Carraig Tennis Club
Constitution and Rules
The Club, established in 1982, is called Carraig Tennis Club
The club house and premises are the property of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) and Carraig Tennis Club has a lease agreement with DLRCC for the management of the club. This agreement is administered by three trustees who are members of the club
The objectives of the Club are:
(a) To maintain the Club premises at Rockfield Park, Blackrock.
(b) To promote, improve, develop and support the interests of tennis;
(c) To provide such other benefits to its members as it shall think fit;
(d) To maintain affiliation to Tennis Ireland (T.I.)
(e) To do all such other things as the Management Committee thinks fit to further the
interests of the Club, to advance and safeguard the interests of the Game, to promote
increases in participation at all levels of the Game.
4. Application of Surplus Funds
4.1 The Club is a non-profit-making organisation. The income and property of the Club shall be applied solely towards promoting the Club’s facilities and in furtherance of the Club’s objects as set forth in these Rules. No portion thereof shall be paid or transferred, directly or indirectly, to the Members of the Club.
4.2 Nothing in Clause 4.1 shall prevent the Club from entering an agreement with a member for the supply by him to the Club of goods or services or for his employment by the Club, provided that such arrangements are approved by the Management Committee (without the member being present) and are agreed with the member on an arm’s length basis.
5. Membership
5.1 Eligibility for membership
5.1.1 Persons of either sex are eligible for membership of the Club provided they are at least 18 years old. No person shall be denied membership of the Club on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, creed, colour, age, disability, sex, occupation, sexual orientation, religion, political or other beliefs.
5.1.2 Persons below the age of 18 may be elected as Junior Members without the right to hold office or vote at general meetings.
5.1.3 The number of Members shall be determined by the management Committee.
5.2 Admission of Members
Any person who wishes to become a Member must submit an application in such form as the Management Committee shall decide. Every candidate for membership shall be considered by the Management Committee, which shall, in its absolute discretion, decide whether to admit that candidate as a Member
5.3 Classes of Members
5.3.1 There shall be the following classes of members for the Club:
Full Member
Student Member
Junior Member
5.3.2 Only Full Members shall be entitled to receive notice of, attend and vote at general meetings. A Member other than a Full Member shall be entitled to all the other privileges of membership relevant to that class of membership but shall not have the right to receive notice of, attend and vote at general meetings.
5.4 Conditions of membership
5.4.1 Each member (of each class) agrees as a condition of membership:
(A) to be bound by and subject to the rules of the Club
(B) to be bound by and subject to the Rules of T.I.
5.4.2 The Management Committee may subject to Clause 7 terminate the membership of any person, or impose any other sanction it determines to be appropriate, in connection with the breach of any condition of membership set out in this rule.
5.5 Subscriptions
5.5.1 The annual subscription for each type of Member shall be determined from time to time by the Management Committee.
5.5.2 No candidate who has been elected a Member shall be entitled to the privileges of membership until he has paid his annual subscription.
5.5.3 Any Member whose renewal subscription is not paid in three months shall be deemed to have resigned his membership of the Club.
6.1 A Member may withdraw from membership of the Club at a month’s notice.
6.2 Membership is not transferable.
7.1 Subject to the remaining provisions of this rule, the Management Committee shall have power to refuse membership or expel a Member if it in its sole discretion determines that it would be in the interests of the Game or of the Club to do so.
7.2 A Member shall not be expelled unless he is given 14 days’ written notice of the meeting of the Management Committee at which his expulsion shall be considered and written details of the complaint made against him.
7.3 The Member shall be given an opportunity to appear before the Management Committee to answer complaints made against him. The member must not be expelled unless at least two-thirds of the Management Committee then present vote in favour of his expulsion.
7.4 The Management Committee may exclude the Member from the Club’s premises until the meeting considering his expulsion has been held. For the avoidance of doubt, the member shall be entitled to attend that meeting for the purpose of making his representations.
8. Effect of Resignation or Expulsion
Any person ceasing to be a Member forfeits all right to and claim upon the Club, its property and its funds and he has no right to the return of any part of his subscription.
The Management Committee may refund an appropriate part of a resigning Member’s subscription if it considers it appropriate taking account of all the circumstances
9.1. The Club shall be managed by a Management Committee consisting of 3 officers, 2 captains and up to 4 other members.
9.1.1. The officers will be:
(a) the Chairperson;
(b) the Secretary
(e) the Treasurer;
9.1.2 There shall be a Ladies captain and a Men’s captain.
9.1.3 The members of the Management Committee may exercise all of the powers of the Club for the purposes of the management of the Club.
9.2 The Club agrees that each member of the Management Committee will be required, as a condition of election or appointment, to agree to be bound by and subject to these rules, the rules and regulations of Carraig Tennis Club.
9.3 The Secretary shall each year invite nominations for the election of members of the Management Committee in the place of those retiring. Those persons proposed to be nominated as members of the Management Committee to fill any vacancies that have arisen must be nominated by any two Full and their names must be submitted to the Secretary one month before the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
No Member may nominate more than one candidate for any one vacancy.
9.4 Any person nominated as a member of the Management Committee must be a Full Member.
9.5 Any person nominated for any of the 3 officer positions or for either of the captaincy positions cannot be a member of another tennis club.
9.6 Any person nominated for any of the 3 officer positions should be a committee member (past or present).
9.7 The Management Committee members shall be proposed, seconded and elected by ballot at the annual general meeting. Election to the Management Committee shall be for three years. One-third, (or if their number is not three or a multiple of three, the number nearest to one-third) of the members of the Management Committee shall retire annually but shall be eligible for re-election, the members so retiring being those who have been longest in office. Any other committee member wishing to retire should give one month’s notice to the Secretary of the Management Committee.
9.8 If there is only one candidate nominated to fill any particular vacancy, that candidate shall be declared elected unopposed for that particular vacancy at the next annual general meeting. If there is more than one candidate for any particular vacancy there shall be an election at the annual general meeting for that position. In the event of a tie, the candidate to be elected shall, unless the candidates otherwise agree, be determined by lot.
9.9 In addition to the members elected or appointed in accordance with this Rule 9, the Management Committee may co-opt up to 2 further Members who shall serve until the next annual general meeting. Co-opted members shall be entitled to vote at the meetings of the Management Committee
9.10 The Management Committee may appoint any Member to fill any casual vacancy on the Management Committee until the next annual general meeting when that person shall retire but shall be eligible for re-election.
9.11 If an officer or captaincy position falls vacant, it shall be filled by election by the committee.
9.12 Retiring members of the Management Committee may be re-elected.
9.13 A member of the Management Committee shall be deemed to have vacated office if:
(a) he becomes bankrupt or makes any arrangement or composition with his creditors generally; or
(b) a registered medical practitioner who is treating that person gives a written opinion to the Management Committee stating that that person has become physically or mentally incapable of acting as a member of the Management Committee;
(c) he resigns his office by notice to the Club; or
(d) he shall without sufficient reason for more than three consecutive meetings of the Management Committee have been absent without notification to the Management Committee;
(e) he is suspended from holding office or from taking part in any activity relating to the administration or management of the Club by a decision of T.I.;
(f) he is requested to resign by not less than two-thirds of the other Management Committee members acting together.
9.14 Any person accepting election or nomination to the Management Committee who has any financial interest in the Game must, before such election or nomination, state in writing to the Club all such interests. Failure to do so will lead to automatic disqualification from Management Committee membership. The Management Committee has the right to veto such an election if, in its opinion, it is not in the best interests of the Club.
10. Proceedings of the Management Committee
10.1 Management Committee meetings shall be held as often as the Management Committee thinks fit provided that there shall not be less than 5 meetingseach year. The quorum for such meetings shall be 5 members. The Chairperson and the Secretary shall have discretion to call emergency meetings of the Management Committee if they consider it to be in the interests of the Club.
10.2 Unless he is unwilling to do so, the Chairperson shall preside at every meeting of the Management Committee at which he is present. But if there is no person holding that office or if the Chairman is unwilling to preside or is not present within ten minutes after the time appointed for the meeting, the Secretary shall preside. If there is no Secretary or if he is unwilling to preside, of if he is not present within ten minutes after the time appointed for the meeting, the members of the Management Committee present may appoint one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.
10.3 Decisions of the Management Committee shall be made by a simple majority and in the event of an equality of votes the Chairperson shall have a casting or additional vote.
10.4 The Management Committee may from time to time appoint from among its number such sub-committees as it considers necessary and may delegate to them such powers and duties of the Management Committee as the Management Committee may determine. All sub-committees shall periodically report their proceedings to the Management Committee and shall conduct their business in accordance with the directions of the Management Committee.
10.5 The Management Committee shall be responsible for the management of the Club and shall have the sole right of appointing and determining the terms and conditions of service of employees of the Club. The Management Committee shall have power to enter into contracts for the purposes of the Club on behalf of all the Members.
10.6 The members of the Management Committee shall be entitled to an indemnity out of the assets of the Club for all expenses and other liabilities properly incurred by them in the management of the affairs of the Club.
11.1 The annual general meeting of the Club shall be held at such time as the Management Committee shall decide each year to transact the following business:
(a) to receive the Chairman’s report of the activities of the Club during the previous year;
(b) to receive and consider the accounts of the Club for the previous year, the Honorary Treasurer’s report as to the financial position of the Club;
(c) to elect the members of the Management Committee;
(d) to decide on any resolution which may be duly submitted in accordance with Rule 11.2 below;
(e) to deal with any other matters which the Management Committee desires to bring before the membership.
11.2 Notice of any resolution proposed to be moved at the annual general meeting shall be given in writing to the Secretary not less than 10 days before the meeting.
11.3 No period greater than fifteen months shall elapse between one annual general meeting and the next.
12. Extraordinary general meetings
An extraordinary general meeting may be called at any time by the Management Committee and shall be called within 21 days of receipt by the Secretary of a requisition in writing signed by not less than 50 members stating the purposes for which the meeting is required and the resolutions proposed. If an extraordinary general meeting is called after receipt of a Members’ requisition the only business to be transacted at that meeting shall be the resolutions proposed in the requisition. If a Members’ requisitioned meeting is not called before the expiry of a period of 21 days commencing on the date of the request, the Members requisitioning the meeting may call the meeting at any time before the expiry of two months commencing on the date of that request.
13. Procedures at the annual and extraordinary general meetings
13.1 The Secretary shall inform each Member at his last known address/email notice of the date, time and place of the general meeting together with the resolutions to be proposed and, in the case of an annual general meeting, the names of the persons proposed to be elected as members of the Management Committee for the ensuing year at least 21 days before the meeting. The accidental failure to give notice to any person entitled to notice, or the accidental omission of any such details in any notice, shall not invalidate the proceedings at the meeting.
13.2 The Chairperson shall preside at all AGM and EGM meetings of the Club but if he is not present within [15] minutes after the time appointed for the meeting or has signified his inability to be present at the meeting, the Members present [and entitled to vote] may choose one of the other members of the Management Committee present to preside and if no other member of the Management Committee is present or willing to preside the Members present [and entitled to vote] may choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.
14.1 Any Member may introduce guests to the Club provided that no one whose application for membership has been declined or who has been expelled from the Club may be introduced as a guest.
14.2 The Member introducing a guest and any person introduced as a guest of the Management Committee in accordance with the Rules of the Club must enter the name and address of the guest together with the name of the introducer in a book which must be kept on the Club’s premises.
14.3 No one may be admitted as a guest on more than four occasions in any calendar year.
The Club is open at such times and for such periods as the Management Committee shall decide.
16. Regulations and Standing Orders
The Management Committee shall have power to make, repeal and amend such Rules and Regulations as it may from time to time consider necessary for the wellbeing of the Club. Such rules and regulations and any repeals or amendments to them shall have effect until set aside by the Management Committee.
.
17.1 All moneys payable to the Club shall be received by the person authorised by the Management Committee to receive such moneys and shall be deposited in a bank account in the name of the Club. No sum shall be drawn from that account except by the authority of two of the three signatories. Any moneys not required for immediate use may be invested as the Management Committee in its discretion thinks fit.
17.2 The income and property of the Club shall be applied only in furtherance of the objects of the Club and no part thereof shall be paid by way of bonus, dividend or profit to any Member.
17.3 The Management Committee shall have power to authorise the payment of remuneration and expenses to any officer, member of the Management Committee, Member or employee of the Club and to any other person or persons for services rendered to the Club.
17.4 Full accounts of the financial affairs of the Club shall be prepared each year.
17.5 The accounts must be made available to every Member at the AGM.
18 Property
18.1 The property of the Club, other than cash at the bank, shall be vested in the Management Committee. They shall deal with the property as directed by resolution of the Management Committee and entry in the minute book shall be conclusive evidence of such a resolution.
19 Notices
19.1 The Club can send, make available or supply any notice, ballot paper, accounts, document, or other information by personal delivery, by posting it to the intended recipient’s usual address, by sending it or supplying it in electronic form to an address notified by the intended recipient to the Club or by making it available on a website and notifying the intended recipient of its availability in accordance with this rule.
19.2 If any notice or other information is left by the Club at the intended recipient’s usual address, it is treated as being received on the day it was left.
19.3 If any notice or other information is sent by the Club by post, it is treated as being received 2 days after it was posted. In proving that any notice or other information was received, it is sufficient to show that the envelope was properly addressed and put into the postal system with postage paid.
19.4 If any notice or other information was sent using electronic means, it is treated as being received on the day it was sent. In the case of notices or other information available on a website, the notice or other information is treated as being received on the day on which it was made available on the website or, if later, the day on which the notice of availability is treated as being received by the intended recipient in accordance with this rule.
20.1 A resolution to dissolve the Club shall be proposed only at an extraordinary general meeting and shall be passed only if carried by a majority of at least three-quarters of the Members present and voting.
20.2 The dissolution shall take effect from the date of the resolution and the members of the Management Committee shall be responsible for the winding-up of the assets and liabilities of the Club.
21. Changes to Constitution
Any changes to the constitution must be ratified by an AGM or an EGM.
