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Cheltenham League Notice Board
Minutes of the Club Meeting at the Victory Club Cheltenham on Wednesday, 31st October, 2007 at 7-15 pm Management Attendees: G.Cook, D Barrett, J Crowther, R. Attwood, N Oram,
L Fisher, J Hunt, Club Attendance: 35 Clubs
The Chairman welcomed all clubs and detailed the auspices under which the meeting was held before inviting Mr Dennis Barrett to make the presentation of the Chairman's Badge of Office Presentation of the Chairman's Badge of Office The Chairman introduced the League's Patron, Mr Dennis Barrett and explained that Mr Barrett had been kind enough to offer to purchase, on the League's behalf, badges of office for the League President and League Chairman. The Chairman informed the meeting that, because of production difficulties, only the President's badge had been available for presentation at the League AGM in June and that Mr Barrett was now able to make the presentation of the remaining Badge of Office. This was duly presented, by Mr Barrett, to Mr Gordon Cook, the League's sixth and serving Chairman. General Secretary Report. The General Secretary began his report by explaining to club delegates the contents of the envelopes that most clubs had been issued with as they entered the meeting. He explained that the envelopes contained the remaining allocation of handbooks for all clubs that had not previously collected them. He also explained that the envelopes for clubs with multiple teams in the League would contain a further allocation of Match Result Cards, sufficient to meet the club's needs for the rest of the season. This allocation was in addition to the 25 cards, per club, that had been sent out via mail to all clubs at the beginning of October. He also pointed out that the envelopes of some clubs had a cheque inside them. He informed the meeting that, in each of these instances, the cheque was being returned to the club concerned because they had sent it in with their Application form for the current season at the end of March, even thought they had no intention of entering a further team in the League. Club representatives were reminded that entry fees are only due when initially entering the competition or when seeking to enter an extra team. It was pointed out that if a club proposes to enter the same number of teams in the League for a new season as it entered the previous season, there is no need to include a £30 cheque with the application form. The General Secretary then went on to read from letters that had been received from three of the Charities that benefit each year from the funds generated by the Charity Cup Competitions. Once these letters had been read, the General Secretary expressed his hope that the contents of these letters had served to reinforce, in the minds of everyone present, the reasons why the League devotes considerable energies to maximising all reasonable avenues for generating income for the Charity Competitions. He then reminded the meeting that it was as a consequence of this commitment to raise as much as possible for these concerns that the Charities Cup Sub Committee had been formed. He then went on to inform the meeting that, to this end, and following the relative failure of attempts to take collections at the Junior & Minor Charity Cup Semi Finals over the last two years, the Charities Cup Sub Committee had proposed that charging for entry to these games should be reintroduced again this year. The General Secretary then asked all clubs that have a team which wins through to this stage of either of the competitions to let it be known to anyone who might come along and support the team that the whole of the £2 admission fee goes directly to Charity as all administration and trophy costs are covered by club entry fees and other incomes over the course of the year. The General Secretary then informed Club delegates that 10 clubs had nominated persons to become Team Administrators on Full Time and pointed out that, although only one club was using the access that this status afforded to maintain club statistics, every team administrator on the system would be benefiting from the Notification System that was now in place. He explained that, through Full Time, each Team Administrator automatically received notification every time an amendment was made to the date, or time, of any fixture that involved the team for which that person was administrator. He also informed the meeting that Notifications were also sent out to Team Administrators giving details of Referee appointments for games involving the Administrator's nominated teams and urged all teams to nominate a team administrator, if at all possible, if only to take advantage of the notifications facility. The General Secretary informed the meeting that, following the recent referendum on email regarding the prospects of support for an ID Card scheme, the League did not propose to progress the matter at this juncture. He explained that approximately 50% of clubs expressed their likelihood to support such a scheme and that this was not considered sufficient for the League to ask its officers to devote the significant time and effort that would be required for the formulation of the scheme when it might not be approved by an AGM. The General Secretary then went on to inform the meeting that fines in September 2007 totalled £684 and that this sum was derived from 78 fines. He also pointed out that 102 fines had been imposed already this season, totalling £1254 at an average £12.30 per fine The General Secretary explained to the meeting that it had come to the attention of the Management Committee recently that, not only did the League have an entry on Wikipedia, but, also, that some rather derogatory remarks had been added to this entry on the Internet Encyclopaedia. The remarks had been swiftly removed by the persons who administer the site and discounted, by them, as being a personal vendetta but the General Secretary expressed his belief that he was duty bound, as Secretary of the League, to remind all member clubs of the following salient points that relate to the posting on the internet that had now been removed. These were as follows: 1) The League is a wholly democratic organisation; 2) As such, it was explained that it is within the remit of all member clubs to propose changes to rules that they feel to be unworkable, unjust or unfair in any way. The General Secretary pointed out that these changes can only be made at a General Meeting of the League and would only be implemented if passed, following due consideration, by a majority at the meeting. It was also pointed out that, once rules are passed, the League's Officers are duty bound to abide by them and that any club that feels that it has been treated, by the League's officers, in a manner that is not in accordance with the League's rules, should refer the matter, by appeal, to the Gloucestershire Football Association. 3) Finally, the General Secretary informed the Club representative that, at Annual General Meetings, it is within the remit of any individual to stand for election to any of the League's offices. The General Secretary then urged anyone who felt that they disagreed with the manner in which the League is run to either stand for office themselves or put forward someone else whom they felt would run the League in a fashion that was more in keeping with their understanding of the requirements of the membership. The General Secretary concluded by assuring the meeting that, in the meantime, salacious nonsense such as that which appeared recently on the internet will be entirely ignored, apart from the entertainment value it provides, unless it is libellous, in which case the League will pursue litigation and legal redress for any damages caused. Finances / Benevolent Fund. A statement of the League's accounts had been distributed and no questions,
based on the figures as presented, were forthcoming from the meeting.
County Referee's Development Officer The Chairman introduced Mr Richard Melinn, the GFA's County Referee's
Development Officer, to the meeting. Mr Melinn thanked the Chairman for
his introduction and went on to give some background on himself and to
present a brief outline of his experience, both within and, also, outside
football. He informed the meeting that he had qualified as a referee himself
at the end of his playing days in 1984 and that he had become the 11th
person in the country to have been appointed as a County Referee's Development
Officer when he took up his current post in April 2007. He stressed that
his appointment was innovative and forward thinking by the GFA. He then
informed the meeting that he wanted to use his time during the meeting
to talk about the recruitment and retention of referees. He highlighted
the fact that, annually across the country, almost as many people cease
to be referees as those who newly qualify and that, whilst the numbers
of people taking Refereeing Courses was still relatively healthy, retention
was a real problem. Mr Melinn asked for the help of all clubs in retaining
the service of referees by showing as much understanding as they could
towards the person who officiated their matches. He assured delegates
that the GFA was aiming to offer significant support to those referees
who harboured no ambitions to progress through the League structure and
stated that this was essential as almost half of those persons who were
registered as referee's in May 2007 had failed to re-register for the
new season by the end of August. Mr Melinn then went on to outline the
short term fixes that the GFA was prepared to put into place immediately
to help alleviate the problems that were being caused by the shortage
of referees. Club delegates were informed that short courses of 3 hour
duration, specifically aimed at persons who volunteered to help clubs
out when they had no officially appointed referee, would be run in conjunction
with Leagues as and when demand was sufficient. He also stressed that
there would be no charge made for attending these courses. Additionally,
he informed the meeting that the GFA was prepared to run similar courses
for Club Assistant Referees if practical. Cheltenham Borough Council The Chairman introduced Mr John Rees & Mrs Jean Smith, of Cheltenham
Borough Council, to the meeting. Mr Rees took the floor first and thanked
the Chairman for affording him and his colleague the opportunity to address
the meeting. He then informed the meeting that he had a number of issues
to bring to the attention of club delegates and continued by highlighting
the fact that the medium term financial plan of Cheltenham Borough Council
was not good as it predicted a £1 million shortfall over the next
5 years. Mr Rees then stressed that, in such an environment, it was imperative
that costs were kept to a minimum if the prices that were charged for
the use of council facilities were to be kept as low as possible. He highlighted
occasions on which pavilions had been vacated after matches with showers
running, lights switched on and doors left open as instances in which
additional expenses had been incurred for no good reason. He informed
the meeting that, on one particular occasion when the doors had been left
open at Swindon Village, vandals had utilised the opportunity to block
the drainage system with empty plastic bottles, a scenario which required
the services of drainage experts at a cost that was in excess of £100.
Mr Rees concluded by urging all users of Council pitches to pick up litter
and generally treat the facilities with respect, but he particularly asked
that those clubs who use these locations as their home ground to ensure
that everything was switched off and locked up once they had finished
with them, to attempt to keep any future price rises that may be necessary
to an absolute minimum. Fixtures John Hunt, the League's Assistant Secretary, reported that all fixtures
were currently up to date and that he would be looking to bring some more
games forward, to be played on the next County Cup date, once the draw
for the next stage of all County Cups had been completed following the
last round of fixtures on the weekend of November 3rd. He informed club
representatives that the next round of the County Cup was to be played
on December 1st. Registrations Phil Tustain, the Registration Secretary, reported to the meeting that
he had, so far, received nearly 1600 registration forms this season. He
highlighted the fact that the main problems that he had experienced with
the forms he had received thus far were the omission of the players Date
of Birth and with handwriting. He informed the meeting that forms would
be rejected if they were not fully completed and urged all clubs to ensure
that forms were filled in using block capitals. Referees Arthur Stiley, the Referees Secretary, was absent from the meeting and, as a consequence, there was no referee's report. Club HandBook Changes. The General Secretary informed the meeting that a list of all the Club handbook changes, which had been notified to the League since the release of the handbook, was available for collection at the rear of the meeting hall. The changes reported were Prestbury Rovers first choice colours will now be Green & Red Shirts, Green & Red Shorts and Green Socks. Their change colours are now to be all Blue Winchcombe Town has a new club email address, which is wt_fc@hotmail.co.uk Cheltenham Civil Service's secretary's correct mobile telephone number is 01242 245166 Andoversford Nomad's alternative contact's correct home telephone number is 07940 154949. Andoversford Nomad's secretary's address has changed to Hillview, Coate, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 3LA Andoversford Nomad's Secretary's preferred email is PAH@cfsca.com Woodmancote FC now have a first choice kit of white shirts, blue shorts and white socks whilst their 2nd choice kit is now claret and blue stripes, blue shorts and blue socks Dowty Dynamos first choice kit will now be Light Blue & White striped
shirts and black shorts. Tewkesbury Rovers second choice kit is now Sky Blue shirts, Shorts and socks Moreton Rangers' Secretary's home telephone number is printed incorrectly in the handbook. It should be 01608 650955 and not 01608 650995 as printed Elmbridge Old Boys colours are as follows: First choice colours Red/black striped shirts, black shorts, black socks. Change colours Royal blue shirts, royal blue shorts and socks Smiths Athletic's 2ndXI in Div 3 have changed the colour of their Change strip to:Yellow shirts, Blue shorts & Blue socks Winchcombe Town have a new Secretary. He is Phil Comfort and he can be contacted on 01242 603106 (h) or 07798 631266 (m). Phil's address is 21, Harvey Road, Winchcombe, Gloucs GL54 5QN. The new alternative contact is Jonathan Young, who can be contacted on 07790 007428 (m). The email address for the club remains the same, i.e. wt_fc@hotmail.co.uk. Kings AFC 's Secretary has a new address. From October 27th, he will be living at 10, Smithsfield, Cirencester, Gloucs, GL7 1XX. Please note that this address will not be featured on the website. GFA The General Secretary informed the meeting that the League had become aware of the fact that Gloucestershire was to be engaged in a scheme to pilot measures suggested by the FA to improve the game. These involved, amongst others, placing an embargo on all players except a team captain from talking to referees. Delegates were informed that two leagues had so far been identified to take part in the pilot but that there was no suggestion, at the present, that this will extend to the Cheltenham League. Mr Richard Melinn then added to this that the other measures that were being trialled were the roping off of pitches and a new scheme linking disciplinary performance to points. He also explained that Gloucestershire was one of only nine counties to be involved in these trials, that the trial would only extend to one division of each league selected and that any new measures introduced, such as the disciplinary proposals, would only be implemented on an advisory basis in the first instance during the course of the trial, which was set to last from January to April 2008 Any Other Business. The General Secretary stated that he had been asked to inform all clubs present that Siddington were interested in organising a friendly for the forthcoming weekend. The Chairman asked any clubs who might wish to arrange a friendly with Siddington to meet with the club's delegates after the meeting. The General Secretary reminded the meeting that the kick off time for League matches was now 2.30 pm on Saturdays, for the whole of November, and that all League matches in December and January would start at 2.00 pm There was no other business so, as a consequence, the meeting closed at 8.22 pm NB: NEXT CLUBS MEETING -WEDNESDAY, 30TH JANUARY, 2008 AT 7-15 PM |
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