Is there any point to trying to change the status quo, when those in positions of authority don’t follow their own rules, abuse the power of their position, their governing body doesn’t find anything wrong with not following their own rules or any of their clear unethical behavior, no one is ever held accountable and, best of all: you, who point these wrongdoings out, are isolated and tarred as “the bad guy”?

I’d like to kill them with kindness, but a shovel could work too.

In the meantime, I can always try to muster up a glimmer of hope that there could be a few amongst the silent, enabling bystanders, who have some semblance of a spine, some value system greater than “what’s in it for me?”, who would support what has already been established as international best practice as implemented by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Rules.

Transparency and equality aren’t difficult concepts to understand; but when they impart responsibility and accountability on mediocre middle-aged men, WATCH OUT. The resistance might break you.

With that in mind, here are proposals I will be submitting for a vote at the Softball Leinster Annual General Meeting.

The following motions for changes to the Softball Leinster Byelaws and Captain’s / Team Guide are submitted for voting at the 2022 Softball Leinster Annual General Meeting. If implemented, these changes will bring about greater transparency for members and ensure the league follows international best practices established by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

Proposer: John Edwards

Motion: To add to the Softball Leinster Captain’s / Team Guide Section 5 “Complaints, Disciplinary Procedures and Appeals”: upon receipt of a submitted formal complaint against a team, club, umpire or player, the league must inform the submitter and all named parties of the start and end date of the mandatory pending investigation in writing and/or via email.

Purpose: To ensure transparency in league procedures regarding due process in the event of a formal complaint; to keep the submitter and named parties aware of the start and end dates of the mandatory investigation performed by the league.

Motion: To add to the Softball Leinster Captain’s / Team Guide Section 5 “Complaints, Disciplinary Procedures and Appeals”: upon receipt of a submitted formal complaint against a team, club, umpire or player, the league must publish the conclusions and subsequent outcomes of the mandatory and completed investigation in full on the league website and provide links to the published completed investigation via all league social media accounts, no later than 30 days after the date of completion of the investigation.

Purpose: To ensure transparency in league procedures regarding due process in the event of a formal complaint; to ensure the league members are aware of the conclusions and outcomes of the mandatory investigation process for formal complaints against a team, club, umpire or player.

Motion: To add to the Softball Leinster Captain’s / Team Guide Section 5 “Complaints, Disciplinary Procedures and Appeals”: all files and correspondence of a completed investigation arising from a submitted formal complaint must be made available to all named parties of the investigation immediately upon request.

Purpose: To ensure transparency in league procedures regarding due process in the event of a formal complaint; to ensure the named parties in any investigation can review all files and correspondence used to arrive at a conclusion reached by the mandatory investigation process for formal complaints against a team, club, umpire or player.

Motion: Eliminate section 4.3 “Exemptions” from the Softball Leinster League Byelaws Section VI “Player Eligibility”; remove references to section 4.3 “Exemptions” from the Byelaws.

Purpose: Bring the Softball Leinster League Bylaws in line with WBSC rules; create an environment which expresses the objective, honest, accurate and transparent status of the current level of participation in softball, in order to correctly assess the health of the sport.

Motion: Eliminate subsection 3 of Section II “Team fees and Umpire fees” from the Softball Leinster League Byelaws.

Purpose: This places the burden of umpire fees on to the league, instead of the teams for each game. Umpire fees and how they are paid to umpires should be a cost of the administration of the league, part of the team’s annual fee to the league, assessed on an annual basis, and not a burden to be placed upon individual teams for each game.

Motion: Eliminate any reference to “6:4”, “6&4”, “6 Men and 4 Women”, or any variant thereof, and eliminate any allowance to field a team with six men and four women, from the Softball Leinster League Byelaws Section III “The Rules of Play”.

Purpose: Bring the rules of play in Softball Leinster to be in line with WBSC rules regarding equality and gender parity; there should be an equal number of men and women on the pitch during game play, with further consideration to trans athletes as required, to ensure the sport accommodates and includes all genders to ensure fairness and equality for all.