Hello everyone, this is NUSensei with an update on the club crisis.
For those who haven’t been following, my archery club, Southern Cross Archery Club,
was suspended for the last few months after a critical incident involving an arrow being
lodged into a residential home.
The suspension was in place until the club submitted several extensive documents outlining
the club’s operations and safety management, and reopened in a limited capacity several
weeks ago.
The club met with Maribyrnong City Council representatives again, with representation
from Archery Victoria and a local councillor.
The meeting was brief and straight to the point.
I am pleased to say that the Council considered the club response to the risk assessment with
care and attention and decided to follow through with the recommendation of erecting the overshoot
backstop fence.
The proposed fence actually exceeds the minimum recommendations of the club.
Originally, we asked for a 1 metre high wooden fence.
The Council instead elected to go with a 1.2 metre high barrier using dense rubber compound
material – the same material used for backstops in indoor ranges.
If you shoot at an indoor range, you probably know what the material is.
For those who don’t, imagine a yoga mat with the weight and density of a monster truck
tire.
The material stops compound arrows from punching through the wall at 18 metres.
At nearly 200 metres, I fully expect arrows that somehow make it to the fence to deflect
back.
The club had some concern over how the material will be supported on the existing fence structure,
and we were ensured that a proper frame and support will be erected to hold the rubber
backstop.
To give the Council fair credit here, they’ve done good research in sourcing the right material.
Their solution actually costs more than what we had proposed, and the extra margin they
added on top of our recommendation shows that they are willing to invest in the field and
the sport.
There were a few other minor changes that the Club had to implement, most of which are
already in place or are simply necessary for the continual operation of the club.
All things considered, I believe that the risks that were identified were satisfactorily
addressed: the potential risk to other users of the Reserve, the prevention of rogue shooters,
and the guarantee that no arrows will leave the field.
The work on the fence is expected to be completed in the next 2-3 weeks, after which the Club
will resume its full 70m distance.
The Council is also following on with the assessment’s recommendation of monitoring
club activity, and will review the club’s operations after six months.
At this point, we are satisfied that all is in order and there is unlikely to be cause
for concern during this trial period.
And so concludes the immediate crisis.
The resolution has been reached and agreed on by all parties.
So what do I, personally, think of the situation?
As I said in the previous videos, while the process is a necessary one for any sporting
club, I think it should have been done far earlier as a preventative measure rather than
a reactionary one.
Having to prove that the sport is safe after reports of arrows on residential property
is an uphill battle.
From what I gathered, the main source of complaint was due to the arrow that was not shot by
us.
As we have removed targets and restricted access to the field, this has been addressed,
and we will be adding further safeguards to ensure that all club and member arrows are
identifiable so that any arrows found in the future can be categorically denied.
This, however, goes to show that the random people who buy bows off the internet and proceed
to do stupid things with them, such as shooting at local animals and using public spaces,
REALLY screw it up for legitimate archers and clubs.
While some are just opportunists who mean no harm, I’ve come across several who pretty
much told me to go fuck myself.
The number of unauthorised users was out of control, and I’m glad that we got rid of
them.
I have little love or respect for those who have beyond certainty created the negative
public perception of archery, because what we have gone through is direct proof that
we suffer the consequences.
Therefore, it is critical that clubs ensure that their facilities are safeguarded from
rogue users.
People will exploit your range, and the public will pin the blame on you.
I’ve mentioned a couple of times before that my own school has found arrows in their
field, and the first blame was aimed at my own archery club.
It’s ridiculous, but that’s what the public perceives.
It’s also worth noting that the report that I had put together was not mentioned at all
during the meeting.
And I’m not unhappy.
Whatever role it had in the decision process doesn’t matter to me; it was a sufficient
response to what is undeniably a flawed assessment, and clearly outlined what the club required
in order to operate.
Furthermore, it highlighted the need to document the processes being followed by the club and
the Council, which we observed in our meeting.
Assuming good faith, this means that the process has proven to be rigorous and should ensure
the future of the club among the Council’s planning.
As for the 15,000 word response, that was something that had to be done.
It’s better that the document exists than not, as it now has a place and purpose in
the history and the future of the club.
Not everyone has the patience, time or even insight to put together something as extensive
as this, and I believe that this was the right approach to take.
Others in the same situation might have taken a populist approach by sending out social
media memes and calls to rally and donate to save the club.
While I’ve played around with my own hashtag on Facebook, I’ve stopped short of appealing
to the masses and publicly campaigning to write to the Council in protest.
In fact, apart from an individual parent who wrote to local and state representatives,
we’ve avoided going outside of the process that the Council set for us.
We decided to go for a multi-front approach to cover our bases and make sure we’re at
least visible on the radar, but we stood our ground at the core process.
I think there definitely was a wrong way to go about this crisis, and we would have done
ourselves no favours by following the same knee-jerk reaction to our closure.
Which, bearing in mind, is the absolute worst thing for a club, and keeping that raw emotion
in check was extremely difficult.
It’s also easy to fall into the trap of making assumptions about the motives of the
stakeholders and get into conspiracy theories.
I’ve seen many commenters mention the development of the land for other uses and corruption
in the Council.
While I’m in no position to confirm or deny these statements, my role is to work with
the situation in front of me, not what might be happening behind the scenes.
I honestly did not think that our strip of the Reserve would be used for development,
as the close proximity of the sporting oval would have precluded any such development.
You can’t build a house at the boundary of the sporting ground, and we’re actually
making good use of an otherwise unused section of the park.
As long as the surroundings are secured, it’s actually a very good place for a range, albeit
narrow and limited in capacity.
So for those who were doubting that we could win, you can take off your tin foil hats for
now.
I don’t blame you for thinking I’m naïve and that our fate was sealed.
After we completed our documents, we cemented our foundations and worked from there, and
were able to withstand the scrutiny.
We could have done a lot worse for ourselves, believe me.
All this comes at a cost however, and it is a personal one.
As a leader, I always make it a point to make sure my people are well looked after so that
they don’t burn out, and that involves doing things yourself to ease the burden.
In turn, I’ve burnt out.
We’ve endured our biggest crisis with smallest available resources.
While the experience I’ve personally gained would be invaluable, I believe it’s time
to hand over the reins to someone else with the vision and drive to rebuild the club.
It’s not healthy for a club to rely heavily on one individual, nor is it healthy for the
individual.
What role I have in the club in the future remains to be seen.
So that is the update.
It is good news, and I’m optimistic that the work ahead of us will be completed to
our expectations.
I’ve still got a lot of documenting to do before my tenure as president ends, but I’m
hoping that now that the club has its range back that I myself can go outside and spend
some time flinging arrows.
This is NUSensei, thank you all for your support, and I’ll see you next time.