Table Tennis Clubs want to see their sport’s administrators gone

By Morissa Lindsay 

Ten registered clubs within the Barbados Table Tennis Association (BTTA) have had enough of that sport’s administrators, and last night met during an emergency meeting to have a no- confidence motion move against the current (BTTA) executive committee led by president Dale Rudder.

President of Moving Things Beginners Table Tennis Club and Vice-President of the Caribbean Table Tennis Association, John Pilgrim, said the clubs are calling for the executive committee of the Barbados Table Tennis Association to resign. In the interim they want to establish a steering committee of four persons to look after the affairs of the association.

Following yesterday’s meeting, Pilgrim revealed that local table tennis clubs in Barbados want to ensure that there is fairness in the process when it comes to determining their eligibility as a registered entity and therefore are calling on the National Sports Council as a third party to intervene in the matter.

During a telephone interview with Barbados TODAY, Pilgrim also stated that 10 of the 18 clubs that met want to have the Annual General Meeting (AGM) before the year is over in an effort to move forward and end this ongoing impasse. He further noted that the ten clubs would like to be part of the AGM for 2019 that was adjourned.

“We want to be given the opportunity to participate in the annual general meeting that was adjourned for 2019 to allow the clubs to sort out themselves. We have started that process given COVID and all the other things. We were waiting for a report from the Barbados Olympic Association which would provide clarity on how to proceed; we got that in June and it was given to the clubs about two months later. Now all of a sudden we got deadlines to get our act together because the AGM is scheduled for a particular day; you can’t do that to us, it is not right,” Pilgrim told Barbados TODAY.

A petition signed by clubs of the Barbados Table Tennis Association to have the current executive removed.

He added: “All we want is to have a voice at the AGM, all we want is to have a third party like the National Sports Council to look at the information we get from corporate affairs (Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office of Barbados) to say yes these things are in place, you all are approved and ready to participate in the AGM that has to be reconvened for 2019.

“Two other things that caused us to bring the no-confidence motion, what they are saying to us is that the fees we paid in 2019 (BDS$150) we have to pay another BDS$150 and they tell us in order to participate in the meeting we must bring financial statements. How can you now establish a club and bring financial statements? That means somebody is trying to stop me from participating in the meeting.”

Regarding the proposed steering committee, Pilgrim noted that it comes down to whether the executive accepts the steering committee. Therefore, he sees the role of the NSC as vitally important in this matter. 

The situation continues to spiral out of control as three persons have recently resigned from the BTTA executive. They are Public Relations Officer Philip Hackett, board member Lieutenant Col Trevor Browne and assistant secretary treasurer Marguerita Felix. Pilgrim strongly believes that as time goes by more people will join the resignation club and leave the table tennis association.

“I am sure that by today we will get two or three more resignations and it is all because people are saying, ‘look, if we are going to corporate affairs to register, you can’t put pressure on the clubs and tell them look you got to be registered by 6 o’clock Friday or else; you can’t do that.’ It seems there are ulterior motives and agendas behind persons who make those types of decisions,” Pilgrim explained.

According to Pilgrim, the clubs also have some grievances with BTTA secretary Cherry Newton-Knight and would like to see her go. He added they were unhappy with certain sensitive matters regarding her presence within the BTTA.

Pilgrim also stated that if they have a voice at the AGM, they will be raising questions about the disbursement of funds, specifically part of nearly BDS$652,000 raised by the association over a four-year period. “All these questions we want answered but nobody wants to have the annual general meeting or if they do have their annual general meeting, they don’t want the presence of these clubs to be around,” Pilgrim added.

When contacted President of the BTTA, Dale Rudder, said he was going into a meeting at the time but promised to call and set the record straight. Up to publication time, this had not been done. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb