CONSTITUTION

The Constitution of the RNZN Rugby Football Club is as follows:

Name

1.The Club shall be known as the RNZN Rugby Football Club (hereinafter called 'the Club').

Objectives

2.The objectives for which the Club is established are to:

a.Regulate, promote and advance generally the interests of the game of amateur rugby football in the RNZN and the wider community;
b.Select, coach and manage teams in the North Harbour Rugby Union;
c.Use the funds of the Club as the Club may consider necessary or proper in payment of the costs and expenses incurred in furthering or carrying out any of the objectives of the Club;
d.Subscribe to, become a member of, and co-operate with, any other society or club whose objectives are similar to those of this Club and to communicate with that other society or club in the attainment of these objectives;
e.Arrange and conduct all types of events for the benefit of the Club to raise funds in the attainment of these objectives;
f.Liase and co-ordinate activities with and within the RNZN in the attainment of these objectives;
g.Communicate with the NZ Combined Services Sports Council and the Naval Command Sports and Recreation Council as required in the attainment of these objectives;
h.Purchase, hire or otherwise acquire any equipment or other assets necessary for the furtherance of these objectives; and
i.Do all such things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objectives.

Affiliation

3.The Club is by definition a Junior Club and will be affiliated to the North Shore RFC (NSRFC), a senior club, under the North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU) Constitution, Clause 15.3. The agreed terms of the affiliation are provided for in a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Club and the NSRFC.

4.The agreed MOU is to be reviewed by the club at each AGM for submission to amend, as deemed necessary by the club, any elements of the terms agreed within.

5.The Club duly recognises that the Kaukapakapa Presidents grade team, having had previous club status, have undertaken a longstanding arrangement to ‘sub-affiliate’ to the Club by prior approved AGM. As such, members of the Kaukapakapa team are afforded full membership to the club in accordance with this constitution.

6.The Kaukapakapa Presidents grade team shall be known as the KKK Cowboys.

Membership

7.Club membership shall be open to any person (s) who commits themselves to the Vision, Mission, Values and guiding principles of the Club.

Proportion of Members

8.The proportion of club membership shall be maintained at 51% and above for serving members of the RNZN; all other classes of membership shall not exceed 49%.

9.If this ratio iaw paragraph 8 falls below 51%, only serving members of the RNZN shall be admitted to the club until the ratio is restored.

Registered Members

10.Each member shall be registered in accordance with the rules of the North Harbour Rugby Union.

Life Membership

11.The Management Committee of the Club may, as recognition of outstanding services to the Club, recommend to the Annual General Meeting the election of a member as a life member of the Club who shall be exempt from paying the annual subscription, but shall be bound by all other rules.

Election of New Members

12.New members shall be admitted to the Club on payment of a membership fee (annual subscription) and on approval by a majority of the Club Committee.

13.No new member shall be admitted if the ratio in Article “Proportion of Members” paragraph 8 is contravened, iaw paragraph 9.

Annual Subscription

14.Every member shall by 15 April each year pay to the Club an annual subscription. The annual subscription fee is to be reviewed and determined by the committee at each AGM. Failure by any member to pay the annual subscription renders the member liable to termination of membership by a majority vote of the Club Committee.

Resignation of Members

15.Any member may resign from his/her membership by giving to the Secretary notice in writing to that effect. Every such notice shall, unless otherwise expressed, take effect as from the end of the calendar month then current.

16.Any member desiring to transfer to another rugby club shall notify the Secretary in writing. The Management Committee may grant clearance to transfer after satisfying itself that outstanding subscriptions are paid.

Expulsion of Members

17.The Club may at any time by letter invite any member within a specified time to resign for breach by him/her of these rules and in default of withdrawal to submit the question of his/her expulsion to a general meeting to be held within three calendar months from the date of that letter; at that meeting the member whose expulsion is under consideration shall be allowed to offer an explanation orally or in writing (or both); if thereupon two-thirds of the members present vote for his/her expulsion he/she shall forthwith (without releasing him/her from any antecedent liability to the Club) cease to be a member. Voting at that meeting shall be by ballot if so demanded by not less than five members.

Annual General Meeting

18.The Annual General Meeting shall be held in the month of October in every year upon a date and at a time and place to be fixed by the Chairperson, or in his/her default, absence or inability, the Committee for the following purposes:

a.To receive from the Committee a report, balance sheet and statement of accounts for the preceding year and an estimate of the receipts and expenditure for the following year;
b.To fill the vacancies in the Committee; and
c.To decide on any resolution which may be duly submitted to the meeting.

Special General Meeting

19.The Chairperson or, in his/her absence or inability, any other member of the Committee, may at any time for any special purpose call a special general meeting and he/she shall do so forthwith upon the requisition in writing of any 10 members stating the purposes for which the meeting is required.

Ordinary General Meeting

20.An ordinary general meeting may be held from calendar month to calendar month at such times and places as the Chairperson, or in his/her absence or inability, any other member of the Committee may direct, for the purposes of transacting the business of the Club and deciding upon such resolutions as are duly submitted to the meeting.

Notice of Business

21.Seven clear days before any general meeting a notice of that meeting and of the business to be transacted at it shall be sent to every member; no business other than that of which notice has been so given Shall be brought forward at that meeting.

Service of Notices

22.Every notice required to be given to a member shall be deemed to have been duly delivered if posted to them at their last known residential address or email.

Procedure at Meetings

23.At all general meetings the Chairperson and, in his/her absence, any other duly elected chairperson, shall take the chair and every member shall be entitled on every motion to one vote exercised in person by proxy or in writing and, in the case of an equality of votes, the Chairperson shall have a casting as well as a deliberative vote.

Quorum

24.At all general meetings 10 members shall constitute a quorum. Failure to meet the required quorum invalidates any decision of the general meeting.

Appointment of Officers

25.At every Annual General Meeting held, the Club shall elect by simple majority a Committee of the following officers and Committee persons:

a.President,
b.Vice President,
c.Secretary,
d.Treasurer,
e.Club Captain,
f.NHRU Delegate, and
g.five Committee persons, who shall hold office until retirement or removal from office or election of successors to office.

26.Either the President or Vice President of the Club must be a serving member of the RNZN.

Vacancies on Committee

27.The Committee shall have the power to appoint a member to fill any casual vacancy on the Committee until the next Annual General Meeting and any member so appointed shall retire at the next Annual General Meeting together with the rest of the Committee; all or any of the retiring Committee shall be eligible for re-election.

Duties of Committee

28.It shall be the duty of the Committee to:
a.Generally conduct the affairs of the Club;
b.Keep proper accounts of all Club gear and assets;
c.Closely monitor and verify the accounts of the Club;
d.Notify members of intended meetings and the business to be transacted at them; and
e.Submit to the Annual General Meeting a report, balance sheet, and statement of accounts for the preceding year.

29.Meetings of the committee may be convened by email at such times and places as the Chairperson or, in their absence, inability or refusal to act, the Secretary, may appoint. Six shall be the quorum, provided there is a simple majority of RNZN serving members and 1 President, Vice President or Secretary is present.

Control and Use of Funds

30.No part of the income or other funds of the Club is to be used or is available to be used for the pecuniary benefit of any member of the Club.

31.All monies received by or on behalf of the Club shall forthwith be paid to the credit of the Club, and all cheques drawn on the account shall be signed by two authorised signatories of the Club Account upon receipt in writing of the authority to make payment by the President or Secretary and the Treasurer.

Annual Audit

32.The accounts of the Club shall be subject to audit as a non public fund in accordance with NZBR 24, under the Commanding Officer, HMNZS PHILOMEL.

Colours

33.The colours of the Club shall be navy blue with royal blue pattern and white trim on the jersey. The RNZN RFC logo shall be on the left breast and PRS, Professional Resuscitation Services centred on the front. Shorts shall be navy blue with PRS logo embroidered on the right rear leg. Socks shall be navy blue with royal blue ‘swoosh’.

34.The colours for the Kaukapakapa Cowboys Presidents grade shall be black with red pattern and white trim on the jersey. The RNZN RFC logo shall be on the left breast and PRS, Professional Resuscitation Services centred on the front. Additionally, the KKK Cowboys logo shall be on the right breast and all numbers for all jerseys shall be No. 8. Shorts shall be black with PRS logo embroidered on the right rear leg. Socks shall be black with red ‘swoosh’.

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Priority of Claim

35.All playing members of the Club shall recognise the following priority of claim on members for matches:

a.International,
b.New Zealand representative,
c.Inter-island,
d.New Zealand representative trials,
e.Combined Services,
f.Service v provincial,
g.Provincial representative,
h.Other Services matches, and
i.Club matches.

Conflict of Rules

36.If any questions shall arise concerning any matter not provided for in these rules, the decision of the Management Committee shall be final, unless rescinded, or not upheld by a subsequent general meeting.

37.These rules will be read with and subject to the rules of the North Harbour Rugby Union. In all cases not herein provided, the rules of the Union shall apply.

Disposition of Surplus Assets

38.In the event of the Club being wound up, the surplus assets, after payment of the Club’s liabilities and the expenses of winding up, shall be transferred to the Naval Command Sports and Recreational Council for disposal at the discretion of the Commanding Officer, HMNZS PHILOMEL.

Regulations

39.No addition to or alteration of the rules shall be approved if it in any way affects the rules governing winding up or division of the profits.

40.The Committee may from time to time, by resolution in Committee meetings, make, amend or rescind regulations not inconsistent with these rules governing any Club procedure.

Interpretation

41.In these rules, except where a different intention appears:

a.'the Club Committee' means the duly elected Committee at the immediate previous Annual General Meeting charged with conducting the affairs of the Club; and
b.'President', 'Secretary', 'Treasurer' and 'Committeepersons' mean respectively, the President, Secretary, Treasurer and Committeepersons of the Club.

©Royal New Zealand Navy

Navy Rugby Football Club

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