AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CEO & ALL TBA BOARD MEMBERS

SeanGothe

Member
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CEO & ALL TBA BOARD MEMBERS

This letter will also be posted on the Total Bowling website to enable the members with an interest in the sport to read it.


I will open by saying that the Board’s role is to represent the members of the TBA and grow its membership. It is not the plaything of one, two or three ‘Johnny Come Latelys’ who wouldn’t know a bowling ball from a Baseball bat.

Some people have been members of the ATBC / TBA for what is approaching 60 years. As a member since 1976 I have formed the opinion that the TBA now appears to be an organisation held together by government grants. This would be the opinion of any person capable of adding two figures together.

The figures below are taken directly from the 2019 Annual Report:

Expenses
Employee Benefits expense - $890,221 (up 47.4%)

Administration and Overheads - $100,582 (up 29.78%)
Governance and Meetings - $ 51,553 (up 358.28%)
Membership costs - $185,980 (down 17.07%)
Income
Registration Fees - $749,800 (up 24.18%)

Grants - $713,687 (up 122.85%)

5 years earlier in 2014 - Registrations were $603,777
Governance and Meetings $ 11,249
Employee benefits expense $570,310
Administration and Overheads $ 77,499
Grants $320,250
Membership Costs $224,284

I will dumb it down – Registration fees don’t cover the Employee Benefits expenses. This is farcical.

The more research I conduct the more worried I become.

The constitution states as follows:

15 Chief Executive Officer

Appointment and removal

15.1 The Directors may appoint a person to the office of Chief Executive Officer either for a fixed term or without limitation as to period of appointment but not for life, and may remove a person so appointed and appoint another instead.



Remuneration

15.2 The Directors will determine the terms of appointment including the remuneration of a Chief Executive Officer.

Powers

15.3 The Directors may confer on a Chief Executive Officer such of the powers conferred on the Directors by this Constitution, for such time, to be exercised for such purposes, on such terms and with such restrictions as they think fit and all or any of those powers may be conferred collaterally with but not to the exclusion of the powers of the Directors and may be revoked or varied by the Directors.

THE DIRECTORS may appoint a person to the Office of Chief Executive Officer.

Were all Directors of the Board actually given details of the candidates including their full CVs so they could do their job and evaluate the merits of all candidates?

OR was it an appointment made by possibly the Chair & Deputy Chair?

THE TBA has a Board for a reason. There are 8 members summarised below:

3 - Bowlers

2 - Bowling Centre affiliated individuals

2 – Make your own best guess

1 – Cricket background who once said the following to the ABC -
Involvement with bowling came as a bit of a surprise for the squad coach, Shane Bernhardt, who after coaching cricket and AFL has turned his hand to ten pin.

"I never really thought ten pin bowling was a sport, I thought it was the beer and skittles type thing on a Friday night, but I went along and watched them play ... and it really surprised me how much it is ... and how much technique is very, very important in the sport itself."

It is not exactly great but in all fairness he has stuck around for a while and made an effort to contribute and become better educated in regard to the sport.

So who actually made the appointment of Martin Stillman to the role of CEO?

IF the other Board members were not given the opportunity to be involved in the FULL selection process and were not given copies of all of the candidates CVs then I would expect severe action to be taken. I assume a no-confidence motion is an option for the Board.

The appointment of a CEO to any organisation is critical. This is probably even greater in an organisation which has lost 15 board members in only 42 months.


I was told on 19 November we would have a new CEO with a strong sporting background but no prior connection to bowling. That was 12 days prior to the announcement being made. It appears that I knew more than some of the Board. That in itself is disgraceful!

I have since wondered whether Martin Stillman is the son or nephew perhaps of former SA & VIC Shield cricketer and former Footscray & Essendon VFL footballer – Les Stillman. I still don’t know. I am sure we will find this out at some stage.

Now, there are a number of improvements I want made to the way the TBA operates. (Transparency would be good start):

Grants
– I want a break down of all grants and for what purpose they are awarded. Are they to top up the shortfall between Registration fees and Employee expenses? Somehow I think not.

Relationships – Full disclosure of any prior relationships IF THEY EXIST. We now have a Chair, CEO, 2 General Managers and a board appointed non bowling director all from Victoria. We are a National organisation.

Consultancy Fees – Full disclosure of any possible outside consulting fees paid by the TBA.

Membership Growth – I want to see projections of TBA membership growth for the next 1 ,3 & 5 years.

I don’t want to hear any garbage about the Constitution saying that financial matters are not disclosed to the membership. Was the constitution followed in regard to the appointment of the new CEO with all Board members involved and being adequately heard in the selection process? I would find it hard to be involved in the selection process for any position without the CVs of all the candidates in my hand.

Board Elections – I want to see the dates of when each board member is up for re-election on the website as soon as they are known. I also want to see Board nomination forms on the website for immediate download by the membership. I also want to see email contact details for all Voting Delegates.

Meeting Agendas – I want to see the Agendas on the website so that bowlers can contribute to matters of importance. I think it a safe bet to assume that 40 and 50 plus year members might just possess a little more knowledge of the game than non-bowling board members who dropped out of the sky in the last shower.

Employee Benefits – When is the TBA projected to again have Registration fees in excess of Employee Benefits? That should be a fundamental goal of the organisation and if it is not then it is time for anyone not committed to this goal to ride off into the sunset.

Finally, I would like to wish Martin Stillman success in his new role. I trust he will try and learn something about the sport and listens to BOWLERS. At least he does possess a sporting background. As a result of 15 board members having departed in the last 42 months he has a fairly new team and at least 3 of the Board have a very substantial knowledge of the game. LISTEN TO THEM MARTIN and success may follow.

Sean Gothe
 
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Exceptional work Sean.

It appears to me from what I can gather having had conversations with others who are [much] closer to the facts of the matter than I am, given the dire membership numbers that will be simply frightful for 2020 as a result of the Chinese Virus - which of course will be a very useful excuse in many organisations both sporting and corporate - that the TBA is by and large in business to manage one segment of it's membership - disabled bowlers. Thus the substantial tax payer funded support it receives.

Nothing wrong with that and commendable if it's correct given as I understand that group is their strong suit. If that's the case admit it and get on with it - and simply create an entity that is connected at the hip to the TBA that actually supports the sport in general terms and the elite segment of the sport in particular. Who knows - the TBA might actually increase membership from bowlers generally - which at the end of the day is their lot in life............or so it once was.
 
Great work Shaun, I tried to inform the members of the financials this year in the hope more would join in as it looks dire. My hope would have been that Cara rather than resign would resolve the issues but she did not.
 
We look to have secured a very well credentialed CEO in Martin Stillman. Hopefully he has his head in the books now and will hit the road running in January. Sometimes we need to have faith in the process but the angst felt amongst the senior bowlers is acknowledged by all who read these forums.
 
I might have some faith in the process if the people involved in formulating that same process didn't appear to be the blind leading the blind.
 
Was there a process for the selection of the new CEO at all? A Board of 8 is useless if 5 or 6 of the directors have little or no say in the decision making process. This is supposed to be Tenpin Bowling Australia not North Korea. If as I am led to believe a majority of the directors didn't even receive copies of the candidates CVs then how could they possibly provide a meaningful contribution to the SUPPOSED SELECTION PROCESS? That makes a bloody joke of the constitution doesn't it?
Martin Stillman MAY prove to be a good choice and I truly hope he is. BUT, we have a BOARD OF 8 and they are ALL THERE TO MAKE DECISIONS. How exactly was Stillman selected?
As Steve Jones and I have highlighted - we want transparency in terms of taxpayer support (Grants). This is a major area. As I have already shown Employee Benefits exceed Registration Fees.
I also want to understand how this Victorian dominated structure came to be. It really does look like a Private School "Old Boys Club".
I want disclosure of any consulting fees paid to outside organisations.
I have asked those and a number of other very relevant questions and I expect to see far greater transparency in all areas going forward. I expect all questions to be answered not only for me but for the entire membership of the TBA. We are sill a MEMBER organisation. If the questions raised are not answered openly and we do not immediately begin to see a far greater level of transparency to the membership I would expect to see a new Chairman or Chairwoman appointed by Christmas. If people want to run their own show a Board of 8 is not the place to be.
 
Also if you check the Sports Commission website Tenpins have only been given $112500 grant for this financial year and that's about $337,500 down on last year so it should be fun going forward with no cash to waste.
 
I also found the figures quoted below. Either way it doesn't look good Terry.
Sportaus.gov.au/grants (Tenpin Bowling Australia)
2019/20 National Sporting Organisation (NSO) $450,000 & Move it Australia Participation (PAR) $175,000 for Queensland
2020/21 National Sporting Organisation (NSO) $225,000
 
Welcome to the new all improved TBA sorry my mistake MBA (Melbourne Bowling Association).
The CEO, the Chair, 2 GMs, and a Board appointed non-bowler director from Melbourne...... and there is more - No not a set of steak knives!!!!
The TBA office is being relocated to Melbourne. Yes the 'sports capital of Australia'. What a load of $%%*^%^
If you didn't see this coming then your recent brain surgery wasn't a success.

AND on behalf of the TBA membership (the bowlers) I would like offer our sincere best wishes to all of our Queensland based staff.
Your efforts are appreciated by the BOWLERS.
 
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No mention of any QLD employees in the Chair’s email. I hope they’re doing OK with whatever outcome there has been along with this change.
 
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Very worrying reduction of funding. Perhaps the QLD grant info isn’t released yet? But would assume that’s FY July 20 - June 21, and thus it’s not awarded.

Minimum $225k reduction and maybe $400k.

I would note 2 additional things:

1. 2019 annual report (calendar year) ASC grants were reported as $542k, down from $499k in 2018. Neither aligns directly with the financial year numbers stated on the ASC website. Both appear to be declines, however.

Grants - other would be assumed to be the QLD grant? Up from $171.7k in 2019, $131.7k in 2018, but alas not mentioned for the year ahead. The odd amounts suggest some splits between calendar and financial years, but I’m speculating.

The totals would suggest either: there are one or more additional grants in excess of what you’ve identified here Sean. Or that there is an additional decline from 2018-2019, which would be odd considering the amounts in the accounts show an increase (not impossible, but unlikely on face value as would imply an increase from 18-19, then subsequent decrease... but whatever, rather see the books opened to review.)

2. Note 11 to the 2019 accounts has $682,858 current liability for “Income Received in Advance”.

That’s a significant amount compared to the grants, unless there was a multi-year award made in 2019. Particularly when compared to $270k in 2018.

I would suggest “Early Bird Registrations” account for a significant portion.

Assuming 50% of the 2019-2020 grants were carried forward ($356,844), this means $326k in memberships occurred via Early Bird (c.45%). Note: there are other sources of revenue not considered here.

Interesting again is the 2018 figure.

Also assuming 50% of the 2018-2019 grants were carried forward ($315,370), this leaves a hole on the balance sheet of $45,255 before we even consider other sources of revenue that may have been received in advance - any of which would make this hole BIGGER.

I’ll assume our accounts passed audit, so this is not an actual hole but a flaw in my assumption that grants were on a 1 July - 30 June Financial Year basis. In which case it’s difficult to see the pattern year on year reflecting in TBA books.

In conclusion:

1. I think it’d be useful to see more full disclosure.

2.There does indeed appear to be a serious issue with year on year grant funding.
 
Just an offshoot.....when did Chris Rushton depart his position as TBA office head person? Never saw anything about that?

edit....just googled. CEO Gymnastics Queensland since March.....must have missed the media release when he left😳
 
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Thanks Rob, I think the fact that there was no acknowledgement of the QLD based staff in the announcement speaks far louder than anything you or I could ever put down on paper. That really was an absolute disgrace.
We need answers to a lot of questions not jingoistic garbage - 'Melbourne is the Sporting Capital of Australia'. Oh yes that will really contribute to membership growth on a nationwide basis. I have more chance of replacing Daniel Craig as the next James Bond.
Grants, yes even allowing for timing variations between calendar and financial years the disparity in grants appears quite significant. I have asked for the books to be thrown open because we need to know what is going on. It appears that forming the new 'MBA' is the priority right now.
 
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Interesting I have a few thoughts............................did Cara know of these plans for relocation? If no, and if she had, would it have made a difference to her decision to depart? Was a relocation to Melbourne in the plans to ensure the new CEO was interested in the position? Was the relocation designed to "get their man" a Victorian who was not going anywhere near QLD? Or was it already planned and thus the logical selection process was targeted at Melbourne people?

I have a few more but these will do for starters.

Mark you I don't expect for one minute that anyone in authority will answer these points and in fact would I believe what I was told if someone did - so I know I'm just kicking the can down the street.........................
 
Great points Steve! 'Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne'.
I would love to know the motivations of 5 blokes from Melbourne who in all fairness would possibly struggle to fill the back of a postage stamp with their knowledge of our game. Why would they even consider becoming involved in a sport they basically know nothing about?
It's quite amazing - you, Rob and I have over 100 years combined involvement in the game and we are waiting for answers from people who would have to think twice before deciding which fingers you insert into the holes of a bowling ball.
 
Did anyone ever think that maybe they don't read TotalBowling,why would they they are not bowlers?

No Ditch No Daz.

Darrell Holt.
 
Hi Daz, Happy limited freedom in this great state of ours.
I think they might just be reading now. No they are certainly not bowlers but they must have egos to insert themselves into a game which they know little or nothing about. Enough questions have been asked on here over the past 30 days and any organisation reliant on taxpayer grants wouldn't want to be seen to be ignoring its MEMBERS. Might not look so good in the eyes of the Australian Sports Commission who hand out taxpayers money. I wonder if the Australian Sports Commission members read these types of sites. Hmmmmmmmmm They would probably learn far more here than from any official website. Who knows they may just happen to conduct a forensic audit of the entire CEO employment process from start to finish. I wonder if that could ever happen. Oh well we will see what eventuates after we receive a satisfactory response to the 'Open letter to the TBA' or is it MBA.
 
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Daz - it's human nature - someone will get into their shell like and that will be that..............drawn like moths to a flame..and the only reason I bother, because I know they will read it or someone will relay what's being written and maybe, although I hold no real hope, some of it might sink in.

The most disappointing thing of all Daz - it appears to me they have clearly and intentionally taken a path that has eliminated people who could assist them from the very entities they were established to serve - the sport, industry and business of bowling.

In short, they simply don't know what they don't know and that should be rather concerning to anyone who has, or has had, skin in the game.
 
Not even an email yet acknowledging receipt of my 'LETTER' to the TBA which was delivered on Saturday.
I suppose I shouldn't complain when the QLD staff weren't even acknowledged in the email announcing the relocation of the TBA office to Melbourne.
I have also heard it was very difficult for some people just trying to make an application for the CEO role. I don't think that will surprise anyone though.
This is supposedly the controlling body of Australian Tenpin Bowling. It was always about the members. The TBA is looking more and more like a play thing for a pack of "unknowns' with egos well beyond their intellectual capacity & performance. I suppose there may be more important things to worry about than the views of TBA members. There might be a Private school boys Rowing Regatta and as a Toff it would be terribly unfashionable not to be seen with a Chardonnay in one's hand on the banks of the Yarra. That would certainly take precedence over a pack of bowlers who frequent those dreadful 'bowling alleys'.
 
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