5. The records to be kept.

6. The authority to establish internal rules.

7. Procedure to change statutes.

8. Dissolution of the club.

9. Electoral procedure.

10. Motions of censure.

11. Disciplinary procedure to be applied.

12. Activities, agreements and challenging illegal activities.

 It is interesting to note that it is only in the Valencia statutes that there is a requirement that membership can be extended to aliens if they have applied for leave to extend their stay or have a “residencia”. As these have been abolished for members of the EEC in practice the only requirement generally expected (but not enforced) is that they should be registered on the “padron”. There is no such requirement in Andalucía.

It is a legal requirement for a club to be registered with the sports authorities and therefore they must adopt as a minimum, the statutes specified. .

 Let us therefore consider 3(a) above, The Annual General meeting and its duties. These are:

1. Elect the President and the Management Committee.
2. Approve internal rules as required and rules covering the election of officers, changes to these and also to the statutes.
3. Dispose of or mortgage the assets, borrow money, etc
4. Create services for the benefit of the members.
5. Consider motions of censure of the President and/or Management Committee.
6. Discuss and approve the annual report, balance sheet and profit and loss account.
7. Approve the budget for the ensuing year.
8. Be advised of, discuss and approve proposals submitted by the Management Committee or members who have given due notice.
9. Decide the conditions and requirements for the admission of new members and agree membership fees.  .  .
10.  Any other matter which is not the responsibility of the President or Management Committee.

These statutes are mandatory but assume that a club belongs to its members. In practice few clubs in Spain are such; most are commercial operations and although they have signed up to these statutes, some aspects are not adhered to, e.g. the fixing of membership fees etc. In order to remain within the law, it is better for the ownership of the facilities and the club be kept separate and dealt with by a financial agreement (lease, income sharing, and franchise) between the owner and the members club.

One of the matters that appear to be concerning members that should be dealt with by a club under (6), is disciplinary procedure. The Valencia statutes do not define them but indicate that failing to establish one will result in disciplinary matters being dealt with as disposed in Law 4/1993 of 20 September and Royal Decree 1591/1992 of 23 December.  However, the Andalucía detail them in full, as follows:

1. Members of a club can be sanctioned for not complying with the present statutes and other club rules or for infringement of agreements arrived at by its controlling bodies (AGM or management committee).
2. These sanctions can consist of an admonishment, partial or total suspension of his rights for a period proportional to the gravity of the offence or expulsion.
3. Expulsion will only be considered for very grave offences. Examples of these will be:

a)     When deliberately and repeatedly action is taken to impede or put obstacles in the club complying with its objects to its detriment.

b)     When intentionally and repeatedly the management of the club is obstructed and damaged.

c)      When the conduct of the member is considered to be especially blameworthy.

4. Sanctions will be imposed on members by the Management Committee, after a dossier has been considered and the member heard.
5. When the sanction is of expulsion, this must be ratified by the next A.G.M.
6. An appeal against the sanction can be made at the A.G.M.

Disciplinary procedure.

 1.      The President may instruct the Secretary, prior to the opening of a dossier, to investigate whether the matter is a disciplinary matter. In light of the Secretary’s report, the President will order the matter to be discontinued or the preparation of a dossier.

2.      Once the report is prepared the Secretary will send a copy to the member detailing the charges against him and giving him 15 days to respond.

3.      On receipt of the member’s reply and on expiry of the 15 day period the Secretary will pass the dossier to the Management Committee for them to take a decision which will require a two thirds majority in favour of an expulsion.

4.      The decision will be notified to the member advising him that he has 15 days in which to lodge an appeal to the A.G.M.

Extra judicial Conciliation.

In addition to the above there are provisions for settlement of disputes of a non- playing nature between members by a conciliation committee which broadly follows the procedures set out above.

FEDERATION. It should be noted that only misdemeanours on and off the green relating to a particular game can be referred to the Federation’s disciplinary committee.  The Federations are not empowered to intervene in any club administrative matters.

Finally some comments on “denuncias”. These we generally equate to denouncing a crime to the police such as a theft at your club. Matters between a member and the Committee are not crimes, but civil matters, so the police will not be interested. (They may take your report, pass it to the criminal court and some months later advise you that they have filed the complaint as it is not a criminal matter). Civil matters are best taken up with a lawyer who, if eventually necessary, will take it to a civil court.

Tony Winterton, Federation Liaison.

31 January 2007.