MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF
THE ERHA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON
PRESENT:
ERHA Management Counties
Ros Marsh, President [RM] Dave Burt, Cambs
[DB]
Margaret McCall, Treasurer [MM] John
Adams,
Catherine Lymer, Secretary [CL] Jill
Warrick, Lincs [JW]
Fiona Wheeler, Competitions [FW] Peter
Wright,
John Hendy, Youth Performance [JH] Doug
Thom,
Mike Trett, Umpiring [MT]
John Helliwell, PR & Appeals [JHelliwell]
Russell Nutter, League [RN]
1 APOLOGIES
FOR ABSENCE
Bill Felton – Deputy President, Loraine
Bant – Competitions, Rob Oakley - Beds, Sheila George – Norfolk, Chris Hatch –
Suffolk, Adam Greaves - Cambs
2 MINUTES
OF THE MANAGEMENT MEETING HELD ON
Minutes agreed as an accurate record.
3 MATTERS
ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
[a] Youth
Performance Website - No minutes on
website – JH to have another try with Miche Bloch and Trevor Williams.
[b]
Venue for East Camps 2007 – Felsted, Culford, Haileybury and Tonbridge
have been looked at to host the East Camps. Haileybury cannot accommodate us
for the month we want. No decision has been made yet.
[c] Venue for Womens CC Finals –
[d] Money has been sent to
[e]
Still awaiting a date for the East Ladies’ Vets competition. Ipswich HC agreed to host.
4 COMMITTEE REPORTS
[a] Finance (Report in appendices)
·
Any
clubs that have not paid their fees by 31 December will be disaffiliated by
·
Summer
Camp issues are still being resolved - not happy that it has taken 3 months.
·
It
was agreed that as the 2 senior indoor competitions had been financed by £150
each, youth indoor competitions would be similarly financed.
·
Insurance
money received for damage to league trophies.
[b] Competitions
(Report in appendices)
·
U14 all at Braintree
Leisure Centre
·
U15’s Boys League 25 March
at
·
[c] Performance ( No report in appendices)
·
2
new members have been invited to attend the performance meetings, as Steve
Baker and Ian le Page had retired.
·
No
difficulty in appointing 2007 staff.
·
Are
encouraging a select group to apply for the Centrally Contracted Coaches
positions.
·
Ian
Gall, Stuart Hendy and Royce Waters are planning the 2007 camps. Felsted, Culford, Haileybury and Tonbridge
have all been looked at and Haileybury cannot accommodate us for the whole
month. Wll make a decision shortly.
·
Performance
will support the single system and are planning for the counties to become the
performance centres.
·
Ian
le Page has kept all the individuals’ details on a database. Now Performance
are planning to employ someone part-time to maintain this, through the income
that they generate.
·
In
the past the camps have made a small profit which was being kept back for the
CPD of the coaches and volunteers. This year 18 Young Leaders were trained
using most of the profit built up over
the past few years. Not happy about
this.
[d] League
(Report in appendices)
·
·
Trevor Williams has had a huge response to a
questionnaire regarding the single system - overall 90% of clubs have
responded.
·
The
results of the questionnaire are 250 teams will be lost due to U15 being banned
and 9 clubs to disappear completely
·
Opposition to these proposals are replicated
throughout the other regional leagues.
This was followed by a
debate in which these points were made
·
CF
– League has not attended any of the consultation evenings so feel they are
working from a lack of knowledge. Alterations have been made to the original
proposals due to the debate. Happy to meet with the league to have a full
discussion regarding the proposals.
·
JHelliwell
– A meeting needs to be set up between the League and England Hockey for this
to move forward.
·
RM-
Must not lose sight that these proposals were suggested to protect young
players which is something that we can all work towards.
·
MT
wanted an amendment made to item 3 - there is a qualified umpire at
·
RN
– The umpire complaint form on which umpires can comment about hospitality etc is in the final stages.
[e] Umpiring (Report in appendices)
·
Big concerns over the
number of umpires available for matches.
·
The money from Stephen
Trounce’s estate will be spent in keeping with his memory.
[f] Technical Officiating [SG] (Report
in appendices)
·
SG wants to make an entry
on the ERHA Website with herself as the contact. Agreed.
[g] Development [BF] (Report
in appendices)
·
Meeting held and well
attended. Thoughts are that the agenda needs to be more focused in the future
for it to be useful.
[h]
RDM (Report in appendices)
[i] Regions’
Consultative Committee (no report in appendices)
·
At the last RCC meeting on
11 December RM asked if each region needs a Welfare Officer, answer was
yes. Before anyone takes on this role
needed to know what the criteria was - CF these are on the website will email them
around.
·
There is a chance to
comment on the job description for the centrally contracted coaches but you
need to be quick.
5 REPORT ON REGIONAL SINGLE SYSTME IMPLEMENTATION
PLANNING MEETING
·
With
regards to the action plan that was agreed at the meeting on the 31 October we
need to decide on how to sell the concept and the branding. Cath Arter will
send out an update regarding the single system to all the counties if agreed by
region. Agreed. She will also send out the consensus of the national framework
in January.
·
Decided that once this was sent through Management
there would be county open forum consultation evenings which would help sell
the concept and the branding. Papers would go out first so they could be
informed debates.
6 UPDATE ON
EAST INDOOR TOURNAMENTS 16-17 DECEMBER
·
8 womens’ teams and 8 mens’ teams have entered at
Bethnal Green and Rickmansworth respectively. Next year the months of December
and January will be devoted to Indoor Hockey. The national calendar will
incorporate indoor events.
7 ANY OTHER
BUSINESS
·
DT – is there any way of finding out the policy of
East selection.
·
JH – Schools or clubs send children to counties, The
counties in turn send them to summer camps. At the summer camps assessment
takes place. After summer camp all are invited to an assessment day. If a child
that was recommended has not been seen at the camps they are invited to the
assessment day. They progress from there.
FULL COMMITTEE
REPORTS APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES.
The meeting closed
at
President
.......................................…………………………………………………….. Date
...................………………………...
For
information:
1. Donation to
2. Club Affiliation fees – all
monies received from Beds (men),
·
·
Hertfordshire, all paid apart from 3 clubs
- Southgate Adelaide, Winchmore Hill and
·
Kent (women), all collected apart from
·
Hopefully all monies,
team lists and payments will be with me before Christmas. Any club not paid by 31 December is liable to
be disaffiliated with the list of East League clubs unaffiliated at 31 December
being sent to the East League for action.
List of East clubs that
have not paid their England Hockey fees has been received – 18 clubs at 6th
December. Lists from Counties being
checked against EH list.
3. East boys U14 squad 2006 - kit
– all parents contacted and all kit money now collected.
4. Summer hockey camps 2006 – accommodation
costs now resolved with Culford and paid, 3 months after camps were
finished. Some financial issues still to
be resolved by the Chairman of Youth Performance.
5. Youth indoor competitions –
Senior Indoor competitions are being subsidised by £300. To be equitable, I think that the youth
indoor competitions should also therefore be subsidised by a similar amount.
6.
Margaret McCall
APPENDIX
2: COMPETITIONS REPORT
The main concern this season for both Fiona and myself
has been the lack of indoor facilities available for us to book for both the
girls and boys U16/18 competitions Colchester is now a really good venue for us
to use – and enjoyed by the boys as it is closer to what the national finals
resemble – of course there will be a greater cost implication to the boys as in
previous years Bedford has been free of charge. Culford now is not suitable for
indoor competitions due to the addition of a climbing wall protected by a
padded matting to the floor thus losing a large expanse of wall). They did not
inform me about the addition of a beam which the umpires stood in front of to
stop the players running into it as it protruded onto the playing area. We have
probably made a hundred phone calls to book 4 venues and most do not even
ring back! We were forced to change the date of the U16 girls competition.
The boys’ schools competitions this
year has been a mess with dates changing and a pitch booked being deemed
unfit for play – the finals are now at two venues which will not be the best
situation for both officials umpires let alone the players. Fiona gets the event
sorted and then there is another change. The event now appears to be
finalised.
The finals of the U15 boys’ leagues
has had to be re arranged for after Christmas in March due to the pitch
flooding 3 weeks ago.
The minis competition is now to be
sponsored by
The boys’ leagues with the exception
of the U15 have progress well as have round one of the girls leagues. Sally
Tippen organised an excellent U16/17B 1 day tournament which Essex won – this
is to be repeated in the 2nd half of the season to ensure this age
group are not lost to hockey.
Fiona will bring the up to date results
with her to the meeting and any questions arising from this report or the
recent minutes can be addressed to her.
Loraine Bant
APPENDIX 3: YOUTH PERFORMANCE REPORT
No report given
APPENDIX 4:
LEAGUE REPORT
1. St
Albans want to put at least 1 team in the east Leagues as
they are fed up with the travelling across
2. Berkhamsted
and Tring are (still) contemplating a merger. Berkhamsted subsequently refuted this, but
enquiries from the Tring side suggest it is a possibility.
3. Univ
of Essex owed Romford for a late cancelled game – pitch
hire, teas etc from nearly a year ago, despite strenuous efforts. University will have all games awarded 0-3
against them until they pay up! (Subsequently they paid the following Monday
and only lost 0-3 in one game)
Playing matters:
4. Some
clubs in the EWL are concerned about playing during autumn half term. With the growth to 12 team leagues, a further
break is not possible.
5.
6. Following
complaints from two clubs, the selection policy of Broxbourne was being
investigated.
7.
8. There
is a general warning out to all teams in 3,4,5 NE, and 6,7,8,9 SW about late
results/team sheets.
9. Ely
3rd forfeited a game through lack of a goalkeeper, 4ths
played a friendly, now sought to re-arrange as a league match. This is not acceptable and 0-3 stands.
10. Several
clubs hope to double up players outside the rules. Warnings against this have been issued.
EH proposals for A
Single System for Hockey.
1.
The League has done an in depth survey,
which is VERY FAR from anecdotal, on the effect of a possible ban on
U13, U14 and U15 players from senior leagues.
The response is astonishing with 102 clubs, or over 88% of clubs
so far responding – instead of the usual below 25% for a survey. Based on all U15 being banned, East Men’s
League would lose 90 teams, East Women about 10 Teams. (Bear in
mind that the Women’s League is only for the elite teams). Of the
2.
Further – League hockey
could well become unviable at lower levels in the more remote parts of the
region like the
3.
NINE clubs say they would
disappear altogether very quickly.
4.
FIFTY clubs volunteered
comments to add to the survey, almost exclusively, these comments were VERY
critical of the proposals.
5.
This survey is specific and very full, and
Trevor Williams is to be congratulated for finding out EXACTLY what East
clubs think. A full report on the
findings will be available in December.
6.
Our opposition to these proposals is
replicated throughout the other regional leagues. This is the only survey of
its type undertaken, but the other leagues are keen to see the results,
especially those like the East with large areas where Junior leagues cannot be
established.
7.
If about 10 teams would be lost in East
Leagues, and at least 100 in County women’s Leagues, we wonder where EH are
going to get their affiliation fees.
8.
The League Committee has worked from real
knowledge from real clubs in the region.
9.
Our initial response to the proposals were
put to the Competitions Committee a year or so ago, and were more general in
nature. The findings of this survey are
entirely consistent with the submission made to England Hockey last
summer. The committee was dismayed
therefore when great credence seemed to be given to the East Presidents
comments in the RCC report.
1.
The umpire “complaint form” first suggested
by Neil Cherrill nearly two years ago is now in “final draft”
2.
Three clubs were reported to the League for
not supplying umpires to county pools (as Rule 5.1), but were getting East and
County appointments. Appropriate
warnings were issued.
3.
It was noted that Cambs Uni have NO
qualified umpires at all, but are still receiving full appointments. Further, UEA have 3 people saying they are
Level 1 but they are not in any CHUA, so those games they umpired are awarded
0-3 at least against them.
4.
A check on club umpire membership of CHUA’s
is finally in progress. When complete,
the lists will be available to league managers to ensure games are being
umpired in accordance with league rules.
5.
An incident in an EWL game between Cambs
Uni and City led to a complaint about the umpires to the league. This was passed on to East Umpires to deal
with
6.
Monitoring of
7.
Cards to date – EML 352 Yellow, 7 Red. EWL 31 Yellow, 1 Red. It was noted that some RED cards noted on the
team sheets are not always going through the correct system promptly.
8.
The worst Offenders for yellow cards are,
in order, Broxbourne,
Other Matters:
We will recommend to the
2007 AGM that the rule about fixture cards be withdrawn, as the advertising
value to a possible sponsor has diminished.
In view of this no fines will be issued for breaches of this rule this
season.
The AGM and Presentation
Day will be Sunday 3 June.
Next Meeting is 8 Feb at
Stansted.
The Umpiring Committee
met last Thursday. We were pleased to welcome Ros to the meeting.
1. The concern over the
numbers of umpires available continues. Some weeks it has been extremely
difficult to cover all the matches. On occasion assessors/coaches have been
removed in order that they could umpire. Whilst this practice enables all games
to go ahead, it is not in the long term interests of the system that this
continues. Although some new recruits have come from the new Level 2
arrangements, there is still a shortage of umpires within ERHUA, particularly
women. We are actively encouraging CHUAs to push umpires through to East level.
2. Following suggestions
in the League Management Committee minutes, that some clubs are not complying
with the League rule requiring clubs to provide the neutral pool umpires, I
have consulted all CHUAs. In spite of early season assurances from CHUAs that
all clubs were complying, it transpires that one CHUA, namely Cambridgeshire,
was operating a different policy from all other East pools. From January the
clubs in Cambridgeshire will fulfil their obligations. One other club, (in
3. LMC minutes mentioned
correspondence from
The matter has now been
investigated, and dealt with. However, this matter would not have been
discovered if I had not read the LMC minutes on the East website. Hardly the
way it should have come to our attention!
4. I was pleased to
report that ERHUA has received a cheque from the estate of Stephen Trounce. We are now seeking ideas on
how the money might be spent. I hope that by the next meeting in March,
appropriate plans can be put into place.
MikeTrett
APPENDIX 6: TECHNICAL OFFICIATING REPORT
I do not have much
further to report from the last time but opportunities for appointments have
arisen to the Indoor Programme.
Technical Officials have
been appointed to the women’s indoor at Bethnal Green and to the men’s indoor
at Rickmansworth.
England Hockey have also
realised a shortage of technical officials from the National Register for
National Indoor at Loughborough on 6th/7th January next
and Regions have been asked to appoint to make up the shortfall. The East has
been asked to provide two such officials, which will be done.
In addition to the
officials on the National Register I now have the following:
In alphabetical order:
Loraine Bant, David Burt, Jo Davey, Pauline Ellis, Simon Gillett, Adam Greaves,
Graeme Hammond, Dan Heydon, Ann King, Daphne Minnear, Charlie Moggach, Chris
Row, Fiona Wheeler.
Note: Loraine and Fiona
between them attend many East Tournaments in the capacity of tournament
organiser.
There is still a need to
promote Technical Officiating for purposes of recruitment and training and to
identify suitable arenas to facilitate that training.
I did put a note on the
ERHUA website for volunteers resulting in a couple of names; I contacted
counties which also brought forth a couple of names; personal contact brought
others. I would suggest that it may
prove fruitful and be worthwhile making an entry on the ERHA website with
myself as contact.
The officials who
received training at
Sheila George
Report for Management Meeting On Development
Committee/Forum held on Monday 27
November
Present Bill Felton,
(Chair) Charlie Farrow, (RDM) Lorraine Bant (Competitions Chair) and ten
Representatives from The Counties, including
many HDO’s
Apologises for absence were received from Ros
Marsh (President) and John Hendy (Performance Chair) and six others invited.
The Chair presented the
Agenda and welcomed everybody stressing that this was an EAST Meeting and not
England Hockey. Much discussion took place particularly Counties sharing the
way they operated, which appeared of value. A lot of discussion took place
concerning the costs of England Hockey Coaching
Workshops and it was felt that these were too expensive for Volunteers
who were already spending a lot of time with their Clubs and Counties. In the
EAST over the last few years we have developed/trained over 400 level one and
two Coaches. It was felt, however that the conversion of Level Two was very
low. Two reasons were given for this being lack of course support/mentor and
perhaps more commitment/understanding of the process was needed, Charlie
advised this matter was being addressed.
Charlie gave details of
the various Player Development centres proposed under the Single System which
were still being discussed at Regional Level and confirmed that
The Chair of
Competitions gave an insight into how the Competitions Committee operated and
stressed that because pf the restraints of England Hockey they were limited on
the dates of EAST Tournaments, however this should resolved with the Single
System Now that Mini Hockey was being sponsored there was more money available
not only for the EAST, but also for the Counties, but the actual amounts were
presently unclear. Charlie had these amounts and would advise the Counties.
Unfortunately John Hendy
(Performance Chair) was not present so no meaningful discussion could take
place.
Simon Fairhall gave a
brief insight in what was going on with this Group in his capacity as Chair of
the RYUAG.
It was agreed that the Committee/Forum had been of value and that it should meet twice yearly but for the next meeting we should on the Agenda have a