HHUA Management Committee Meeting 4 – 2010/11
7.30pm, 08.03.11, Romsey WMCC
Attending: RW, RS, JMG, DB, PG, FS, AG, NP, CH, MR, MH, LW, JHol, AN, ME, GT (minutes)
Apologies: AT, RH, JH, RJ
Item / Action1. / Apologies for absence
As noted above.
2. / Minutes of the last meeting
2.1 / Actions – all complete with the exception of:
· Item 2.1 – 2.1 Club feedback on umpires facility. Email has now been set up (). Notice to go on website and email to clubs at the beginning of next season.
· Item 2.1 – 5 Club response to umpire availability. RW advised that this will be discussed at HHA AGM.
· Item 2.1 – 6.7 Placement of yellow-carded players. RW to discuss at South and report back.
· Item 4 Website – system enhancements. RW advised that there is more to be done. DB requested differentiation between “won’t supply” and “can’t supply” on option 136 (Fixture cancellation process).
· Item 5 Umpiring incentives. RW to take to Officers’ Meeting and DB/RH and report back.
· Item 6.8 – point 4 Free membership for young umpires. To be discussed at first meeting of new season.
· Item 7.4 Coaching at Hampshire Day. Clarification was given that this meant providing coaching to umpires watching, not those appointed. PG to consider and act upon if possible. / GT
RW
RW
RW
RW
GT
PG
2.2 / Matters arising
· Item 6.12 Attendance at SCHUA meetings. ME advised that the minutes should reflect that it is not always necessary for him to attend, rather than being no longer required to. So recorded!
· Item 7.1 Havant pitch. NP advised that the caretakers are currently carrying out remedial work. JHol advised the pitch is better but still not good.
· Item 7.6 City of Portsmouth ULO. DB advised there is now a new ULO.
3. / Correspondence
3.1 / RW advised HHA CDA had supplied the latest detailed discipline report and that a second HHUA member had received a red card. The disciplinary action to be taken was discussed and agreed by the Officers and relayed to Committee. Both this and the previous red card were agreed closed matters. GT advised that the report (as distributed at the meeting) was a private document and not to be disclosed outside of the committee.
3.2 / RW advised that Sabha HC have been disaffiliated.
4. / Membership
Discussion concerning levels of membership and qualifications required in the various leagues in Hampshire. CH advised that he is working with HWHL to rework their requirements. RS stated that a requirement for a qualified umpire is crucial for developing the Ladies’ game. / CH
5.0 / Reports
5.1 / Chairman – nothing to report
5.2 / Vice-Chairman – nothing to report
5.3 / Treasurer – see report attached
AT advised (through GT) that there is still an amount owed by Weymouth HC dating back to October 2010. RW to carry forward to next season as AT is standing down. / RW
5.4 / Appointments (Saturday/Midweek) – see report attached
DB advised that HHUA appointed to 73% of ‘required’ matches throughout the season.
Simon Watkins will ‘shepherd’ the Guernsey umpire for the match arranged. DB is hoping to arrange more exchanges in the Autumn. RW requested any reciprocal requests be discussed with the Officers.
DB suggested sourcing HHUA ‘approved’ baseball caps which could cost as little as £4 each. CARRIED with a majority vote. AG suggested caps should be subsidised by HHUA. / DB
RW
5.5 / Appointments (Sunday) – see report
Discussion around points raised.
1. DB advised this last season has been particularly difficult with so many re-arranged fixtures on Sundays. AN advised that the best policy was to appoint as soon as possible.
2. PG to consider use of Sunday games for coaching.
6. AN/DB to ensure RH has an opportunity to discuss issues.
All other points to be discussed at first meeting of new season.
Also:
RW to speak to Mike Harvey to clarify the cup competition rule of games to be played ‘by’ rather than played ‘on’. Played by would make it easier to supply umpires.
MH to take the question of a Sunday Cup to HHA. / PG
AN/DB
RW
MH
5.6 / Indoor – see report
RW requested congratulations be recorded to RJ for his recent appointment at Wembley.
5.7 / Coaching/Selection – see report
PG advised finally getting some response to coaching day email.
Simon Watkins is a SCHUA candidate for season 2011/2012.
Congratulations to CH for attaining Level 2 on the Ladies’ panel.
DB advised he is following up with Paul Turnbull as there are mixed messages about his commitment following grade removal through lack of appointed games.
JMG queried whether there should be a difference in input between a coaching game and an assessment game. RW to investigate. / RW
5.8 / Membership/L1 Register – see report
5.9 / Umpire Development – see report
CH advised that 8 assessments had taken place since Christmas with 7 passes.
1. Proposal to raise course fees to £35. CARRIED
2. Proposal for ‘beginners’ who return for full course to £25. CARRIED
CH to make this clear in web handbook. / CH
5.10 / Young Umpire Development – see report
DB/LW advised that the points raised were in hand.
5.11 / HHA rep – see report
Mike Harvey has requested that the fines process be more prominent on the website. RW to action. / RW
5.12 / SCHUA rep – nothing to report
5.13 / Lighting Officer – nothing to report
6. / Any other business
6.1 JMG expressed disappointment that an event arranged at Basingstoke was marred by no-one from the club turning up to open it!
6.2 DB has some security bands to hold small items such as car keys, rather than in a pocket when umpiring. Talk to DB if interested.
6.3 JHol reminded of the need to return trophies in time for engraving.
6.4 JHol stated that the Blandford HC captain’s attitude had been much improved of late.
6.5 RW asked about re-election. All willing to stand again except AT.
Meeting closed at 9.23pm.
Ginette Tessier Richard Wood
HHUA Secretary HHUA Chairman
Reports:
Treasurer
HAMPSHIRE HOCKEY UMPIRES' ASSOCIATIONFINANCIAL REPORT, 6 MARCH 2011
BANK BALANCES
As at 6 March 2011:
Current Account / 20,638
Deposit Account / 307
Savings Account - Standard Life Bank / 5,064
Clare Wilkinson Fund / 2,711
28,720
CLUB INVOICES
All initial invoices for this season have been paid. Final invoices will not be raised until April, when fixtures are more or less complete.
There are still a small number of invoices outstanding for fines raised for late cancellations and failure to provide refreshments.
EXPENSES
All expense claims made up to 6 March 2011 have been paid. Claims to date have averaged:
Men / 14.21
Women / 11.93
Men (including Selectors' and level 1 Assessors' costs) / 15.11
Women (including Selectors' and level 1 Assessors' costs) / 12.21
(As a reminder, we now charge Clubs £16 for each Men's appointment and £14.50 for each Women's. The amount we get from Clubs has to cover the mileage claims of the umpires, and also the costs of Assessors and Selectors, which we obviously can't charge separately for.)
SUBSCRIPTIONS
The only Members who have not yet paid their subscriptions for this season are those who are taking appointments and whose expenses more than cover their subscriptions. A number of people who have not paid, and who have not responded to reminders, have been re-classified as non-members.
MILEAGE RATES
We have agreed an increase in our mileage rates which took effect in January. With the latest increases in fuel prices, we virtually cover the running costs (fuel, tyres, servicing). I do not suggest we re-visit this topic at the moment, but we will need to review the situation again in May before the AGM.
Appointments (Sat/Midweek)
REPORT FROM SATURDAY/MIDWEEK APPOINTMENTS SECRETARY FOR TUESDAY 8th MARCH 2011
As we reach the business end of the season, HHUA is regularly unable to appoint to ALL matches in Hants Men's Division Two, but I have managed to limit the damage most Saturdays. Interestingly when HHUA does not appoint, the Hampshire Division Two teams seem to be able to source some more than competent umpires (on one occasion a current SCHUA umpire and an ex EHL umpire covered the Hampshire D2 match in question!).
SCHUA has appointed for March in three instalments; HHUA will appoint in TWO instalments - appointments for Saturdays 5th and 12th have already been published, appointments for Saturdays 19th and 26th will be published shortly.
It looks likely that a Guernsey umpire (Dan Tall) will come to the mainland and take an HHUA appointment on both Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March. We will need to review our discussions on any HHUA umpires travelling to Guernsey in the autumn!
May I suggest that HHUA obtains a supply of caps for sale (or distribution free of charge?) to ACTIVE members? I will bring a model to the meeting with an idea of prices.
Your correspondent is willing to stand for re-election for season 2011/12.
Appointments (Sun)
Having done the job now for the best part of a season, i feel that the points raised below need to be addressed before next season, to enable the secretary to carry out his/her duties more smoothly.
There are two many variables that make this job difficult, when in my opinion it should be a job that should not be stressful or difficult.
1. Nobody seems to communicate with the Secretary, I have had so many emails that have been sent to me via third parties because clubs appear not toknow there is a SAS orhow to contact him/her. How many years have we had a SAS?? For example asking league secretary for umpires for rearranged league match's.
Can a memo be sent out to all club ULO's to pass on to their fixture secretary that this officer does exist and umpires cannot be booked through league secretariesor any other person other than theSAS
2. Liaison between Coaching/Selection and SAS non existent, although at the start i did approach the CC to suggest that some of the Sunday Games could be used for assessment and coaching.
There are some really enticing games played on a Sunday and they should be used for coaching and or assessments. The Chief Coach has mentioned that nobody from his teamactively looks at Sunday appointments, primarily because there are few if any Coaches/selectors who are available onSundays??? Again the old "Availability" scenario rears its head.
Can i ask that the Coaching /selection team take time out to look at and liase with SAS (in the same way that they do with the Saturday Appt Sec) when they appoint to Saturday appointments?
3. Lack of umpires making themselves available, same names every week. Two requests put out for umpires first one attracted 2 names. The second request attracted about 6 names (i think this was because of the attraction of really good games, some of the names i cant use because they are not experienced enough). The simple fact is there are NOT enough umpires willing to do Sunday games.
I have started ignoring some umpires who have put themselves down as available, as invariably the get poached at the last minute by "higher authority". Why should i waste my time appointing these umpires, to find that with less than a week(in some instances with 2 days notice) they are unable to do the game, I then have to spend time phoning people who think they dont have a game or i do not have any other replacements and rely on people stepping up to the mark at short notice.
Would there be any possibility of giving Sunday appointed umpires the double header rate of mileage to reward them for their committment?
4. Umpires (some senior)not removing themselves from the system when they "suddenly" become unavailable, resulting in me making the appointmentonly to get an immediate email, once they have received the auto notification, saying that they have got plans. Not having anybody else available it then took me 21 phones calls over the period of 2 days to find nobody available. In the end i managed to get the original person to do the game. What an absolute waste of time.
Again i have no solution to this one?
5. Observing the time period requested (10 days notice)for notification of umpires. Some clubs are brilliant,some are absolutely diabolical. In one instance i had 3 days notice to provide for a high level game.I know i can turnaround and refuse to appoint and leave the teams to sort it out themselves but is this not unfair on the visiting team? Invariably they will go to a club umpire who has not made themselves available and who is possibly a member of HHUA and he will do it out of loyalty to the club, even if he/she is not of the requiredlevel to do the game, so better to appoint late than submit the teams to less experienced umpiring.
Can a levy be raised against the home team for failure to request in time? (similiar to late cancellation).
6. Inability to attend council meetings due to work commitment's meansi do not have a sounding board with a variety of opinions. No means of getting immediate questions/queries answered.
I have no recommendations for this one.
7. Penalties for late cancellation of umpires: Can a definitive policy bebe discussed and put on the system so that clubs can access information on when and why clubs will have amonetarypenalty raised against them for late cancellation of umpires. currently there is nothing that i could find on the system with regards this area, clubs are also unaware of where to find the information.
may i suggest the follow:
If a game is called off after the appointed umpires have received the confirmation call from home team (Tuesday 21:00hrs) and before the game is played on the Saturday or Sunday, that this is deemed to be a late cancellation and the team causing the game to be called off is duly penalised.
Some of the above points may sound trivial and easily rectified, however i do believe that if some of the items can be addressed and sorted before the start of the new season and if the clubs and our members have a better understanding of the Sun Appointments role and limits, then the job will run more smoothly and therefore a better service can be provided to our membersand theclubs that we are supposedly working for.