Bowls North Harbour Constitution requiring a Clearance Certificate

  • February 6, 2018

To All Clubs and Players:

Urgent and Important

On 27 November 2017 we wrote to Clubs to stress the importance of obtaining clearance certificates for ALL players (including dual members) applying to join them BEFORE admitting those players as members.

Subsequently, the Board was asked to find a practical solution to address past breaches, the details and number of which are unknown.

After carefully considering all of the issues and also after seeking input, legal and from Bowls NZ, the Board passed the following at its meeting held on Thursday, 1 February 2018.

That:

  1. An amnesty be granted to all Member Clubs of Bowls North Harbour which prior to 31 August 2016 breached the relevant Clause 9.4 in the Bowls North Harbour Constitution requiring a Clearance Certificate to be provided before any player is admitted to membership. The consequence will be that the players concerned will be treated as having been properly admitted as members of those clubs. 
  1. All member clubs be required to obtain Clearance Certificates by 31 May 2018 for all players (whether they resigned from, or retained their then existing memberships) who applied to join them between 1 September 2016 and 27 November 2017, the date of the Centre’s advice to clubs about this requirement. Those clubs and players to be granted a temporary amnesty until 31 May 2018. 
  1. The requirement for a club to require a clearance certificate before a player who is, or who has been, a member of another club is admitted to its membership be strictly enforced for membership applications received after 27 November 2017. 
  1. Clubs be advised to revise their membership application forms to include the following clause:

“An applicant for membership who is, or who has been, a member of another club is required to include a Clearance Certificate from that club with this Application Form. An application for membership will not be considered if a Clearance Certificate is not attached.”

It is essential that Clubs, and Players who were admitted to dual membership of a Club without a Clearance Certificate from 1 September 2016, take immediate action to ensure that this omission is rectified and certainly before 31 May 2018.

We also strongly recommend that Clubs amend their membership applications in accordance with Item no. 4 above.

A summary of the reasoning behind these decisions is attached to the Board Minutes of 1 February 2018.