Cheltenham League Notice Board

• 09/06/2007 - June 2007 Newsletter

1) Welcome to Our New Clubs

Six new clubs were welcomed into the fold by the Cheltenham Association Football League at its Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday, June 6th.
The League had lost 4 teams during the course of the 2006-07 campaign and four more sides had withdrawn after the end of the season but the League was able to bring each of its five divisions up to full strength with the election of Siddington, Apperley, Gloucester Elmleaze, St Marks, C & G and Tewkesbury Rovers. The remaining places in its new constitution were taken by existing clubs who were entering additional sides.
The election of Siddington straight into Division One was the first time that the champions of the Cirencester League had transferred between Leagues in accordance with the new pyramid of football arrangements put in place this time last year by the GFA. Of the other new clubs, Apperley and Gloucester Elmleaze continued a trend, established last year by FC Barometrics, for Sunday League clubs to enter the League and both were ceded straight into Division Three, along with the recently formed Senior side of St Marks Community Association Youth Football Club. Two other brand new clubs, Tewkesbury Rovers and C & G, went into Divisions 4 and 5 respectively whilst the newly established reserve sides of FC Barometrics, Falcons and Tewkesbury Town will take their places in Division 5 next season.
It is to be hoped that the all six of the new clubs enjoy a long and happy association with the Cheltenham League.

2. Final Trophies of the Year

The final two trophies of season 2006-2007 were awarded at the recent AGM. The Bill Meadows Memorial Trophy was presented to Andrew Richards, after Andy 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 yet again to a team in Division 5 as Sherborne Harriers carried off the cup. Congratulations to all concerned.

3 New Rules

A number of changes to the League's Rules were agreed at the Annual General Meeting and if anyone is in any doubt of the implications of the new rules, 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!

One significant change to League Rules is the inclusion of an automatic suspension for any club that fails to pay an invoice. Please note that clubs will be suspended from membership of the League as soon as the deadline for the payment of an invoice - usually two weeks after the invoice is first issued - has passed. If the invoice remains unpaid by 6.00 pm on the evening before the next fixture, or fixtures, to be played by the club, these matches will be cancelled and the suspended club will be held responsible for the cancellations. In virtually all cases, this will mean a further fine and the loss of points. Please note that the 6.00 pm deadline on the evening before the fixture is absolute and it will not be altered. Usually, if this stage is reached, clubs will have had very nearly 3 weeks to pay an invoice and under no circumstances will a further extension be granted. The deadline is set at this time to ensure that the suspended club's prospective opponents can be contacted in good time, so that the referee can be re-assigned to another match if possible and to be fair to all concerned. However, there is really no reason why this rule should ever be implemented so please pay all invoices that you receive from the league promptly and, if possible, as soon as you receive them!!!!

5 Match Result Cards

Phil Tustain has now taken over from Terry Onions as the League's Registration Secretary but, unfortunately, the timings of the handover meant that the League was unable to give Phil's details to its printers early enough for the new season's batch of Match Result Cards to be produced for distribution at the AGM. These cards go directly to the Registration Secretary and, as such, have the Registration Secretary's name and address printed on them. The cards will now be produced complete with Phil's name and address and a quantity sufficient to meet each club's needs in the first month of the season will be posted to club secretaries at the beginning of August, along with the advanced copy of the hand book. The rest of each club's allocation for the season will be available for collection at the first Clubs meeting of the new season, to be held at the Victory Club on September 26th.

6 Close Season Schedule.

Details of the dates by which numerous administrative tasks need to have been completed during the close season were distributed at the AGM. These were as follows:-

Submission Required Submitted to Dead Line Date
"A" Forms to GFA GFA HQ, Oaklands Park, Almondsbury, Bristol. BS32 4AG 30th June
Registration Forms 11 forms per team to League Registration Secretary, Phil Tustain 24th August
Affiliation Numbers Number communicated to League General Secretary Nick Oram 31st August
Club Accounts 1 copy per club to League General Secretary Nick Oram 1st September

7 New Registration Secretary

Please note that the details of the League's New Registration Secretary, as printed at the top of this newsletter, are as follows
Phil Tustain 36 Hardy Road, Bishops Cleeve Cheltenham, GL52 8BN. Tel 01242 697281 (h), 01242 632204 (bh), 07719 991134 (m)

8 Tivoli Rovers

It has been brought to the League's attention that Tivoli Rovers, a club new to the League during the 2006-07 season, were another side that did not incur any fines during the course of the last campaign. Unfortunately, due to an oversight, Tivoli Rovers were not commended for this noteworthy achievement at the AGM in the same manner as the other four clubs who incurred no fines last season and this is an oversight we are happy to address through the auspices of this newsletter

Thanks,
Nick Oram
General Secretary, Cheltenham Association Football League