WEST HOCKEY ASSOCIATION AGM – 2012 – REPORTS ANNEX

1. Hon Secretary Report – West AGM 2012

As no one came forward to take over as Hon Secretary last year I continued in post but only dealing with communications and a Minute Taker was found to attend Council Meetings.

Council members and all those involved with sub committees work hard through the year to make sure everything runs smoothly with competitions and JRPC and my thanks go to all those people involved.

The West desperately need new people to help as there are a number of vacancies to fill this year, including President, Vice Presidents, and Hon Secretary. It does not matter how little you can do but any help will be gratefully received.

2. Hon Treasurer’s Report The result for the year is a minor deficit of £247 and this compares to a surplus of £1297 last year.

Income increased by £95,536 but this was more than matched by an increase in expenditure of £11,080.

Performance (including JAC competitions) created a large surplus in 2012 of £8,784 as against £11,166 in the previous year. These surplus are there firstly to fund future purchases hence the kit replacement fund of £2,500 being put away annually.

Other competitions and indoor together suffered a deficit of £7,710 in the year 2012 as against £8,026 in the previous year.

Affiliations fell in 2012 as one would have anticipated with the decrease of £2.50 per team. This figure covers basically the general costs.

General costs increased be £2,236 between the two years and this was effectively a grant of £1000 and a new honorarium of £1200 being granted to run competitions. Another cost to emphasise is insurance which increased by £437 to a figure of £1,291.

Our reserve basis increased by £3,053 during the year with normal reserves falling by £247 and kit replacement increasing by £3,300. The latter being £2,500 for youth and £800 for masters. The former on the basis of £17,500 over 7 years and the latter on £4,000 over 5 years.

Within reason as a committee we have achieved what we set out to do which is to break even, however, this is only being achieved on the back of decent surpluses from “Perfomance”. We are all aware that pitch hire is rising on an annual basis and to be honest I cannot see parents forever funding annual increases for their children. Anticipate this area of surplus disappearing.

On the basis that next year’s financial situation appears fairly similar I believe that we could anticipate the deficit for the year to be around £3,000-£4,000 in total. Ultimately I believe this will continue or increase from that level. However, I would still propose leaving affiliations totally unchanged from their current level for this year as they do appear to be covering our “general” expenditure.

3. Regional Disciplinary Administrator Report In the 2010 / 2011 season, the total number of disciplinary reports received was 40 with one late notification.

This season, 2011 /2012, 27 Red Cards and 3 MMOs have been issued. The penalties incurred varied between the minimum, mandatory 16 day suspension, through 23; 24; 26; 30; 32; 45; 60; and 90 days to a 120 day penalty suspension. A further 30 days was imposed on a Team Coach who continued to act as a coach whilst under suspension.

Two Disrepute Offence Incidents were notified, one of which was not upheld. The other incident incurred a penalty suspension of 24 days but following an Appeal, the RDAP allowed the Appeal in part, and reduced the suspension to 16 days.

The number of disciplinary reports determined to date for 2011/2012, total 33.

Most Red Cards and MMOs are issued for dissent but some become liable for an increased penalty suspension owing to verbal abuse of the umpire, sometimes with foul and obscene language. Efforts are being made at all levels of the game to stamp out this abuse in the game of hockey. Umpires are urged to ensure that RCs/MMOs are issued when warranted so that players receive a consistency of control and that players, umpires, and officials are treated with respect. The completed Red Card Report Form should be forwarded speedily by umpires to the relevant CDA and only to that person.

Very briefly....., Red Cards are issued in respect of an offence or other misconduct committed during a match whereas an MMO is committed at any time during the day of the match, excluding the time from the start to the end of the match, if misconduct occurs which would have resulted in a Red Card during the match. Full details may be found on the EHB web site and all participants in the game should familiarise themselves with the Regulations in the EHB Code of Ethics and Behaviour. I would be pleased to offer guidance on the procedures if required, to clubs, or umpires.

The Annual Meeting of RDAs with EHB officials, planned for 15th May 2012 at Bisham Abbey, unfortunately had to be postponed owing to the illness of the NDO.

A meeting of WHA CDAs with the RDA will be arranged for the beginning of the season, September /October 2012. My thanks once again, to the WHA CDAs, and the Chairman and members of the RDAP, for all their time and effort in dealing so diligently with disciplinary matters which are often complex and demanding. I have been sorry to learn of the retirement of some long - serving and valued CDAs ; Martyn Errington, Somerset; Chris Dunster, Gloucestershire; and Bill Housden, Herefordshire. Special thanks are due to them, and their successors will be welcomed at our meeting.

My apologies for absence from the WHA AGM, and good wishes for a successful meeting

Joan Davies. WHA RDA

4. Regional Manager Report

The 2011-12 season has seen a period of change within the West following the EHB restructure announced at last year’s AGM. Jane Cornelius (previously Regional Manager) was appointed to the Relationship Manager role covering Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Avon, Dorset and Wiltshire and Barbara Reynolds (previously Development Officer) was appointed Relationship Manager for Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Channel Islands. Jane Cornelius retired on 4 th May 2012 and interviews for her replacement have concluded and we are awaiting the announcement of the new RM.

Nationally, two staff with strong West connections have left the NGB – Anne Baker (Coaching) and Jane Nockolds (Officiating), whilst Stroud HC member Richard Fynn was appointed as Business Development Manager. Whilst EHB has had a strong focus on the Hockey Nation Programme in the build up to the Olympics, we have continued to work with Clubs, Schools, County HAs, County Sports Partnerships and the West HA.

The EHB website has now been rebranded – please have a look as you will find it more user friendly www.englandhockey.co.uk and www.englandhockey.co.uk/west for information specific to the West.

Club Development − 67 Priority areas were identified in the Region for the 2011/12 season, these are primarily around ClubsFirst clubs or clubs near to completely ClubsFirst.

Single System Player Pathway − All Counties received their final Club & Coach funding from EHB (£5600) which was ring fenced to support Single System administration costs. − All of our County Single System Administrators have received training on the Online Single System management tool which enables players, parents and coaches to update key information i.e. personal data, player feedback. This has improved lines of communication direct to the parents and players. − EHB is keen that each County develops a Coach Tracking System for coaches within the Single System to ensure that they are adequately qualified with regard to Coaching qualification, First Aid and Safeguarding. County Sports Partnership’s have been able to assist with the monitoring of coaches, as some counties have utilised their Coach Network Systems.

Coach Development − 11 Level 1 Coaching Assistant Award Courses have been held in the Region since the last AGM, qualifying 209 new coaches. − 3 Level 2 Coach Award Courses have been held and 68 candidates are now working towards the L2 Coach Award. During the last 12 months, 24 candidates from the 2010 and 2011 courses completed the qualification. − 16 coaches attended the Goalkeeper Coach Bronze Award Course in May. − 51 youngsters have attended the 4 Leadership Courses organised by their Club, School or Association. Competitions − County Organisers have liaised with Jenny, West Regional Administrator, regarding information relating to County rounds of Club and School age group Competitions. This has enabled EHB to have an overview of entry levels around the country and produce meaningful data to Event Sponsors.

County Sports Partnerships − We continue to work closely with the County Sports Partnership to help us promote, develop and deliver hockey activities in each County. They support hockey by organising generic courses, Club & Coach Days, coach bursaries, club development and promotion of our products and programmes for example Rush Hockey.

Back to Hockey − Back to Hockey offers people the chance to play hockey again. It makes it as easy as possible to take part; helping relearn, refresh and replay the game whether for fun or a part of a competitive team. − Back to Hockey sessions have been primarily organised by clubs, with 15 clubs organising sessions and 151 players returning to our sport.

Rush Hockey − New, flexible, small sided hockey game for adults. It can be played with mixed or single gender teams, indoors or outdoors, on pitches of varying surfaces and sizes. It is played with a standard hockey stick but has unique goals and balls. The rules are very simple and the games are self umpired, with no coaching involvement. − To date we have had 8 Rush Hockey sites across the region start activity and many others interested. - Rush Hockey will continue to spread across the region as more clubs, leisure centres and leisure providers are signing up to delivering Rush.

Hockey Nation − London 2012 is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our sport to engage with general public, showcase hockey, increase the spectator base as well as increase participation at all levels. - Please the attached sheet for the extensive list of Hockey Nation activities.

If you require any further information on any of the above then please do not hesitate to contact the EHB West Team. Thank you for your continued support to develop hockey across the West.

Barbara Reynolds Jenny Mitchell EHB Relationship Manager EHB West Administrator Mob 07718 980 517 Tel 01392 264031

5. West Perfomance Report

JRPC cycle 2011: More than 500 players attended the six JRPC sessions between June and September 2011 and a full Tier 1 tournament was again held at Clifton. The three JRPC centres from Exeter, Bristol and Eastleigh sent a full compliment of teams and 7 players from Exeter and Bristol were assessed to proceed to the next level. New format for U15s was largely welcomed. JRPCs for 2012 have the player numbers assessed and allocated to maintain the level of last year. Performance is more than balancing the books in terms of the finances for the Single system player pathway and West is benefitting from any surpluses.

Once again Jo Thomas and Inga Thurlow have very effectively led the organisation and administration for the whole JRPC process and thanks go to all members of the Performance Committee who have put in a great many hours to provide a high quality experience for all the players. Thanks also to all the coaches ( including the CCCs with whom a very positive relationship has been established) and assessors.

Junior Academy :. The organisation of this stage of the Single System was slightly altered this year in that the first of the two competition days was organised by the counties and West directly running the second one, complete with assessors. Overall this change is still being evaluated but does provide a way forward for the more effective use of the volunteer workforce, the demands upon who continue to increase. Pitch availability, centralised calendar date clashes affected some player availability and umpiring clashes with the minis, all of which needs resolving for the 2012/13 cycle.

One of the most positive developments has been the more direct and effective communication with the players in the single system through the Performance section of the West website, developed further by the setting up of a relevant Facebook page. These are now the central methods of communication.

The most pressing issue to arise in the past year is as indicated above still the reliance on same group of volunteers, only slightly relieved by the County JAC day, raising issues of maintaining the quality of delivery with increased pressure to deliver more opportunities.

Clive Nelson

10.6.12

6. Competitions Report

OUTDOOR COMPETITIONS 2011/12

WHA Schools Tournaments

The girls’ schools tournaments went well with schools happy to hosts preliminary rounds. Finals were all held at Clifton College. A big thank you to all those who volunteered their help. The pitches at Clifton were not of the best but they are being re-laid for the 2012/13 season so I will continue to use this venue. The decision was made to only invite County winners to the U14 tournament instead of the stated winner and runner-up. This is due to the over-crowded calendar. We have only two free Sundays so play the U16 and U18 on these days. Fitting in preliminary rounds and finals for the U14 age range was impossible! In the spring we only had one Sunday to be able to play the Boys U18 tournament. The remaining age ranges were played mid-week. The boys U14 were also restricted to one team per county due to not being able to find a suitable date. The finals were held at Millfield School. Again many thanks to those schools who volunteered to host the preliminary rounds and apologies for my inefficiencies which caused some very difficult situations – I promise to do better this season!!

WHA Women’s Veterans

We played this tournament on the last day in January and it was a very enjoyable if cold afternoon at Bath University. Wereys (avon), Cotswold Sunsetters (Glos) and Bournemouth (Dorset) contest the trophy with the winners being Cotswold Sunsetters.

WHA Clubs In2Hockey

With 23 teams on the Saturday and 26 teams on the Sunday it was a very busy weekend at Millfield School. Fortunately the weather wasn’t too bad and everyone had a good day. The numbers at these tournaments always make it a difficult time for the organiser as clubs have a tendancy to drop out at the last minute. The order of play has to be re-scheduled and officials re allocated. This is a nightmare situation – please ask your clubs to let me know as early as possible if they cannot attend. I must thank Barbara Reynolds and Truro club in particular for coming along at the last minute to make up the numbers when other teams dropped out.

The only problem of the weekend was that Millfield did not provide cleaners on the Saturday eve/Sun morning so we were met with dirty toilets, overflowing bins and dirty changing rooms on Sunday morning. When challenged Millfield enterprises were not apologetic and seemed to think we had to accept that on Sundays the facilities would not be cleaned! I am proposing not to use them again in the coming season.

WHA Schools In2Hockey

We had the full complement of teams (32) for all 4 tournaments this year. Thanks to Richard Pate School, Cheltenham for providing an extra team to fill the gap from a late drop-out. Due to pitches not being available we had to move the U10 Schools to an April date but it at least gave us a fine day! We managed to put these tournaments on a weekend this season but next year they will be played mid-week due to being unable to find free weekends in the calendar.

Finally I would like to say a big thank you to all those who helped with the organisation and running of these tournaments. Dani Bunt, Liz and Peter Herbert, Kieran Ryan, Yvonne Claridge, Joan Treece, Jane Cornelius and Tim Horsfield. There is one person missing from this list – Hazel Bound. I cannot say often she has been my sound board and some cases my saviour! Thank you very much Hazel for your time and patience; I will miss you next season but hopefully I have made all the mistakes and taken on board all the advice you have offered and will not need the fantastic support you have given freely this year.

COMPETITION DATE WHERE WINNERS/RUNNERS -UP Girls’ Schools U14 17 Nov Clifton College Clifton College/Millfield U16 1 Dec Clifton College Canford/Blundell’s U18 13 Nov Clifton College Canford/Cheltenham Ladies College

Boys’ Schools U14 8 March Millfield School Exeter/Queens College U16 15 Mar Millfield School Millfield/Dean Close U18 26 Feb Millfield School Clifton College/Kings College

Women’s Ve ts 29 Jan Bath Uni Cotswold Sunsetters

In2Hockey U11 Schools Boys’ 28 April Millfield School Millfield/Richard Pates Girls Millfield/The Elms U13 Schools Boys’ 18 Millfield School (B) Queens/Chafyn Grove Girls’ March (G) Millfield/Downs Bristol

U10 Clubs Boys’ 31 Millfield School Cheltenham JHC/Glos City Girls’ March Cirencester/Exe U12 Clubs Boys’ 1 April Millfield School Avalon/Bath Buccs Girls’ Bournemouth/isca

West Indoor Hockey Report 2011/12

The results of the West Indoor Hockey 2011/12 are as follows:

Men’s Clubs: winners: Isca HC ; runners up Team Bath

Women’s Clubs: winners: Army ; runners up : Lansdown

Under 18 Boys’ Schools: winners: Taunton School; runners up: Dean Close

Under 16 Boys’ Schools: winners: South Dartmoor; runners up: Taunton School.

Under 18 Girls’ Schools: winners: Millfield; runners up: South Dartmoor Under 16 Girls’ Schools: winners: Millfield; runners up: Taunton.

Under 18 Boys’ Clubs: winners: Taunton Runners up: Isca.

Under 16 Boys’ Clubs: winners: Ashmoor; runners up: Bath Buccs.

Under 18 Girls’ Clubs: winners: Firebrands; runners up: Isca.

Under 16 Girls’ Clubs: winners: Isca; runners up: Ashmoor

7. West Umpiring Report

West Umpiring Secretary

This year has proved as ever a very busy one and there have been numerous successes throughout the year.

Our young umpires continue to improve and impress and further details of their successes can be found in the reports that follow. Their success is a credit to all of the umpire coaches who have helped them on their way but a special thank you to Liz Powell who, as secretary of the West RYUAG, has given a great deal of effort in promoting umpiring to all youngsters throughout the West.

Appointing to various tournaments has been extremely stressful this season and my thanks to all those County Level 1 umpires who assisted with these appointments and most, having experienced this for the first time, are keen to help out again in the future. A special thank you to Devon Umpires’ Association who allowed us to use one of the West JAC events to use and test some of their Level 1 candidates, this was of great benefit to both parties and, it is hoped, that we will be able to repeat the practise in future years.

It has been decide to CRB check all of our appointed umpires, assessors and coaches and this is well under way and should be completed prior to the start of next season.

Umpires continue to retire from the game and the main cause would seem to be the abuse that is directed at them. A letter is to go to all clubs from West Council prior to the start of next season warning clubs that the use of “foul and abusive” language, which is on the increase, will not be tolerated and all umpires in the West will be advised that this is something that should not be tolerated and that they should use the appropriate tools available to them.

Report by Chair of Selectors

Nick Bennett was Awarded “The Young Umpire of the Year” by the EH and together with Caz Fenn both are continuing to progress in their achievements.

It was noted that the Men’s League Secretary had agreed to the use of certain floodlighting permitting some late starts Umpire Panels reorganised with a number moved to Non active list

An umpires newsletter was sent reminding umpires of a number of important aspects including:- Travel together when possible; cross the Severn Bridge together when possible; liaising with colleagues well before Saturday/Sunday, and should arrive at the pitch as early as possible but never less than 30 minutes prior to the game; not to umpire any other game before a P1or P2 game men or P1 women; disciplinary procedures, assessments.

Many Level 2 umpires were plagued by injury in both gender panels.

Some umpires have expressed their agreement to umpire in both gender leagues. A report is to be prepared for consideration at the July meeting to discuss the pros and cons of such an arrangement and how best this can be implemented.

It is pleasing to report that this season almost all of the umpires on the panels were assessed by Christmas with some on more than one occasion and some also received coaching. This could only be undertaken with the quality and quantity of those who give their time to undertake this duty. It is also pleasing to note that a few additional assessors/mentors have been recruited from those experienced umpires who have been injured but felt they wished to give something back whilst not available to umpire.

West Umpiring committee - all coaches and assessors have to be CRB cleared asap. All appointees requested to be CRB cleared by 1/9/12 – if not no junior appointments

Difficulties were experienced because of the clashes in December 2011 between outdoor and indoor games, when both Men’s Appointments Secretaries found insufficient umpires to cover both the indoor and outdoor fixtures. Also the annual discussion took place in looking at the lack of slip dates within the outdoor programme to cover games unfortunately postponed by the weather. These games under league rules have to be played within a few weeks and therefore most are played on Sundays and a few mid-week. This caused great difficulty as many umpires do not make themselves available on Sundays. Although the league committee has been requested on numerous occasions to assist this by adding slip weeks they are not very receptive to this!

Tim Chipperfield, Dave Merrell and Marcus Powell were promoted to the National League Umpires Panel. A small number of new Level 2 umpires joining the panels and together with a list of young umpires in the pipeline undertaking training the situation looks a lot more promising for the foreseeable future. Long may this continue and our thanks must go to those coaches who are working tirelessly to bring them on.

Without a number of members it would not be possible to undertake the wide range of appointments that are now expected. To the umpires, assessors, coaches and administrators our thanks must be recorded for another season well done.

Colin Crayford Men’s Appointment Secretary

The Men's Premier One and Two League season was completed with all matches being officiated by West appointed Level 2 umpires. This involved a total of 484 umpires which was less than in recent years because of only five matches scheduled each week in Premier Two. As in recent seasons umpire availability on Saturdays was good and presented few problems. However, postponed matches re- arranged for Sundays was again testing due to only a handful of umpires ever being available. The bad weather in January which caused the loss of two Saturdays made things very difficult but all games were covered by the appropriate level of umpire.

Before the League season started appointments were made again to the UWE and Team Bath Buccs Festivals both held over 2 days which were a good warm up for umpires before the more testing league games.

In addition to the league programme appointments were also made to EH competitions and three age group Schools competitions during the second half of the season.

I would like to thank a number of people for their continued help and support. The Selectors and in particular, the Chair Colin Crayford. Also Rod Cook for covering when I was away, David Lillywhite for being the Umpires Manager at the three schools events and Peter Lovell for ensuring that appointments were always correctly posted on the website. Finally, the County Appointment Officers who were always most helpful and understanding when I took umpires at short notice.

Mike Legg.

Ladies Appointment Secretary

All but four appointments were made to the West Ladies Premier 1 division this season, three due to either injury or illness and one because an umpire broke down en route. Several of our regular umpires have had long term injuries this season with a couple having been unavailable all season. However with several new umpires having now joined the panel it is hoped that next season will prove less strenuous.

We also experienced difficulties with matches postponed in January due to inclement weather and this proved difficult because games were being rearranged on Sundays when there were also West tournaments taking place but thanks to the understanding of our umpires we were able to cover these.

Grateful thanks to the Selection committee for their continued support but especially to the umpires who always seem to pull out the stops to ensure that we are not short.

RYUAG

• At the beginning of the season the West had several umpires on the National promising list – Nick Bennett, Caz Fenn, Ben Homer, Heather Child, Tim Chipperfield (South) and Laura Yell (Midlands). Congratulations to Nick, Caz and Tim on gaining their Level III this season. Ben and Heather have decided to retire from umpiring. • At the JRPC in Sept 2011 we put forward four candidates for the NYUPL – Tim Bennett (Avon), Lizzie Hancock (Cornwall), Clare Westgate (Avon), and James Sinclair (Devon). Clare was unsuccessful but the others had a successful assessment and are now on the NYUPL. Lizzie and James went on to gain their Level II and umpire at the National Schools tournaments. • Tom Marks (Bath University) attended the HiPac tournament in October and later gained his Level II. • Congratulations must go to Nick Bennett and Caz Fenn who continue to flourish in the national umpiring arena. Both are regularly appointed to national and some international tournaments. Nick was National Young Umpire of the year in July 2011 and Caz has been awarded the same accolade in 2012. • Looking to the future we have a number of up and coming umpires in the region ready to continue the West’s recent successes: Tom Marks, Clare Westgate, Mercedes Harris, Dan George, Ellie Spurrier and Ben Garrod will be looking to join the NYUPL during next season.

Liz Powell

8. West Masters Report

Committee 2011/2012

Jon Marshall (Hon Sec), Jan Baker, Winston Bower, Martin Jenkins (Chairman), Ian King (MensO40), Andy Batchelor (MO45), Julian Smith (MO50), Chris Booker (MO55), Alan Muller (MO60), Adrian Money (MO65), Bob Moxom (Gloucester), Tim Miller (Hereford), Nick Kendall (Somerset).

The Committee has met formally twice and maintained contact by regular email. The aims of the Committee have been a) to satisfy the requirements of the West HA constitution with appointment of county representatives to promote Masters hockey across the region, b) to develop an open and equitable system of selection of the elite representative age group sides and c) to maintain a player database and to use the West HA website to promote activities. Organisers for the different Masters age groups were appointed at the 2011 AGM, together with other committee members.

For 2012/2013, the Committee will be Jon Marshall (Hon. Sec.), Jan Baker, Martin Jenkins (Chairman), Ian King (MensO40), Ali Price (MO45), Andy Batchelor (MO50), Chris Booker (MO55), Alan Muller (MO60), Mike Harris (MO65), Winston Bower and Adrian Money (MO70), Bob Moxom (Hereford), Tim Miller (Gloucester), Nick Kendall (Somerset) Sally Privett, Miranda Mactaggart, Mary Harris and others to be co-opted. An aim will be to have two named officials for each age group, comprising manager, coach or captain.

Men’s Masters 2012

A letter to all known Mens Masters players and clubs was circulated in February 2012 informing all about the programme for trials and regional Masters Tournaments. Trials for MensO50 to O55s were held at King’s, Taunton and O60 to O70 age groups at Taunton Vale on 11 March 2012. Trials for MO40s and MO45s were held at Bristol University on 1 April 2012. Teams were selected to represent the West and results have been uploaded to the West Hockey website. Of note, Ian King on behalf of the West hosted the O40 Regional Tournament at Bristol University over the weekend of 28/29 April 2011. Men’s Regional tournament results: O40 – 5th O45 – Winners O50 – 3rd O55 – 3rd O60 – 5th O65 – 5th Bearing in mind that the West tends to have a smaller pool for player selection than some regions, the results have been good.

Men’s International

England selectors have been attending the Regional tournaments and have been holding trials to select England Masters sides for the Home Internationals and the Masters World Cup in August 2012. It is pleasing to report that the West have men’s players in every age group representing England (see below and the website).

West men’s Masters players selected for England 2012:

O40 O45 O50 O55 O60 O65 O70 Matt Bearsby Ali Price Rob Brown Graham Skinner Jon Marshall Bill Goodridge Mike Fripp Roger Edwards Ian Phillips Andy Batchelor David Webb Alan Muller Patrick Maher Percy Steele Russ McQuillan . Jon Bland . Peter Whitby Neil Major . David Stokes . Rod Naughalty . . Brian Perryman . Simon Thompson ......

Women Masters 2012

The Regional Trials for the O40s (May 20th), O45s (May 20 th ) and O50s (March 4 th .) were widely advertised but attendance at trials at Taunton Vale Sports Centre (all age groups) was disappointing. Despite this teams were selected and played in all 3 Regional Tournaments which were held at Cannock in April (O50s) and June (O40s, O45s). Play in all 3 tournaments was of a high standard and although the West did not achieve the results they would have wished the players all expressed how much they had enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to next year.

Women’s International

ENGLAND SELECTION for 2012

O40 45 50 55 T.Pascoe Karen Keating Sally Privett Miranda Mactaggart Linda Webb Su sie Francis Lorna Dymock Angie Pearce Jill Thompson Heather Francis

Jon Marshall ( [email protected] ) 14 June 2012

9. West Women’s League Report In spite of the weather yet again playing havoc with many fixtures after the Christmas break, a big thank you must go to all clubs who worked well to ensure that their postponed games had been played by the required date.

Unfortunately, a total of 41 games were recorded as unfulfilled fixtures, slightly up on last year. We hope that these teams will be able to recruit the players required to ensure that this number does not rise still further next season. On a positive note, we have 7 new teams joining the league next season.

Congratulations must go to Taunton Vale Ladies 1 st team, who once again have secured promotion to the E.H.L. and we wish them every success for the forthcoming season.

Commiserations however, must go to Exe and Team Bath who both return to the Premier Division and also to Bournemouth who finished runners up in Prem. 1 for the second time in succession.

ISCA 3 rd team have gained promotion for the third season in a row, narrowly winning South Division on goal difference.

New regulations for this year have been sent to the West where they were discussed, a few wording issues clarified and have now been ratified for inclusion in next year’s handbook. There are no major changes to rules. They centre on the number of players to be nominated by clubs with players in the E.H.L., fines amounts and the use of technology in terms of being able to scan and email match reports, text results and clubs putting details on the website.

Clubs are being balloted on the proposed league structure (votes to be in by Friday June 15 th ). This includes the creation of Premier 2a and 2b to replace Premier 2, one less division in Sedgemoor and a new, yet to be named league, for teams centred around the Gloucester, Hereford, Chippenham areas.

For this reason, fixtures have not yet been produced as there may still be some movement of teams within divisions. Any alterations to the proposed structure will be discussed at the next league meeting on June 21 st .

League dates however, are available on the website.

Julie Morrish, Women’s League Rep.

10. West Men’s League Report This year’s league winners were Firebrands HC and they have gained automatic promotion to the EHL West Conference for next season. The West Conference will have 6 out of the 10 teams from the DWHL, so Firebrands can look forward to several matches against local rivals as all sides battle for a place in the EHL Premier Division.

Despite problems with the cold and icy weather in early February all DWHL league fixtures was completed by the end of the season with many promotions and relegations undecided until the final matches of the season. The Davis Wood Hockey league recently held its three annual area meetings. The main business of each meeting was the new league structure for the season 2012/2013 which was outlined and presented to clubs. Thanks must go to the DWHL sub-committee who worked on planning revising and refining the new league structure before agreement by the full league committee. The dates for next years’ three area meetings have also be fixed – 15th Apr 2013 19:30 South Area Meeting @ Dolphin Inn Bovey Tracey 16th Apr 2013 19:30 North Area Meeting @ TBA 17th Apr 2013 19:30 South Wales Area Meeting @ TBA

All league fixture for next season have been finalised and are available on the league website.

Rule changes for next season are largely due to the changes in league structure and have been approved by West Council.

Finally reminder to counties to inform me of any changes to their league committee representative by 16 th July so the website and handbook can show the correct information.

Andrew Ashenhurst David Wood Hockey League - June 2012