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Thursday, October 26, 2006

See also discussion about Mediation service

The Dawn Gardner incident

This is a permanent record of a NZPC Blog posting

(Photo of Dawn Gardner is courtesy of HB website). As previously commented on. The inaugural Dawn Tropy mixed doubles event was indeed a very enjoyable day. An aptly befitting event celebrating over 10 years of playing petanque in sunny Hawke's Bay. With no less than 7 international players supporting the event, quality not quantity set the play for the day. Congratulations to Dawn Gardner & Murray Porter of the friendly proactive Bay View Club for making it all happen! They without doubt demonstarted size doesn't matter. The legends in their own vindictive minds that chose to "boycott" this "district" event proved they, as always will be the losers! To quote Sir Winston Churchill "One can judge the democracy of a country by the way it treats its prisoners." unquote. The very same can be said about the way a sports club treats its members. Evil / corruption flourishes when good men (or women) do nothing!

And honestly, what were the "real" reasons the 11 year old Napier Petanque Club recently become defunct? With its club history, foundation members and life member all gone! Be nice to know the truth?

Dave Bosley, Ex member, now wound up Napier Petanque Club, past President of 3 years.

11 Comments:

At 4:14 PM, Barbara Lucas-Creagh said...

Yes Dave, Ted and I enjoyed this competition. Murray and Dawn did a great job of organising it. The other Hawkes Bay club that elected not to play missed out on a good competition. We feel it is time that the whole issue of the non-renewal of Dawn's membership of said club is put to rest. The level of petty nastiness coming from the club that abstained should stop and the game of petanque take the stage. The same club needs to look at how it applied the rules in the Dawn situation (which was overkill surely) yet failed to discipline properly another member who returned a damaged trophy without a satisfactory explanation as to the damage.

At 11:52 AM, Anonymous said...

Hi everyone, just a quick comment to say that the Napier Petanque club is not defunct, we have recently become incorporated and are now known as the "Napier City Petanque Club Inc". We are very much alive, still going strong with 51 signed up club members and are looking forward to an excellent 06/07 summer of Petanque!

Best wishes

Melville Ellis

(Club President)

At 10:52 PM, Tom van Bodegraven said...

From my observations over the last 50 years, it seems that the older we become, the more childish, twisted and bitter we become. This is not a nice prospect for me personally. I had always thought that as we grow older we become wise and gain a deeper understanding of the world around us - not so. What hope is there for our children, grandchildren and the world at large?. We only have to look at the state of our world and planet today, to see that we reap what we sow. What I see does not bode well for the harvest. lets hope we can all grow up one day soon - before it is too late. -Tom.

At 9:24 PM, Anonymous said...

Hi Felow Petanquers

Could't agree more with the sentments expressed by Barabara Lucus Creagh.

Near a year has gone by- surely time to bury the hatchet and move on! As President Melville admitted to me and Dawn, the issue of Dawn's expulsion was silly and gone on long enough. With that in mind, may I venture to suggest, it's high time to now ignore the couple (as described by the president and to me as "drama queens" and for the overall sake of the sport of petanque in the Bay, the 3 local club captains get together arround the table ASAP to "resolve this sorry sordid

silly affair"!

With a brand new club - there can be a brand start -after all isn't life too

short?

In anticipation of conciliatory goodwill & common sense.

Sincerely Dave Bosley

08/01/2007 Update regards Goings on in the Bay

At long last! Over one year later-hooray! Victory! Honesty, justice and common decency prevailed over an evil persecution. Just as it did over the Nazis in 1944. I am absolutely rapt to report, after lengthy costly legal wranglings, the Napier Petanque Club were made by lawyers to finally recognise the errors of their vindictive ways and as a cosequence voted on a motion at their AGM to reverse (rescind) the expulsion of Mrs Dawn Gardner. This has been conveyed to Dawn in writing signed by Secretary R Harris. Understand resignation (s) are imminent?

No one with an ounce of moral fibre in their body not even of halfwit inteligence would ever allow themselves to go along with what was carried out on Dawn. A Kangaroo Court that would put even North Korea to shame! Dawn a foundation member, past president, lover of the sport, participates at all levels, from local to national and a NZ Internatinal Representative. Found guilty as charged. No if or buts. Anyone could be forgiven for thinking little old Dawn had eye gouged a player or kicked them in the nuts - not that some didn't deserve it. Jealousy and vindictiveness must be wicked crosses to bear. For the supposed crimes and letters of complaint about Dawn were:

Well whip de do - I can hear you all braying for blood....... burn her at the stake - if it was good enough for Sadam - why should she escape the death penalty?

Moral of the story. If you honestly sincerely believe your'e in the right. Or have any doubts? Speak up! And Go for it! For without doubt the worse crime of all is for one to say nothing if one thinks things are being done WRONGLY? Agreed, being compliant is easy. Truth is, only Morons simply go with the flow through fear of being seen as dumb by asking the question - intelligent people ask questions. More importantly if there is an injustice of any kind - it is everyones fudamental God given duty to speak up! Evil only flourishes when good men or women say nothing. "There is none so blind than those that "choose" NOT to see". And to think Philippa Mac invited me to take up playing petanque at the Napier Club to help me relax away from local government - 3 years as president -akin to playing hop scotch in a b--y mine field!

That said, it is indeed my pleasure and privilege to know my long-time petanque partner, animal lover caregiver honest forthright Dawn, effectionately known by some as Mum - and to have met so many good friendly people playing the wonderful game of petanque. My only hope is that I may be half as good as her at 74. The one and only sport where one can go from honey to goat droppings in one end! Looking forward to seeing you all on the Piste.

Good on you Dawn - well done.

Kind regards Dave Bosley

Member Bay View & Hawkes Bay Lawn, Napier.

08/01/2007 We can now thankfully report that Dawn Gardner has a letter from the lawyers who represented the Napier Petanque Club Inc, that confirms the clubs decision to rescind her expulsion from their club. The letter states that this was a motion passed at the AGM and has been noted in the recorded minutes from that meeting. As fellow petanquers in Hawkes Bay we can heave a sigh of relief that common sense has finally prevailed after more than a year.

This lady has been a force in keeping the game of Petanque alive in the Bay and should never have been put through such an undignified and sad situation at the hands of other club members who unfortunately have shown such prejudice. Please never let this situation happen again to someone who has never had more than a wish to see the game played is played correctly whether during practice or at competition level. Top marks to Dave Bosley who has stood beside Dawn throughout this unfortunate experience.

-Ted and Barb Lucas-Creagh.

09/01/2007 It is heart warming to know that three people in Hawke's Bay (Dave Bosley, Ted and Barb Lucas-Creagh) had the conviction to publicly support Dawn Gardner.

I can't help but wonder; if more people had been as proactive as these three, would Dawn have suffered for as long as she did?. It saddens me to see so much unnecessary personal hurt and financial waste.

This would have to rate as one of the most unfortunate things a NZ club has done to a member - shameful. The mindless mob mentality (combined with the general apathy of bystanders) is indeed extremely dangerous and ugly - history is littered with it. Reading through the documentation related to this incident, it struck me how ill informed people are (muddled minds) about even the most basic processes and conventions - a sure recipe for disaster.

Lets all make sure that this kind of thing can never happen again. This permanent page will hopefully serve as a lasting reminder, and help to make sure that the same is not committed in the future. -Tom.

See also: Trying to make our game better.

10/01/2007 At 4:21 PM, Anonymous said...

Being one of longest playing Petanqers in the district myself, I am appalled to read of the stress and unpleasantness that has been laid upon Dawn. All the years I have been travelling to Hawkes Bay, Dawn has always made an effort to greet me personally and has never showed anything except friendship and courtesy towards me. She was one of the first petanque people I ever met. Good on you Dawn for sticking to you principles and I hope those accusers who have caused you all this heartache will put their hands in the pockets and help you recover any costs that you may have incurred because of them. Nothing will replace the emotional stress but some good hard cash might help ease the wallet.

I look forward to seeing Dawn next time I am in the Hawkes Bay and giving her a big hug !!!

-Graeme Burnard.

See also discussion about Mediation service

At 11:18 PM, Tom van Bodegraven said...

Note from the Blog editor: A comment was made this evening and was removed by me, as it did not have a name. This topic has the potential to become a slanging match, and I would therefore at least want a full name (first and second name) from the author. Why do some people find it so hard to simply sign off with their name?.

At 4:09 PM, Tom van Bodegraven said...

Note from the Blog editor: 12/01 I received another comment this morning. This time with a fictional name.

We cannot have people spouting off at each other and not be prepared to give their real name. We may not agree with any of the above statements, but at least the authors clearly identified themselves.

I have decided to permanently lock this page, and give Dawn the last word:

23/01/07 Greetings to all fellow Petanquers. Thank you so much for your help and comments. Many grateful thanks to all those who have supported me over the last 15 months - especially my Petanque partner David Bosley. We can all learn from past mistakes. Let us go forward in this new year 2007 - play our best, and enjoy the wonderful game of Petanque. - Dawn Gardner.

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