Report of Galway Soccer Co-op AGM 2017 that was held on Monday evening 20th February at the Ryan Room in the Connacht Hotel.
The Chair for the evening, Gavan Duffy, opened the AGM just after 8pm. Once a qurom was established the meeting progressed. The agenda was suspended and the Chair invited the Galway United Team Manager, Shane Keegan, and Head of development, Johnny Glynn to address the meeting.
Shane gave an update on his activities since joining the club. He discussed on how the pre-season for the senior team was progressing and what his aims for the upcoming season was. He highlighted the proposed restructuring of the league meant the the 2017 season would be a very important one.
Johnny Glynn informed the meeting about the underage structures that had were now in place at the club with the introduction of the under-17 and under-15 national leagues.
After this the floor was briefly opened for a few questions.
The Agenda was resumed at this point. The minutes of the 2016 AGM were read by the Secretary, Ronan Coleman, and adopted by the meeting
Chairpersons Report
The Chair gave a brief update of the activities for the year. The co-op sponsored a under-19 player of the year award. A presentation was made to Terri Farren, the wife of the late Derry City Player, Mark Farren, on behalf of Galway United Fans. The co-op also organised a fans forum, made financial contributions to the club and funded a Team Dinner for the FAI Cup 1991 squad in celebration of the 25th Anniversary.
There were nearly 250 shareholder in the co-op of which 27 were from outside Ireland but the committee would try and address poor renewals during the year. The work that the co-op does as part of the Irish Supporters Network was explained. Gavan ended his address by proposing a vote of sympathy to the Galway United fans who passed away during the year and in particular Maurice O’Connell who was a member of the Co-op. This vote was passed by acclamation.
Treasurer Report
The Treasurer, Tom Quigley, had sent his apologised to the meeting as he was out of the country. The Chairperson presented the audited accounts of the co-op for the year to the membership. He went though the income which consisted of membership fees collected and fundraising activities. The expenditure was also gone through. The Co-op made a financial contribution to Galway United of over € 15,000. It was explained that under the rules of the co-op it is required to keep members shares in reserve and this was done. The Financial statements had been audited by the co-ops independent external auditor.
Galway Soccer Co-op Elections
The elections of the committee for the Galway Soccer co-op the upcoming year were held. A number of candidates were proposed and seconded from the floor to fill the vacancies on the Board. All candidates were elected to the committee. The committee for 2017 are Jim Brennan, Donnie Farragher, Gavan Duffy, Ronan Coleman, Dominick Walsh, Adrian Curran, Brian Doherty, Brian Reidy and Colin Coyle.
The auditors, Michael O’Grady & Co, Kinvara, were elected for the forthcoming year.
Motions passed
After a brief discussion, the members present passed to following motion that was presented by the committee. That the Galway Soccer Co-op would change its name to the Galway United Friends Co-operative.
Any Other Business
Gavan Duffy gave an update to a meeting on proposed changes to the legal structures to the club. At the end of this process the club would be supporter owned. There was a brief discussion after this. A raffle was held for the members present at the meeting. The prize was a 2017 Galway United Season Ticket. The winner was Bernie O’Connell. The AGM 2017 closed at about 9.45pm