some of you may be aware of the dysfunctional nature of cycling wa at the present time.  in the past few months the chairman and two other board members have resigned along with the ceo and other staff members from the office. 

most of this came about from a definite challenge to the identified direction that cycling in wa needed to go and a want to head back to the old school ways of racing being the be all and end all of cycling.  there has also been a recommendation from certain clubs to change the constitution to not allow clubs like ours to have any voting rights within cycling wa as we do not currently hold any race events. 

how this is meant to encourage more people to ride is quite unknown to most of us and looks to pigeonhole cycle racing to an even more elitist sport.  i think our club offers more than just racing and even though that aspect has been growing, there are riders that we have that would not have ever got a licence if we didn’t become a club.  there are many people out there riding every weekend that do not have any cycling licence and are just part of a coffeeshop/bike shop ride. 

a report commissioned by the dsr found that cycling wa has about 1,500 members but on a daily basis there are about 65,000 people in perth that ride a bike.  even more so there are about 250,000 people over the age of 15 that ride at least once a year.  there is a huge untapped market out there and we should be doing everything to try to encourage these people to find a home amongst the clubs around perth and country wa.  part of the direction that has been recommended for cycling wa and cycling australia as a whole is to combine the road/track cycling with mtb and bmx bringing all the sports under one umbrella.  the direction that the board wants to take cycling in this state would certainly not include those aspect of bicycling.  at the agm, one delegate even challenged the perth mtb clubs eligibility to vote as he said that “it is not real cycling”.  i really hope he told cadel evans that when he was over here in perth recently.

so were does that bring us now. 

the constitution of cycling wa allows for the removal of any or all board members if 75% of the affiliated clubs sign a resolution to do so.  with 19 clubs in wa this meant that 15 clubs needed to sign in order for this to take affect.  this was not an easy task as some of the board members have very, very close ties with certain clubs and therefore would not sign the resolution.  other clubs were reluctant to sign as there was no clear direction as to what would happen to cycling in wa afterwards.  this is a fair point and some work was done to make sure a fair and honest approach to re-electing a board was put into place.  unfortunately there is nothing in the current constitution to allow for this as it assumes that there would only be a few vacancies at any time.  as such a special meeting needs to be held to change the constitution to permit both the dsr and cycling australia to appoint a new board.  this board would be made up of people not directly involved in the day to day running of clubs but rather people that would want to work to see cycling as a whole grow in wa.

so on christmas eve, the required 15 signatures were acquired and the resolution was passed onto the appropriate bodies.  i did sign on behalf of spcc after discussion with the committee and what options we and cycling in general really had.  the recent agm was further proof of the deterioration of relationships across the entire state affiliation.  our right to vote was also challenged based on a payment of affiliation fees which were waived by the board based on the fact that there were not may months left in the finacial year.  this is not the first time that our rights have been challenged but really all it shows is that certain people are jealous of what we have achieved and scared of losing their members to a club like ours.

as expected the three remaining board members did not accept the resolution and dismissed it as invalid.  they took a further step to try to keep things going and called meetings to change the constitution (as previously mentioned) and hold meetings to appoint new board members.  for those that do not know the process, the clubs vote on who becomes a board member but only after the current board receives the nominations and recommends the candidates.  even if the clubs reject a candidate they can still get in on appeal and one of the remaining three board members did get on via that process.  so what this really means is that the board can effectively fill the vacant positions with like minded individuals rather than providing a cross-section of experience.

with a challenge on and cycling australia powerless to intervene, it asked the dsr to check the validity of the resolution.  there was some speculation that the resolution was signed by people that didn’t have the correct authorisation.  the board claimed that some clubs were mislead into signing and others have withdrawn their signature.  this was circulated to all the clubs and had the effect of causing confusion as to what was actually going on.  there were meetings planned by the board and meetings planned by those attempting to remove the board as well as the race management meetings to elect new board members.  a letter was sent out from the ceo of cycling australia that reiterated the fact that they are constitutionally powerless to rule on these matters.  they were however willing to help if requested by the membership to assist in working through the current situation.

while i was watching the national crit race in ballarat, i received a phone call from the dsr asking if i was the president of the south perth club, did i sign the resolution and did i still support that resolution.  yes, yes and yes. 

tonight i received a further letter from the ceo of cycling australia in reference to the current resolution.  this time it stated that the dsr had checked with all 15 clubs and was satisfied that the resolution was valid and therefore the current board members have been dismissed.  it also supported the special general meeting to be held which would make changes to the constitution to allow the dsr and cycling australia to appoint a new board.

the general meeting is to be held this saturday and as i am still on holidays, brendan will be going as vice-president holding the proxy vote.  hopefully this will mean that cycling wa can move ahead and be progressive in how it views cycling in this state.

i know that this may be all new to some of you, and you may not think that any of this would affect you.  quite possibly this may be true, but what i may have meant is that cycling as a whole would not actually grow and that massive untapped market out there would stay untapped.

how that may affect our club moving forward is unclear at this time.  the general running of training rides should not be affected so for most it will be business as usual.  there may be some issues with the running of races, as one of the outgoing board members has very, very close ties with the commisaires that officiate the open road races we enter.  the finalisation of the race calendar and the general running of events may the biggest issues that we face.  as such, there will be a number of races that we need to support in order to keep the sport going and to show that our club is here to stay.  so over the next few months, keep an eye on the website and we will actively promote the events that we feel will be important to the growth of cycling in wa.

the more important thing that you can do is encourage some of those 50,000 other people (commuters, triathletes, mtb, etc) out there that are riding to come along and see what we can offer them as a club.  remember when you used to ride by yourself and how much more enjoyable the experience is now you ride with a group.  we need to do what we can to grow the sport so that it can find a stable and successful place in perth.

thanks

peter – president south perth cycle club