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Cheltenham League Meetings CHELTENHAM ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL LEAGUE Minutes of the Management Committee Meeting held at the Victory Club, Cheltenham, on Wednesday, 31st October 2007. Attendees: G Cook, D.Barrett (part attendance), J Crowther, R Attwood,
N Oram, L Fisher, P Tustain, J Hunt, Apologies: A.Stiley, R.Overington Before the meeting commenced, the Chairman presented Mr Terry Onions with an inscribed tankard as a gesture of the thanks of the Management Committee, in particular, and the League in general for all his efforts during the course of the four years during which he performed the duties of the League's Registration Secretary Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 3rd October 2007 were read and accepted. Appeal - Whaddon United FC The Committee was informed that a letter had been received from Whaddon United in appeal against the fines imposed upon the club at the meeting held on October 3rd 2007. The fines were imposed for a failure to fulfil fixtures in Divisions Two and Three on Saturday, 22nd September, 2007. The club was unable to fulfil these fixtures because it was suspended from the League following a failure to pay an invoice for a fine imposed at the Management Committee meeting of August 29th. Details of the submission of mitigation, as provided by the Club prior to the previous meeting, and their letter of appeal had been distributed to Committee members in advance. It was pointed out to the meeting that Whaddon United claimed that they had never received the original invoice and that the only notification that they had ever received, of the fine that had been imposed, was in the minutes of the meeting of August 29th. The club pointed out that these minutes only make reference to the fact that the magnitude of the fine imposed was to be decided at the discretion of the Management Committee. The club also contended, in their submissions, that they knew nothing of their suspension until 6.45 pm on Friday, 21st September, 2007, when they were contacted by telephone to be informed that their matches the following day had been postponed. The meeting was informed that it was felt to be advisable to invite Whaddon United to attend the meeting to put the case for their appeal and the representatives of Whaddon United were then invited to enter the meeting The Chairman welcomed the Whaddon United representatives to the meeting and asked them to both identify themselves and to state the position that they held within the club. The club representatives were Steve Belcher (Chairman), John Overton (Secretary) and Daniel Cuneen (Players Representative). The General Secretary then asked the Club Representatives questions relating to the submissions that had been provided by the club, and questions were also directed at the club delegates from other members of the Management Committee. The club assured the meeting that they had not received any official notification of the fine that was imposed apart from the minutes that were issued after the meeting and they stressed their assertion that the minutes had been ambiguous. They admitted, however, that they had learnt their lesson and that they would ensure that all matters were followed up in future, particularly when there might be some confusion. Mr Overton asked whether or not the League might employ a reminder system in the future and the Chairman assured him that the League would look at its processes to ensure that clubs were given ample opportunity to pay the fines that had been imposed upon them. The club delegates were then asked to leave the meeting whilst the Committee considered the appeal. At this juncture, Mr Dennis Barrett also took his leave of the meeting and Standing Orders were suspended as the time was past 9.00 pm. Following deliberation, during which it was confirmed that the League had not informed the club that it was suspended, it was proposed by the General Secretary and seconded by Mr Phil Tustain that the financial penalties imposed upon Whaddon United should stand but that neither the club's first team, in Division Two, nor its reserve team, in Division Three, should have any points deducted as a result of the matches that were not played on Saturday, 22nd September. This motion was put to a vote and was carried by 8 votes to 3. At this juncture, the club delegates were invited back into the meeting and informed of the decision, after which they took their leave of the meeting. Matters Arising from the minutes. The General Secretary informed the meeting that he had discussed the matter of the Official Referee's Result Card that had been submitted by Northway, even though an Official Referee's Report Card for the same match had stated that no card had been completed, with the League Results Secretary, Mr Les Fisher. It was agreed that this matter would be dealt with under Referee's Reports Correspondence & Referees Reports: Email from Broadway United requesting permission to cancel their Division
Three match on 24th November, 2007 because of the Stag weekend of one
of the players that will involve many of the other players from the club Correspondence Notified to the Meeting but not discussed Email from Bourton Rovers expressing disappointment at the failure of
their appeal, as heard at the meeting of October 3rd, against fines imposed
at the meeting of August 29th. Referees Reports reported for discussion Before considering the referee's reports that had been provided during the course of October, the General Secretary provided the committee with a report detailing the number of Referee Report Cards that had been returned so far this season. This report indicated that approximately 60% of matches played with Official Referees had cards returned and that 21 of the League's referees had returned a card for every game at which they had officiated. The General Secretary then turned the attention of the meeting to two Official Referee's Result Cards which had been submitted by Northway and Smiths Athletic. The card submitted by Northway, which had been discussed at the Management Committee Meeting held on October 3rd, had been submitted for the home Division One match with Shipton Oliffe on Saturday, 22nd September, 2007. This card showed a signature for the Match Referee, J Marston, even though Mr Marston had submitted an Official Referee's Match Report Card for the match stating that he had not completed a card. The signatures on the Official Match Referee's Result Card and on the Official Match Referee's Report Card were compared. In considering the matter of the Official Match Referee's Result Card submitted by Smiths Athletic for their home Division Three match with Tivoli Rovers on Saturday, 20th October, it was explained to the meeting that the League Results Secretary had noticed, upon the receipt of the card, that the handwriting on the card was not consistent with other cards submitted by Mr D Watts, the referee for this match, in the past. The Official Match Referee's Result Card and Official Match Referee's Result Card for this match were compared, with particular attention being paid to the signature. It was noted that the Official Referee's Result Card did not have a signature and that the handwriting of the rest of the card was significantly different to the handwriting in evidence on the Official Referee's Report Card, as submitted by Mr Watts. The League Results Secretary also informed the meeting that he had spoken to Mr Watts on the telephone and had been assured by Mr Watts that he had not completed a card for this match. Having decided that, in the instance of Smiths Athletic, the Official Match Referee had not completed the Official Match Referee's Result Card, the meeting was referred to League Rule 13(j), which states that any club which is proven to have altered the information on the Official Referee's Result Card shall be severely dealt with by the Management Committee and punished at the Management Committee's discretion. Consequently, it was agreed that Smiths Athletic should be required to attend the next meeting of the Management Committee to account for their actions and that, once this testimony had been received, the appropriate punishment would be decided upon. It was also agreed that Northway would also be required to attend the meeting to explain their actions once Mr Arthur Stiley had contacted Mr J Marston to gain confirmation that the signature on the Official Referee's Result Card, as submitted by Northway, was not his. To facilitate this, the General Secretary was asked to pass the relevant card to Mr Stiley Tewkesbury Dynamos v Northway, Senior Charity Cup, Sat 13/10/07: Referee
L Cole reports that he cautioned 6 Northway players for dissent and further
reports that the behaviour of the Northway players and spectators was
unacceptable both during and after the game. Mr Cole reported his dissatisfaction
over the behaviour of Northway at this match to the League Secretary by
telephone immediately after the match and also provided a copy of the
report on these matters that he has sent to the GFA Referees Reports Notified but not discussed Kings AFC v Finlay Rovers, Div 1, Sat 13/10/07: Referee V Prout reports
that he was concerned at the attitude of the Finlay Rovers players towards
their opponents and that they did not take their defeat at all graciously. Rule Offences: i) Failure to contact Results Secretary with match result (first report)
- Fine £15: 29/09/2007 - County Cup Endsleigh; 20/10/2007 - Div
2 Charlton Rovers (result reported 21/10/2007). The following clubs have been fined in accordance with rule 8Q - playing an ineligible player: Fine £10 and match ordered to be replayed: 13/10/2007 - FC Barometrics It was noted that FC Barometrics had not sought to deceive anyone over the inclusion of the ineligible player on the day of the match in question but it was also confirmed that they had not registered the transfer by 12 noon on the day of the match and neither had they gained confirmation that the transfer was acceptable before the player took part in the match. It was therefore agreed that the club should be fined £10, that they should lose the points gained in the match and that the game should be replayed. The following clubs have been fined in accordance with rule 10b: i). Late Kick-offs (home team). 29/09/2007 - Div 2 Northleach Town (5
minutes late - fine £7.50) The following clubs have been fined in accordance with rule 11c - failure to submit a result card to the Registration Secretary within 5 days of a match. Fine £10: 20/10/2007 - Div 3 St Marks Community Association, Div 4 Churchdown Panthers The following clubs have been fined in accordance with rule 13c - Failure to provide a linesman for the whole match. Fine £5: 20/10/2007 - Div 5 Falcons; The following clubs have been fined in accordance with rule 13J -Submission of referees cards & teamsheets. i. Submission of an incomplete Club Referee's Card. Fine £10: 20/10/2007
- Div 4 Gaffers (No date); Treasurers Report Mr Les Fisher, the League Treasurer, informed the meeting that he had nothing to add to the report that he had made to the Clubs meeting that had preceded the Management Committee meeting. Fixtures Mr John Hunt reported that he also had nothing further to add to the report that he had made to the Clubs meeting that had preceded the Management Committee meeting. Registrations Mr Phil Tustain confirmed that he was unable to add anything to the report that he had given to the clubs meeting earlier in the evening. Any Other Business: The General Secretary brought the meetings attention to the fact that a number of clubs had, recently, informed the League that their email address, for League correspondence, was a generic, club email address. The meeting was informed that at least 4 clubs - Prestbury Rovers, Winchcombe Town, FC Electrics and Northleach Town - now used club email addresses for League correspondence. The General Secretary explained that he was concerned that, when these email addresses were used to send correspondence to the League from the club, there was no implicit "electronic signature" that could be ascribed to the club secretary and that, no matter what was written at the end of the email, the correspondence could be from anyone within the club to whom access to the email account had been granted. The General Secretary proposed that all clubs who were seeking to use such generic email addresses should be told that a specific, personal email address for the club secretary was required for the conduct of League business. This was agreed. The General Secretary informed the meeting that each of the County Senior Amateur, Minor and Primary Cup competitions had now reached the last 16 stage and that League representation in the next round of these competitions would be 4 teams in each of the Senior Amateur and Primary cup competitions and 3 teams in the Minor Cup. The General Secretary stated that he believed that this represented a good performance in the Senior Amateur Cup but that, given the League's representation in the other two competitions - 14 teams in both - it ws disappointing not to have more teams in the later stages. In response, Mr John Crowther noted that these two competitions were ones in which the performance of Stroud League teams was traditionally very good.
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