MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ERHA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON

WEDNESDAY, 21 MARCH 2007 AT 7.20 PM AT THE HILTON HOTEL, STANSTED

 

PRESENT:

 

ERHA Management                                            Counties

Ros Marsh, President                            [RM]                             Dave Burt, Cambs             [DB]             

Bill Felton, Deputy President              [BF]                                John Adams, Suffolk        [JA]

Catherine Lymer, Secretary                  [CL]                              Jill Warrick, Lincs            [JW]

Loraine Bant, Competitions                    [LB]                              Peter Wright, Norfolk     [PW]

John Hendy, Performance                     [JH]                             Richard West, Herts       [RW]             

Russell Nutter, League                          [RN]                            Judith Krone, Essex         [JK]

 

1     APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

      Rob Oakley, Beds; Margaret McCall, Treasurer; John Helliwell, PR & Appeals; Mike Trett, Umpiring;  Charlie Farrow – England Hockey,

2    MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT MEETING HELD ON 13 DECEMBER 2006

      Minutes agreed as an accurate record.

3    MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

      [a]  Venue for East Camps 2007 – Culford – BF asks that info on the camps comes out as soon as possible.  Everything picked up from Ian le Page in Guernsey.

      [b]  Criteria for Welfare Officer – to discuss with CF at the next Management meeting.

      [c]  Single System – to discuss at Management on 9 May after the EH Roadshow meeting on 19 April at Newport.

      [d] Womens Vets, 1 April 07, Ipswich HC.  Judy Wright organising and winners to play in National Finals at Chelmsford on 22 April.

4    HANDBOOK 2007-08

      CL cannot do the handbook this year as she has other commitments, CL is happy to guide the process. RM to ask Trevor Williams if he would be interested.  RM suggested that Men’s and Women’s Vets and Indoor Hockey information be included in the 07/08 Handbook.

5    EAST AGM-Thursday 5 July 07

      Quy Mill, Cambridge. The draft agenda will be available at the next Management Meeting in May to discuss. BF has asked Sheila George to be Deputy President and she has accepted.  Management Meetings Dates for next year are – 12 Sept, 25 Nov 07, 19 March and 7 May 08.

6    Indoor Hockey – past, present and future

      RM presented a paper (see appendices) on behalf of the Indoor Working Group.  Indoor competition was a success, thanks to all the officials who kept their expenses down. Need to buy a new trophy for the women’s competition. Trying to find other venues to host indoor hockey. There is a need to promote indoor hockey back to the clubs – to get them interested and playing again.

7    COMMITTEE REPORTS

[a]  Finance  (Report in appendices)

·         Yazoo are sponsoring the Mini’s etc but what do the Regions get from this sponsorship?

[b] Competitions ( Report in appendices)

·         Congestion of calendar – girls want the 1st weekend of December for Junior Indoor and Boys want the first 2 Sundays – how will this effect adult East Indoor?

·         People on the committee feel that playing midweek undermines the importance of the game. 

·         Is it possible for a bigger contribution from the East to help fund the Indoor?  MM to be asked to consider.

·         Teams are dropping out of league matches and the Committee are considering a fine system.  To be discussed at the next Competitions meeting.

 

[c]        Performance ( No report in appendices)

·         Ian le Page has now left, everything was picked up from Guernsey.

·         Staying at Culford for this year looking to move next year. Had to pay VAT which previously we did not, to cut costs, staff are being kept to a minimum. Half way through the camp there will be a coaching weekend. Miche Bloch is going to be the Camps co-ordinater and Manager. To break even 448 children need to attend.  Prices are 3 days £150 and 4 days £200.

·         JH to send the budget for Culford to MM.

·         Counties are being informed currently by Miche Bloch about Summer Camps.  LB asked if the info could possibly come out by February next year as all the county coaches are still working with their squads at this point so the information would be easier to disseminate and collate.

·         There was attendance at all county competitions for talent identification purposes.

·         The interviews for the Centrally Contracted Coaches have taken place, there were 7 candidates from the East. Hopefully one CCC will attend the Performance meetings.

·         The decision has been taken to create a new website which will have a link to the East website on it. There will be a section specifically for the young players.  Check with Trevor Williams a final time to see if the issue can be resolved about putting the Performance minutes on the East page direct.

[d] League (Report in appendices)

·         Cambs Umpire Association have allowed for Cambs Uni to umpire matches without that person being qualified, if any opposition had appealed they would have won.  Plashet have the same problem.

·         The umpiring complaint form (which is for the umpires) is still in draft form.

·         League has asked the Umpiring association for a list of level 1 umpires which the league can then check but have not had a response so far.

·         Single System survey response it is believed that East would lose 250 teams, the South are reporting the same number.

·         RN - EH has sent out a survey which is complicated and can be interpreted anyway it needs to be.

·         RM – Until development leagues are in place, EH cannot expect children to leave established teams.

·         RN – County Umpires’ Association are not providing umpires for the pool, work needs to be done about the lack of numbers.

·         Broxbourne has 37 yellow cards – when a umpire questioned this, it was found that the team fined their members heavily if they did not receive a yellow card. League are seeing what action they will take about this.

[e]  Umpiring  (Report in appendices)  

[f] Development [BF] (No report in appendices)

·         Meeting on 14th May

[g]  England Hockey

    RDM (Report in appendices)

·         England Hockey Roadshow on 19 April at Saffron Walden (Newport Free Grammar School).

 [h] Regions’ Consultative Committee  (Report in appendices)  

·         The Men’s County Championship Finals on 17-18 May 2008 will be held in the East and it was agreed that Old Loughtionions, Chelmsford and Harleston  will be asked if they wish to host.

·         New FIH GK rules – the East strongly recommend that fully equipped GKs are used at U18 level and below.

·         East to host England Hockey AGM in 2008 – Between now and the next Management Meeting Counties to ask clubs to see if any want to host.

·         Men’s U21 County Championship – 3 Counties (Essex, Herts, Norfolk) take part in the East tournament.  Felt that this should continue, but at national level there was no need to introduce an A and B tournament.

7   ANY OTHER BUSINESS

·         RM - Child Protection issue - should know where we are at start of next season.  To discuss at next meeting.

 

FULL COMMITTEE REPORTS APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES.

 

The meeting closed at 10.20 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

ERHA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING............ Wednesday 21 March 2007

 

Agenda Item 6 - Indoor Hockey - past, present and future

 

Past

The winners of the ERHA Indoor Tournaments held on Sat/Sun 16-17 December 2006 were Ipswich HC (Women) and St Albans HC (men).  There was no promotion this season to the National League.  As can be seen from the Hon Treasurer’s report the only money outstanding is £100 from Chelmsford HC.  It was also decided to buy a new trophy for the Women’s competition.

 

Present

We held a meeting of the Indoor Working Group on Thursday, 15 March to look at the tournaments recently held and to plan the future.  Charlie Farrow, Brian Perks, Mike Trett and myself are looking to see if there are any other venues we could use (in addition to Bethnal Green and Rickmansworth).  The East teams in the England Hockey (EH)  Indoor League next season are:

 

Women:           Premier - Canterbury, Chelmsford, Ipswich

Div 1      - Old Loughtonians, Sevenoaks

Div 2      - Harleston Magpies

Men                             Premier - Old Loughtonians

Div 1      - Harleston Magpies

   - St Albans

Div 2      - None

 

Chelmsford HC (women) came 6th in the European Indoor Clubs tournament in Hamburg in late February 07 and ensured that England would be represented in this top competition (Slough) next season.

 

Future

In the draft EH Fixture List 2007-08, the whole of December and January has been allocated to indoor hockey - 01/02 and 08/09 December to Regional Leagues, plus 15/16 December (although Premier NL will be held on this weekend).  5/6 January NL Div 1, 2S, 2N, and 12/13 January Premier, Div 1 and Div 2.  Euro Indoors at Sheffield (EH hosting this event) on 18-20 January and Indoor Finals on 27 January (junior indoor finals 25-27 Jan).

 

There are 5 teams in Div 2 in the men’s and women’s league.  There are to be 12 teams in each league (divided into 6 teams in the North and 6 teams in the South).  Each Region will have 1 automatic place in Div 2, with the regions having the most teams, taking the other 2 places.  Therefore, our East region round will be important as the winning teams will have automatic entry to Div 2 of the National League.  They will play on the 5/6 January and the top 3 teams (out of 6)  from the North and South, will form Div 2 for 12/13 Jan with the top 5 teams (out of 6) remaining in Div 2 for the following season (only 6th place team losing out).

 

Our next meeting is on Thursday 31 May 2007.

 

Ros Marsh for Indoor Working Group      e:\marshwp\eastindoor.update

 

 

 

Honorary Treasurer’s report to ERHA Management – 21st March 2007

 

Items  for information:

1.      Affiliation fees: Have had club fees from all Counties, and school fees from all Counties but Cambridgeshire.  Thanks to County treasurers for collecting the East fees.

2.      Camps account: Final accounts for the 2006 camps show a deficit of £452.41 plus associated costs of £2375 for the chief coach and £3435 for the Leadership course run in conjunction with the camps.  Additionally £380 was spent supporting East coaches taking Level 2 and 3 coaching courses and £301.48 on Youth Performance staff visiting Ian le Page to complete the hand-over of camps administration.  Balance in camps account at the beginning of the year was £7179.86.  Current balance is approximately £1000 (£250 + £700 interest).

3.      East junior squads 2006: All squads’ expenditures were within budget.  Some pitch invoices still to come and hopefully a further refund on cancelled accommodation at the boys’ Regional Tournament.  Thanks to the managers and coaches who collected the money and produced budgets. ***** Have received the boys’ U14 2007 budget but need budgets for other squads*****

4.      East kit: Have spent £2490 on squad kit (belongs to East) less £885 commission – net £1605.

5.      Clubs Indoor: Current net income from the event is about £300 (includes £100 still to come from Chelmsford HC).  Trophy to be purchased for the Ladies competition. Thanks to all who ensured this ran within budget.

6.      Mini hockey: No money received from England Hockey for 2005/6, Stephen Barlow investigating.

7.      East Young umpires course run in conjunction with U13 minis : Change of organiser this year – in future need to be sent details of expenditure.

8.      League fines: Used to subsidise 2 young umpires courses run by the Counties. Thanks to the League.

9.      All other expenditure: currently on target.

 

Margaret McCall

Honorary Treasurer ERHA                                                                                           20.3.2007

Competitions

 

 

League Report

 

There are a few points to flesh out the dry content.

Umpires -

1. Some umpires are still not qualified or not members of their county associations, but it is difficult to police when some county HUA's seem not to have lists of their umpires that the league managers can use.

2. The "umpire complaint form" has just had its second anniversary and is still not available

3 Cambs Uni have no Level 1's at all, as they have been allowed to "get away with it" for some years by Cambs HUA.  We agreed to allow them to continue this season, but they must provide Level 1's next season.

4. Some clubs are failing to contact their umpire assuming that the website is enough - IT is NOT.

Discipline:

1. The match Luton v Ford was abandoned with under 4 minutes to go following a fight involving 16 players, and with sideline people becoming involved.  Both clubs had 3 points deducted - Luton seem to have appealed.

2. Broxbourne have 37 yellow cards - nearly twice as many as any other Premier club, with 5 people having been banned for 3 or more cards.

Presentation Day:

1. It will be either at Newmarket or Royston on 3 JUNE - we are still pursuing costs.

2. We hope as many ERHA as possible will attend.

 

 

Report to ERHA Management Committee from the Umpiring Committee

March 2007

 

I apologise for being unable to attend the meeting.

 

The Umpiring Committee met on Thursday 8th March and minutes of the meeting are posted in the web handbook of the ERHUA website at www.erhua.co.uk 

 

Although umpires have been supplied to all fixtures to which ERHUA appoints, this has been because of the hard work of the Appointment Secretary in ‘shuffling a diminishing pack’. We continue to experience a shortage of suitable umpires. There remains a significant challenge in recruiting umpires from clubs, even though league rules require it. Several County umpiring associations are concerned that the ‘naming of umpires’, required of clubs by the League rules, is increasing the workload of their appointment secretaries without providing any benefits.

 

After 13 years as Secretary to an East Umpiring Committee Sheila is to retire at the end of this year. We are grateful for the solid foundation that she has helped to lay for the Umpiring Association I would like to take this opportunity to wish her well in whatever role she adopts in hockey in the future.

 

Mike Trett

March 2007

 

 

 

 

 

ENGLAND HOCKEY / REGIONAL MANAGER

UPDATE MARCH 07

England Hockey is a company limited by guarantee.

1 HOCKEY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER UPDATE

The recruitment process for the new Development Officers is coming to an end with the new team due to start with England Hockey on the 16th April. I am delighted to confirm that Sapphire Cutting the current Suffolk HDO and Catherine Lymer our current Beds HDO have been appointed to work here in the east region. Sapphire will cover Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire and Catherine, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. The new posts are full time and I look forward to working closely with both Saph and Catherine.Whilst nationally the situation with the part time county posts remains very uncertain, in the east we retain officers in Lincolnshire (Dave Carter) Norfolk (Connie Bedingfield) and Hertfordshire (Peter Simmons.) We have recently appointed Stuart Hendy in Essex of course whilst in Suffolk the county sports partnership is committed to replacing Sapphire. In Bedfordshire it is hoped that an officer can be employed at least one day a week. This only leaves a vacancy in Cambridgeshire and I hope to resolve this situation in the near future.

 

2 OTHER STAFF NEWS

A number of staff changes have taken place in recent weeks. Firstly since the last meeting we have welcomed Fiona Robson as the new regional administrator of course. I can report that Fiona is settling in very well and joins us tonight. We said a goodbye recently to Simon Letchford the Regional Manager in the South, whilst Michael Baker has joined the competitions and events team full time. Congratulations also to Alex Teasdale, Lewis Butcher and Sarah Capel who have all recently been promoted.

 

3 MAN GROUP SPONSORSHIP MATCHED

The sponsorship from the Man Group has been part matched funded by the National Sports Foundation (NSF) which will significantly increased the funding available to support the implementation of the Single System and for national youth competitions over the next twoyears.

 

4 LTAD / SINGLE SYSTEM QUESTIONNAIRE

A questionnaire / impact study is being sent out to all affiliated clubs to look at the impact of potential restrictions on under 14 and under 15 players in adult leagues. The results will go to the May EH board meeting.

 

5 ENGLAND HOCKEY ROADSHOWS

This years Roadshow will feature a Strategy Update and details of the Euro Nations. The Dates / venues are as follows, East – at Saffron Walden Thursday 19th April, West Taunton Tuesday 1st May, North - Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Wetherby Tuesday 24th April and Bolton HC on the Wednesday 25th April. South – Tuesday 17th April at Bisham Abbey and Wednesday 2nd May at East Grinstead HC (TBC) Midlands - Wednesday 18th April Lemington Spa.

 

6 EURO NATIONS UPDATE

Tickets are selling fast and planning for the event is moving forward rapidity. Volunteers for the whole event 18th 26th August are being sort and interested volunteers are being encouraged to apply online on the event website, which can be accessed from the home page of the Englandhockey website.

 

7 TALENT FUNDING - NOW CLUB AND COACH FUND

Like my fellow Regional Managers I recently submitted detailed additional informational to Sport England to support our national application for Club and Coach funding. This funding (originally Talent Funding) if secured will support the developed of our Single System model, in particular for player development centres and coach development. In truth the application process has been a frustrating one it now appears at least that we will not secure funding for HDO posts from this route. However we asking Sport England for further guidance in this area and anticipate that by working closely with CSP’s we could still be able to access funding in partnership from the local CIF / Building Capacity funding. We should hear by the end of March.

 

8 CENTRALLY CONTRACTED COACHES

The regional interviews for these posts took place in late Feb, early March. The new CCC’s will work closely with our Performance Coach Manager Jane Powell and support the regional associations with the development of regional player development centres. Coaches will be employed between 50 / 80 days a year and are expected to start in April. Thanks are due to Culford School who hosted the east interviews last month and to John Hendy who kindly gave up two work days to attend.

 

9. YAZOO YOUTH FESTIVAL (national and regional.)

This year’s event takes place on the weekend of the 11th and 12th May. We are currently advertising for potential young leaders and indeed young umpires to support the event. (Details on the website) The event will feature the finals of the Yazoo Mini Hockey Championships on the Sunday and on the Saturday the European Nations themed Under 9 Festival open only to accredited clubs. CLOSING DATE IS TUESDAY 24th APRIL 2007 Locally the regional mini finals of the Yazoo Mini Championships held at Bedford and Redbridge over the last two weekends were supported by young leaders and young umpires whilst four of our HDO’s attended the events. The Yazoo sponsorship meant that winners and runners up received pennants whilst all young leaders and umpires received a T shirt. The “older” volunteers received a jacket.

Plans for next year include the further development of the East event(s) in line with the national festival. As previously reported we are forming an East Youth Panel to work alone side the ERHA competitions committee in achieving this.

 

10. COACH EDUCATION

A full programme of level one courses has been arranged across the region, all courses are on the England Hockey website.

The level two courses will this year take place over two weekends in July, with a follow up day in October to assist candidates to complete the award.

I can report that we have recently run several successful Coaching for Teachers courses which will support the teaching of hockey in schools and that the new England hockey Leadership course aimed at young people 14 / 18 is proving very popular.

 

11. CLUB SUCCESSES!

Congratulations to Stevenage HC, Bury St Edmunds HC, Pelicans HC Bedford HC and Bishops Stortford HC all of whom have achieved Clubs 1st Accreditation in the last period. We now have twelve accredited clubs in the region (excluding Kent) with at least four others due by the end of the season. Congratulations to Sudbury HC Bury St Edmunds HC, Dereham HC, Pelicans HC and Luton HC who are among the first nationally to sign up with their local School Sports Partnership for the official England hockey Club School Link programme. This not only provides lots of benefits

in terms of resources offered but also offers them long term support in recruiting young people and developing their junior programmes.

 

12 CCDP

Projects for pitch refurbishment (funded by EH under the CCDP) are progressing. Refurbished pitches are hoped to be in place at Bury St Edmunds, Dereham and Bedford by the start of next season or soon thereafter whilst facilities have already been improved at Harleston Magpies, Luton and Pelicans. This amounts to a total contribution of £220K by England Hockey into facilities in the region. As part of the “arrangement” we will be working very closely with each club will be working closely with us in developing hockey in their area.

 

 

EAST HOCKEY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE........................ 21 March 2007

 

Notes from the Regions’ Consultative Committee held at Milton Keynes on Monday 5 March 2007

$        In season 2007/08 the Regions have been asked to host the following events:

Women’s County C’ship Finals       WEST     17-18 May 08....................................................................... 1 pitch

Men’s County C’ship Finals            EAST      17-18 May 08...................................................................... 1 pitch

Men’s U21 County C’ship Finals     NORTH    ?................... 1 pitch

Boys U15/U17 County C’ship Finals   MIDLANDS  19-20 April 08................................................... 2 pitches

Girls U15/U17 County C’ship Finals   SOUTH         19-20 April 08................................................. 2 pitches

 

Do we ask our water-based clubs ie Old Loughtonians, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Harleston Magpies (are there any more?) if they would like to host this event.  Regions have been asked to have a venue by the RCC’s next meeting, 4 June 07.  Just a thought, when it is our Region’s turn to host the 2 events that require 2 water-based pitches, where do we offer?  I can only think of the Canterbury club. 

 

$          The Regions and Counties have been asked to encourage clubs when returning their affiliations, to fill in the information requested on the back of this form.  These details (eg gender/young people/ethnicity) are needed by EH for Sport England and help to get the necessary grants for the grass roots eg HDOs and RDMs.

 

$          New FIH GK rules.  Do we play to these rules but strongly recommend that fully equipped GKs are used at U18 level and below?

 

$          Future of Men’s U21 County Championship.  Some Regions want to continue, do we?  Felt that as there is nothing else to put in its place, we should continue.  Also good opportunity for umpires and coaches for development.  Next season there will be no clashes with senior events (because of Beijing).  Should we have an A and B competition (as Senior CC men), as this might keep and encourage more Counties to be involved? 

 

$          England Hockey AGM – East to host in 2008 (if like this year it would be in March).  Venue needed that can take 100 people (includes EH staff), a buffet lunch (sandwiches, sausage rolls etc) to be provided and a bar would be preferable for socialising before and after the meeting.  Also good access by road and rail.  Any ideas?

 

$          HDOs – 9 out of 12 posts now filled.  3 unfilled posts in Middx/Berks/Hants, Yorkshire, Surrey/Sussex/Kent.

 

$          Milton Keynes – MK Dons moved by Sept 07.  EH negotiating lease for their offices. 

 

$          Child Protection – Alison Hogg, EH, has, with the help of a sub-group of NSPCC and EH’s lawyers, drafted a new policy and procedures to be approved by the Child Protection in Sport Unit.  This intermediate standard was submitted at end of January 07 and she is now awaiting feedback.  Training and education of Regional Officers would be given and there would be a central reporting system.  Everything should be in place by September 07 and EH’s insurers would expect this to be so.

 

Ros Marsh

14 March 2007                                                                                         e:\marshwp-1\east management-RCC Notes3