MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ERHA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 19th NOVEMBER 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]                  Rob Oakley , Beds         [RO]

Miche Bloch, Performance                    [MB]                 Nigel Brookes, Beds      [NB]

Mike Trett, Umpiring                           [MT]                Judith Krone, Essex     [JK]

Russell Nutter, League                          [RN]

John Hendy, Development                    [JH]

Charlie Farrow, England Hockey           [CF]

Lorraine Bant, Competitions                  [LB]



1.                 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

John Hewlliwell (Discipline),  Margaret McCall (Treasurer), Sally Tippen (Cambs).

2.     Minutes of the Meeting held on 1st October 2008.

Minutes of last meeting duly signed by BF.

3.                 MATTERS ARISING FROM THESE MINUTES  

Point 4.3 – East will do a round at Essex just waiting to hear where.

Point f – Discipine brought in by EH (Alison Hogg) not Norman Stott. JHelliwell felt there was no consultation – MT there was a little all regional disciplinarians invited to a meeting in July. MT attended as Mick Pullen couldn’t go.

Point 7 SG- brought along the paper booklet for all to see.

 

4.                 Discuss correspondence received, Venue for U21

·         Venue for Under 21 Tournament to be Dereham H.C 23/24 May 2009

 

·         Jan Baker vice president of EH has to stand down at the AGM in 3/09 as she has completed her full term. BF and Ros Marsh thought Sue Boddycomb would be a good candidate to be a Vice President and therefore the EAST should nominate her. Handed Sue Boddycombe's CV out and it was decided that Management would back Sue as a candidate.

 

·         EHF - Presidency of FIH comes up later this month. Els van Breda the present FIH  President is one of the candidates, and the other candidate is Leandro Negre, current president of EHF who may possibly become the new FIH President. If this happened it would mean that Martin Gotheridge would become acting EHF president intil 08/09. Martin of course is also president of EH. BF - Has anyone got any thoughts about this? MT - Would support Martin and after discussion EAST Management agreed in this event to also support as acting President

 

 

5.                 Suggested changes to EAST Constitution for AGM 2009 by John Hendy

·         Moved to next meeting

 

6. Committee Reports

[a] Treasurers (report in appendices)

·         Discussion between BF, MT and MM regarding mileage allowance and lowering it due to the petrol price, this has been agreed at 20p a mile from January 09 with the approval of this committee.

[b] Performance (ask secretary for report)

·         SSIG (implementation group) will be responsible for overall implementation of JRPC’s, in each region.

·         Structure of JRPC in East will change from Residential Camps to 16 days over 5 months. East Performance upset about this decision that was taken at Cannock at the Futures Cup. The vote stood at 3-2, the only other region to agree with East about residential camps was the midlands.

·         BF –  Believes EH are shooting themselves in the foot by demanding this change when East are the region who have provided the majority of the players from the Futures Cup to England. Also East are the region that has 15 years experience compared to every other region.

·         JH – Feels very upset and believes the decision was engineered by EH prior to this meeting.

·         LB – Felt for the children who now had to spread themselves over 5 months compared to a concentrated period of time like a camp.

·         MB – Agrees and also feels there will not be a chance of coach development this way.

·         CF – Expressed that the decision was not made by EH but the regions.

·         JH/MB – Agenda only came out a week before the meeting, and there was no camp option on it. A camp option was only put on at the last minute due to 10 minute meeting held between Sally Munday and JH.

·         JK – Felt that the children and parents will backlash over this as they loved the camps. Also felt that it is a massive demand on coaches to give up their weekends for this as well as tier 1 and tier 2.

·         CF – Encouraged the East to explain their feelings to Sally Munday and Steve Floyd.

·         MB/JH – Didn’t know what this meeting would achieve.

·         JH- Worried who would be in charge of data capture as the funding from the camps paid someone to do it.

·         MB – Asked for volunteers for the Performance Camps in the future.

·         BF – will take the concerns to the next RCC meeting.

 [c] Development (no report)

 

[d] League (report in appendices)

·         NB – Is there a chart of yellow cards over the last few seasons and has the number been increasing?

·         RN – A record is kept, and the numbers are no longer rising, 2 years ago there was a record high.

·         NB – Has found the numbers have increased and the length of ban has increased from yellows, this is forcing players to reconsider playing the sport as they are half a season out of action.

·         MT – Some players attract yellows more as do some clubs.

·         RO – Another way of looking at it is a player has been given 5 yellow cards, no red yet has in effect served a 42 day ban with no chance to appeal. Can the league review the ban?

·         RN – Made a note to discuss at next meeting

 

 

[e] Competitions (minutes on the website)

·         BF- Appalled that no medals were given out for the school competitions. Lets Man Group PLC and the players down.

 

 

 [f] Discipline (no report)

·         MT – A charge of bringing the game into disrepute was made by Cambridge University Women against 2 umpires and Thurrock HC. RDA – Not upheld the charge

 

 [g] Umpiring (report in appendices)

 

 [h] Indoor Hockey (report in appendices)

·         SG – St Albans appealed against their relegation from National League. EH reinstated them, but didn’t tell anyone. St Albans dropped out of East which has had a knock on effect of now taking the competition down to one day. Because of the short notice Kelsey Kerridge will charge a 10% cancellation fee. This means East have lost money through no fault of their own, looking to recoup the money from EH.

·         BF – Next year we need to reconsider Indoor in the East.

·         SG – Big thanks to Brian Perks for his work.

 

[i] England Hockey (report in appendices)

·         Discussion about what EH holds in terms of databases of current level 2 and 3 coaches, that Performance will need for the JRPC’s.

 

[j] RCC (report in appendices)

·         Discussion about the letters between David Faulkner and BF. Generally felt  by the  Committee that the reply from David extremely arrogant.

 

7.     Any Other Business

·         SG – Technical Officiating – a letter has been sent to all county secretaries about setting something up in the county regarding setting up technical officiating co –ordinators post. SG would like to step down  as the regional technical officiating co-ordinator role, it was something that was supposed to be temporary. Letter included in appendices.

 

FULL COMMITTEE REPORTS APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES.

 

 

The meeting closed at 10.00pm with the President thanking all for coming and wishing them a good festive holiday with their families Next scheduled meeting of Management 18th Match 2009.

 

 

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

 

 

Honorary Treasurer’s Report – East management 19th November 2008

Apologies because I am on holiday.

1.      Affiliation fees: Received club fees from Suffolk and club and school fees from Kent.  Still to come club and schools from Beds. (men), Cambs., Essex and Herts. and schools from Suffolk. Rutland men sent East fees directly to me stating that the ladies fees would go direct to Lincs.  16 clubs still to pay affiliation fees to England Hockey largest clubs being Thurrock, Redbridge & Ilford, Bishop’s Stortford and Tring.  Rutland also late paying. Requested club fees by 30th November if possible but by 31st December at the latest, school fees by 28th February if possible but 31st March at the latest.

2.      Camps: all invoices settled and staff payments completed apart from 2 people who have still to complete their paperwork. Payroll house has completed payments less than 1 week after receiving the information.  Miche Bloch is discussing with the South their contribution to Tier 1 costs .

3.      Single System Tier 1: Umpires claims sent to ERHUA Treasurer for payment. Miche Bloch discussing South’s contribution towards overall cost.

4.      RYUAG - update of ERHUA Website: applied to Youth Trust for grant towards cost of updating the ERHUA Website and have been notified that we will receive £1200.

5.      Youth Indoor hockey – sponsorship from MAN Group: have applied to England Hockey for £500 (£250 for boys and £250 for girls) – sponsorship from MAN Group for youth indoor hockey.  Propose also to provide £300 East subsidy for Youth Indoor competitions as last year.

6.      Senior Indoor: Will be subsidised by £300 as last year.

7.      Handbook : will shortly be invoicing Handbook and Website advertisers.

8.      Accounts 2007/8: have been audited.

 

 

Margaret McCall

Honorary Treasurer

17.11.2008

 

East Leagues Report

for ERHA meeting on Wed 19th Nov 2008

 

At the league meeting on Thursday 13th Nov, the following points were discussed:

 

  1. Appeal: Market Deeping failed to pay a fine for non-attendance at the Presentation Day so ALL men’s teams lost the first 2 games 3-0.  Their Chairman arrived at my house at 10:30pm on the 3rd Friday with the £100 in cash, so they started getting points.  Market deeping 2nd and 3rd XI deductions are “suspended” pending no further breaches for the season  As a result of this appeal the rule is to be clarified so that if a men’s team defaults, the women’s team from the same club is not penalised.
  2. Playing matters: Higher divisions all running OK, but lower down the men’s leagues small difficulties have arisen and dealt with by the managers, like:

a) 2 clubs agreeing between themselves on a postponement without league clearance

b) Request for postponement for a wedding

c) Chelmsford 3rd XI not sending National League team sheet to the manager (the 3rd        XI is Chelmsford’s highest men’s team in the East)

d) The pitch used by East London is causing concern due to poor lining and lighting

e) An umpire had complained about the approach of Vauxhall 2 arriving very late for a home game, the 3 people turning up in a car changed, but the opposition did NOT complain, so not taken any further, just “noted”

f) I received an e-mail at 10.45pm on Thursday 6th Nov asking for a postponement for Ramgahria due to flu.  I wrote back that they must take 2nd XI players and cancel the lower XI if necessary.  On discussion with Sam Menear it was decided that she could go and watch BOTH Ramgarhia games to ensure fair play.  UNFORTUNATELY she went to the wrong ground for the first game by mistake, and happened to see a Plashet game.  She later went to Ramgahria’s 1st XI game to find there was NO problem, BUT she inadvertently saw Plashet’s 1st XI playing, saw that there were FOUR players she had just watched (not against the rules), but they had a sub (rule now broken!)  Further – a look at the teamsheets for the two games has only ONE name appearing twice.  Further investigation will ensue!!

g) All Women’s league are being well-managed with only minor infractions

3. Leagues structure and forward planning:

a)The various leagues feeding to the East Women’s league have a variety of different sets of rules.  We have no authority over these, but note that teams from different county leagues may be differently treated if they have a higher team in the East (eg the “playing down” rule)

b) Trevor announced that whilst he is happy to carry on for another period, the committee should consider the succession of East League Secretary in the next couple of years.  The chairman made a similar point.  Trevor is happy to continue with the website, and I am happy to continue with 2 leagues, but the future must be considered.

 

4. Finance:

a) Several clubs have been fined for failing to provide captain’s details, some are slow to respond.  After a reminder is sent, they have 7 days before points start getting deducted.  Some Women’s clubs have been fined for late teamsheets.

b) A change in the rules to harmonise the men’s and women’s league will be put forward – warning/fine/point deduction – which is less draconian for men’s teams.

5. Discipline:

There have been 316 Yellow cards so far of which 38 are in the women’s leagues.  SEVEN men have already had their THIRD yellow and are suspended, one person got three yellows in ONE GAME.  No women have had two yellows.  There have been 10 RED cards, one of which is a woman, and two are MMO’s.

6. Rules:

Trevor’s last MAJOR contribution over the next couple of years will be to rewrite the rules to modernise them, without changing the meaning.  When he started as Secretary his FIRST major task was to put the rules in a more logical order and get rid of redundant ones.  With all the changes that have had to be made over the last 15 years, an overhaul is needed.  Changes to rule 3.1 (Premier registration and eligibility) and 5.3 (umpire replacement – insurance) are already agreed and will go forward to the league AGM for approval.

7. Presentation Day: Vauxhall cannot host the event in June 2009, so, after much consideration of alternatives, the chairman is to ask Letchworth whether they can step in.

 

Meeting closed at 9:45pm

 

Report to ERHA Management Committee from the Umpiring Committee

November 2008

 

The Umpiring Committee has not met since the last Management Committee meeting although the Appointments and Assessment sub-committee met two weeks ago. 

 

The new financial arrangements previously discussed are now being put into practice. As yet there do not seem to have been any particular difficulties. As part of the ongoing review of its working Margaret is proposing a reduction in the mileage allowance following the fall in fuel prices. My personal view is that this does not seem unreasonable given the fall in fuel prices.

 

I am pleased that the Disrepute charges levelled against two umpires and Thurrock HC by Cambridge University Ladies HC have not been upheld by the RDA.

 

Our next Umpiring Committee is scheduled for 4th December.

 

 

Mike Trett

November 2008

 

NOTES OF A MEETING OF THE ERHA INDOOR WORKING GROUP HELD ON MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2008 AT BRENTWOOD HOTEL AT 2 PM

 

Present: Ros Marsh (RM), Brian Perks (BP), Mike Trett (MT)

 

1           BP reported that he had received 8 cheques so far (closing date 1.11.08) from Brentwood and Harpenden men, Brentwood, Maidstone, Cambs City and St Albans women, St Albans (men), Sevenoaks (women) East Championship.  He also reported that Witham had withdrawn from the Men’s qualifying tournament and Old Loughtonians men from the East Championship.  It was agreed that BP would try to find a replacement for Witham*, if unable to do so Section A would play 15 minutes each way and Section B 25 minutes one way.  Confirmed that the semi-finals and final would be 25 minutes one way.  If at the East Championship there were only 5 teams in both the men and women sections, games would be extended to 20 minutes each way, with 5 minutes change over.

 

2         However, with teams withdrawing from the competitions the financial side of the weekends would be affected as follows:

 

11 men’s teams    =           £2420

7 women’s teams =           £1540

2 men’s NL teams           =           £ 440

3 women’s NL teams =     £ 660

ERHA contribution =       £ 300

 

TOTAL INCOME           =           £5360 (ie lost £440 from original budget)

 

£2798.40          =           cost of Kelsey Kerridge (no need for payment for extra hours on the final championship weekend)

 

£2561.60 for distribution

 

Umpires             =           £2100

Officials            =           £  780 (6 x £130)           =           TOTAL £2880

 

£2880 - £2561.60                      =           £318.40 deficit possible

 

3          BP to send final timetables and details to teams w/b 24 November 08.  He agreed to chase those teams who have not paid their entry fees.  BP on holiday 29 Nov-6 Dec and RM on holiday 14-28 Nov.   BP would attempt to find a replacement for Witham in the men’s qualifying tournament.   

 

4          Congratulations to Sheila George for producing the appointments for officials.  Her email, received today, was much appreciated.

5          The updated rules and regulations had been issued and agreed.

 

6          Thanks expressed to Bill Felton for the 2 new trophies he had presented to the ERHA to be given to the winning qualifying teams (men and women).  RM had these trophies and will bring them to KK on the 6 December 08.

 

7          Date of the next meeting

 

THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2009 AT IPSWICH POST HOUSE HOTEL.   Would be appreciated if Charlie Farrow, Sheila George and Margaret McCall could attend this last indoor meeting of the season to discuss arrangements for  09/10 season.

 

*  Wapping Men have expressed an interest

                                                                                                                                  e:\marshwp\erhaindoor.notes1\11.11.08.

 

 

EH Report

·         Formation of an Single System Implementation Group (SSIG) was agreed by the Regional Officer Group at their latest meeting in Cannock in November. The group will have a regional representative but be smaller and deal with the detail of implementation. (Getting on with it!)

·         Dates have been set for JRPC activity next year.

·         We arranged a meeting with all counties and the regional performance group to look at JAC / JRPC planning for next season and communication issues.

·         Quick sticks planning – good progress in planning a region wide programme in inset courses and tutor training.

·         RYUAG meeting on the 8th December.

·         Coach Education – Good progress with level 2 assessments.

·         Coach Ed / Level 1 – programme so courses for 2009 underway, on website by year end.

·         Chelmsford latest club to achieve ClubsFirst.

·         Future Cup Review on EH website.

·         EH and other NGBs awaiting funding news from UK Sport / Sport England. Some concern about funding given reports of a gap in government funding.

 

RCC – Letters between Bill Felton and David Faulkner

REPORT ON INDOOR HOCKEY FOR PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR – DAVID FAULKNER

 

As you are aware we in the EAST have been, and continue to be, big supporters of Indoor Hockey  over many years and despite the fact that only  recently England Hockey have  decided to bring back Indoor Hockey to the programme. In the past years our EAST teams which includes Old Loughtonians, St Albans and Chelmsford Ladies have not only done well on Indoor Finals nights at Crystal Palace, and now Birmingham , but also represented England with good results in European Competition.

 

At our EAST Management Meeting last week considerable concern was raised that England Hockey has arranged International Matches at Southampton over the weekend of our EAST Championships, namely 20/21 December 2008. I am sure that other regions are in a similar position, nevertheless we cannot understand why this has been done and obviously it will mean that not many personal will be able to go and watch at Southampton thereby making the event unsustainable from a financial point of view for England Hockey.

 

The other point raised was that we consider the Player selection process  unacceptable when you maintain only selecting Players who are in our International teams both senior and under 21 Outdoor.  Some of the Players selected for Sheffield earlier this year were EAST Players who had declined to play Indoor Hockey in the past, but were now pressed into  playing to remain in the Outdoor Squad. Some Players specialise on the Indoor game and in the past have been selected as such.  Useful persons to remember are your present Senior  Indoor Team Manager Andy Halliday (St Albans)  and Pete Nicholson (Wakefield) who made many appearances for the England Indoor Team without , if I remember correctly, ever representing England at Outdoor Hockey.

 

I trust you accept these constructive comments sent on behalf of EAST Management so you are aware of our concern and feeling.  We have done all we can to support your drive for Indoor Hockey and wherever possible have limited our EAST Outdoor League fixtures to ensure that as much as possible they are not played in the December/January window reserved for Indoor Hockey.

 

I look forward  with interest to your comments for passing to EAST Management at our next meeting in mid November.

 

 

Bill Felton – EAST President

6th October 2008

 

 

Dear Bill

 

I am in receipt of your letter of 6 October regarding indoor hockey in the coming months and I acknowledge the significant support East teams have given indoor hockey over a considerable period of time. 

 

With regard to international matches at Southampton over the weekend 20-21 December, I would like to address the concerns you have raised about timing and finance. 

 

The timing was very much determined by the Australian tour of Europe as they arrive on approximately 17 December and are in the UK for the period just before Christmas.  We felt it would have been a wasted opportunity if we had not put these matches together with Scotland.  We have also previously been criticized for not distributing international matches around the country and for putting matches on behind closed doors. The work that Stephen Barlow undertook in finding an appropriate venue, seeking local support and volunteers culminated in the selection of the Fleming Park Sports Centre in Eastleigh.   He will confirm they have considerable support for indoor hockey with an indoor league that runs for the majority of the year.

 

Regarding the point on finance, ticket sales look very healthy because of the local indoor support and, as previously mentioned, as indoor hockey is part of our Performance Programme, this supports the accommodation for the players for the event; although expenses are not paid. 

 

You have raised once again the issue of player selection.  We are a Great Britain funded Olympic sport and, in our strategy submission three years ago, we recognised that indoor hockey is a key component in the overall preparation for the outdoor game. The leading indoor nations follow the same principle; Germany, Holland and Spain.  It was clear from Beijing that most notably Germany's Olympic win was significantly enhanced because of their individual defensive and attacking skills based from the indoor game. 

 

I am interested in your comments that we have pressed players into playing indoor hockey.  It will always remain player choice and, from our experience last winter, the development of a number of individuals has significantly impacted on their outdoor game.  You state that some players specialise in the indoor game but, again from our experience of last year's Premiership and Indoor Finals, and with the exception of those of an age who would not now play outdoor hockey, we found it very difficult to distinguish the difference. I would be interested who the East feel we should be considering.

 

Indoor hockey cannot be seen in isolation from the development of our future internationals, a point made very clear from our Performance Plan three years ago, and the feedback we have already received from players and coaches has confirmed this viewpoint. You will see this coming winter the majority of senior internationals playing in the indoor programme.

 

Yours sincerely

 

David Faulkner

Performance Director

 

 

EAST REGION HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

ENGLANDS FARM HOUSE

 1 GEORGE LANE

ACLE

NORWICH

NR13 3DR

 

TEL. NO. 01493 752189

E-MAIL: smg.68@btinternet.com

 

2nd November 2008.

 

Dear County Secretary

 

Technical Officiating

On page 18 of the East Hockey Handbook there is a short entry relating to Technical Officiating which about sums up the reason for this letter.

 

Needless to say, no new names have been produced as a result.

 

In a further effort to promote and raise the profile of Technical Officiating and establish a stronger base network within the Region I am writing to each county with a request to:

1.       Set up/create a County Technical Officiating Co-Ordinator’s post

2.       Appoint a Technical Officiating Co-Ordinator, who will:

a.       Produce and maintain a list of contact details of all known current Technical Officials within that county

b.      Assist with recruitment from the county in obtaining names of interested people

c.       Liaise with the Region Technical Officiating Co-Ordinator.

 

In respect of 2b it is anticipated that a Regional training/familiarisation course will be held in September 2009 running in conjunction with the PLUM tournament. Names coming forward this season will be collated for inclusion in September.

 

Furthermore, England Hockey asked that Regions appoint a Technical Officiating Co-Ordinator. I agreed to do this on a temporary basis but that ‘temporary’ has stretched to rather a long time!

When you present this epistle to your various committees, there may be somebody, or know of somebody, willing to take on this role. It is not too arduous and with the setting up of liaison co-ordinators in each county the task will be made that much easier.

 

It will be wonderful if you are able to do this so if you would let me know of your nominated ‘willing’ volunteer I shall be very pleased. Even more so if there is somebody interested in taking on the Regional post. If any more information is required please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

Many thanks

Sheila

Sheila George