Cheltenham League Notice Board

• 23/09/2004 - Clubs Meeting Report

The first clubs meeting of the season was held last night and 22 clubs were in attendance as current issues of relevance to all members of the league were aired and discussed. A full report will be available shortly but the 19 clubs who failed to put in an appearance have now lost a valuable opportunity to put questions to the League's administrators and to clarify any points which may have caused confusion in the early days of the season.

One issue which needs to be brought to everyones attention immediately is the announcement which was made concerning the leagues plans for the Saturdays, over the course of the next calendar year, on which England will be playing World Cup qualifying games. It is recognised by the league that these games always provoke a lot of interest and that, this time round, this interest is intensified by the fact that England share a qualifying group with both Wales and Northern Ireland.

With this in mind, the league has decided on the following:

On Saturday, 9th October 2004, England are playing Wales and the kick off is at 3-00pm. Any Clubs wishing to arrange an early kick off should reach agreement between themselves and then let the League Secretary and Referees Secretary know the new time. Clubs which reach agreement to kick off at a time at which the league is unable to appoint a referee are reminded that it is the home side's responsibility to provide an alternative referee in such circumstances. It will not be permitted for any matches to be postponed on either this date or on the 26th March 2005, when England are scheduled to play Northern Ireland. In season 2005-06, the re-match with Wales at the Millennium Stadium is scheduled for Saturday, 3rd Sept 2005. The League intends to keep this date free of League fixtures, with the first matches of the season being played on the Thursday and Friday evenings preceding the 3rd Sept. Arrangements for the England match with Austria on the 8th October 2005 will be dependant on the group standings at the time.