1) The name of the organisation shall be the International Gay Rugby Association and Board – IGRAB

2) All uses of the word gay within IGRAB means homosexual and includes lesbians.

3) All uses of the word rugby within IGRAB includes Union, League, Sevens, Touch and Quad (Wheelchair) rugby.

Objective of IGRAB

4) Enable gay people everywhere to play rugby

Goals of IGRAB

5) Lobby for the inclusion of rugby in the Gay Games, and work with the Federation of Gay Games to foster rugby within the Games.

6) Supervise a Gay Rugby World Cup

7) Encourage the creation of more lesbian and gay friendly teams

8) IGRAB seeks to ensure its activities and rugby generally are inclusive in nature. IGRAB will strive to ensure that no individual shall be excluded from participating in IGRAB or rugby on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, political beliefs, athletic ability, age, physical challenge, mental challenge, or health status.

Membership

9) There are three classes of membership, namely:

9.1) Associate Membership;

9.2) Full Membership; and

9.3) Worldwide team membership.

10) The following requirements must be meet for Associate Membership:

10.1) The club must be a gay-identifying club.

10.2) The club must support IGRABÕs aims and objectives.

10.3) The club must have played at least 1 rugby match in their current or most recent rugby season.

10.4) The match must:

(a) have been a 15-aside match, and

(b) the club must have had at least 15 of their own players playing for their
team.

10A) The following requirements must be meet for Full Membership:

10A.1) The club must have satisfied the requirements of Associate Membership.

10A.2) The club must have a formalised governance structure (for example, constitution and elected officers).

10A.3) The club must have played at least 3 15-aside rugby matches in their current or
most recent rugby season (including at least 1 full length match).

11) Worldwide teams consist of individual members who support IGRAB’s aims and objectives. There will be at least one male worldwide team and at least one female worldwide team. Individuals may only join a worldwide team if they live more than 100 miles, or in a different country, from a relevant club already in membership of IGRAB, as determined by IGRAB’s board.

12) Worldwide teams may not have more than 50 members. In that circumstance the team will be divided and re-organised by IGRAB’s board based on any reasonable geographic criteria.

13) Membership of both clubs and worldwide teams is at the complete discretion of IGRAB’s board, who can rescind membership upon a majority vote.

13A) In addition, IGRAB’s board may, in its discretion, recognise a gay-identifying team or club that supports IGRABÕs aims and objectives but which does not satisfy the requirements Associate or Full Membership. Such recognition may include granting the team observer and/or speaking rights on the Board (but not voting rights).

Management

14) The management of IGRAB will be effected by a board of directors.

15) Each club admitted into membership will appoint one director towards the board by any means that club sees fit. Clubs can change their director at any time but that club’s chairman or president must notify IGRAB’s secretary of such a change.

16) Each worldwide team admitted into membership of IGRAB will appoint one director towards the board by annual ballot

17) Each director can nominate alternates to attend board meetings.

18) IGRAB can permit non voting observers to attend board meetings.

Voting in the board

19) Clubs with Associate Membership are entitled to one vote.

20) Clubs with Full Membership are entitled to two votes.

21) Worldwide teams with more than 19 members will be entitled to two votes

22) Worldwide teams with less than 20 members will be entitled to one vote

23) The total voting strength of all worldwide teams may not exceed 30 percent of the total. If this limit is reached the voting power of every club will be multiplied by the factor necessary to maintain this ratio, rounded up to 1 decimal place. [See Appendix 1]

24) IGRAB’s board will have full powers to decide on voting strength and eligibility in the event of a dispute.

Procedures and structure

25) Board meetings are held by telephone conference or in person. The board meetings will be quorate if 50% of voting members are present. There will be at least 2 board meetings a year.

26) At the discretion of the chairman decisions can be made outside formal meetings by email voting. Such decisions should be noted in the next board meeting minutes.

27) Minutes will be circulated to all board members and at least one other nominated person in each member club. Minutes will also be included on the club’s website though the chairman in exceptional circumstances can authorise editing of these minutes to keep personal information confidential.

28) The operating languages of IGRAB will be English, French and Spanish. In the event of a dispute the language of the source document will prevail.

29) The financial and membership year for IGRAB will end on the 31 December each year

30) IGRAB will be nominally based in London, Great Britain.

31) IGRAB will own and maintain a website

32) Email will be considered written communication.

Annual General Meeting

33) There will be an annual general meeting held between 1 March and the 31 May each year consisting of at least:

33.1) Financial report

33.2) Auditor’s report

33.3) Results of the worldwide team ballots

33.4) Election of IGRAB officers and auditor

33.5) Membership dues for the coming year for clubs and worldwide team members

Officers

34) IGRAB officers must include a chairman, a secretary and a treasurer, who must all be directors of IGRAB’s board. In addition an auditor must be appointed who is not a member of the IGRAB board. They are elected at the annual general meeting and hold office until the next annual general meeting.

35) The chairman is responsible for chairing all IGRAB’s meetings and the conduct of any board votes

36) The secretary is responsible for recording and distributing the minutes of all meetings and maintaining IGRAB’s records other than those relating to finance and membership. The secretary is responsible for the conduct of worldwide team voting.

37) The treasurer is responsible for maintaining the financial and membership records of IGRAB. Copies of membership details should be provided to the secretary and chairman upon request.

38) IGRAB’s board may elect other officers at its discretion.

39) IGRAB’s board can appoint sub-committees reporting to the board at its discretion

40) Each worldwide teams appoint their IGRAB board director annually. Nominations must be submitted to IGRAB’s secretary by a proposer and with the approval of the nominee before 20 January each year. Both nominee and proposer must be paid up members of that worldwide team. In the event of more than one nomination being received there will be a ballot of that team’s members conducted by IGRAB’s secretary, held by post and email. Ballot papers must be sent no later than 1 February and the ballot papers counted no sooner than 28 February.

41) If an officer resigns or is replaced by a club IGRAB’s board may appoint an immediate replacement. If a worldwide team director resigns IGRAB’s board may appoint a temporary replacement and a call for nominations circulated among that teams members. In the event of more than one nomination there will be a ballot held according a procedure which in the view of the chairman is similar to clause 37 above.

42) IGRAB is governed by this constitution. All member clubs and worldwide team members will receive a copy of this constitution upon joining. The constitution can only be altered by a two-thirds majority of IGRAB’s board. Proposals for constitutional change must be proposed by at least two IGRAB board directors and must be notified in writing to all board directors and the chairman or president of each member club. All worldwide team members must be informed of any constitutional changes by IGRAB’s secretary who must send this information within 14 days after notification. At least three months must elapse between notification of the proposed changes and the vote.

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Appendix 1

For example if there are 5 clubs with 2 votes each and two large worldwide teams (2 votes each) and one small worldwide team (1 vote) there would be 15 votes in all but 5 would be in worldwide team hands, which is over 30%. In that situation club votes would be multiplied by 1.1667 (5 votes divided by 30 multiplied by 7) to give each large club 2.4 votes when rounded up, or 1.2 votes if they had been small clubs. Worldwide team votes stay at 1 or 2.