Leicestershire & Rutland Hockey Association

Women’s Section - Hockey League

Administration Officer Kim M. Shaw 177 Coleridge Drive Enderby Leics LE19 4QJ Tel: 0116 2865819 E-mail Kim.shaw@talktalk.net

Minutes of the Annual League Meeting

Date: 4^th June 2007

Venue: St. Theresa’s Church Hall, Birstall.

Time: 19:30.

Chair: Kim Shaw and Lesley Steans

Present: Charnwood-Sileby, Grantham, Half Century, Hinckley, Leicester Ladies, Lutterworth, Melton,

Newtoniennes and Roundhill, also members of the Committee- Kim Shaw, Lesley Steans,

Sarah Hubbard and Margaret Roskell.

Apologies: Ashby, Leicester University and Sue Oswell.

Absentees: Bosworth, Loughborough Town and Loughborough University.

No.
1	Minutes of previous Annual Meeting. (27^th June 2006) These were approved as a true record of the meeting.	Proposed - Grantham Seconded - Newts
2	Matters arising. - The position of Section President was filled at the LRHA AGM in April 2007.
3	Reports. Treasurer - Report was submitted and discussed at the LRHA Women’s Section AGM. Affiliation fees to remain the same please forward payment to Di Batterham by end of September. Premier Div. summary – Final results sheet available, showing that Leicester 3rds won the division and gain promotion to the Midlands Qualifying Conference East League; they beat Loughborough University by 1 point. Loughborough Town I and II are relegated to Division One. Top scorer for the Division was Kate Costin from Loughboro’ University. Match Secretaries have experienced problems this year re late results sheets, an initial proposal was put forward by them to ask both teams to complete a results sheet for each fixture, however after an open discussion, it was decided to stick with the present rule i.e. “1 point deduction” and make sure that it is enforced. The committee & floor also agreed to amend rules 11.2 to read “on each occasion” at the end and 11.1 “Home team to send….” amended from “Each team”. Division One summary – Final results sheet available, showing that Grantham won the division finishing just ahead of Bosworth, both of whom are promoted to the Premier Division. Top scorer for the division was Alice Webster from Grantham. Sarah and Margaret reported “a good hassle free season with result sheets in on time, although some teams are still failing to notify them if a match is postponed.”
4	Adoption of reports.	Proposed- Hinckley Seconded- Grantham
5	Election of Officers. League Secretary - Kim Shaw League Treasurer - Di Batterham ( LRHA AGM appointment) Prem. Div. Match Sec - Lesley Steans and Debi Wood Div. One Match Sec - Sarah Hubbard and Margaret Roskell Umpires Secretary - Richard Kendall (LRHA AGM appointment) Club’s Representative – Melton (rotation) Sue Oswell to run the County Cup Competition.	} Proposed – Roundhill Seconded – Leicesterl }
6	Fixture dates and divisional format. The league will be 2 divisions – Premier and Division One. Leicester 3rds are promoted to Midlands Conference East (no relegation from the Conference Division this year.) Loughborough Town I and II are relegated from the Premier, with Grantham and Bosworth taking their place. Margaret McLoughlin stated she had “heard that Loughborough Town II were withdrawing and that Loughboro’ University would like to put an extra team in (Loughboro’ 5ths.) ” The committee replied that they had not received any formal application or request from either club for inclusion or withdrawal. MM reiterated that she was sure Loughboro’ Uni would like to enter another team, therefore the committee are willing to give both clubs 1 week to contact Kim Shaw and confirm their intentions. Margaret McLoughlin took the opportunity to use the meeting as a sounding board to introduce a Leicestershire Junior league, she introduced various proposals to the floor and after a lengthy discussion, the following was decided upon:- - That no formal proposal re a Junior League would be accepted tonight. - Clubs would rather have friendly fixtures on a regular basis than a formal league at present, the thinking behind this is that juniors in clubs have better development & potential playing in a club with & against adult opponents rather than just juniors. - It was felt that it may be of a greater benefit to U14’s if a ‘Badgers & Beavers’ style league was introduced involving players from perhaps Ashby, Grantham, Hinckley, Leicester, Lutterworth and Melton, with no more than 3 adults on the pitch. MM to work on further proposals and email her ideas and an outline of the set up to interested clubs. Gaynor Nash from Leicester ‘would be happy to organise this mini-league.’ 4 dates will e set for triangular fixtures.	MM GN
7	Proposal to make rule changes/amendments. In line with England Hockey rules, rule 7.7 shall read “No player under the age of 13 yrs from 1st January in that season may play in the Leicestershire League.” (Under 13’s defined as being under 13 years of age on January 1^st 2008) England Hockey have stated that there will be no further rule changes regarding age until 2009/10 Rule 13.2 shall be amended to read 13.2.1 No Premier game may start without two minimum level one qualified umpires. 13.2.2 A Division One game may have one umpire candidate under test or a candidate umpire under direct supervision of a minimum level one umpire WHO IS NOT the second umpire. 13.2.3 Failure to comply with either of the above will result in the offending team losing the match 3-0, unless the non-offending team score more than 3 goals, in which case all goals scored will stand. An additional penalty will be imposed on the third and subsequent breaches of this rule, when 3 points will also be deducted. It was also proposed to introduce a Player’s Player Award to replace that of top scorer for each division. Each team will be required to nominate a player from the opposition. The score sheets will be amended accordingly and an end of season presentation made at the League Meeting.	Proposed -committee Seconded -Leicester Proposed-committee Seconded-Hinckley
8	Any other business. -Area Youth Games are to be held on 25^th June at Loughborough University. Following on from this, trials will be held for U14 non-county players at St. Margaret’s Pastures on Wednesdays during August from 1-5pm; the cost will be £10 for 4 hrs coaching. Further details will follow via email from MM, although application and consent forms are available to download from the LRHA website. - Leicester Ladies competed in the European Championships in May in Azerbaijan. They won the silver medal losing out to Den Bosch HC from the Netherlands; 7 of the squad started their ‘hockey life’ n the Leicestershire League. -An up-date regarding Umpire cards. MM from the Umpire Sub-committee stated that “If you are a regular umpire in the LRHA League, then you are not required to submit a card; otherwise 3 entries on the card are required if you are a player and 5 entries for non-players.” Meeting closed at 20:45
	The meeting was followed by the presentation of the Robin Glover trophy and League trophies. Robin Glover Trophy is awarded annually by Jane Glover in memory of her husband. Nominations for this award come from clubs, players and officials countywide in respect of someone whom they feel should be recognised for their contribution towards hockey. This year’s award goes to Kim Shaw. Presentation of trophies Lesley Steans (Chair and Premier Div Secretary), presented Divisional Shields and individual winners’ trophies to Premier Division winners Leicester 3rds, accepted by Leicester President Gaynor Nash and to Division One winners, Grantham, accepted by Debi Wood.