This report provides an analysis and evaluation of The Western Australian Cricket Associations (WACA), constitution, strategic plan and the administrative structure of the Western Australian Cricket Association.
The Western Australian Cricket Associations Values:
ACCOUNTABILITY| EXCELLENCE| TEAMWORK| HONSTY & TRUST
Online research was undertaken to cover the following topics:
The major findings from the report
Introduction
This reports looks at the Constitution, strategic plan and the administrative structure of The Western Australian Cricket Association.
The purpose of the report is to investigate and evaluate the following:
Background of the Organisation
The Western Australian Cricket Association Incorporated (WACA)was established on 25 November 1885, with WACA ground officially opening in 1893
The Association is the governing body of Western Australian Cricket and oversees the following:
Chronology
1885- The Western Australian Cricket Association Incorporated was established to provide structure and guidance towards cricket in Western Australia.
2001- The Association was involved in a drug scandal, that led to one of their players Duncan Spencer being banned from the game for 18 months. Duncan Spencer was found to have taken a steroid nandrolone. The association was also found to have not provide the player with the correct copy of the Anti-doping policy, however the association was never charged of any wrong doing.
2007-2008 board structure was dived into 6 sections, with 23 members.
Referring to the Constitution (Appendix A)
The Board shall consist of
This was not the case in during this period clearly the board was over crowded and the constitution was never followed in regards to the number of board members.
2012- The Western Australian Cricket Association Incorporated is a member of Cricket Australia the peak governing body of cricket in Australia. The WACA board appointed two Directors to represent Western Australian Cricket on the Board of Cricket Australia. Up until 2012 Directors of the board of Cricket Australia where appoints from each state Association. The Constitution of Cricket Australia changed and altered the size of Cricket Australia board members from 14 to 8 independent Directors.
Governance Review
In 2014 The Western Australian Cricket Association undertook a governance review that resulted in the adoption of a Governance charter.
The review was undertaken to review the framework and practices; this was due to the fact that The Western Australian Cricket Association went engaging with it’s members.
Accountability and transparency process where a major issue between the Association and its members.
Being a Member- based organisation the Association felt the need to review its governance and how it can be come a fit for purpose members based organisation.
The current board model consists of:
The Board responsibility were reviewed, which resulted in changes of the following:
The review of the responsibility of the board created conflict with Constitution (Appendix A)
A governance charter was put into place to challenge and revisit Constitutional objects (Appendix B) This charter was created to provide clear governance protocols, which would result in disciplined and robust governance practices in terms of financial, integrity and board transparency and accountability.
Members of the board where appointed by the board before the review. It was requested that members on the board are to be elected by the members of the Association.
The maximum number of board members was reduced to 10 from 23. This was done due to the fact that it would easily cause integrity issues and conflict.
Overall the members of the Western Australian Cricket Association wished to be engaged and informed by the board.
Strategic Plan
2006- 2015
The Western Australian Cricket Association and the Department of Sports and Recreation worked cooperatively developing a strategic plan for the development of cricket facilities in Perth. The strategic plan was to help drive cricket participation in Metropolitan areas. Governance was a major issue during the development of the strategy planning, at the time the Western Australian Cricket Association was not truly the peak governing body of cricket in Western Australia. This presented challenges to the planning as inconsistency of governing bodies was a major factor. If one association disagreed it slow the project down. This strategic plan failed due to a lack of communication, leadership and passive management. (Appendix C)
2014- 2017
The Association created a strategic plan to unite and inspire Western Australians.
The Strategic plan compared to the 2006 plan was very different.
Outline of the plan as follows;
Compared to the 2006 Strategic Plan the Western Australian Cricket Board addressed a range of issues, which have resulted in a clear governance structure and reporting process.
Current Strategy:
In 2014 The Western Australian Cricket Association aligned its vision with Cricket Australia’s Vision
“To be Australia’s favourite Sport- A sport for all Australians”
2015-2030
The Board Appointed a Western Australian Cricket Association Future Development Strategy Committee for an 18-month period. The Committee created the Vision 2030 Blueprint.
The Committee was appointed to look at the future of Western Australian Cricket Association future strategic planning.
The scope of the project was to identify the following:
Opportunities
Evaluation and Analysis
The constitution of the Western Australian Cricket Association was never followed by Association, it was just a guide but never truly executed.
The Constitution is a document that outlines how an organisation is run and clearly a lack of applying the principles resulted with poorer governance process and future planning.
The Association has had a great strategic plans but have never executed them the right way due to poor governance practices. The work that has been done with the appoint of the Western Australian Development Strategy Committee is the correct steps needed to execute future plans.
The governance review identified a number of areas of improvement which have been appointed by the board, Work still needs to be done to align the Governance Charter with the Constitution.
Overall The Western Australian Cricket Association has process in place now to better manager the governance of the organisation.
Recommendations
All in all, I consider the work that Western Australian Cricket Association has done, a step in the right direction.
The Recommends I would make to the board: