By Ian Birks
August 18 2004

After the formalities of agreeing last years minutes, it was stated that all of the committee members had been re-elected for a new term because there had been no resignations and no one had been put forward before the deadline for nominations.
Tudor added that the deadline for making nominations may not be well known to the membership and if anyone would be interested in standing for membership next year, he can be contacted by phone or email. {Note – please contact the editor of this site if you are interested in obtaining any of these details}

The meeting then moved on to taking questions from the floor.

The first question related to safety concerns as people leave the ground on match days. In the past, there have been Traffic Wardens on hand to control the traffic flow past the ground as people left; was there any chance of having them back?

David Clayton said that this had been raised already with the Safety Committee, but as it is outside of the ground, it is a police issue. This will be raised in a meeting to be held on 6th-7th September.

The next two questions from the same person were firstly: ground development and were there any more plans and secondly; concerns were raised about the amount of rubbish left in the ground (on the stands and terracing) after a game – could there be an announcement on the public address system asking people to have some consideration and not drop litter?

David Clayton replied that it feels as though nothing had happened about the plans to develop the ground. Plans have been submitted to the planning committee and will be discussed on 7th September. The previous application had been delayed, with Granby also being developed, the Council are keen to make sure that both developments are compatible.

It was generally accepted that an announcement could be made to try to control the amount of litter left at the ground.

At this point, Tudor Thomas welcomed John Wells and Paddy Howard to the meeting.

The next question {one raised on this site} asked about the possibility of an internet vote on the next design for the home strip.

David Clayton mentioned that there is a merchandising forum, used to comment on new shirt designs. He added that they must be careful, not to lose the ‘hype’ created by launching new team strip. He said that they are already looking at new designs for next season and possibly a ‘commemorative’ strip.

This prompted a question from the floor about the lack of stripes in the current design (the question was well received by the members).

David Clayton continued with the argument of commercial viability: shirt sales have increased markedly over the past few years. By comparison, four years ago shirt sales were around 10,000 per years, whereas Leicester now expect sales of around 25,000 shirt per year.

The following questions concerned disabled seating, especially in the proposed new development, and also questioned the issue of able bodied people increasingly using the toilet facilities set aside for the disabled visitors.

This has already been addressed by the club who use a key to allow access to the disabled facilities.

It was pointed out (from the membership) that not all disabilities are easily visible and that the majority of disabled have ‘ostomies’ of some description, and although classified as disabled, may easily be mistaken as people who are abusing the disabled toilet access.

The questions turned to more rugby related issues, directed towards John Wells and Paddy Howard.

To John Wells – What will Paddy Howard bring back to the Tigers from France?

John Wells: Flair! That ability to do something different…to inspire the older players, the Backy’s and Jonno’s who felt that they had not made a full contribution to the club last season.
Pat Howard added that he would like to start slowly and build the confidence of the players. He is not looking to make drastic changes early on and is happy to have players, especially at #10 and #15, who can play at different positions.

The next question was about international games and how big a problem they will be in the new season.

Pat Howard: It is a great honour to be selected to play for your country, but it also poses a threat to the performance of certain clubs. Saints and Sarries, for example, have made signings during the closed season that mean that they will be less affected by international call up. He then went on to argue that if players are taken away from their clubs to train more and more for England, then by default, they will not be playing for their clubs! The RFU will fix it…….eventually!

The question of the ‘A’, ‘B’ and Extra’s teams was raised, and the effect on the development of the club’s academy players before entering the ZP.

John Wells: there is a program of mid-week league games up until Christmas: the Extras have games pencilled in after then, but it will have to be re-assessed nearer the time, depending on the needs of the club with the 6N.

On a similar subject, there was a question about the club’s recruitment policy, especially with the Autumn Internationals in mind: SCW takes the strongest players from English premiership clubs, leading to a weakened Tigers team to play ‘stronger’ teams i.e. those unaffected by England selection!

John Wells: The majority of Premiership clubs are happy to go along with the current arrangements, and if Leicester Tigers are out-voted, then we have to go along with that majority decision. It is noticeable that the Welsh, Irish and Scottish selectors are now taking players from their clubs for longer, as England do.

Tudor asked: How does the RFU Academy affect the club academy?

John Wells: Leicester Tigers have a duty to provide rugby to the local community. The National Academy have been allowed to take the cream of all of the club academies and to contract them into the England set-up early, but the club needs the money as well, so the RFU feels that it can take the best players.

Pat Howard: It is interesting that the same happened in Australia, but they have now de-centralised contracts because of the problem created by players not being able to play for their clubs. The clubs are not as strong without their best players and the players lack the experience to meet international standards.

The question was posed about Jaco’s possible return to Leicester.

Although there is nothing definite, the panel was quite confident that Jaco will come back to Leicester at some point.

From the floor: ‘Are we likely to see Pat Howard play in Leicester colours again?’

Pat Howard: If there is the possibility of playing for the Barbarians, and it does not affect the club, then I may play in the Barbars team, but I will not be wearing a Leicester jersey – just to finish that rumour before it starts!

There was a question about the progress of Lewis Moody’s injury.

John Wells: We think he is about three to four weeks away from playing. The fracture has now disappeared, but it will take time to build up to being match fit. The dynamics of how his foot works have been changed by the plaster and treatment, so we will just have to ease him in.

A question was raised about the spirit of the team.

John Wells: At the end of last season, we had our backs to the wall – the senior guys realised that they had not contributed as fully as they would have liked to the club, plus the situation with Jaco coming in part way through the season and the fact that we only had the last HEC spot to go for – all of this mad the guys take a tougher approach. After the first win, we ground out the next and the next: confidence grew until we reached the level of performance at Wasps. We now have to take that on to the start of the new season.

Pat Howard: We need to build on this confidence. We have shown faith in the existing squad and have not bought any big-name stars. Confidence is very important: keep it simple and concentrate on winning the first few games, then move on.

Tudor then wound up the meeting, thanking:
· John Wells, especially for the way that he had handled the media over the past year: this had been a boost for the club: he has been magnificent in front of the camera,
· All of the people who had attended the meeting and supporting the club and the association
· Pat Howard and John Wells for their honesty in the way that they had answered the questions.