CurlManitoba Reports Negative Financial Situation, Rules Changes, & a Proposal for Changing the Club Affiliation Process

Saturday Jun 05 2010

CurlManitoba Names Four Honourary Life Members

CurlManitoba has named Past President Rose Neufeld and three other dedicated servants of the sport of curling in Manitoba as Honoourary Life Members of the organization.

Neufeld, a former Manitoba Mixed champion, has served on the Board of Directors of the amalgamated Manitoba Curling Association and more recently CurlManitoba. She is an active provincial and national level official. She was a proud and active member of the Valour Road Curling Club and has been an integral part of the organizing committee for the Manitoba Lotteries Women’s Curling Classic at the Fort Rouge Curling Club.

The other three curling volunteers who have also been named HLM’s are Jean Garbolinsky, Minnedosa; Lorne Gregorash, Assiniboine Memorial; and Dave Petursson, Charleswood.

Garbolinsky is a former Manitoba Senior Women’s champion but more importantly is recognized for many years of service to the Minnedosa Curling Club and to the provincial association, both the amalgamated Manitoba Curling Association and more recently CurlManitoba.

Petursson has been as an active junior and women’s coach with provincial championship experience. More significantly he is Manitoba’s senior provincial official whose relationship with the competitors displays a fair but firm decision making ability. He has been the Head Official for many years at the Safeway Championship. He has also worked numerous Grand Slam, National and International championship events. He was named Sport Manitoba’s Official of the Year for 2009.

Gregorash is a friendly giant of a man who has been a very active volunteer with Brandon and Winnipeg major events, bringing professional experience as a Police Officer to the necessary but difficult responsibility of event security.

Pictured (l-r) are Past-President Jim Strath, Dave Petursson, Lorne Gregorash, Rose Neufeld, and 2010-11 CurlManitoba President Cindy Maddock.
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BUSINESS: CurlManitoba has reported an accumulated deficit of nearly $300,000 over the past six years including a deficit of over $60,000 on operations for the past year.

In her report to the AGM in Winnipeg, Saturday, June 5, Finance Committee Chair Sharon Thiessen-Woods advised that the greatest area of concern continues to be championships and qualifying events. “We rely on the surpluses generated by these public events to fund the development and administration of our sport. Despite aggressive review and reduction of expenditures in our major events, with declining registrations in events and changes in sponsorship during the year, we have not accumulated enough revenue to support the grassroots programs we have,” Thiessen-Woods stated in her circulated Finance Committee Report.

Specifically, the report noted the Safeway Championship which experienced a 42% decline in surplus and MCA Men’s Bonspiel, which experienced a 37% decline in surplus as major examples.

Going forward, another factor which is having a major impact on CurlManitoba funding is the fact that under Sport Manitoba’s funding model, curling has dropped from #7 to somewhere below #15 among sports in the province.

RULES: The meeting also learned about a number of mostly administrative changes to competition rules. Reporting on behalf of Development Director Elaine Owen, Executive Director Shane Ray reported the word spare has disappeared from the Manitoba rules and that the formula for purchase of competitor cards will change in regard to Bonspiels with Berths.

• Team-named fifths will be allowed at any CurlManitoba competition (including the MCA Men’s and CurlManitoba Women’s bonspiels). A team will only have to buy four competitor clubs.
• Referring to those bonspiels which a team can enter but only eligible teams may advance to provincial championships, teams will NOT be required to purchase a competitor card until such time as they are awarded the provincial berth. ALL other eligibility requirements must be met before the beginning of the event in order for the tam to advance.
The question of status of whether one or more competitor cards will be required in Manitoba next season could not be answered as it will be a subject of discussion at the CCA’s National Curling Conference in two weeks time.

AFFILIATION: In regard to the system of affiliation for clubs within Manitoba, a Board of Directors committee has addressed the considerable inequities which exist in the affiliation fees paid by curling clubs in Manitoba.

As examples, the committee’s report highlighted three 5-sheet clubs in Manitoba whose greatest difference lies in the population base from which they can draw members.
• Snow Lake (40 curlers, 837 population): Fee = $26.40 per curler
• Morden (300 curlers, 6,500 population): Fee = $3.50 per curler
• Winnipeg-Victoria (720 curlers, 500K population): Fee = $2.15

The committee’s recommendations as approved by the Board of Directors are:
• The Affiliation Fee Committee recommends that the Board of Directors approve in principle: That the CurlManitoba affiliation fees be changed to a combination of a fee to the facility and on an individual membership fee, effective for the 2011-12 season at the earliest.
• The Committee will seek final approval on the CurlManitoba affiliation fee structure and rates upon completion of further analysis and review:
1) Facility Fee – as to whether it should be the same for all facilities or vary taking into account different variable such as, but not limited to, population, location and number of sheets of ice.
2) Individual membership fee: (definition as to) who the membership fee will be applied to and be assessed AND (definition as to) whether the fee will be the same or variable based on the definition above.
• The committee will also examine and recommend on other categories of membership (affiliation) with CurlManitoba.

ELECTIONS: Cindy Maddock (Morden), who served for the past year as Vice-President, has assumed the presidency of CurlManitoba for the 2010-11 season.

Sam Antila-Thompson has replaced Rae Hainstock as the designated member of the Board of Directors from the Norman Region..

Bill Biehl-Heather, Rob Van Kommer-Carberry, and Resby Coutts-Morris/Fort Rouge have been elected to the Board of Directors. The terms of Directors Al Friesen, Rose Neufeld, Phyllis Madigan and Rae Hainstock ended with the 2010 Annual General Meeting. IN the Board election, Resby Coutts was elected Vice-President for the coming year.

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