Five elected committee positions were voted on at the meeting. Popular incumbent President Bruce Scott (Whangamata) was comprehensively re-elected to remain at the helm of the organisation for what is likely to be his final year in the role.   Steve Poulter (Raglan) was elected unopposed to the position of Vice President, as was Simon Gerrie (Mount Maunganui) to the role of North Island representative.  Dave O’Rourke (Christchurch) was convincingly elected onto the committee as the South Island representative while the position as Surfers Representative was filled by Michael Fitzharris (Gisborne). 

The newly-elected Committee of five are now tasked with selecting the three independent Committee members to join them in governing Surfing New Zealand over the next 12 months.

The year long battle over Surfing New Zealand’s AGM voting procedure and other constitutional aspects was expected to generate a degree of ill feeling between the national body and the Surfing Taranaki grouping which drove the High Court challenge in 2008.  However the meeting, chaired by SPARC’s Roger Wood, ran smoothly with all parties being given the chance to express their point of view to the meeting.  Ultimately the outcome of the discussion was that an independent review of the organisation’s constitution be carried out.  The aim of the review is to better align the governance of Surfing New Zealand with the manner in which the sport is administered today.

The Surfing New Zealand financial statements were tabled to the clubs, with the stark reality of this year’s judicial review open for everyone to see. While the claim for costs for the High Court action levelled at SNZ by Surfing Taranaki is yet to be resolved, Surfing New Zealand is confident that the organisation will be able to break even by the end of the financial year according to forecast budget. Surfing New Zealand is also optimistic that the long running and harmful dispute involving Surfing Taranaki can finally be overcome with closer working relations expected in the year ahead.

Surfing New Zealand is looking forward to the coming year and to continuing to deliver quality services to the surfers of New Zealand while promoting the sport to all.

For more information on Surfing New Zealand please contact Greg Townsend on 07 8250018 or email gt@surfingnz.co.nz.

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by

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Ends