Cheltenham League Notice Board

• 30/09/2005 - Minutes of the September 2005 Clubs Meeting

Minutes of the Club Meeting at the Victory Club Cheltenham on Wednesday 28th September 2005 at 7-19pm

Management Attendees: J Crowther, D.Barrett, N Oram, L Fisher, A.Stiley, J Hunt, T Onions, B Hill, P Newcombe, R.Overington

Club Attendance: 41 Clubs
Apologies: G Cook, R Attwood, G.Morrison, P.Tustain

New League Rules
The League Secretary, Nick Oram, informed the meeting that it had come to light that two of the new rules, as introduced at the AGM in June, had caused considerable consternation throughout the league. The first of these was the amendment to rule 13(j), which now required clubs to collect the Referees Card from the match referee after every game and then to send the match card on to the Results Secretary. The General Secretary detailed the reasons why this rule had been brought in. He informed the meeting that when a survey was carried out by League Officers in January, it was found that referees had failed to return 25 match cards for games played that month. This, the meeting was informed, was intolerable as the League was reliant on the independent information that was communicated via these cards by the referees for various purposes, the most important of which was verifying the score. It was emphasised to the meeting that the very fabric and integrity of the competition was threatened by the absence of any of these cards.
It was further explained to the meeting that the reason for responsibility for the return of these cards being passed onto the clubs was because the League had little or no jurisdiction over referees, apart from taking the decision not to appoint serial transgressors to any more Cheltenham League games. The folly of this action was pointed out to the meeting; the number of matches that had already been played this season without officially appointed referees is already high and, in Gloucestershire as a whole, the number of referees affiliated to the GFA had fallen from 650 last season to 465 this year.
The meeting was informed that the referees themselves had a complaint about the system embodied by rule 13(j). They felt compromised by the requirement to enter sportsmanship and Linesman marks on a card that they were then required to pass back to a member of one of the teams that had taken part in the match and believed that this may affect the marks given to referees by clubs. They felt that this might have a subsequent effect on their chances of promotion.
Shipton Oliffe then reported that they had experienced difficulty with the new system, and numerous other clubs agreed. A common occurrence was the referee refusing to return the card once it had been completed. Numerous proposals were forthcoming with regard to attempting to make the system better and Prestbury Rovers suggested that the method used by the Evesham Sunday League might be worth investigating. The General Secretary thanked the meeting for their input and assured Club Delegates that the matter would receive further consideration during the course of the Management Committee meeting that would follow this meeting.
The Second new rule to which the meetings attention was drawn was the change to Rule 13(b) which now compelled clubs to play with a club referee if no officially appointed referee was present and no valid reason existed for not playing. It was explained, by the General Secretary, that the clause in Rule 10(b) which insisted that the home side must provide a stand in referee in the absence, for what ever reason, of an officially appointed referee, was the same as it had been last season and that all that had been changed was rule 13(b), which had presented a loop hole. This rule, he continued, had said that it was "EXPECTED" that the two teams would agree to a stand in referee. This had allowed clubs to opt out of games which did not have an officially appointed referee without fear of reprisal from the League. The new version of the rule had removed this loophole so that, now, the home team had to provide a referee and, if they didn't and the game was postponed, they were liable to being charged with failing to fulfil a fixture under the terms of rule 10(f). If the Away side did not agree with the home sides stand in referee, they had to provide the League with the reasons for this disagreement and if this lead to the postponement of the match, and it was not felt by the Management Committee that the reasons given were good enough, the Away side would be liable to be charged with breaking rule 10(f).
The General Secretary went on to explain that, in practice, this meant that each home side now had to have a contingency plan which would be put into action should they prove not to have a referee for their game. He told the meeting that he believed that the way the rule was now worded meant that it was no longer good enough to only think about getting someone to referee the game once it was discovered that there was no officially appointed referee, as this might be very late in the day. The meeting was told that the way the rules now read meant that each club had to know what they would do if there was no referee because it was quite possible that any game in the League may not have a League appointed official.
Smiths Athletic brought to the meetings attention the fact that they had been fined and had points deducted in Division Two for postponing a Friday evening match when they had only been told that they had no officially appointed referee less than 2 hours before kick off. The General Secretary reiterated his belief that contingency plans should have been in place for just this eventuality. He also pointed out the fact that, if it was accepted that any match may not have a referee, then some 2 months notice had been provided, this being the period of time that had then passed, since the release of the fixtures. Smiths also made the point that they felt that a referee should have been transferred to their game, which was in Division Two, from Division Four, which was also playing that night. Mr Arthur Stiley, the Referees Secretary, made the point that everyone paid the same entry fee and everyone, therefore, was entitled to a referee if they were available, irrespective of the level at which they were playing. Tewkesbury Town enquired as to whether referees could do the clubs the courtesy of ringing them if they were not going to turn up at short notice and Mr Stiley was asked to pass this on to the referees.

2 Finances / Benevolent Fund.
A statement of the League's accounts had been distributed. The League Treasurer, Mr Les Fisher, informed the meeting that there was 18,416.25 in the General Account, 2,264.53 in the Charity account and 3553.76 in the Benevolent account. He pointed out the fact that, contrary to the information in the handbook, the Benevolent fund was now able to pay out £20 per week to injured players. He urged everyone who was entitled to claim against this fund to do so, as he suspected, from the number of forms that were sent out on request but not returned, that this was not the case.

3. Fixtures

John Hunt, the League's Assistant Secretary, informed the meeting that, so far this season, 15 fixtures had required rearrangement . He reminded everyone present that when they were engaged in a County Cup match, they were required to ring the result to the Results Secretary if they were the home team, as normal, and also if they were the away side and playing a team from outside the Cheltenham League.

3 Registrations

Terry Onions, the Registration Secretary, informed the meeting that 1595 players were currently registered with the League. He asked all clubs to exercise extra vigilance over the manner in which their players completed the forms as many were illegible. He also informed club delegates that he had additional books of registration forms for any one that required them

4 Referees

Arthur Stiley, the Referees Secretary, informed the meeting that most of the matters that related to Referees had already been covered in other items. In response to a direct question from Star FC that related to the appointment of referees to Division One games, Mr Stiley replied that there was no specific system for appointing particular referees to games higher up the League's structure. When Star FC asked if it would be possible for the better referees to be given the higher games, Mr Stiley pointed out that this was a matter of opinion and that efforts were made to try and ensure that all referees were given the opportunity to gain experience of refereeing at every level available to the League. Mr Stiley also assured the meeting that all reports written by clubs on referees were reviewed by the Management Committee

In response to another question, Mr Stiley confirmed that the cost of undertaking the Criminal Records Checks that were now compulsory for referees, was being met by the football authorities and that existing CRB Checks would be acceptable to those authorities.

5 Club HandBook Changes.

The General Secretary informed the meeting that a list of the latest Club handbook changes was available for collection at the rear of the meeting hall.

The changes reported were

Tewkesbury Dynamos of Division Four will be playing their home matches at Apperley Playing Fields for the rest of the season.
Stephan Sawczuk of Brockworth Albion does not have a mobile phone number at present and can only be contacted on the Land Line number quoted on the web site and in the handbook
The new mobile telephone number for the Secretary of Gaffers is 01817 741528.
The new secretary of Moreton Rangers is Martin Jones, of 35, Fosseway Avenue, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucs, GL56 0EB. Martin's home telephone number is 01608 650955 and his mobile number is 07879 015881. His email address is martin.jones @virgin.net.
Tewkesbury YMCA has withdrawn from Cheltenham League Division Three. All points gained against them will now be removed
Cheltenham Saracens secretary will be away from October 1st to October 9th. Club business during this time can be dealt with by Chris Hawkins, on 01242 705858 or 07855 641073, or John Hunt, on 01242 583856 or 07880 693513
Cheltenham Civil Service's secretary is away from 25th September to 9th October and 18th October to 24th October inclusive. During this time, Paul White, the assistant Secretary, is the first point of contact.

6 GFA

The General Secretary informed the meeting that the latest meeting of the GFA Council had been held on Thursday, 22nd September. All three of the League's delegates were in attendance at this meeting.

He went on to report that, amongst other things considered, of particular and immediate relevance was the financial help available to owners of facilities at which goal posts are still in place which utilise metal hooks. These are now outlawed but funds are available, up to 50% of the cost of buying replacements and these grants may well be available to public or private bodies who own grounds and who lease them out to member clubs. Club delegates were advised to contact Nick Baker, the County Development Manager, for more details in the first instance.

The General Secretary then went on to explain that the other matter of particular concern was the number of referees that had been lost since last season. As this matter had been discussed under an early item, it was not expanded further except to say that the GFA will be trying to recover some of the lost referees by writing to them, an approach that realised an extra 100 referees when utilised last season.

The Chairman suggested that Nick Baker, the GFA's County Development Officer should be invited to attend the next club's meeting in January and this was favourably received.

7 Any Other Business.

The League Treasurer, Mr Les Fisher, once again asked clubs to pay all invoices by the due date advised. He further explained that clubs that did not comply with this requirement left themselves liable to suspension from the League and, as a consequence, the probability of a further financial fine and the loss of points.
The General Secretary expanded this point further and informed clubs that a wholly unacceptable level of fines was being experienced at the moment, with 94 to be reported to the Management Committee meeting later that evening. He further elucidated by pointing out that some of the fines, for things such as failing to put the score or registration numbers on result cards, were ridiculous and cost clubs money that they probably didn't have to waste.
The General Secretary asked all clubs to attempt to ensure that their players kept swearing to a minimum, especially on pitches close to houses, as complaints had been received.
Winchcombe Town had notified the General Secretary of its desire to bring up the matter of playing midweek games in September, as they did not like them and would rather not have them. The General Secretary explained that it was necessary to have midweek games in September, in general, so that April could be left free of games. This then allowed the league to rearrange matches in April that had been cancelled over the course of the winter. He went on to say that if April was already full, the season might extend into June if a bad winter was experienced. Numerous clubs observed that clubs with multiple teams could legitimately field stronger line ups in September whilst in April the League's rules would prevent them from doing so, and this was noted. It was countered by the fact that the League could control the scheduling of matches in September, and therefore seek to restrict the distance travelled, which it could not do in April, as midweek games played in this month would simply be those called off earlier in the year.

There being no further business , the meeting closed at 8.45 pm

NB: NEXT CLUBS MEETING - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25TH, 2006 AT 7-15 PM