Cheltenham League Notice Board

• 07/01/2005 - Latest Newsletter to Clubs

NEW YEAR NEWSLETTER 2005

It is the purpose of this Newsletter to communicate items of interest to Clubs and, in particular, their Secretaries, that were not necessarily discussed at the monthly Management Committee meetings. If anyone has anything that they would like to include on this newsletter, which will be circulated to all clubs and which will also be posted on the Leagues Web site, they are advised to contact the League's General Secretary by the Monday that immediately precedes the monthly Management Committee meeting, at the latest

1) Clubs Meeting - Wednesday 26th January 2005

The next Cheltenham League Club's Meeting is scheduled to be held at the Victory Club on Wednesday, 26th January, starting at 7.15 pm. These meetings are held to ensure that, at least twice during the course of the season, there is an opportunity for the clubs to meet up with the officers of the league and discuss matters that are of concern, both to the League and the clubs which are in membership. Attendance at these meetings is optional but is strongly recommended. Minutes will be produced from this meeting and circulated to all clubs but receiving the information imparted at these meetings in this way does not adequately substitute for being there and, naturally, does not afford the opportunity to ask questions.
In addition, this meeting will also see the distribution of League Membership forms for Season 2005-2006 and all clubs who are currently in possession of a League trophy are asked to return this trophy at this meeting.
Will any person or club who has an item for inclusion on the agenda for this meeting please forward it to the League Secretary by Wednesday, 12th January 2005 at the latest.

2. Young Players

The League has received a memo from the Gloucestershire FA in which they highlight the issues raised in a letter from Mr H D Broughton, who is the secretary of the Youth Committee. In this letter, Mr Broughton expresses his concerns as to the selection of young players by certain senior clubs. These concerns were raised by the approaches Mr Broughton had received from two youth leagues who state that players who were under the age of 14 years as at midnight on 31/7/2004 are participating in senior "open age" football on Saturday afternoons and on Sunday mornings.
Mr Broughton points out that this participation is against FA rule no 4(v) and rule no 4(vi) and the league is asked to bring this to the attention of clubs. It has also been asked to clarify the point that the restriction applies for the whole of the season that follows the date of 31st July and not just until the player concerned reaches the age of 14

A great many clubs are still being fined for their failure to notify the League of the reasons for a postponement. No matter what the reason for the postponement, on the day of the fixture the League's Assistant Secretary, Referees Secretary and Results Secretary must be informed of the fact that the game has been postponed without delay. The club responsible for the postponement - and if the game has been postponed because of the weather, this will always be the home club - must then put the reasons for the postponement into a letter or an email. This must be sent to the League's Assistant Secretary WITHIN 3 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE FIXTURE. Failure to comply with this requirement will lead to your club being fined £15.
Two exceptions exist to this general rule. The first concerns the postponement of a fixture because no officially appointed referee was present. In this instance, BOTH sides must write to the League's Assistant Secretary within 3 days, explaining the reason why agreement could not be reached on a substitute referee. The second relates to universally bad weather. If, in this instance, it is anticipated that the majority of the fixtures for a given day will be postponed because of the weather, the League's Assistant Secretary will issue an email informing clubs that it will be taken as read that this is the case and instructing them that there is no need to write in. This instruction will also be posted on the Website. Clubs that do not have access to the internet should confirm with the Assistant Secretary when they telephone him to report the postponement that written confirmation is not required.

4 Paying Referees

All Clubs are reminded of the provisions of League Rule 13(e), which stipulates "The Home Club shall pay the referee before the match". Whilst it is acknowledged that it is not always practically possible to pay the referee prior to the match, there should never be an occasion on which a Match Official has to go in search of his fees after the game. To have to seek out a member of the home side, sometimes up to half an hour after the completion of a game, in order to request that which is duly owed, is annoying, undignified and unnecessary and it is difficult to imagine that this is the environment that anyone connected with the Cheltenham League would want to cultivate when we would prefer to be actively engaged in encouraging people to referee our matches.

5 Charitable Donations

The League would like to record its thanks to Hatherley Rangers and Dave Watts, the referee for Hatherley's Senior Charity Cup match with Newton Heath, for combining to send in a donation to Competition funds following this match. Any other club that wishes to make a similar donation should send a cheque for the full amount to Mr Les Fisher, the League's Treasurer

PLEASE RESPOND TO LEAGUE CORRESPONDENCE PROMPTLY AS THIS IS AN ENORMOUS HELP TO THE LEAGUE'S BODY OF OFFICERS AND AVOIDS YOUR CLUB BEING FINED

PLEASE NOTE THAT POSTPONEMENTS SHOULD ALWAYS BE NOTIFIED TO ASSISTANT SECRETARY, JOHN HUNT (DETAILS AS ABOVE) IN THE FIRST INSTANCE

KICK-OFF TIMES FOR LEAGUE GAMES IN JANUARY ARE 2.00 PM WHILST CHARITY CUP GAMES KICK OFF AT 1.45 PM.