Minutes of the 77th Meeting of Ulster Hockey s Management Board, held in the Hockey Office on Tuesday 15 th March 2016 at 7pm.

Transcription

1 Minutes of the 77th Meeting of Ulster Hockey s Management Board, held in the Hockey Office on Tuesday 15 th March 2016 at 7pm. Present: Barry Feeney (BF) Chair, Alison Watt (AWT) Vice-Chair, Douglas Anderson (DA), Catherine Hodgett (CH), Pat Hall (PH), Jane McKimm (JMK), Lynn Mills (LM), Rosie Rea (RR), Ann Rosa (AR) & Billy Stewart (WS). In attendance: David Larmour (DL), President, Liz Lamont (LL), Vice President & Angela Platt (AP), Executive Manager. Item Comments Decision/ Action Chairperson s Opening Remarks BF welcomed all and asked Board members to consider coopting Nigel Skillen (NS) on to the Management Board as he has the skill set that is needed on the Board. This was proposed by AR, seconded by CH and unanimously agreed. Nigel was invited to join the meeting. BF congratulated Methodist College on winning the Kate Russell in Limerick and Katie Larmour who was the player of the tournament. Conflict of Interest President s Report None declared. Report received. DL apologised for omitting the Bel Tel Schools Cup which was won by Methodist College who represented Ulster in the Kate Russell in Limerick and won the tournament. Apologies Alison Wilson (AWL) Minutes of January Meeting Approved, proposed by DA, seconded by PH and all agreed it was a true record. Matters Arising Board Action List: This continues to be going very well this year. Incorporation Update: Thanks to DA & AWL for their work on this. DA will now engage with the legal counsel. RR expressed concern about independent directors. BF suggested that she meets DA & AWL to discuss this. DA stressed that this was not a finished document. AP gave out a booklet on developing good governance and stated that this is a requirement by Sport NI and if Ulster Hockey doesn t do this, there is unlikely to be funding in the future. She stressed that it was not a threat to the organisation and was work in progress. Any queries should be ed directly to DA & AWL for clarification. 4P s Update: Governance was on the agenda at the recent 4P s Meeting in Dublin. The strategic plan was progressing and there had been meetings with Sport NI. There was a lengthy discussion on the Interpros and it was felt that these were the responsibility of the provinces. All agreed that development on coaching and 1

2 Standing Committees: umpiring was needed. Who was managing the Olympic Legacy? It was felt that there was a lack of communication from Hockey Ireland on this. It was a positive meeting and a conference call will take place on 2 nd April with a further meeting on 17 th April to progress on alignment. BF said that Ulster is further ahead on how its business is conducted and all at the meeting were very impressed with AP s governance structure paper. There seemed to be no issues expressed by the other Provinces regarding Ulster opting out of the Under 21 tournament. There was agreement on the fact that all the provinces need to be represented on Hockey Ireland purely as a communication mechanism, without voting rights. However where do the provinces stand in relation to voting at Hockey Ireland s AGM? The next step is to meet with Hockey Ireland. AP pointed out that there has been more communication with Hockey Ireland in the last few months and there is a willingness from Hockey Ireland to improve this. Ulster Hockey will continue to work with the other provinces to move forward collectively. RR said that Munster and Leinster feel quite grieved with Hockey Ireland and envious of Ulster s coaching courses etc. AP agreed that this came across at the meeting and has offered to work together off the pitch to make the system better. We all need to share ideas. The 4 Ps have planned more scheduled and structured meetings in future and will aim to improve communication through video conferences and Skype. The Board are happy to go forward in this direction. John Dennis from Munster has strong views on the Interpros and they need to be organised through the provinces, as they are not functioning at all levels. The Provinces need to take the lead on this moving forward. Awards Dinner: This should have been mentioned at the Forum. Do we restructure the format? Clubs need to be told now about the date, Friday 20 th May. DL to work on format and Board members so that this can be finalised at the next meeting. Finance: CH apologised that she is unable to write or type with her hand injury but all accounts are in hand. She needs help for hours a week to get the accounts complete for the end of the financial year. Thanks to Eric Cunningham for looking after the Sport NI claims and these are all in hand. The Development Budget needs more input from the High Performance Manager. CH will look at the budget for next year over Easter. There is a need to look at the junior fee structure 2

3 and perhaps charge a fee per child and also have junior registration in order to make this fairer and even for all clubs. AP explained that due to the lack of a staff member to oversee this, a nominal fee of 5 per child could potentially generate approximately 35,000 and this would cover a member of staff and the costs of running the programme depending on the size of the programme). UH needs to be seen by Sport NI to be generating its own income and not continuing to rely on public funding. LM would prefer an adult fee but JMcK said that UH needs to invest in this area as no funds are going into junior hockey at present. Junior Club coordinators are not against this as long as they know they are getting something back. JMcK said that a 5 fee is very cheap as the children are playing from September to May and over the year this feet on the pitch time is very good value. DA suggested that perhaps a placement student would be useful with the funding split with UH. The long term benefits would be good. It is important that there is a registration and a tracking process to have live players playing matches. This is a problem at present in senior matches. JMcK and Andrew Brown have met and Junior Club Coordinators will be invited to a Consultation Evening on 7 th April to discuss their views. They will be consulted again in August. Clubs will need to know in advance before their AGMs this year if they need to factor in this 5. The submission for Sport NI goes in at the beginning of June and information from JMcK is needed after the consultation meeting. The final plan should be available for the May Board Meeting. Approval was given for a financial expert to help with the accounts as the accounts needed to be completed. This was proposed by WS, seconded by DA and unanimously approved. CH explained that their version of SAGE has expired and needs to be updated but NS said to update SAGE only if we had to as the new package is the same. Competitions: The committee tried to bring forward some of the finals but this was not feasible. There was a lengthy discussion on Armagh s appeal and the additional s from their Coach and the Appeal s Committee. Whilst there was sympathy expressed to the Club, it was felt that the Club has to bear the main responsibility for this. The Competitions Committee have proposed that Armagh 1 st X1 are put into Senior 1 next season and the 9 th placed team in Premier will be in the play-off. This was agreed by the Management Board. LM was asked to communicate this to Armagh Ladies. A JMcK to report back. LM to tell Armagh 3

4 Executive Manager s Report letter had been received by a solicitor on behalf of Armagh but all communication should be authenticated by the Club s Honorary Secretary before a reply is given. The Competitions Committee will be doing a rules review at the end of the season. Omagh Ladies have requested to have another meeting and LM will organise this in May. Schools: There has been a clash with finals this year and AR will be working with the Boys and Girls Committees to organise finals afternoons in future that do not clash. Steven Arbuthnot is meeting with teachers to organise a new competition (Omagh Proposal) and this will be put to the AGM on 20 th April. Umpires: Nothing further to add from report received. Coaching: AP was thanked for her work with this committee. It is hoped that a Chair will be appointed out of this group and there is much good work taking place. The Committee expressed some concern regarding communication channels with the HP Manager Disciplinary: No report. The AIP applications close on 21st March. The first draft has been received from Hockey Ireland but a few changes are needed before it is sent off on 16 th March. The Finance Audit is on 22 nd March. AP attended the Sports Forum Conference and met the DCAL Minister and Sport NI staff. She received very positive feedback on this event. Strategic Plan Consultation Meetings have been organised for 4 venues in April - Coleraine on 4 th, Omagh on 5 th, Banbridge on 6 th & Belfast on 11 th, with the Youth Consultation at Mossley on 7 th April. Board Members are asked to attend at least one of these meetings. AP is finalising an Online Consultation for Schools. Everybody Active. AP will respond to Newtownabbey on concerns they have with this programme. UHU Events Club Forum took place on 1 st March. Thanks were given to all who gave presentations and to the Hockey Office Staff for their organisation. The meeting went very well. Online process for Charity or CASC. AP will check the timescale and put this on the Action List for the next meeting and the AGM. Chairs are asked to give feedback to AP on the Strategic Plan. AGM is on 24 th May. All reports to be with AP as soon as possible. These should be reflective on the year. IHA Interpro Working Group. Thanks to the members for their work on this. LM to organise meeting with Malone Ladies. 4

5 Strategic Plan & Hockey Ireland update. IHA needs us to make this work as funding will not be possible unless alignment takes place. There are currently 16 working groups within the IHA and restructuring is necessary. Their strategic plan runs until There is a need for a High Performance Director for the whole sport but there is no funding for this position. The new CEO has not been appointed yet. Correspondence Covered earlier in Competitions. Further communication from Newry Hockey Club requesting the minutes of UH Management meetings for the full year. The Hockey Office has been instructed to send these out as they are already in the public domain (posted on UHU Website). A.O.B. PH is hoping to secure some sponsorship for Under 11 hockey. New sponsors are needed especially for the Burney Cup as the Sinton s at the Bridge sponsorship has now finished. Owls LHC are holding a fund raising event on 7 th April. Ballymoney has a White Collar Boxing event on 16 th April. There is concern about parental abuse of umpires. This can be addressed partly at coaching courses. The High Performance Manager has 22 days of leave to take. The Talent Camps at Lilleshall are clashing with the IHL finals weekend. There was discussion around the availability of staff for this event. Date of Next Tuesday 19 th April at 7pm Meeting Meeting Closed 9.25pm 5