MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ERHA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2008 AT 7 PM AT THE HILTON HOTEL, STANSTED

 

PRESENT:

 

ERHA Management                                    Counties

 

Bill Felton, President                            [BF]                  Peter Wright, Norfolk  [PW]

Sheila George, Deputy President          [SG]                 Jill Warwick, Lincs       [JW]                           

Catherine Lymer, Secretary                 [CL]                  Judith Krone, Essex     [JK]

John Helliwell, PR & Appeals                [JHelliwell]                 

Lorraine Bant, Competitions                  [LB]

Mike Trett, Umpiring                           [MT]               

Russell Nutter, League                          [RN]

John Hendy, Development                    [JH]

Charlie Farrow, England Hockey           [CF]

 

1.                 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Chris Hatch (Suffolk), Rob Oakley (Beds),  Margaret McCall (Treasurer), Miche Bloch (Performance), Sally Tippen (Cambs).

2.     Minutes of the Meeting held on 7th May 2008 and AGM 2008

Changes to minutes of last meeting. Jim Morris not Morrison.

Minutes of last meeting duly signed by BF.

3.                 MATTERS ARISING FROM THESE MINUTES  

Complaint at the last AGM about lack of food, ERHA looked to move the venue but couldn’t  find a suitable one so it will remain at Quy Mill but ERHA will put on food.

 

4.                 Discuss correspondence received, Venue for U21

·         U21 Venue to be in East this season date is 23rd/24th May 09. Suitable Venues approached, Dereham chosen.

·         SG to event manage, Brian Perks to be approached to be a possible TD.

·         LB will take it back to the competition committee, felt as it is being hosted here then East would need to do a round.

·         BF recognised that Trevor Williams had done an excellent job on the handbooks, clubs got them at the beginning of September.

·         BF – spoke briefly about the EH membership scheme. Coaches insurance has been raised from £40 to £75 in the silver package, there has been a lot of complaint about this BF has taken it up with EH.

·         Bf was invited to attend the HiPACS at Loughborough- was very impressed with it.

 

5.                 COMMITTEE REPORTS

[a] Treasurer (report in appendices)

[b] Performance (report in appendices)

·         JH – stated that a lot of work has gone into JRPC’s and a big thank you to everyone involved. Feedback was excellent from parents. David Faulkner commented that the standard was very high between South and East. CCC’s had a great impact on the technical aspect.

·         At the single system meeting in November at the Futures cup, JH will bring up the consistency of charging as EAST charged £20 and South charged £12.

·         The JRPC at Old Loughtonians was an excellent model of umpiring, players and cross boundary working.

·         Fiona Gall staying for another year, there is a need for future funding for this position.

·         JK noted that in the East current England players were not included in tier 1, however the Midlands did include England players and the North included England players in the regional training. This needs clarification. CF – regions were told to do what they want, hence the lack of consistency.

·         Issue about players playing cross boundary – regions this year stuck to the traditional boundaries, at the meeting in November this will be discussed.

 

 [c] Development (report in appendices)

·         JHelliwell – the East Male ‘Masters League’ what discussions have taken place for the age 50 to be decided.

·         JH – just initial thoughts a paper will be put forward for discussion

 

[d] League (minutes of last meeting are on the Website)

·         Ladies teams got all their fee’s in, on the mens side Felixstowe, Malden & Little Baddow lost every match until they paid.

·         JW asked who Rutland is affiliated to?  No-one knew.

·         Regional league secretaries have met to decide rules for premiership and over seas players.

·         EH Umpiring Committee passed a ruling saying all competitive matches to  be umpired by level 1 umpires, East do this anyway.

·         League contemplating that from season 09/10 all umpires will put their numbers on league sheets, as its easier to check.

·         Discipline over the Broxbourne issue – MT met chair of the club and 1st team captain to say that if there are any further disparaging comments about the club, then all neutral pool umpires would be withdrawn. The club is on probation for 2 years. The club sound like they have put their house in order, it has changed its disciplinary procedures. JHelliwell was encouraged by the news and thought it showed what happens when the regions take a strong hand.

·         Presentation day this season to be at Vauxhall Chiltern in early June 09. As hardly anyone turned up to the presentation this year all league managers have been asked to let clubs know they are expected to attend.

 

[e] Competitions (minutes on the website)

·         There was no rep from the Umpiring committee at the last meeting. Umpires have said they won’t be able to fill all the fixtures – waiting to hear which dates they can fill. It will fall to the counties to fill.

·         CF raised issue about the proposed U11/U12  festivals as they are not in line with the single system, this will be discussed at the next meeting.

 

 [f] Discipline (report in appendices)

·         JHelliwell knew nothing about the changes to the Red card & Match Day misconduct office regulations until July. He has written to Norman Stott about how this decision was made, what the process was etc. BF will take this up at the RCC.

·         This change does mean that regional DA’s have more discretion.

·         Ian Brown, Chris Hatch, Peter Wright, Derek Henley, Margaret McCall, Mike Trett all ratified as members of the Appeals Panel.

·         RN – raised a query about teams receiving red cards but forms not being filled out, or being received very late, these are slipping through the net.

 [g] Umpiring (report in appendices)

·         RYUAG page is not fully operational yet as waiting for some information from Liz Pelling.

·         There is a new system for grading umpires, so they can monitor their own progress.

[h] Indoor Hockey (report in appendices)

·         Brian Perks has had to phone round clubs to hound then to enter as by deadline date the numbers were very low.

·         Internationals 21st /22nd December. JH – raised the issue of how these teams were selected as last year they were selected from outdoor players, if so for this year then what is the pathway for indoor players. BF – believed the intention was to select from outdoor squads again, would raise at the RCC. No RCC meeting till December by which it is to late so BF would express the East’s dismay and disapproval in a letter to David Faulkner.

[i] England Hockey (ask secretary for report)

·         JAC/JDC activity is now up and running within the region. 1141 people involved from Oct 07 – March 08 (excluding Kent and Suffolk).

·         JRPC tendering process, 11 applications from Bury St Edmunds and St Albans area. 4 reps from the East will sit on the panel with EH staff to make decisions. There will be a regional bias within the panel.

[j] RCC (report in appendices)

·         Fiona Gall to go in BF’s place to next meeting on 1st November. MB & JH to ask.

 

7.     Any Other Business

·         SG – In reference to Safeguarding Children – Norfolk has a policy just asking the question of where other counties are with it. CL will forward Norfolks policy.

 

FULL COMMITTEE REPORTS APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES.

 

 

The meeting closed at 9.45pm with the President thanking all for coming.

 

 

 

President …………………………………………………………………                        Date …………………………………………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honorary Treasurer’s report – 1st October 2008

·         Please accept my apologies for non-attendance.

·         Accounts are still with the auditor who aims to send me a report by 1st October.

·         Have written to all County treasurers advising them of the deadlines for sending East affiliation fees to me – clubs by 30th November if possible and 31st December at the latest, and schools end of February if possible and end of March at the latest.  Fees have been received for Norfolk clubs.

·         ERHUA Website Young umpires system changes as agreed with management    completed and invoice for £1520 paid.

·         Insurance paid - £1575.90 - £500 more than last year due primarily to increase in number of teams.  St Albans and Bury squads insured by East, Oxted squads by South.  This increase will need to be paid out of the squad budgets.

·          Camps – Culford accommodation paid.  Staff payment details still to be received, coming this week from Miche Bloch.

·         Fiona Gall’s contract extended – one-off payment of £700 for administration of Tier 1 camps at Bury and St Albans.  Will be paid out of squad budgets.

·         Handbook printing and distribution paid – approx. £3946 + £510 (T Williams costs) = £4456 – approx. £300 more than last year.

·         Have received budget for Tier 1 and U15 HiPac activities. 

 

 

Margaret McCall

Honorary Treasurer

East Region Hockey Association

Youth Performance Group Report 2008 (2008-9)

 

My sincere apologies for not being able to attend this meeting.

 

History……

 

U14 HiPACs (High Performance Assessment Camps)

Now complete.  The U14 Boys was held at Lilleshall, 13-15 June 2008.  16 Players from each region (7 regions for the boys) were selected & nominated to attend.  The U14 Girls was held at Loughborough, 11-13 July 2008.  16 Players from each region (5 regions for the girls) were selected & nominated to attend.

 

Culford School JRPC Summer Camp 2008

-405 Players attended and 35 different individuals took up staffing posts.

-Core Skills Syllabus used & we welcomed the involvement of England Centrally Contracted Coaches again to oversee the coaching on performance camps.

-Single sex coaching groups on all performance camps, and mixed sex coaching groups for potential camps.

-Player Reports aligned with those of England Hockey.

-Finance:  TBC, Accounts in Progress.

 

Present……

 

Squads 2008 - 12 Tier 1 Squads, 6 Tier 2 Squads

Tier 1

  • U15 Boys & Girls (Albans), U15 Boys & Girls (Bury).  For selection to HiPAC 26 -28 October 2008.  Total 4 squads.
  • U16 Boys & Girls (Albans), U16 Boys & Girls (Bury), U18 Boys & Girls (Albans), U18 Boys & Girls (Bury).  For selection to ‘Futures Cup’ Competition 30 October - 2 November 2008.  Total 8 Squads.

Tier 2

  • U15 Boys & Girls (Saxon Tigers).  To attend HiPAC 26 -28 October 2008.  Total 2 squads.
  • U16 Boys & Girls (Saxon Tigers), U18 Boys & Girls (Saxon Tigers).  To attend the ‘Futures Cup’ Competition 30 October - 2 November 2008.  Total 4 Squads.

 

NB.  In 2009 there will also be Boys & Girls U17 squads at Tier 1 and 2 for HiPAC activity.  This will be an additional 4 squads at Tier 1 and an additional 2 squads at Tier 2.  This will mean that in 2009 we will be working towards the training, assessment, selection and staffing of a total of 24 squads.

 

A total subsidy from East Management of £3,800 for squad activity (as for 2007/8) has been welcomed this year.  With the increase in activity planned for 2009 we may need to revisit additional funding opportunities as England Hockey have not secured money from Sponsorship to support our activity.

 

 

Future……

 

Administration

Fiona Gall has done an excellent job with the Administration of 2008 activity.  The position is critical to delivering a central, timely & consistent service to all our users during this period of change.  It is recommended that position remains into 2009 and beyond.

 

Funding

As mentioned above:  ‘With the increase in activity planned for 2009 we may need to revisit additional funding opportunities as England Hockey have not secured money from Sponsorship to support our activity.’

 

Single System JRPC (Junior Regional Performance Centres) Activity & Dates 2009

 Tenders for JRPC Locations

After these have been awarded (March 2009) we will be able to provide further information with regard to performance camp dates in August 2009.  The deadline for expressions of interest to host the Bury and Albans JRPC’s has just passed.

 

DOB classifications for 2009 activity

U18 - 1992 & 1993

U17 - 1993

U16 - 1994

U15 - 1995

U14 – 1996

 

T1, T2 & HiPAC Activity

For the players selected it is at present assumed this will take the same format in 2009 and run throughout September and October (with preparation in August).


County & Competitions Committee Links

We must move to work more closely with the Counties to ensuring the correct players are progressing through the system to JRPC.  Also with the Competitions Committee and RYAG in order to provide quality structure, guidance and staff at competition level.

 

NOTE:  We will be moving into the official ‘go live’ date for the model in 2009 with JRPC activity commencing in August 2009.  We would like to thank all who have been involved in this period of change for their time and in some cases patience!  These include but are not limited to:  England Hockey, The East Region Hockey Association, The South Regional Hockey Association, East Office, East Region Counties, JRPC Staff, Players and Parents, East RYUAG Staff, Technical Delegates, CCC’s, Facility providers we have used (Culford School, Aldenham School, Old Loughtonians, West Herts, Broxbourne & Chelmsford) and Mercian.

 

Miche Bloch

1st October 2008

 

 

East Hockey

Development Report – For 01/10/08 Management Meeting.

 

Off –season involvement has been minimal.

 

1. General backstop and sounding board/reference point for Miche in Performance.

 

2. Several ‘support’ attendances at the Culford camps.

 

3. Attended Loughton hosted Single System Tier 1 event (day 2), which was excellent.     

 

4. Background research for East male ‘Masters’ leagues completed. Clubs that might be able to support such a league have been identified. Rules are in first draft – modified version of established version for younger Veterans competition. Short briefing / consultation required with League Committee representative prior to making contact with Clubs.   

 

5. Deputised for President & Deputy President at EH Strategic Planning Meeting at Leighton Buzzard/ MK. This was a ‘converted RCC’ Meeting. THE ENGLAND HOCKEY STATEGIC PLAN FOR 2009 – 2013 was aired and aspects of it discussed by a committee consisting of EH Board, RCC & Chairs of strategic committees.   It is still in draft stage and, as such, is not for distribution. However, I believe that no harm will be done by noting in brief overview of the main areas that the plan will cover and the areas that were discussed on the day.

 

The plan represents the next stage in the ‘Uniting the Hockey Family’ strategy. This study and 2004 document gave rise to the 2005/2009 strategy which was encapsulated in 6 key areas.

 

  • Bring more young people in the sport
  • Develop our thriving club infrastructure
  • Achieve international success at the highest level
  • Improve communications & profile for the sport
  • Develop a broader income base
  • Have effective/efficient governance and operations throughout.

 

Broadly speaking, 2 additional key areas have been added and the existing 6 have been updated with progress to date and brought forward. It now is summarised thus -

 

  • Attract and retain more people in the sport
  • Help our clubs and associations to develop and thrive
  • Embed the single system throughout the sport
  • Achieve international success
  • Maximise the opportunities of 2012
  • Raise the sport’s profile and improve communications
  • Broaden our income base
  • Maintain and improve the quality of our governance and operations.

 

We had the opportunity to review the plan at detailed key performance indicator level, and to make recommendations for deletions and additions. We also had the opportunity to review the NGB committee structure to ensure that it would be ‘fit for the purpose’ of delivering the 09/13 strategy.

 

I would be happy to answer questions at the meeting, but would suggest that any minutes taken are limited to those of a non-specific nature.  It was a most interesting day and an experience that I would be very happy to repeat.ockey FamilyH

 

John Hendy – Development Director  - 29/09/08

 

EAST REGION HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

 

Chairman Appeals Panel - Report to East Management 1st Oct 2008

 

There have been no Appeals at this stage of the season.

 

To recap, the Appeals Panel hearing the appeals last season consisted of John Helliwell, (Chairman of Appeals panel), Ian Brown, (past Chairman of Suffolk) and Chris Hatch, Secretary and Treasurer of Suffolk), and Peter Wright (President of Norfolk). In addition, Derek Henley ( Herts) has made himself available.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the above officials for giving up their time to consider the appeals, often at very short notice.

 

Just to recap, as I reported to the East AGM, in terms of Appeal frequency, last season was the worst season for some years!

 

Four Appeals were against Red Card decisions and two appeals were against East League decisions.

 

In case Management are not aware, there have been significant changes to the Red Card and Match Day Misconduct Offence Regulations, effective from September 1st 2008. These are published on the England Hockey website.

 

Future Action

 

At the East AGM, I reported that I would ask East Management at their first meeting to ratify the members of the Regional Disciplinary Appeals Panel for the forthcoming season.

 

All existing panel members highlighted above are willing to continue to act in their Appeals capacity and I will ask East Management to support these appointments.

 

John Helliwell

Appeals Chairman

 

Report to ERHA Management Committee from the Umpiring Committee

September 2008

 

PLUM was held successfully on 6/7 September and provided a good start for the season.

 

The Umpiring Committee met on Tuesday 2nd September and the Appointments and Assessment sub-committee met last week. 

 

The new financial arrangements previously discussed are now being put into practice. The necessary changes to the ERHUA website are now in place. All clubs that receive ERHUA umpire appointments have been invoiced and payments have been received. The pre-season budgeting process took into account the rapid increase of fuel prices and the club fees were established in discussion with the ERHA Treasurer. During this season there will continue to be a need for liaison between our Treasurer and Margaret.

 

ERYUAG has now been incorporated to ERHUA and the website has been changed and extended to cater for the requirements of being involved with young people. Liz Pelling has joined the umpiring Committee in order to represent the ERYUAG. She also attended the recent Appointments and Assessment meeting in order to help sort out the tricky arrangements of which organisation will appoint to which competitions. Unfortunately there are several weekends where the bunching of fixtures means that it will be difficult to provide sufficient umpires at the right levels of competence for the games being played.

 

In addition to the changes above the A&A Committee is introducing a new grading system for umpire assessments which will, hopefully, improve umpire progression and development. Also the ERHUA website has been upgraded to make it more user friendly and to give it a more up-to-date appearance and additional features that will help our administrators have been added.

 

This has been a very busy summer of change for many of our voluntary administrators who have put in many hours to effect these improvements. Let us hope that the new season will justify the time and effort and live up to our high expectations!

Mike Trett

September 2008

 

East Indoor Season 2007/8

 

Following several meetings of the Indoor Committee, it was decided to again use  the Sports Centres at Bethnal Green and Kelsey Kerridge. The sports hall at the Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth had been booked earlier for one of the days that we required.

After a great deal of telephoning the teams that entered the preliminary rounds (the qualifier for the National Championships) were as follows:-

Ladies            Lowestoft, Brentwood, Cambridge City, St Albans, and Maidstone.

 

Men               Witham, St Ives, Chelmsford, Havering, Stevenage, Harpenden, UEA, West Herts , Bishops Stortford, and Peterborough Town.

 

The small entry of ladies meant that the sports hall at Bethnal Green had been booked for two days, when one would have been enough to run the qualifier.

St Albans  had requested a place in the mens qualifier for a development team of young players but at the last minute withdrew, leaving the committee with rescheduling the competition

.

Old Loughtonians, Chelmsford, Ipswich, Sevenoaks and Canterbury, as National League teams were joined by Camb City, Lowestoft and St Albans from the qualifier to compete for the East Indoor Championship.

St Albans, and Old Loughtonians as National League teams were joined by West Herts, Chelmsford, and Peterborough to compete for the East Indoor Championship

 

Chelmsford won the East ladies Indoor Championship, and Old Loughtonians, the mens.

Peterborough and Camb City were promoted to the National League

 

The downside to this was the costs incurred by the umpires. Cambridge is a difficult place to find accommodation, and the car parking at Kelsey Kerridge is expensive. Next year, when the umpires take charge of their own budget, perhaps greater control can be exercised.

 

2008/9

Information to date:-Sports Hall cost  approx       3000.00

 

Ladies qualifier say 10 teams @200.00                                2000.00

Mens qualifier say 10 teams @ 200.00                                 2000.00

Finals ladies 4 Nat League +4 qualifiers

            Nat league teams to pay 200.00                                  800.00

Finals men 3 Nat League +3 qualifiers                                   600.00

                                                                              3000.00    5400.00

            This leaves 2400.00 to cover table officials and umpire expenses, unless the fee to clubs increases, in which case several clubs may drop out.

 

Entries to date:_ Mens qualifier  Brentford, Crostyx, West Herts, Peterborough, Bishops Stortford, Blueharts, Chelmsford, Harpenden, Havering, St Ives, and Witham (!!)

                           Ladies qualifier  Brentwood, Harleston, Crostyx, Camb City, Maidstone  and St Albans (6)

We need 1 more mens team and 2 more ladies teams

 

Harleston, Old Loughtonians and St Albans have confirmed their participation in the mens East Championship as National League teams. Old Loughtonians and Sevenoaks have confirmed their participation in the ladies East Championships as National League teams. Canterbury have declined and nothing has been heard from Ipswich and Chelmsford.

Brian Perks

East Activator

ENGLAND HOCKEY   -  REGIONAL CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

 

 

Since our last Management Meeting there have been two meetings of the RCC

 

Meeting 2nd June 2008 – It was reported that for health reasons Colin Barthorpe was standing down as Chairman of Indoor Hockey Committee. We appeared to be the only region which supported our Indoor activities with a cash injection. Steve Floyds gave an up date to the RCC members of how the Single System was progressing. Much discussion took place in conjunction with Stephen Barlow on the finances of the Competitions which the Regions organised on behalf of England Hockey. It was formally confirmed that England Hockey had secured the Women’s Champions Trophy 10/18 July 2010 and this would be at Highfields (Beeston H.C.) All funding was in place and EH would in the next two years set aside £50,000 in each financial year to cover probable short fall. We were asked how the Road Shows had gone down in the Regions. I asked how the membership scheme was going in the Regions and the South advised “luke warm” and the West “subdued”. The interview procedure for finding a CEO for England Hockey was going ahead. I asked how the expenses had gone on the Indoor Internationals at Sheffield in January and was told that they had been within budget at £11,000 loss

Meeting  1st September 2008  -  It was reported that Richard Organ (Coach Indoor International Team) had accepted the post of Chairman of Indoor Committee. The Combined Services advised that the EH AGM would be on 15th March 2009 at Aldershot. It has now been confirmed that the rule regarding 13 year olds is the date of the birthday and NOT the 1st January. More discussion took place regarding the Regions hosting EH events and as the Competitions Committee were having a full meeting later in September I recommended that the status quo remained. This was accepted because with the Single System coming into effect we had to gauge matters. It seems that primarily there will be changes to the Men’s Under 21 Tournament, but not before 2009/10 Season. Stephen Barlow advised that at present there was no budget for the development of young technical officials. He was going to discuss this with Jane Nockolds and come back to us. I raised the question of coverage of results and obviously the “Conference Leagues” will not be covered by Ceefax, but I was assured they would be on the EH Website in Saturday evenings because a firm called Snowdens  (who cover Rugby Results) have been employed to up date the website We were told that after an extensive interview procedure Sally Munday had been appointed CEO commencing 3rd January 2009. I had asked if David Faulkner could attend our meeting to give us news on the Olympics, but was told that this was not appropriate because even the Board had not received his Report. As we know GB finished 5th in the Men and 6th in the Women’s which is above expectations and would help future funding. EH towards the middle of next year will be moving their Office to Bisham Abbey. Sally Munday requested that all Regions take back EH thanks for all the help that the various people who have worked on the single system to bring it to where it is now. She felt we had gone through the first stage and now the people who attend the meetings should be those implementing the system. Ian Wilson presented some Accounts which looked reasonable for last financial year. EH would be paying  from 1st September 20p per mile expenses and 24p if two people travelled together. It seemed that I was the only person from the RCC who had taken up the invitation to attend a HIPAC day at Loughborough and I advised the meeting how impressed I was at what was going on. As David Faulkner was not present I could not get a reply on the question of whether England were going to maintain their policy of using Under 21 Internationals in our Indoor Team.

 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Strategic Planning meeting on Monday 22nd September because I was on holiday so John Hendy had kindly agreed to cover this on behalf of Management