From Tim Phillips – Assistant Secretary
Hi Everyone,
First of all, a reminder that the next Delegates meeting is on Monday 14 December
– 7.30 p.m. at Archdales as per handbook. Please remember to sign the attendance
register otherwise you’re likely to pick up a fine for non-attendance ! The agenda
for the meeting is attached but I’m going to talk about quite a few items in this
newsletter so you can give them some thought before the meeting and let me have
your opinions, either before or on the night.
Monthly draw + Santa’s specials ! – Apart from the usual monthly draw which will
benefit 4 clubs to the tune of £30 each, we are having an extra £50 Christmas draw
– who said the Management Committee had no heart !
And !! - The Worcestershire Football Association has donated 4 brand new Umbro
footballs to our League which we will be passing on to 4 lucky clubs via another
draw. Our thanks to the County FA for their generousity.
Council pitches – Those of you who play on Worcester City Council pitches may
have been confused as to which pitch you should be playing on at the various
venues and I believe a ‘free for all’ has usually entailed. The Council is keen that
clubs should play on their allocated pitch only and to help you know where you
should be, maps showing the exact location of individual numbered pitches are
being prepared by Bob Usher which he will issue to you on Monday evening.
There was some dismay earlier in the season at the Council’s decision not to allow
clubs to play initially on Little Perdiswell, Shap Drive, Cornmeadow Lane and
Ronkswood. I have been assured that these grounds will be brought into play as
and when necessary. Indeed, with the heavy amount of rain we’ve had lately, this
is already happening and I have been assured that all resources will be used to the
maximum to allow matches to be played. Of course there will be occasions when
the weather wins completely – e.g. complete flooding on Pitchcroft and Diglis –so
when that occurs postponements are inevitable.
On the subject of pitches, it is vitally important that clubs ensure that an early
inspection is undertaken if inclement weather is about. If you think there may be a
problem with your pitch I suggest you call in a local referee to have a look and
make a decision earlier rather than later. There’s nothing worse than a team
travelling on a Sunday morning and finding there’s no chance of playing and a
decision could have been taken to that effect a lot earlier. So please liaise with
your match referee and opposition in good time. By the way, when a referee
inspects a pitch, the safety of the players will be paramount in his mind, so if he
calls the match off please respect his decision – he won’t want to hear “ We played
on worse than this last week !”
Your match referee – Dave Taverner tells me that he often gets calls from clubs
on Friday or Saturday evening asking who their referee is the next day. Before
ringing Dave, please look at the website which is updated everytime an official is
changed and you should get your answer from there. A reminder that it is a League
rule that clubs must contact their match referee to confirm details etc at least
two days before the match !
Result reporting – This continues to be pretty good with only the odd club missing
the 5.00 p.m. Sunday afternoon deadline. A reminder that if your match is
postponed you should still ring in and let me know as I’m not a mind reader ! –
Keep up the good work everyone.
Referee marks – One or two of you are getting forgetful ! The following Friday
morning is the deadline for receiving your weekend’s marks. I’m finding myself
reminding a handful of clubs each week that they haven’t submitted their marks.
Now I know anyone can forget on the odd occasion but I’ve decided that if you
forget more than twice you’re going to get a fine ! Can I suggest you get into the
habit of submitting your marks as soon after the match as possible because the
longer you leave it the more chance of you forgetting completely ! This season
you’ve had the alternative method of e-mailing marks in addition to the cards. To
make things even easier for you, I’m introducing a third method of submission –
text !! Most people have got a mobile ‘phone these days so if you would find it
easier to text me your marks then please do so to 07789.827809. But if you use
this method, please ensure you tell me the match, the date of the match, the
referee’s name, the mark awarded, your name and which club you are.
The choice is yours folks – just make sure I get them on time please !!
Before I leave referees, one or two clubs have contacted me recently saying they
haven’t been happy with their match referee’s performance. The procedure if this
happens is very simple. First of all you should be marking your referee out of 100
and there is a guide to how to arrive at your mark on page 36 of the League
Handbook. If you decide to award a referee a mark of 50 or less, then please read
League Rule 13. (l) on page 49 of the handbook. That tells you that you must send
me a detailed report within 3 days of the relevant match giving the reasons for the
mark.
You may wonder what happens then ? Well, first of all please ensure that any
criticism of a referee’s performance is constructive and detailed. Your report will
be passed to Adam Watts and Trevor Jones at the County FA who will consider
what future action is required. It may well be that a referee needs guidance on
certain aspects of his game and it is important that if you feel you have been
‘wronged’ that you submit a report. I can assure you that every report is looked at
closely and appropriate action taken. It is far better to send in your comments
rather than just moan that ‘we had a useless referee last week !’
Registrations – Some advice regarding ‘emergency’ signings. You will be aware
that our League rules allow you to sign a maximum of 2 players on the day of the
match (Rule 8. (b) (2). However the rule goes on to say that the club may not
accept such player’s signature without first ascertaining that he has discharged all
his financial liabilities to his previous club(s).
We had a case recently where although a player had been signed in ‘good faith’,
he had failed to tell his new club that he had an outstanding WFA fine and was
suspended until such time that fine was paid. Needless to say the club was fined
and had points deducted for registration irregularities. We recommend that before
you make an emergency signing that you check with Ted first who will be able to
tell you immediately if the player is under suspension. Ted is happy to take calls at
a reasonable hour of the day !
Some more advice from the WFA ! – The County Disciplinary Secretary John
Lovegrove has asked me to pass on this message – “ We have had today yet another
case of a club returning a form short of players details and being fined accordingly.
The excuse made was that they assumed we had knowledge of the player’s details
via his registration form with the League. Can you ensure that clubs are aware that
they must provide the minimum details required when returning forms (full name,
address and date of birth), otherwise fines will be imposed ! “
The WFA would also like to remind clubs that they are responsible for comments
left on club websites. There have been recent instances of clubs being disciplined
as a result of adverse or offensive comments in this medium. It is recommended
that such sites are moderated regularly to enable prompt removal of such postings.
Well, you have been warned folks ! I’m all for having sensible debate on club
message boards etc as some of you will probably remember when the County
Forum was up and running not so long ago. Unfortunately a few idiots caused that
Forum to be closed down with inappropriate comments so please be very careful if
your club does run such a website.
I’m not actually aware of which of our clubs (if any ?) have their own website. If
you do run one, please let me know as I’d be interested to have a look !
The FA Respect Programme – Clubs will be aware that they were issued with the
relevant correspondence and captain’s ‘Respect’ arm band at the last meeting.
The Worcester League has signed up to and fully supports this programme and will
do all it can to promote and provide football in the Worcester and District area and
ensure it is played in the right spirit. Although there was a meeting with all clubs
with the WFA Development Officer Andy Norman when the campaign first came
out, there has been some confusion amongst clubs and referees as to the exact
procedures to be followed on match days, not only in our League but in matches
across the County. Further training and guidance is to be given to referees shortly.
In the meantime if your club is involved in County Cup matches, please ensure that
you follow the written instructions given regarding the line up and hand shake
procedure. This will also apply in Worcester League matches where 3 officials have
been appointed. It is our intention that all our matches will follow this procedure
in due course.
Still reading this ? Good – my view has always been that good communication is
needed between League officials and clubs to help run things smoothly and I hope
you agree ! It is a two way thing though so if you’ve got anything to say don’t
hesitate to come back to me !! And the next topic is ...............
Trophies – a reminder that all League trophies must be returned no later than the
February meeting, suitably engraved and cleaned please !! So if you haven’t got
the engraving done – now is the time !
It is likely that there will be a change in how we present the trophies at the end of
the season. Historically, the Presentation Evening is poorly attended and we are
thinking of presenting trophies at matches or clubs own individual presentation
evenings or events. Again your views are welcome .......
Right, nearly finished !
Handbook amendments – all this month’s changes concern referees and they can
be found on the attached ‘Handbook amendments’ document.
A reminder that it’s important that you notify me of any changes i.e. contact
telephone no.’s, e-mail addresses, changes in club personnel etc.
The future – on the subject of e-mail, a sub-committee is being formed to
investigate ways of moving as much of the League’s business as possible on to the
electronic format in the future. However as I have said before, nothing will be put
into place without the agreement of member clubs. If you have any views on the
way forward, in fact on any matters relating to the League, then don’t hesitate to
get in touch – it’s your League !!
That’s it ! - see you Monday evening,
Regards,
Tim
