by Gareth H Thomas
Call to Arms met with Jacqui Forster, a Development Officer with Supporters' Direct. Their aim is to help people "who wish to play a responsible part in the life of the rugby club they support" and they offer support, advice and information to groups of rugby supporters.
You can read more about Supporters Direct here.
It is our understanding that the Cardiff Athletic Club (CAC) is an "unincorporated association". As CAC is not a company it is not governed by company law. In the rules of the club, there is no mention of a binding timescale between the request for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) (point 18 (b) and the calling of an EGM (point 18 (c)). This is just one example of the rather antiquated organisation that is CAC - an organisation who's legal and financial structures need to be brought into the twenty first century.
Should the Management Committee continue to ignore the request for an EGM (and obviously be in breech of the rules of their own organisation) our only option is to shame the Management Committee into doing what is morally right. We have no recourse to legal action.
We can do this in a number of ways. Here are some of ideas ...
C2A's position is that we'd like to request all CAC members to be very polite in these correspondence, to take the moral high-ground and shame the Management Committee into action.
C2A needs to find out the status of the land at CAP. Who owns it? Which company? Who's on the board of that company? What are the terms of the lease? etc. etc.
We are working to find out these details from the land registry. We are in correspondence with the present Marquis of Bute in an effort to enlist his support/ ask his advice.
We have written to all the solicitors in the Cardiff area asking for support for our campaign. We've also been referred a team of solicitors recommended by Supporters Direct who specialise in matters relating to the relationship between Supporters' Trusts and the team the fans support. However, this will cost us money, and we still appeal for help from the legal community.
Should C2A want to undertake any other projects that require capital investment at CAP, then there are a number of grants on offer. Supporters Direct can offer us information on likely grants available.
Many thanks to Jacqui for her advice, time and offer of ongoing support.
You can meet with Jacqui at Rodney Parade on Thursday, 24th January 2008 when she will be a guest of the Friends of Newport Rugby (FONR).