ESTFA AGM 5th June 2010
Location Leicester
AGENDA
Meeting opens
Present: David Pawsey, Martin Hodds, Jeremy Bradley, Maria Carmo, Chris Thomas, Matt Lampitt, Steve Hawkins, Ben Staples, Neil Youngson, Miguel Periera, Paul Lawrenson, Justin Finch, Malc Dickson, Tony McCann, Matthew Thomas, Alan Collins, Chris Short, Mike Parnaby.
- 1. Confirmation of Agenda
MP opened the meeting and all members agreed the minutes of 2009 AGM and agenda of this meeting.
Alan Cook, Adrian Curtis, Sam Curtis, Gary Pearson
MP reported that this has been a decent year for the ESTFA and he felt that a lot of progress had been made, although some of this is not highly visible. We now have a decent circuit of events and he hoped this will develop further. Financially we are better off. Much effort has been focussed into developing the website further and the growth of Subbuteo England. Very disappointing is the number of members we have when we look at how many known non members are playing the game.
We are featured in Shoot magazine in a promotion with football figures so we are hoping for new members from that.
We have been well represented at the top events with three clubs taking part in the Europa Cup and England teams being at the World Cup. There was an issue at the World Cup regarding flight times, but we have since taken steps to try and ensure that this does not happen again. Importantly we were not instrumental in the changes at FISTF. We were not one of those nations that forced the EGM, nor did we vote for elections to take place. We did however vote once the elections were called. The full FISTF board has one ESTFA member on it and there are other ESTFA members that are part of the bigger FISTF picture, so we are well represented at a world level. MP would like to thank everyone who has helped the ESTFA this year, either on the board or others who have offered help, advice or time. MP knows that we have made good progress together but we need more players to step up and take responsibility for YOUR ESTFA. A special mention was made to Gary Pearson and Alan Collins for their input this year.
- 4. Fixtures Secretary’s Comments
JB reported on the calendar of events but focussed on the Milton Keynes GP. He was keen to point out that the low number of English players at the event was disappointing
Mp presents the following. The ESTFA is not financially well off but we are at least now out of debt.
We started the year with £386.42
Income £336 (56) from memberships, Sale of badges £18 and sale of donated England shirt £200. Expenditure £94.11 FISTF fees, £150 insurance, £170 Pitch Storage, £53.58 for trophy centres and £333 repayment to Chris Wrigley. This leaves us with £139.73 in the bank as of now but we need to pay Jeremy £100 more for pitch storage.
Great efforts have been made by MP and PL to secure funding, to date without success.
We need to spend only £100 FISTF and £150 Insurance each season so need to generate £250 per season to operate. More funding would help us to develop both the events we have and also develop the grassroots game, taking the game out to the public and raising awareness again.
MH added that the sponsorship deal with nationwide may well be available this season and will keep us informed of that in due course.
- 6. England Captain’s Comments
Only DP was present and as matters relating to the last world cup are now in the past, he had nothing further to add.
- 7. ESTFA Board
- 7.1 Election of Chairman
MP re-elected un-opposed.
- 7.2 Proposed structure of board
MP outlined his new board positions and responsibilities. This is designed to make the board more effective and share the workload better.
- 7.3 Election of other board positions
General Secretary – No person was put forward until MP was asked who he would like in the role. MP suggested Martin Hodds, who agreed to take on the role. Agreed unanimously.
IT Development – Again, no person came forward but MP stated that Gary Pearson would be keen to take this on. This was agreed unanimously. Matt Lampitt offered to assist GP in the production of a DVD.
Fixtures Secretary – Jeremy Bradley expressed his desire to continue in this role and as no-one else came forward, this was again agreed unanimously.
England Management – DP declined to stand again. Once more no person came forward and after some discussion Chris Thomas was nominated. CT agreed to take the role on condition that Chris Short assisted him. This was well received and agreed by all present. MP suggested that CT and CS speak to Phil Redman and bring him into their management team.
Public Relations – Once again, no person came forward. MP advised the meeting that Adrian Curtis had expressed an interest but MP was not 100 % sure if he would take the post. It was agreed that MP would offer the post to AC, and if he did not accept, MP would seek another person. (NB at the time of writing, AC has confirmed he will take this post)
MP suggested that it would be highly beneficial if board members could get Skype added to their computers so that we can arrange online board meetings. This would save ESTFA money in terms of arranging meetings and make it possible to have regular meetings or ad hoc meetings.
MP opened this topic by saying that we need £250 per season to operate. Most of this comes from memberships but players often ask what they get for their membership fees. So MP offered the meeting 6 options for next season. These were:
Option 1 – We keep things as they are, a membership fee of £7.
Option 2 – We reduce the membership fee to £5.
Option 3 – We replace the membership fee with a tournament levy of £1 per player at each ESTFA event. This of course means that tournament entry fees will rise, but it means that EVERY player that plays in a tournament becomes an ESTFA member on completion of the membership form. BUT it means that every player who plays in an ESTFA event contributes to ESTFA funds, without having to pay up front to join the ESTFA.
Option 4 – We introduce a club membership scheme where clubs pay a fee of say £25 and all their players are ESTFA members on completion of the membership form.
Option 5 – In the past it has proved hard to get tournament levies paid in after the event has finished. An alternative would be to charge a ‘booking fee’ when the tournament is requested. Opens would pay £20, Satellites £20, International Opens £30 and the Grand Prix £50. This would get us £250. Any ad hoc events would be £20.
Option 6 – A combination of the first 5 choices, ie a membership fee AND tournament levies.
In all cases however, we need our members to complete the membership form.
After a long discussion and finally a vote it was decided to change the membership fee to £5 per season but also to introduce a tournament levy of £1 per player per event. Justin Finch suggested an online method of payment to ease that issue. GP to look at this as well as online membership form.
JF also made comment that the biggest problem we face in England is the lack of proper suppliers of equipment. The meeting agreed that it would be great if ESTFA could have its own shop, selling products for existing players and new players alike. Without significant investment this is not possible, but it is something to work towards.
- 9. Sports Matters
- 9.1 Circuits and events
MP proposed this circuit of events:-
National championships for individuals and clubs
Masters
National League
Grand Prix
2 International Opens
2 Satellites
5 Open events
This was agreed and many players liked the idea of a National League. Concerns were raised about the earlier World Cup dates and the value of the English Circuit.
Rankings systems were discussed without much being agreed. MP reported that we have a variety of ranking systems in place at the moment and we need to make clear which are the official rankings and which rankings decide what. ( see 10. England Selection)
9.3 Sports wear
MP reported that this is a problem we face in England. FISTF rules state that sports clothing should be worn at all events by all players. In England we opted to not enforce this rule EXCEPT for when the event was a FISTF event. So we expect the rule to be observed in the GP, the IO’s and the Satellite events as a bare minimum. MP advised the meeting that FISTF are likely to change the rule book for next season and that the penalties for non compliance will be harsher. MP said that he would not be able to defend anyone caught breaking these rules in FISTF events, although we will be more relaxed for non FISTF events.
It was agreed that the National Champion should qualify for the World Cup as we do now. MP suggested that the new date might cause us problems in holding a circuit before a date in February/March when we would need to select the team.
MP suggested not giving a place to a circuit champion, but this was not met with approval. In fact most players present felt that the circuit should have value and should reward its champion.
After much discussion MP suggested that first we allow JB to set up the circuit of events as we have trusted him to do. Following this CT and CS should decide on how England Selection would happen, and which events, if any, will count towards it. This will be fully published before September on ESTFA website and in Subbuteo News.
- 11. A.O.B
- 11.1 The rebranding of ESTFA
MP suggested that we change the name of ESTFA from English Sports Table Football Association to English Subbuteo Table Football Association. This was agreed unanimously
- 11.2 Tournament Improvements
MP reported that we need to improve our events, simple as that! This is not to impress FISTF, nor is it so that we look good on the board. We simply need to look more professional to appeal to new players and also to the press. The Fixtures Secretary will be responsible for trying to ensure tournaments adhere to our guidelines (yet to be written!). GP will be looking at creating a website for EVERY tournament we host that can be accessed by both ESTFA and the event organiser to update.
MP has agreed a deal with the chap who makes the replica International Caps. Basically we will agree a design of cap that he will not sell to anyone other than the ESTFA. These will be available to order from the ESTFA at a cost of £25 per cap, and the ESTFA makes a small profit of around £2 on each cap. Orders will be taken in due course.
MP suggested that we look to creating a DVD which will feature all our events. It would show results, pictures, match footage, press clips, maybe even some interviews etc. This would be given free to all members at the season end as a sort of review of the ESTFA year. It would also be a useful tool to show sponsors and a historical record for us all to keep. Players will therefore be encouraged to submit material. Matt Lampitt has offered to help produce this.
MP asked AC to update the meeting about developments at FISTF since the new board took over. Players seemed impressed by the progress made, but not always reported!
MP thanked everyone who took the time to attend this meeting. He stressed that we all need to pull our own weight and work together to develop our sport.