1 P a g e The Cheshire County Football Association Limited Minutes of the Meeting of Council held at Hartford House, Hartford Moss Recreation Centre, Northwich on Monday 3 rd September 2012 at 7.30 PM Present: D D Edmunds (Chairman); T G Harrop (Vice Chairman) A Allcock; P Abbott P Crowe; L Bullock; M Burbery; F.M.J Bradfield; L Berry; J T Clare; P Cullen; A Green; S Holt; K Halsall; P Maddocks; K Mighall; M J Pomfret; R Pullen; G M Reynolds; A Roberts; F G Robinson; A Summers; J A Thomas; L D Welch; A Collins; E Crabtree; C Harrison; T Carroll; R Egan; I Speed; S Gerrard (CEO) Apologies: R D Bayley; P Ferneyhough; C Garlick; D Mansfield;; R E Whitby; G Antrobus; B McQuinn; W J King; Mrs C Paisey; J S Smith; A Thomson; R Washburn; Election of CCFA Chairman It was proposed by Frank Robinson and seconded by Tony Summers, that David Edmunds be elected Chairman for the2012/13 season, and this was agreed by Council. The Chairman welcomed Arthur Green new representative of the Wirral Division, and Paul Abbott new District F.A. representative for Stalybridge and Hyde. 1. Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on Monday 14 th May 2012 were agreed as a true record and signed accordingly. 2. Matter Arising: Minute 2d Mr Speed clarified that it was Hale Reserves and not Halton FC wanting to join the Chester and District Saturday League. Minute4 item3 Mr Speed asked if Woodley Sports had changed their name and the chairman confirmed that it had been approved to Stockport Sports FC. 3. Sub Committee Minutes a) Discipline Committee 7 th June 2012 b) Matters Arising Minute 4b Cup Competitions can only be used if they have been agreed by the Cheshire County FA and all leagues have had forms to confirm their nominated competitions. Minute 7 The FA have agreed to run a chairman s discipline training course on the 8 th November at CCFA. Any Chairman who has NOT attended any training will need to try to attend this meeting, as the Chairman advised that if discipline chairmen have not completed any training then they cannot chair discipline commissions, in accordance with new FA Regulations. This is the 3 rd phase of training and those that completed the 1 st and/or 2 nd phase of training can still attend the 3 rd phase training.
Minute 5b Mr Speed asked if there would be any feedback provided to Discipline Chairman regarding the questionnaire that is to be put in place for referees attending hearings to fill out. The Chairman confirmed that this would be monitored by the discipline committee and relevant feedback provided. c) Football Development Committee 10 th July 2012 d) Matters Arising - None e) Cups Committee 23 rd July 2012 f) Matters Arising Minute 9ii Mr Maddocks asked if there had been any further update with regards to Macclesfield DFA not recommending referees for CCFA fixtures for 2012-13 seasons. The Chairman stated that a meeting was taking place tonight where he hoped that they would be able to resolve this issue for the coming season. The Chairman also stated that Trevor Massey had written to all referees in the Macclesfield DFA area to ask if they would like to take this role on board but to date he had no response. Mr Maddocks expressed concern as to what would happen if they could not resolve the situation as the next round of the Minor, Junior and Youth cup s were imminent. In the last round Mr Hines had completed the task but Mr Maddocks did not want to ask him for the next round. g) Youth Committee Meeting 7 th August 2012 h) Matters Arising: Mr Maddocks asked that it be placed on record to thank Mr Hines for helping Macclesfield DFA out while they try and resolve their issue. Mr Maddocks also asked if the 1 st round of the competition Youth, Junior and Minor cup needed to be started later in the season due to the cups directory not being available 7 days before the competition. The CEO explained that there had been some delays in sending out the information due to the priority being to develop the County FA handbook. Mr Cullen asked if it was the most appropriate date to start the first round of the competition due to the majority of leagues starting their season on this date, and we are expecting teams to get permission from the leagues not to fulfill their fixtures, and also leaving teams that do not enter the competition without a fixture. Mr Mighall stated that from speaking to the majority of the leagues, most league season kicked off the second week in September and the CCFA competition s needed to be started earlier due to the high number of entries. 4. Reports and Notes May 2012 a) FA Representative Report b) Matters Arising - None c) Directors - Meeting 19 th April 2012 d) Matters Arising: None 2 P a g e
5. Correspondence Item1. - Letter from the Football Association confirming that the Mid Cheshire Youth League had received 978.00 for administration equipment. Item 2. - Letter from the Football Association confirming that the Timperley and District Junior League had received 565.00 for administration equipment. 6. Financial Matters a) Current Account 37,724 b) Deposit Account s 52,247 c) 120 Day Account 102,009 7. Referee Matters The Chairman congratulated Mr Cullen on achieving Level 4 tutor status, being one of only 26 in the country. On the 9 th September a referee assessor training day will be held at CCFA HQ On the 16 th September a referee taster day will be held for those referees s who have shown and interest in becoming a tutor. 8. Discipline Matters No matters arising. 9. Youth Matters Mr. Thomas reported that the County Youth Team are now being prepared for the 2012-13 season and currently training and playing friendly matches. The Team will play in the Northern Counties Division 1 with the first away game being at West Riding on 22 nd September. The team had an away fixture to Shropshire FA in the FA Counties Youth Competition, on a date to be agreed. Ray Pullen advised that he would keep Council informed of dates and venues as and when known. 10. Football Development The CEO provided an overview of an issue that had been ongoing with regards to the line marking of pitches across 72 sites within the Cheshire East Council footprint. Ahead of the 2011-12 season the Council issued a letter 6 weeks ahead of the season stating that they would burn the lines into the pitches for line marking then stop until the following season. For the North of Cheshire East this was not an issue as this is what had happened when the authority was still working as the old council. However in the South of Cheshire East this would cause major problems as they had always been use to white line marking. The CEO had developed a forum made up of league representatives (to represent the views of their clubs) and Council representatives to discuss this issue and any other wider facility issues. The group has met 5 times over the course of last season and discussions have been productive meaning that this season lines will be marked in again but at an additional cost to the clubs and some leagues. 3 P a g e
4 P a g e The CEO did explain that he felt that the issue of reduction in pitch maintenance, asset transfers and loss of pitches would also arise within other local authorities and that we needed to take a leadership role in protecting footballs interest within Cheshire. Mr Green asked if there was a development plan in place for the County FA. The CEO confirmed that we did have a operational development plan that was produced on a yearly basis as part of our 4 year strategy which drew down 50k of funding each year to support the 4 key goals and 2 enablers and this could be found on the website. Mr Green said that he had submitted the West Cheshire League plan to the county before sending it back to the FA and had received no comments. Action CEO to look at why no comments or sign off was provided by members of the FD team. 11. Article 65 Re Election of Directors. a. David Mansfield & Terry Harrop There being no other nominations, Council confirmed the re election of Mr. Harrop and Mr. Mansfield for a period of three years. b. Appointment of John Smith - The Chairman confirmed that due to Duncan Bayley retiring in May a notice had been sent out earlier in the year inviting members to apply for the vacant position on the board. John Smith was the only applicant and was duly elected and fulfill the period of two years left by Duncan Bayley. The appointment was approved by the council. 12. Full / Associate Membership a. The Chairman reminded Council that 2 years ago Council had agreed a new criteria for Full and Associate member clubs. Current clubs will be sent a reminder to ensure that they have the criteria in place for the 2013-14 season. b. The Chairman explained that Groves FC and New Brighton FC where full member clubs, but there was some doubt as to how the Clubs were being organised. Groves FC appeared to have moved ground. New Brighton FC was only running an Under 18 side and there is nothing in the rules that states they have to have a senior side to be a full member club. Views where asked for, Mr Collins stated if the clubs continued to meet the criteria then they should be allowed to continue as a full member club. Mr Allcock felt more guidance needed to be provided so a more informed decisions could be made. For this season the clubs would remain full member clubs. Action The Chairman asked that members went back to their District Associations and discussed it with their members and brought back opinions to a future meeting.
13. Northwich Victoria Stadium The CEO provided an overview with the current situation with regard the loss the Victoria Stadium, the former home of Northwich Victoria Football Club. The Stadium at the start of the year was bought by the Thor Specialist Group who are located next door to the Football Club. Thor have no intention of keeping the stadium and two planning applications have been received, the first being to move very hazardous waste onto the site and the second to then build a warehouse on the stadium site. CCFA is currently working in conjunction with Sport England and The FA and all three parties are in discussions with Cheshire West and Chester Council to try to ensure that the appropriate sum of money or replacement is received. Mr Allcock raised a concern that if a like for like replacement stadium was built then the new tenant should have to follow some strict criteria to ensure that they can meet all their financial obligations. 14. Any other Business Mr Robinson said that Tranmere Rovers FC have now submitted a revised plan to the council to move to from their current training ground to land next to Woodchurch High School. The CEO confirmed that CCFA had received revised plans this morning (3 rd Sept) and the Chairman and CEO would review them with The FA. 15. Date of Next Meeting - Monday 5 th November 2012 at 7.30 PM Meeting Closed at 8.30pm (Chairman) Date 5 P a g e