The council of the Malta Billiards & Snooker Association won two very important votes, one of which can be described as a vote of confidence, at the annual general meeting held at the Anglo Maltese League in Valleta on 11 August, 2007.

The motion in issue was proposed by Jesmond Sports Club delegate Simon Zammit and seconded by Raymond Caruana.

The motion, dated 10 July 2007, requested the representative to get a verdict in the best interest of the league and of the game in general, over the holding of an extraordinary general meeting within 40 days with a call for nominations to be issued so that an election would be held to fill all the posts on the council of the association according to rule 8 of the MBSA statute.

Zammit had based the motion on the fact that the panel consisted of four persons of whom only three had the right to vote with the president only having a casting vote.

Before the general meeting, the board took legal advice as it felt it had been duly elected for its normal term of two years in the previous general meeting. Frans bugeja, the president of the association, told the malta Independent that on 11 September, 2006 then secretary Paul Galea had received five nominations according to the statute, namely Frans Bugeja, Tony Brincat, Michael Farrugia, Vincent Pisani and Alfred Borg.

He said it was not the quantity established by the statute to form a panel, but during the general meeting held at St.Joseph Band Club, Hamrun, those nominated who were automatically elected as well as Joe Degiorgio, who offered himself to help, were given the duty to solve this dilemma and try to find adequate people to form the new council.

 Bugeja contended that this was done in the best interest of the game and the association. In fact, an extraordinary general meeting was held on 14 October, 2006 this time at the Anglo Maltese League Club in Valletta, during which the newly elected council members, together with Joe Degiorgio, asked the delegates present to confirm all six members as the only persons to form the board, with all the powers that are given by the statute, for a two-year period.

Bugeja claimed that a vote in favour of this project was approved almost unanimously except for one single vote. Bugeja also told this newspaper that the recent 11 August vote on this motion was a vote of confidence in the council which decided to take the trial even if, according to the statute, it had the right to refuse such motion because the board had been chosen for a two-year term.

However, the delegates once again backed the present council with a majority vote. It is to be noted that during the year, two members had resigned from the board and their positions were taken up by Paul Galea and Carmel Barbara (they were co-opted by the council to fill the vacant posts with all the clubs bring informed.

Bugeja, who has been working in the billiards and snooker field for over 40 years – he is also well known as an international Class 1 referee and referee examiner, also said that the delegates at the general meeting received the following settlement after an offer from board that needed two-thirds majority to be adopted, saying: 'That players shall not participate in competitions organised by non-affiliated organisations or persons either in Malta or in any other country without the written consent of the association. Such permission will not be withheld except in case of serious matter.'

This motion was passed with the needed majority, and showed once again that the delegates appreciate the value of such motion, and the hard work carried out by the board during the last year of its administration. In its administrative report, the MBSA said it has continued a friendly rapport with the Malta Olympic Commitee, especially now that it is known that efforts are being seriously made to get the International Olympic Committee's permission for the future inclusion of billiards and snooker in the Olympic Games.

Bugeja told The Malta Independent that at present, a struggle is being made to get the game going in the Mediterranean region and there is a strong possibility that a game will be held in the very near future, probably in Palermo, the Sicilian capital.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title
Comment
Name
Email
Write the displayed characters
	Add Comment