Minutes

of the

2010 Annual General Meeting

of the

Tokyo Gaijin Rugby Football Club

Date: 17th January 2010

Location: Hobgoblin Bar, Shibuya

Chair: Alaister Nimmo

Minutes: Andy Ballard

1 Election of the 2010 Team Officials

1.1 Team Administrator (prev. Jesse Cutler)

1.1.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Jesse is thanked most sincerely for his tireless work of 3 years.

Yoz Togo is nominated to take on the position. Yoz accepts, but can only fulfill the role after April.

Many of the tasks related to the Tokyo Cup must be completed before April, and Jesse is asked for clarification of those tasks:

1. Attend the first meeting of the TC

2. Receive the registration forms for the TC

3. Hand in the completed forms in the last week of March

4. Attend the ceremony for the opening of the season

5. Attend the ceremony for the closing of the season

6. Organise team helpers such as a referee, an assistant referee, a coach, a medic etc.

The strictness of the role was also emphasised, in particular a failure to be punctual could lead to the expulsion of a team.

1.1.2 Outcome

Alaister Nimmo will take on the role until April.

Yoz Togo will take on the role after April.

Yoz is promised assistance from Daisuke Ikegami, Ikuo Fukuda, Alaister Nimmo and Joffa Harris.

1.2 Team Manager (prev. Joffa Harris)

1.2.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Joffa is nominated and thanked for his work.

Joffa comments:

Please respond quickly to emails. If you are injured, please make an effort to communicate your status.

1.2.2 Outcome

Joffa Harris will continue the role.

1.3 Assistant Team Manager (prev. Blake Walker)

1.3.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Blake is nominated and thanked for his work.

1.3.2 Outcome

Blake Walker will continue the role.

1.4 Team Captain (prev. Murray Clarke)

1.4.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Nominations are Blake Walker, Tomo Togo, Andy Ballard, Alaister Nimmo, Matt Downer, Paulo Berriozabal

Blake and Tomo withdraw.

1.4.2 Outcome

Matt Downer will take on the role, emphasising his experience in the role role of vice captain and his lessons learned from Murray.

1.5 Vice Team Captain (prev. Matt Downer)

1.5.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Nominations are Alaister Nimmo, Hitoshi Chihara, Richard O’shea, Toby Gallagher, Toru Kanemori, Tomo Togo, Apisai Bati, Paulo Berriozabal.

1.5.2 Outcome

Tomo Togo will take on the role, suggesting that it is important to have a cool-headed fluent Japanese speaker in the role. Tomo has experience at being captain at many levels and although busy, he is committed to the team.

1.6 Sugadaira Tour Administrator (prev. Alaister Nimmo)

1.6.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Alaister is thanked for the organisation of the 2009 tour and nominated for the role.

1.6.2 Outcome

Alaister Nimmo will continue the role.

Blake Walker will assist Alaister.

1.7 IT Administrator (prev. Erin Hughes, Mauro Sauco)

1.7.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Erin and Mauro are nominated for the roles.

1.7.2 Outcome

Erin Hughes and Mauro Sauco will continue the role.

1.8 Treasurer (prev. Dave Kelver)

1.8.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Dave and Blake Walker are nominated.

1.8.2 Outcome

Dave Kelver will continue the role after April.

Blake Walker will perform the role until April, and assist Dave after April.

1.9 Overseas Tour Organiser (prev. Lonnie Childress, Chris Lucas)

1.9.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Lonnie is thanked for organisation of the tour and of fund-raising events for the tour. Lonnie and Aaron Nutsford are nominated. Aaron’s continuing work towards a Seoul-Tokyo exchange tour is recognised and praised.

1.9.2 Outcome

Lonnie Childress will continue the role.

The team will continue to support Aaron Nutsford as organiser of the Seoul-Tokyo exchange tour.

1.10 Social Secretary (prev. Mauro Sauco)

1.10.1 Discussion and Candidacy

Alaister Nimmo questions the need for a formal role. Social events should be regarded on an Ad Hoc basis, and the natural organiser for any given social event will be probably evident.

1.10.2 Outcome

The role is abolished.

2 Matters Arising

2.1 Creation of a Sponsorship Team

Tomo Togo suggests the creation of a team of about 4 people to work on new team sponsorship. The duties to include:

• Creating an attractive package to present to potential sponsors to detail what benefits they can expect from sponsoring the team

• Choosing and investigating target businesses

Tomo Togo, Lonnie Childress, Andy Ballard and Hitoshi Chihara volunteer to form such a team.

Paulo Berriozabal explains the possibility of making an attractive sponsorship package in relation to the Seoul-Tokyo exchange tour. Should the tour be a success, then a large expansion could occur involving the best Tokyo teams (from several categories such as seniors, ladies, juniors) to challenge their Korean equivalents. This project has already attracted some interest from local organisers (Yamagen of the Shuto league) and big-hitting sponsors (DHL), and is a project that would probably attract the interest of the JRFU. He believes that success in this area would generate a lot of publicity for the team, making it more attractive to sponsors, and encourages the team to make a concentrated effort to help the project succeed.

2.2 Destination of the overseas tour

Alaister Nimmo suggests a reconsideration of the choice of overseas tour. Since the team has visited Manila many times, a different tour destination would be better.

Joffa Harris notes that Manila is a very well timed tour for people working in the Japanese school system.

2.3 Treasury

Dave Kelver reports that 15 members paid club fees at this meeting. He makes a treasurers statement:

Thanks to current club membership, overall finances are stable.

The worst situation is for people who have not paid fees to be playing in the Tokyo Cup. The Tokyo Cup costs around 400,000 Yen, so it is a very unjust situation.

Joffa Harris asks and is given permission to buy tackle pads and tackle bags. The storage of the equipment is recognised as a difficult issue.

2.4 Format of Training

Andy Ballard notes that due to the recent growth of the team, playing time on match days is, on average, decreasing. To counter the effect of this on fitness, he proposes that the team begins undertaking a fitness session after matches.

Andy also proposes that once a month at regular training, a specific technical area of the game is highlighted, and the two best teachers of that area are selected. The two teachers will devise drills and tutorials to try and raise the skill level of the rest of the team.

2.5 Training Ground

Joffa Harris notes that Futako Shinchi is becoming more crowded, and the available space is decreasing. He suggests that the search for a new ground begins.

Richard O’shea will investigate booking of the Futako Shinchi ground.

Apisai Bati will investigate booking a school rugby field 20 minutes from Shinjuku on the Saikyo line.

2.6 Recruitment

Alaister Nimmo observes that the current relative strength of TGRFC in comparison to YCAC and Crusaders RFC is due to the weakness of the financial market, from where the other foreign teams draw most of their members. He also questions whether we need to push ahead with a new ‘development’ competition team, given that there is little economy of scale (i.e. new team administrator and other difficult positions must be filled). Yoz Togo continues that there is little prospect of forming a new development since there are too many vacancies in key positions (namely the front row).

The topic shifts to that of general player recruitment, with Joffa Harris urging people to work together and put up posters in prominent positions. Dave Kelver suggests that the best target would be inside the stadium before and after national rugby matches, since most of the young people present at the matches would be rugby players themselves. Mike Tokue suggests advertising in the prestigious rugby university campuses.

2.7 Fund Raising

Lonnie Childress notes that there will be a fund raising event at the Hobgoblin pub in Shibuya during the SuperBowl (an important game of Armenian Football much enjoyed by the natives).

3 Attendance

Attendees (members):

Blake Walker, Warren Adamson, Toby Gallagher, Richard O’shea, Paulo Berriozabal, Mike Tokue, Lonnie Childress, Jo Iwasaki, Hitoshi Chihara, Yoshihiro Sato, Ikuo Fukuda, Daisuke Ikegami, Yoz Togo, Apisai Bati, Dave Kelver, Matt Downer, Joffa Harris, Charles Joffre, Junsuke (?), Alaister Nimmo, Jesse Cutler, Andy Ballard

(Non-members):

Hannah-Lyn Kochi, Shino Iwasaki, Lucie Fischmannova, Isaac Adamson