X-Ryder News

MOTORCYCLING NSW LIMITED ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 25th May, 2022, held at the Park Royal Hotel Parramatta, and on-line with Microsoft Teams.

Dear friends. I must admit that I did not personally attend this meeting after returning from Darwin a few days before and not feeling OK. And it took a long time to connect to "Team", so I missed most of the on­line meeting.

But a lot of interesting information can be gleaned from the various reports which were supplied on-line before the meeting, and from other delegates.

Here are a few items from the meeting and reports which may be of interest.

CHAIRPERSON WELCOME AND ADDRESS The meeting was chaired by MNSW President, Darren Gossling, who introduced the board members and recently appointed CEO, Daniel Rushworth..

MINUTES FROM LAST AGM:

The 2021 minutes were accepted without discussion.

ANNUAL REPORT:

The Annual Report was accepted without discussion, but here are a few items from the written report which I consider worth mentioning. The 2021 President's Report from Kate Peck discussed the problems which confronted her when she was appointed President in June, 2021. She particularly thanked the Interim Board, Life Members Keith Davies and Bob McGlinchy, Acting CEO Lauren Werrin and the staff for their perseverance during this challenging period.

Here are few interesting statistics from the report to show how our sport is going; in 2021 there were 100 clubs affiliated to MNSW; 17 in the Sydney region with 1027 members, and 83 clubs in regional areas with 4991 members. So there are nearly five times the number of clubs and members in country regions compared to the Sydney area.

Participation in disciplines for the 2021 year was MX: 17,971, Enduro: 3,455, Minikhana: 3,108, Dirt Track- Track: 2,914, Road Racing: 1,273, Speedway: 489, Trials: 238. Moto-Cross now reigns supreme as far as competition is concerned, with road racing relegated to 5th place, and this probably includes NCRR events. It is pretty obvious that the lack of affordable circuits has had a devastating effect on Road Race competition. Below are two graphs from the MNSW Annual Report which show how our sport has coped with the effects of the pandemic.

In the participants per month chart , dramatic falls during the lockdowns are clearly evident. The strong recovery in April and May 2021(green) was quickly overwhelmed by a following lockdown in June to September.

From September onwards, there is some recovery, but certainly not back to average numbers, so there is a long way to go.

The participants per annum chart shows that despite the lockdowns the 2021 competition figures are rising. Hopefully, in the five months of 2022 the recovery is continuing and we can get back to pre covid numbers like 2018. With a new CEO and additional staff, MNSW overheads are rising, so the emphasis will be on encouraging participation to bring in more income, to offset the heavy losses of the past two years.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT:

The audited report was prepared by the company accountant, J. Smith.

The company made a loss of $170,863 for the year to 31 December, 2021, compared to $428,014 loss in 2020. Income for 2021 was $1,844,732, (including Government Covid grants of $58,507), compared to $1,931,269 (including $178,000 grants) for 2020. Without the Government assistance, MNSW would have been in much worse financial positions.

Net assets for 2021 were $8,967,699 compared to $9,138,562 in 2020. The assets include loans to clubs of $574,834 in 2021, up from $442,577 in 2020. We can now see what a dire financial position MNSW was in during the Covid pandemic. Without the "grants" totalling $9,258,006 from the closure of MNSW Properties Ltd, MNSW would have been close to bankrupt, and why the drastic action of reducing staff was taken.

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR:

The board has appointed Proyou Advisory as auditors for MNSW for 2022. This is actually the same auditor as last year, Jonathan Smith, with a new business name.

AFFILIATION FEES FOR 2022:

All affiliation fees for 2023 have been increased by 5%. This is the first increase in three years, and will barely match inflation.

NOTICES OF MOTION:

None presented.

LIFE MEMBER NOMINATIONS:

No nominations received.

STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT SESSION:

After a short break, delegates were invited to form discussion groups to offer suggestions to the board on matters which clubs were concerned with.

Matters raised included:

Kurri Kurri: shortage of Officials, cost of ambulances, access to circuits.

Road Racing: Cost of hiring Eastern Creek circuit, ($25,000/day), requirement to hire their ambulance, female participation, electric bikes,

Nepean: Dirt Track, Speedway, Karts and Mini-bike officials.

Trials: Electric Bikes taking over, clubs leaving MNSW and affiliating with AMA.

Mini-bikes: Child racing, reward officials.

The President thanked participants for their input, saying that the responses will be collated and considered for action by the board.