The South East England Schools’ Football Association Handbook Season 2017-2018 The South East England Schools’ Football Association Member Counties Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Essex Hertfordshire Kent Inner London Middlesex Norfolk Sussex Suffolk Surrey For 2016-2017 SEESFA welcomes Hampshire to participate in SEESFA competitions Council Officers Chairman Aran Hawkins (Sussex) Past Chairman Vice-Chairman Chris Ampofo (Middlesex) James Morley (Suffolk) Secretary Treasurer Mark Sturgeon Richard Gledhill 10 Walton Dene 26 Copthall Lane Aylesbury Chalfont St Peter Bucks Bucks HP21 7LQ SL9 0DB 01296 432365 01753 880268 [email protected] [email protected] Competition Secretaries Under 14, 15 and 16 Under 18 Dave Playford David Woollaston 8 Manor House Garden 9 Cheyne Close High Street Dunstable Wanstead Beds London LU6 1BX E11 2RU 07541 140674 01582 600725 [email protected] [email protected] South East England Honours 2016-2017 International Honours Under 18 Boys Under 15 Girls South East England National Champions The Constitution 1. Title That this Council of County Schools' Football Association be called " The South-East England Schools' Football Association." 2. Affiliation The Council shall affiliate to the English Schools' F.A. 3. Objects a. To promote the mental, moral and physical improvement of school children through the medium of Association Football; in furtherance thereof the organisation of Schools' Football in South-East England through County Associations. b. To help the promotion and extension of friendly relations between associated counties. c. To discuss issues of mutual interest in relation to Schools' football. d. To promote inter-County competitions. 4. Eligibility That membership of the Council shall be open to County Schools' Football Associations in South-East England. 5. Fees a. That the affiliation fee payable by member Associations shall be decided annually by Council at the Spring Meeting. b. That the competition fees payable by member associations shall be decided annually by Council at its Spring Meeting. c. That fees shall be paid by or at the A.G.M. 6. Officers of the Council a. The Officers of the Council shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, immediate past Chairman, General Secretary, Treasurer, Under 14 – Under 16 and Over 16 Secretaries. b. Every Officer of SEESFA shall at the time of election be a serving or retired teacher. c. The Vice-Chairman, who shall be the Chairman the following year, shall be nominated by each County in alphabetical rotation except where, by agreement, and for travel convenience, Council requires its Vice-Chairman to be in an opposite geographical region from the Chairman. d. All Officers, as named above, shall be ex-Officio members of Council. 7. Meetings a. The Council shall meet at least twice a year with one meeting being the Annual General Meeting which shall be held at least five days before the date of the ESFA A.G.M., and the other Meeting being held usually in Spring. Representatives from Associated Counties and the SEESFA Area ESFA Council members (past and present) may attend and speak. b. A quorum for any SEESFA Meeting shall consist of 5 County members. c. No alteration of, or addition to the Constitution or Competition Rules shall be made except at the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting convened for that purpose. No amendment shall be made which would cause the Council to cease to be a charity at law. Any resolutions, proposed business for discussion and/or proposed amendments of the Constitution and/or Competition Rules must be received by the General Secretary 28 days before the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting. Such proposals may be made by member Counties or by the Officers. Any proposal or resolution must be seconded at the Meeting by an affiliated County before it may be further considered. Notices of Meetings shall be dispatched to affiliated Counties, Officers and past and present ESFA Area Council members at least 14 days before the Meeting. d. Further Meetings shall be called at the discretion of the Officers or at the request of at least three member Counties.. e. Matters of urgency shall be dealt with by an Emergency Committee consisting of three neutral people of whom two shall be Officers of the Council. f. Voting shall be one vote per County in attendance. This may be an Officer or ESFA representative if so mandated. The Chairman shall have a casting vote. 8. Disposal of Funds In the event of the winding up of the Council , for whatever reason, any assets remaining after the satisfaction of outstanding debts and liabilities will be transferred to the English Schools' F.A. or some other charity or charities having objects similar to the objects of the Council. Date of Meetings – Season 2017-2018 General Council Meeting – 19 March 2018 Annual General Meeting – 11 June 2018 Competition Rules 1. Competitions The Council shall organise the following competitions: Under 14 Boys: C.E. Knowles Cup Girls: The Essex Cup Under 15 The London Cup Under 16 Boys: L.C. Hill Cup Girls: Victoria Dodds Trophy Under 18 A Corinthian Casuals Trophy Under 18 B St. Clement Danes Trophy League positions will be determined in accordance with Competition Rule 5, as at the limit date set by the SEESFA Council. 2. Trophies All Trophies shall be the property of the Council. 3. Counties Holding a Trophy A County holding a Trophy shall be responsible for its safe-keeping and for its engraving as soon as possible after the Final. Trophies shall be returned to SEESFA as directed. All costs shall be met by the holders. Where a Trophy is shared, the County taking the Trophy first, shall be responsible for payment. 4. Mementoes Seventeen suitably engraved mementoes, one of which shall be for the team manager, shall be presented to each County taking part in a final. Extra mementoes may be purchased for squad members of counties concerned. Mementoes shall be presented to match officials at all finals. If a competition is played as a single league, seventeen suitably engraved mementoes shall be presented to the winning county. 5. Organisation of the Competitions a. i Normally the competitions shall be played on a league basis in one, two, or four groups, each county playing every other county once. When there are two or four groups they shall be arranged in geographical areas. ii As far as is practical the groups shall remain the same for a two-year cycle so that a game played at home one year will be played away the following year. b. i Three points shall be awarded for a win and one for a draw. The team with the greatest number of points will be the winner of the league except that any county that has not played all of its games shall not qualify to contest a semi-final or final. A game decided by Emergency Committee shall be considered a game played in this context, and the county awarded the match shall be credited with the points and a 0 – 0 scoreline. In the event of a tie the positions will be decided by: a. Goal difference b. Goals scored Should two counties still be tied, the league result between those counties shall decide the league position. If that match has been drawn the away team shall be declared the winner. Where three or more counties are tied, qualification shall be determined by compiling a mini- league of existing results between those counties in a tying position. In any more complicated situation an Emergency Committee shall decide and have the power to order additional games/play-offs etc. b. ii When a team withdraws from a competition all results shall be expunged from the league tables when less than 75% of its matches have been played. When more than 75% of matches have been played results will stand but any team yet to play the withdrawn team will be awarded the points. b. iii Progression to SEESFA semi-finals, final. The following should apply where two leagues are used to determine progression: Where all counties in a league have not completed their fixtures by the required deadline (and an Emergency Committee has deemed that no game or games can be awarded which would enable any county in the said league to complete), two counties highest placed, satisfying the SEESFA criteria for league completion from the other league, should be the only counties allowed to progress. In the case of the corresponding SEESFA competition, both counties progressing by this means from the other league should play each other in the corresponding SEESFA final. c. i. Arrangements for league matches and for semi-finals and finals once they have been determined by Council shall be in the hands of the secretary of the home county who shall, after consultation with opponents, notify the appropriate Competition Secretary of the date and venue of the game. In Under 14 – Under 16 games will be played on Saturdays but mid- week, holiday and evening games are acceptable if both counties agree. Matches may be played on artificial grass pitches (i.e. 3G pitches and advancements introduced, thereafter) provided that both counties agree before the match venue is decided. c. ii. Both competing counties must notify the match result by ‘Full Time’ or e-mail to the appropriate Competition Secretary, not later than 48 hours after the end of the game. Failure to do so may, at the discretion of an Emergency Committee, result in the offending county not receiving any points for the game though such a game shall be deemed to have been played. c. iii. Both counties must inform the appropriate Competition Secretary when a match has been postponed giving the reason for the postponement.