Cheltenham League Notice Board

  • 09/06/2006 - June Newsletter

1) Welcome to Our New Clubs

Four new clubs were welcomed into the Cheltenham League fold at the AGM, which was held at the Victory Club on Wednesday, 7th June. One of these new clubs will be very familiar, however, as Newton Heath Reserves, who finished last season in 6th place in Division One, have broken all links with their parent club and set up on their own as Newton FC. As a result of the circumstances in which they have been formed, the AGM ratified the unusual move of ceding the club straight into Division One and, in effect, they will take the place left vacant by Newton Heath Reserves.
The other three clubs are FC Barometrics, Broadway United and Tivoli Rovers. FC Barometrics join us from the Premier Division of the Cheltenham Sunday League, where they have played ever since their formation in 1976, and they will compete in Division Two next season. They will be joined in this division by Brockworth Albion Reserves, who have made the switch from the Stroud League for the forthcoming season. Meanwhile, Broadway United, who were champions of the Cheltenham League in 1961 but who have, more recently, been playing their football in the Stratford-upon-Avon Alliance, have decided to renew their membership of the Cheltenham League and they will start off in Division Three next season. Finally, another brand new club, Tivoli Rovers, have been elected straight into Division Four.
It is to be hoped that the all four of these new clubs enjoy a long and happy association with the Cheltenham League.

2. Final Trophies of the Year

The final two trophies of season 2004-2005 were awarded at the recent AGM. The Bill Meadows Memorial Trophy was presented to Aubrey Hann, after Aubrey had achieved the highest average mark of all the Cheltenham League's Referee's during the course of the season. Meanwhile, the John Ingram Sportsmanship Trophy went this season to new club AFC Southside, of Division 5. Congratulations to all concerned.

3 New Rules

A number of significant changes to the League's Rules were agreed at the Annual General Meeting. If anyone is in any doubt as to what is now expected of them, they are urged to contact the League Secretary, or any other League officer, for help and guidance as soon as it is required. The Officers of the League will welcome your calls and they would much prefer it that questions were asked than to have to resort to fining clubs who may only have transgressed the rules because they were unsure of how to comply!

Please note that there will now be an Official Referee's Result Card and and Official Referee's Report Card. Sufficient quantities of the Official Referee's Result Card to cover all matches have been distributed to all clubs and the Rules require that the home team hands this card to the referee after the match for him to complete. Once this card is completed, it remains the home club's responsibility to forward it to Les Fisher, the League's Results Secretary, within 5 days of the match. Envelopes pre-printed with Les' address have also been provided to each club.
The Official Referee's Report Card will be distributed to the League's affiliated referees directly by the Referee's Secretary, Mr Arthur Stiley. These will be returned to the League Sectretary by the referees. Clubs have no involvement in the administration of the Official Referee's Report Card.

4 Guidelines for Matches at Neutral Venues

The League intends to include guidelines for the conduct of matches at Neutral Venues in the handbook for season 2006-2007. These guidelines will not become rules but the League would like to make it clear that they will be covered by the provisions of League Rule 5(h). In effect, this will mean that any club that plays a match at a Neutral Venue and that transgresses the requirements of the new guidelines will, in future, be charged with failing to satisfactorily attend to the business of the League.

5 Invoice Payment Reminders.

All clubs are reminded that the recent AGM was informed that the informal Invoice Payment Reminder service, which has been operated by the General Secretary and the Treasurer for a number of years, will be discontinued next season. In the past, it has been common practice that clubs which failed to pay invoices from the League by the deadline, which was invariably two weeks after the date of the invoice, were reminded, by telephone, that they had an outstanding invoice and that, if it was not paid by 6.00 pm on the day before they next played, the club would be suspended. From now on, each club will be reminded once, on the first occasion that they forget to pay, and after this no more reminders will be issued. The reason for this is the unacceptably high number of occasions on which invoices were not paid - 43 last season - which caused a lot of unnecessary extra work for the League's most senior officers. All clubs are, therefore, urged to pay promptly to avoid further fines, in the first instance, and, also, the prospect of being suspended, which will invariably lead to the deduction of points!

6 Club Tours

Please note that it has been decided, by the League's Management Committee, that the organisation of a club tour during the course of the season will only be accepted as a valid reason for cancelling Cheltenham League fixtures if the club engaging in the tour can demonstrate that it will be playing matches whilst on tour. These matches will have to be sanctioned by the GFA and the only proof that will be accepted by the League will be the confirmation from the GFA that sanction has been granted.

7 Gloucestershire GrassRoots Magazine.

The League has received the following message from the Gloucestershire Grass Roots publication, with which some clubs might be familiar, and has been asked to pass it on. " It is with regret that Gloucestershire Grassroots Sports will not be covering the Cheltenham and District League during this forthcoming season. We will be aiming to give coverage to those competitions and sports where we had reasonable support during the past season"

8 League Management Committee

As detailed by the Chairman at the recent AGM, one position on the League's Management Committee remains vacant. Anyone who is interested in assuming this position, which offers an excellent opportunity to become involved in League affairs, is asked to contact the General Secretary in the first instance

9 Gas Green Name Change

Please note that Gas Green FC has changed its name to Whaddon United FC for the forthcoming season

Thanks,

Nick Oram
General Secretary, Cheltenham Association Football League




NoticeBoard Archive Index Home June 2006 Index