Isca Ladies Hockey Club

Devon Hockey Umpires’ Association ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting Held on 18 September 2011

PRESENT:

Mason Stephen Woolcock Graham Daniel Mike Johnston Steve Beamon Martin Whittell Bob Dingle Keith Hodge Peter Porter Paddy Watson Andy Dutton Mike Jones Richard Bell Andrew Harvey Mike Filewod Peter McMahon Denise Taghdissian James Wollington John Hammond Peter Harvey Andy Spencer Tom Rowe Andy Stoneman Martin Harvey Martyn Triscott Roger Tallowin Sam Chipperfield Tim Walker Colin Whitby Pete Eggleton David

APOLOGIES:

Gill Julia Pearce Steve

1. The President, Paddy Porter, welcomed everyone to the AGM and apologised for the lateness of the AGM and Proposer/ the lack of minutes from the previous AGM. Seconder 2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

1 3.1 REPORT – Treasurer – Steve Pearce First to wrap up the last two year’s accounts, I note that whilst we issued a draft accounts summary for 2009/10 last year, they were not formally audited and certified afterwards. We have now rectified this situation & due to the somewhat delayed date of this year’s AGM have now managed to get up to date in that we have now both seasons 2009/10 & 2010/11signed off by our auditor Mr Peter Hodge. He has issued a statement that the accounts as of 30th April 2011 gave a true and fair view of the association’s affairs. The auditor’s report and summary statement have been posted to the web site for members’ perusal.

This year has again seen the continued financial growth of DHUA with turnover again growing from £15k in 2009/10 to £20k in 2010/11.

We have continued to implement the appointment fees charging system in line with individual Club status for the winter season but still maintain the £5 flat rate for the Exeter and Plymouth summer leagues & P&D League (these are classed as Development Leagues).

All substantial outstanding expense claims were settled at the end of financial year and further payments have just been made for summer appointments. Some of you have may have ended up overpaying subs and for those affected I have repaid such sums within expenses claims.

I have attached a summary of the audited income and expenditure statement for the year end to 30th April 2011. Summarising the financial position for the year, I note:

 We have a healthy bank balance and have not needed to rely on any sponsorship.  Income from clubs via appointment fees of £13,800 was offset against travel expenses for umpires & coaches of £13,200.  Membership receipts of £4,300 covered the admin, insurance, web costs and general operation of the association. We have pitched individual charges for Level 1 courses so that it covers the cost of arranging & holding them, so these break even.  The deposit account, which holds the underlying balance of our funds minus an operating float in the current account - currently stands at just over £4,950. This account is currently generating almost no interest so we should consider other ways we could invest this money  The net worth of the association stands at £11,800 to year end April 2010, with a net income of £500 for year.  Average winter league appointment costs are running at approx £8-9 per appointment.  Beyond the standard expenditure for appointment expenses, the following activities have had substantial figures invested in them: o £1,800 in development costs- for coaching, mentoring & supporting of members. o £1,500 in web site costs (Module to appoint club umpires, improving functionality plus annual support and costs of league collaboration). o £1,900 in running Level 1 courses (EH packs, room hire, tutor costs). o The running of the association (bar web site) £1700 representing travel, room hires, admin & postal costs, new rule books & insurance. 2  Proposals for next year’s fees, charges and expense rates will be tabled.

Nearly all invoices for the season have been fully paid and I commend all of these clubs who have paid up promptly and as of today only 2 significant accounts are outstanding and one of these has been agreed with the club concerned.

Consideration of the timing of next year’s AGM should be held as by delaying until Sept we are able to produce audited accounts rather than retrospectively doing this.

Lastly, I note that due to our success in increasing umpire numbers our accounts grow inexorably each year. I am conscious that I am unable to devote the time I should to fulfilling the role competently and ask that consideration is made to someone else fulfilling the role that can devote the time necessary.

Steve Pearce was unable to attend. Peter Hodge reported that all accounts were now up-to-date and the association is in a good financial position. President thanked Peter Hodge 3.2 REPORT – Membership Secretary – Denise McMahon Facts & Figures – 2009/10 2010/11 Vice Presidents 4 3 Devon Umpires (L1 qualified & 261 264 above incl young umps) Members 169 (including 1 x L3 & 4 x L2) 192 (including 1 x L3 & 4 x L2) Neutral Pool 51 (inc.1 National Badge, 14 x 50 (inc.1 National Badge, 14 x Level 2’s) Level 2’s) Registration Only - Level One 6 3 Dormant/Resigned/Retired 4 13 Inactive & Unpaid Level One 4 In progress (see below) Non Member (Aspiring Umpire) 73 75 Level One Candidates (Part Qual) 62 78 Transferred Out 2; In L1’s - 9 L2’s - 2 Out 7; In L1’s - 7 L2’s - 1 Non Member (Subs Unpaid) 5 In progress (see below) Level 1 Qualified (Visitor) 1 2 Foundation Umpire (Adult) 6 Young Umpire (Foundation Award) 23 37 Young Umpire (Level 1 Candidate) 53 70 Young Umpire (Level 1 Qualified) 35 19 Young Umpire (Unqualified) 13 13

Unpaid Membership fees There are still around 25 unpaid memberships for last season. I will chase these when dealing with this year’s 3 renewals.

New Umpires: I can now send an email form to EH when registering a newly qualified umpire. However, the old posted forms are still acceptable.

The Registration Pack sent out by EH must have been hit by the spending cuts as all a new umpire gets now is a letter of congrats from EH with a laminated push out card bearing their registration number to confirm qualification. (The certificate and badge are no more!!)

New Umpires = 22 (Summer Leagues = 6); (Young Umpires =2)

Rulebooks: The printed 2011 books were ordered and received and I have posted/given them out during the season. If anyone here who has not received one and would like one please ask me after this meeting.

Activity Status: Will be doing the sweep for last season soon.

Level One Candidate Expiry (over 2 years) = 28 Contacted these and advised that their qualifying period was due to expire and advised them that their candidate status would expire and they would be unable to umpire lower league matches. As a result - 4 have had extensions to their qualifying period, 1 has resigned and 4 are no longer in Devon. I will do this sweep soon.

Transfers In = 8 Out = 7 There will be movement on these figures once the Universities have returned and get to grips with organising their umpires.

Male/Female Numbers Qualified (excl Young Umps) = Male 178; Female 67 Young umps (U21&U18) = Male 15; Female 4 Candidates = Male 47; Female 30

3.3 President thanked Denise McMahon

REPORT – Appointments Secretary – Graham Woolcock

Well this year has been a really good year, with a remarkable total of 1505 appointments being made (this was before the summer leagues in Exeter and Plymouth started) including the chance for a few to Umpire the Swedish National team!! It is also a year which has seen the christening of Captain Scarlet (thank you Mr Harvey Senior)! Also on my travels I have had the pleasure in seeing the following:- Paddy having a Paddy!, Andy Harvey on crowd duty, Martyn Harvey buying a hairdressers car, Steve Pearce doing a jib on cards, Pete Hammond becoming an expert on sprouts in curry (thanks Exeter Hornets!!) and Keith pretending to be a flower pot man (can we please buy Keith a new sun hat?). 4 I would also like to congratulate Teign Ladies on making it so far in the National Competition. It was pleasing to be able to appoint Devon umpires all the way through to the semi-finals and I hope we managed your expectations.

What has been disappointing is the number of red cards being shown in the second half of the season, this was spoken about at recent committee meetings and will be managed by the committee for the start of the new season to try and remedy the situation.

It was also encouraging to see some new umpires making an impact and pleasing to see how the umpire coaching has enabled some umpires perform solidly week in, week out.

I would like to thank those of you who use the website early and if you do have to change your availability the earlier the better for me please.

Let’s hope for another successful year of hockey umpiring in Devon.

Andy Harvey asked if more notice could be given with more prompting from the website. Graham replied that 3.4 the West appointments hampered this but it was improving. President thanked Graham Woolcock.

REPORT – Chief Coach – Andy Rowe

This has been my fifth and final year as Chief Coach and although I have had to take a back seat due to work and home commitments, others have seen that the progress made over previous years has not been curtailed. The commitment to coach as many umpires as possible has been met and there is now the ability to assess all the pool umpires regularly which will lead to even more successful matching of umpires to games. The unprecedented number of qualified coaches we have in Devon means that we now have a group of committed umpires and coaches that are determined to raise the standard of umpiring in the county and the West region. There were not the number of opportunities to meet that we would have liked this year but this did not stop the week on week appointments and reports taking place.

Umpiring in the county has coped well with the changes that the self pass rules have brought to the game and our umpires continue to make progress up the ladder. However we need to continue to listen to our regular pool umpires if we are to cover games. We did this by realising that appointing umpires singly may cover more games but appointing in pairs is better to ensure more enjoyment and consistency.

The meetings that took place were called to help ensure that the increased number of coachings and subsequent reports had a level of consistency in their tenor and advice. It is difficult to achieve this with the differing approaches and personalities involved but we hope that the message that umpires are given is the same no matter who is carrying out the coaching. Julia Gill led the discussion at the latest meeting and it is clear that her experience will ensure that coaching continues to develop in the future. The changes that will filter down from the way in which green cards are to be used at National League level will need some monitoring. 5 Although the need for a bench to administer the penalties means that it is unlikely to be matched at regional level and below, more personal green cards will be seen. The second visit of Exeter University to the premier division also gives us the opportunity to arrange events and discuss issues.

On the level 1 area, we have clarified the procedure in which candidates are passed and we continue to increase the number of qualified umpires. We hope that some of them will be encouraged to join the pool.

So I look to the future with great optimism and I would like to thank all those who have helped me over the past years. I am still available if any umpires would like to contact me for advice.

President thanked Andy Rowe 3.5

REPORT – Young Umpire Co-Ordinator – Julia Gill

No report 4. Proposal for 2011/2012 Peter Filewood Martin Stoneman suggested Summer League fees should be scrapped. This was not supported by the meeting. Tom Spencer Proposals voted on and passed with 1 abstention 5. DHUA Auditor Andy April end of year for the accounts means that it is not possible to prepare them for May AGM Harvey Proposed that AGM take place at the end of June. Unanimously passed. EGM to implement. Roger Triscott

Peter Hodge to continue and received Honorarium. Unanimously passed John Wollington Martyn Harvey 6. President’s Address

Reinvigorating Devon Umpiring (RDU) has been going for 6 years and DHUA is still striving to improve umpiring at all levels within Devon. Mark Gott

In the last 3 years the number of qualified Level 1 Umpires has increased by over 25% from 198 to 248 and the ratio of fully qualified umpires per league team is now just above 2. However, there is a great disparity between clubs with United Services having 6 umpires per league team to Torbay Ladies having 0.5 per league team. Of the 33 Clubs in Devon, 12 ‘A’ Clubs (2.5 or more umpires per league team) have benefited from the lowest DHUA appointment fee of £8.00, which has remained constant over the last few seasons. However, 16 clubs (that’s 50% of Devon Clubs) are classed as ‘C’ Clubs, either due to their low umpire ratio or they refuse 6 to engage with DHUA.

Last season DHUA introduced a ‘Club Umpire Appointing’ system via the Devon Hockey Website. ‘A’ & ‘B’ Clubs and those ‘C’ Clubs in higher divisions are now asked to contribute affiliated club umpires to the neutral pool in return for DHUA appointing to their higher teams. This has proved successful in increasing the number of DHUA umpire appointments and in conjunction with the 10 new qualified Level 1 Umpire Coaches we are able to offer free umpire coaching and this in turn has allowed DHUA to offer effective Level 1 Umpire Award assessment during the normal hockey season for the first time.

One subject that we had hoped was long forgotten was the issue of dissent. This has reared its ugly head once more and DHUA are going to hold a forum before the start of next season on ‘Player Management’ in order to remind and equip umpires with the tools necessary to deal with issues as they arise within the game and hopefully prevent some Red Cards. However, the role of the Team Captain needs to be addressed by clubs as some Captains do not seem to understand their responsibilities on and off the pitch; it is more than choosing ends!

The number of Level 1 Candidates is dropping and they do not seem to be using the opportunities available to get coached and assessed. Also the numbers taking Level 1 Umpire Award course is also falling. Finally, whilst investing in young umpire development is a key RDU target the opportunity to coach and progress young umpires currently appears limited. This is not helped by clubs appointing their own umpires to under 18 England Hockey competitions and not involving the Devon Young Umpire Action Group. DHUA will be arranging a meeting with Club UDO’s before the start of next season to address this and to see how we can work together to improve the situation.

Thank you to those clubs, Club UDO’s and individuals who have supported DHUA over the last 6 years and for your help in making RDU and Devon Hockey the success it is and continues to be.

7. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS

President (Selection) Alan (Paddy) Porter Sam Secretary Andy Rowe Tallowin Treasurer Steve Pearce James Taghdissian The following committee members were elected en mass: Appointments Secretary (Selection) Graham Woolcock Asst Appointments Secretary Paul Earnshaw Membership Secretary Denise McMahon Chief Coach (Selection) Julia Gill Asst Chief Coach (Selection) Andy Harvey Umpire Course Coordinator Graham Doney Young Umpire Coordinator Peter Hammond DHA Representative Alan (Paddy) Porter 7 Chair of Selectors (Selection) Keith Dingle Members Representative Roger Triscott

Standing down Sam Tallowin and Sandy Richards

Unanimously passed

Welfare Officer post to be discussed. Sam Tallowin DHA welfare officer 8. ELECTION OF VICE PRESIDENTS

Kevin Hughes has passed away Roger Reffell (Re Elected) Keith Dingle (Re Elected) Jane Nockolds (Re Elected) Seconded Nominated: Keith Dingle proposed Andy Harvey Mike Harvey Unanimously passed 9. AWARDS

Martin Beaman on NPUA panel. President congratulated Martin

Awards to follow at EGM

Sam Tallowin confirmed that there was a new Red Card Report Form but that the old one would be accepted at present. There had been requests to increase the penalties for swearing at umpires and Sam had had increased some by two matches. Comments are needed from all and umpires should ensure it is directed at the umpire. Reed cards are increasing and umpire may avoid them by earlier intervention.

President thanked all those present at the Annual General Meeting

Meeting closed 12 noon

8 APPENDIX ONE – DRAFT INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

Devon Hockey Umpiring Association Accounts Report Financial Year 1st May 2010 to 30th April 2011 Income and Expenditure Income Income from Clubs 13,759.00 Appointment Fees 13,759.00 Men 10,191.00 Women 2,338.00 Mixed 1,230.00 Income from Members 4,352.44 Subscription Fees 3,609.56 Donations 428.88 (no sub-account) 203.32 Donations to General Funds 64.31 Donations to Coaching Fund 18.92 Donations back to Clubs 4.40 Donations to Young Umpire Development 137.93 Payments for Social Functions 314.00 Income from Umpire Award Courses 1,970.00 Level One Course Fees 1,770.00 Level 1 Umpire Coaching Award Fees 200.00 Income from Other Sources 1.83 Bank Interest 1.83 20,083.27 Expenditure Appointment Costs 11,366.93 Umpires (Men) 8,351.01 Umpires (Women) 1,592.57 Umpires (Mixed) 1,423.35 Development Costs 1,793.75 Selectors 151.14 Umpire Coaches and Mentors 1,220.78 Young Umpire Development 421.83 Level One Expenditure 1,914.35 Level One Resource Packs 1,500.00 Level One Course Costs 270.00 9 Level One Assessors 144.35 Administrative Costs 3,230.64 Meeting Costs 1,149.64 AGM 300.00 Officers meetings 35.20 Management Meetings 517.44 Selectors Meetings 69.50 Umpire Development 227.50 Telephone Costs 25.00 Postage 42.21 Printing & Stationery 35.25 Web Site 1,578.54 Rule Books 400.00 Umpires Insurance 644.00 Sundry Payments 593.20 Membership Social Functions 379.00 Refunds to members 214.20 19,542.87 Excess of Income over Expenditure 540.40 Accruals & Prepayments Expenditure - Appointment Costs - Umpires (Men) 1.98 Expenditure - Administrative Costs - Web Site 35.97 Income - Income from Members - Subscription Fees 168.04 Income - Income from Members - Donations 24.48 Income - Income from Other Sources - Sundry Income 280.00

10 APPENDIX TWO – DRAFT BALANCE SHEET

Split of Funds Balance Sheet Assets Bank and Cash Accounts 7,814.31 Current Account 2,862.19 Deposit Account 4,952.12 Sundry Debtors 8,135.61 Prepayments 37.95 Total Assets 15,987.87 Liabilities Creditors 3,376.27 Accruals 472.52 Total Liabilities 3,848.79 Net Assets 12,139.08 Financed By Accumulated Surplus from Previous Years 11,598.68 Surplus This Year 540.40 12,139.08 Brought Forward Income Expenditure Carried Forward 2012 Olympic Fund 63.80 0.00 0.00 63.80 Coaching Fund -2,099.28 218.92 1,371.92 -3,252.28 General Funds 7,729.18 4,193.02 5,159.67 6,762.53 Level One Register Funds -809.52 1,770.00 1,644.35 -683.87 MacIlldowie Fund 47.04 0.00 0.00 47.04 Travel Fund (Combined) 55.00 4.40 0.00 59.40 Travel Fund (Men) 4,310.12 10,191.00 8,351.01 6,150.11 Travel Fund (Mixed) 1,820.03 1,230.00 1,423.35 1,626.68 Travel Fund (Women) 306.31 2,338.00 1,592.57 1,051.74 Young Umpire Development 176.00 137.93 0.00 313.93 11,598.68 20,083.27 19,542.87 12,139.08