Cheltenham League Notice Board

• 02/02/2007 - Minutes of the Clubs Meeting 31/01

Minutes of the Club Meeting at the Victory Club Cheltenham on Wednesday, 31st January, 2007 at 7-15 pm

Management Attendees: G.Cook, D Barrett, J Crowther, R. Attwood, N Oram, L Fisher, J Hunt, A Stiley, T Onions, A Clayton, B Hill, R Overington:, P Tustain

Club Attendance: 38 Clubs
Apologies M.Lytheer

Chairman's Opening Remarks.

The Chairman welcomed all clubs and detailed the auspices under which the meeting was held before inviting the General Secretary to open the meeting with his report

General Secretary Report.

The General Secretary opened his report by emphasising to the meeting that the Officers of the League did not agree to be telephoned by Member clubs so that they could then field complaints at length. It was stressed that they make themselves available to accept telephone calls in the expectation that they will be asked to provide help and guidance and that this was the only reason for contacting a League Officer by telephone. It was explained to the meeting that it is particularly unacceptable to either make inappropriate comments through notes attached to invoices when making payment, or to register disagreement with a decision made by the Management Committee by telephoning a League Officer and engaging in a prolonged verbal complaint. The meeting was reminded that, as the Cheltenham League is a democratic organisation, it was possible that the officer in question might have disagreed with the decision of the majority on the committee and might, therefore, be placed in a difficult position if required to answer such calls. The General Secretary continued by outlining the process for making an appeal against a decision of the Management Committee which, it was emphasised, was the only was in which such an objection would ever be accepted and progressed. He also assured the meeting that the £10 deposit that was required to register an appeal was not a fee and that, in most instances, the appeal deposit was returned, even if the appeal had been lost.
The General Secretary then directed the meeting's attention to the issue of using Council Pitches instead of a club's usual home ground. This had become more prevalent during the recent bad weather and it was stressed that such arrangements could only be made through John Hunt, the League's Assistant Secretary. It was explained that, in the normal course of events, to try and limit the number of games played on these pitches, they will only be available to teams that usually use Council pitches, although other clubs will be asked to play on them in exceptional circumstances, most especially when the match is a Charity Cup Tie. It was emphasised, however, that even in these circumstances, the arrangements must be made through the Assistant Secretary. Representatives were told that under no circumstances should any club ever use any other pitch without first receiving the express permission of the body or organisation that controls the use of that pitch. The meeting was informed that, in recent times, with so many games having been played at King George V playing fields, this instruction is especially pertinent to the St Marks pitch at this venue. The General Secretary made it plain that this pitch was still privately leased to the St Marks Community Association by the Council and is still heavily used by that Association for junior and youth football.
The General Secretary continued his report by emphasising the fact that all clubs must accept responsibility for providing an adequate substitute referee in instances in which there is no officially appointed referee for a match. He also stressed the importance of opponents, thereafter, accepting this person as the referee and deferring to him accordingly. The meeting was informed that there have been numerous complaints this season with regard to the standard of Stand in referees and it was explained that, in most instances, the fault usually lay with both camps. The General Secretary explained that, commonly, one side would not provide a good enough stand in and the other would then make little or no allowance for the level of experience inherent in the stand in. All clubs were strongly urged to persuade persons within their ranks to take the referee's course. It was pointed out that this is now two tier which makes it relatively straight forward to receive a grounding in the rules from the first phase of the course without having to then go on and complete the second tier.
The General Secretary then explained that the alternative to this spirit of compromise might well be one of two options. Either the League would have to adopt a new rule to make it obligatory that each club has a number of qualified referees in its ranks, who will, thereafter, be the only persons permitted to referee when no officially appointed referee is present, or the League would have to be pruned in size so that it only has the number of matches that equate to the number of referees available. It was emphasised that , for most of this season, this would have meant playing with only three divisions. The General Secretary implored all member clubs to display a more responsible attitude when making appointments and a great deal more tolerance in dealing with Stand In referees.
The General Secretary then informed the meeting that it had become apparent that a significant number of clubs had been using the "Lost in the Post" excuse when faced with the prospect of being suspended from the League, because either a payment or an official Referees card has gone missing. The General Secretary stressed that the League would always want to believe any individual or club who might fall foul of the vagaries of the postal system, but that, in some instances, this was now becoming more difficult to achieve.
It was pointed out that using this excuse does not "get anyone off" from a rule offence. Checks are always made with referees in the case of missing cards and, if the referee does not confirm that he completed the card, the consequences for the club will be serious. The General Secretary stressed the fact that, even if the referee did confirm that he had completed the card and returned it, the club concerned would still be required to produce a replacement for the one that had been lost. It was emphasised that this was often a laborious process that could well involve a visit to the referee's home to get the card completed.
With regard to missing invoice payments, the General Secretary impressed upon the meeting the fact that the club in question would always be suspended until the payment is made.
In conclusion the General Secretary informed the meeting about an experiment he had been conducting with regard to the statistical capabilities of the Full Time website. He urged all clubs to view the details that were held on the Cheltenham League Full Time facility for Star Reserves and Star III, to see if this was the type of functionality they might want to employ next season. He then informed the meeting that there would be a space provided on the Supplementary Information Forms that would be provided for next season that would ask for the input of the name and email address of team administrators. It was emphasised that it would be these people who would maintain the statistical information for each club, once an initial load of data had been achieved by the League's officers. The General Secretary assured the meeting that the statistical facilities of Full Time were relatively straight forward to use and that he would attempt to put together a short user guide in the summer for anyone who might want to avail themselves of the systems capabilities next season.
There being no questions for the Secretary on neither the matters that he had raised nor any other matter, the Chairman thanked him for his report

Finances / Benevolent Fund.

A statement of the League's accounts had been distributed. These accounts showed that the amount currently held in all the League's General funds is £23,080.68. Meanwhile, there is some £3,684.35 in the Benevolent Fund and £2,379.68 in the Charity account.
The League Treasurer then went on to inform the meeting that £195 had been donated by clubs and referees engaged in Charity Cup matches during the course of the season. The Treasurer thanked these clubs and individuals for their generosity and then listed those who had made a donation. The clubs were Winchcombe Town, Andoversford Nomads, Brockworth Albion, Hatherley Rangers, Smiths Athletic, Tivoli Rovers, Cheltenham Civil Service, Moreton Rangers, FC Barometrics and Bredon whilst the referees to have donated were messrs D. Watts, R. Price, J.Harding and M.Jagus
There were no questions of the Treasurer and the Chairman thanked him for his efforts.

Fixtures

John Hunt, the League's Assistant Secretary, reported that all fixtures were now arranged for the rest of the season, which meant that all games that had been cancelled or postponed recently had now been rescheduled. Mr Hunt then emphasised the fact that he needed to have acknowledgement of these rearrangements from all clubs within 7 days of the date of the meeting. He apologised in advance for the fact that there were to be a lot of evening games and that, in all probability, several clubs would need to engage in a lot of travelling in a short period of time, but pointed out that he could do little to control the vagaries of the weather. He thanked all those clubs that had made significant efforts to get games played during the course of the recent bad weather. He also expressed his opinion that there had been several clubs who had taken the easy option of not playing, when they might have been able to, and using the weather as an excuse.
The Assistant Secretary concluded by asking all clubs to take note of the kick off times for evening matches in April.
At the conclusion of the Assistant Secretary's report, there were no questions but the Chairman thanked him for all his efforts during the trying times over the last two months.

Registrations

Terry Onions, the Registration Secretary, reported to the meeting that there were approximately 1700 players currently registered with the Cheltenham League. He also informed the meeting that a lot of registrations were currently being submitted. He pointed out that the League did not operate a transfer window and that the end of February was the deadline for registrations for this season. It was reported that there had been 31 transfers so far this season and the Registrations Secretary emphasised the fact that, whilst there was a collection of cards and forms available at the meeting to allow clubs to replenish their stocks for the rest of the season, it was advisable to only take those that were needed, as any registration forms not used would be charged for after the end of February.
Mr Onions concluded his report by reminding the Club Representatives that it had been a requirement since the beginning of the season that referee's marks on Match Result Cards were now awarded out of 100. He stressed to the meeting that this had been very well communicated, as had the League's decision to start issuing fines, after the end of December, to anyone who failed to adhere to this requirement.

Referees

Arthur Stiley, the Referees Secretary, informed the meeting that the League had remained short of referees throughout the season but he assured those representatives present that he continually made every effort he could to get out as many referees as possible every Saturday. He stressed the fact that a referee's course was about to finish and that this would see at least two more new referees join the Cheltenham League's ranks. He reiterated the sentiments of the General Secretary in urging clubs to persuade their members to enrol on a referee's course and asked all persons who might be interested to contact him in the first instance for more details.
Mr Stiley continued by asking all clubs who had a home match postponed to contact him as soon as the postponement was confirmed with the League's Assistant Secretary. This, he explained, may then allow him to move the referee to another game that might not, otherwise, have had one.
Charlton Kings asked if an instruction could be issued to all referees to clamp down on swearing during matches. They specifically asked if the instruction could mention their home ground at the Beeches because local residents had been complaining. Mr Stiley agreed to this, but both he and the League Chairman stressed the fact that responsibility for the behaviour of players always rested with the clubs. The Chairman also emphasised the fact that swearing was a red card offence and that, if referees were instructed to clamp down, this might mean an increase in dismissals, at least in the first instance.
There being no further questions, the Chairman thanked the Referees Secretary for his report and emphasised that the Cheltenham League was better served by its referees than virtually every other League in the County.
To conclude the Referees report, Mr John Crowther, the League's President, reported to the meeting that out of 3800 cautions and 321 dismissals experienced this season throughout the County, only 226 yellow cards and 34 reds had been issued in Cheltenham League matches. The Chairman thanked the President for these figures and congratulated the clubs for the behaviour of their players.

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

Naunton Park's Secretary has a new address and home telephone number. His new address is 49, Stanway Road, Benhall, Cheltenham, GL51 6BU and his new telephone number is 01242 693830

Southside have a new Secretary. This is Mrs Angela Swales, whose address is 1 Friars Close, Cheltenham, Gloucs, GL51 3DU. Mrs Swales home telephone number is 01242 244682 and she can be contacted on email at ianfootball@blueyonder.co.uk.

Referee Will Wain has a new address and telephone number. Mr Wain's new address is to be 13, Cordingley Close, Churchdown, Gloucester GL3 2EN and his new work telephone number is 01452 712612 ext 7000

Phoenix United's Secretary has a new address and telephone numbers. His new address is 311 London Road, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, Gloucs, GL52 6YY. His telephone numbers are 01242 570608 (h) and 07800 121610 (m)

Whaddon United's Secretary has a new address and telephone numbers. His new address is 78, Whaddon Avenue, Cheltenham, Gloucs GL52 5NW and his telephone numbers are 01242 704804 (h) & 07769 803101 (m)

GFA

The Chairman gave a report of the GFA meeting that he attended on Thursday, 4th January, 2007. Mr Cook informed the meeting that most of the business conducted at this meeting was fairly standard but that, on the same evening, attendees met with representatives from other County Associations to hear a presentation delivered by the Chairman and the Chief Executive of the Football Association. Mr Cook explained that the purpose of this presentation was to impart information relating to the proposed changes to the structure of the FA, which will seek to modernise, update and reform the decision making structures within the National Governing body.
Mr Cook informed the meeting that the presentation was first class and that he felt that the proposals outlined would, if implemented, benefit the game as a whole in this country, at every level but particularly grass roots. In summation, Mr Cook made the meeting aware of the fact that there was a substantial document available that detailed the proposals made and invited any club or individual who was interested in obtaining a copy of this document to contact the League's General Secretary in the first instance.

Any Other Business.

There was no other business so, as a consequence, the meeting closed at 7.55 pm

NB: NEXT MEETING - AGM, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6TH, 2007 AT 7-15 PM