Back to news | Annual General Meeting
21 February 2001
Held at the Pub on the Park, London Fields
Minutes by Sarah Barnard
Present:
Nigel Richards (Vic Lounge) in the chair
Sarah Barnard (Chats)
Pete Hollman (Pacific)
Dougal de Keller}
Joe Phelan}
Glen Schofer} (Hackney Grasshoppers I)
Don Bodie (Hackney Grasshoppers II)
Afzaul Chowdhury}
Paul Williams} (Tower Ravens)
Johnny Hodgkinson}
Craig Callaghan} (Chats Palace)
John Travers}
Mick Reid} (Rose and Crown)
Dan Bird (Vic Lounge)
David Sultanti}
Tim Castle}
John Rooney} (Old Fallopians)
1: Apologies
for absence
Bert Vandermark and Shakeel Ahmed
2: Minutes of the last meeting were passed as read
3: Chair’s
Report
It was a good year. Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the
losers. The standard of cricket in the league was going up, which was mostly a
good thing, but it remained important to foster the spirit of the league. Thanks
to Pete and Sarah for all their efforts and to Bert for keeping his ear to the
ground.
Mick proposed a vote of thanks, which was duly given.
4: Treasurer’s
report
To come
5: Secretary’s
report
It was a difficult year administratively for several reasons.
·
not having cricket balls bought at the beginning of the season
·
the usual difficulties of trying to maintain league tables when no
one informs me about results without chasing
·
a lack of respect from certain teams, which just made everything
more difficult and very tedious
·
pitch issues.
Having said that, I was involved
in some excellent games of cricket, particularly the Cup Final, which I
thoroughly enjoyed umpiring. The End of Season bash was well attended and good
fun.
6: Fixtures
Secretary’s Report
The park’s cancellation of the first week’s games and the loss of one
pitch part of the way though the season was not enjoyable, with lots of pressure
on the rearrange games.
The Cup draw was done in advance and circulated, which
worked well.
Peter Hollman has drawn up
fixture lists as a whole and team by team to make it easier for teams to
circulate to their own members.
Don raised the question of what is happening with the
pitches. Pete replied that one was taken out of action by Bert because of
injuries to two players. Sarah is to write to TH to ascertain whether it is to
be repaired.
7: Proposal
by Chats Palace that we create a third division
During the discussion of this proposal the following points were raised:
·
third division might work if we were clear on the reason for it,
i.e. a lower division would foster a less competitive spirit
·
most teams were in favour but felt it would not be feasible with
the current number of teams
·
playing each other three or four times a season (cf Scottish
Premier League) would breed contempt
·
two issues involved were standards in the league generally and the
lack of respect shown by some teams for others
·
it was suggested that there were actually separate issues, whether
the league could cope with 3 divisions and “ungentlemanly” behaviour.
·
Behaviour issues should be dealt with by captains and umpires as
required by the laws
·
The Committee is also there to deal with behavioural problems and
issues should be reported to Committee as soon as they occur, cf. the fight
involving Millwall in 1996. There is a precedent for removing teams who do not
respect the spirit of the game from the league.
·
New teams should be made aware of the ethos of the league
·
It is difficult to motivate a team which is below the standard of
the division and the current set up seems to run the risk of losing teams
altogether
·
The motion was passed, but debate continued as this raised serious
practical difficulties
·
Finally agreed that we would aim to implement this decision in
2002 and that it would be the responsibility of all teams to try to recruit
other teams
·
(Since the AGM the team which was interested but didn’t show for
the AGM have again expressed an interest and have been invited to enter a team
for the Cup for this year with a view to joining properly next year. North
London Muslims have suggested entering a youth team and there is a new team,
Khalsa, just formed in the area who are being approached by former Chair Gary
Horsman. It would be good to get them into the Cup this year so that a) we can
make them aware of the league ethos and b) see whether they are likely to abide
by that).
·
Stressed that it is important we make it clear that bad behaviour
is not acceptable
·
Although example of bad behaviour punished by expulsion involved
violence, it was also stressed that ridicule and offensive language was equally
unacceptable.
7: The use
of Wray Crescent
This was proposed as a third pitch to avoid having to play shortened games
in bad light too late in the season. The
ground is currently undergoing £100 000 facelift and promises to have good
facilities. Islington Council will match TH’s prices so we will not be out of
pocket. Pete had canvassed opinion and only Mola Jutt had declared themselves
unwilling to play any games at WC.
Proposed by Pete and
seconded, presumably, but I didn’t note the name
Passed
8: Tower Hamlets to
be asked to improve boundaries, pitch markings and mow the grass more often
Proposed Sarah
Seconded David
Passed
9: Umpiring
During a discussion on standards of umpiring in the league the following
points were raised:
·
Another issue about sportsmanship. Results are being affected by
umpiring – causes problem if you know you’re not going to win because of
umpires
·
People have unrealistic expectations of standard of umpiring. Not
going to get first class umpires at our level. Most you can expect is fairness
and knowledge of the laws
·
1st division expect umpiring to be hard. There is a difference
between some rough umpiring and unfairness.
·
Issue for the captains to deal with before the game
·
Last year guidelines were issued for no-balls and wides. A
consensus can be reached if captains talk to each other.
·
Some people standing as umpire felt intimidated by opposing
players
·
The usefulness of Bert’s role, just wandering round, able to act
as a neutral observer
·
Suggested that 1st Div. Teams provided neutral umpires
for games they are not playing in as seems to be more a 1st Div
issue.
·
If players felt that an umpire was not just making errors of
judgement, but cheating, it was a matter for a disciplinary committee
10: New
Teams
There were none at the meeting, but subsequently one new team has been
entered for the Cup and two other possible teams have presented themselves so we
have a possible 17 teams for 2002.
It was stressed that it is
everybody’s responsibility to help promote the league and encourage new teams
to join, particularly from the local communities.
The website is a good way
of doing this and Tim Castle was proposed to take over from Sarah as webmaster.
Prop. Pete
2nd David
Passed.
11: More
umpiring
Copies of the 2000 Code of Laws to distributed to each team
Prop. Dan
2nd Mick
Passed. Sarah to arrange
Alan Flook from Middlesex
ACUAS to give a talk about the Laws
Sarah will arrange before
the start of season
Guidelines on how Laws
apply to the league to be drawn up and circulated to all teams
after the above talk takes place
Prop. Mick
2nd. Afzaul
Passed.
12: Awards for batting/bowling
The current system to rewarding hundreds and hat-tricks should be changed to
make one award per Division for the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker. Teams
to take responsibility for maintaining their own records
Prop. Pete
2nd. Johnny
Passed
13: Presidents Game
To be played in the same format as last year
14: Election of Officers
Chair: Nigel (prop. Mick,
2nd. Craig. Elected unopposed.)
Treasurer:
Sarah (prop. Mick, 2nd. Craig. Elected unopposed.)
Sarah announced that she
was not able to take on the role of Admin Secretary this year. This is due to
the need to move house and prepare for her forthcoming marriage to Afzaul
Chowdhury of Tower Ravens. (VPCCL a hotbed of romance and passion!!) The job was
broken down into its constituent parts as no one felt able to take on the whole
lot.
Results Secretary: Glen (Grasshoppers I)
(prop. Mick, 2nd. Sarah.
Elected unopposed.)
Contacts List:
Afzaul
Webmaster:
Tim Castle
The arrangement of meetings
was left to be settled in the future.
Non Executive Officers:
Don (prop. Dougal, 2nd.
Pete. Elected unopposed.)
Mick (prop. Sarah, 2nd.
Someone else. Elected unopposed.)
NB Results should be sent to Glen as soon as possible after the match is
played. He can be contacted at:
Glen.schofer@gs.com
Wk : 020 7552 3743 Hm:
020 7263 4180 Mob: 07950
821444
15: Change of bank
It was agreed that Sarah could change the League’s bank account as service
from Barclays had been unsatisfactory
16: League Fees
League fees will be kept at £200 this year as expenditure had not risen
significantly and the League still has a healthy bank balance
The following teams have
paid in full:
Chats Palace
Grasshoppers I
Pacific
Victoria Lounge
Grasshoppers II have paid £100
Will all other teams please
arrange for their fees to reach Sarah at 4 Leabank Square, E9 5LP as soon as
possible and certainly no later than 19th April. If you have not paid
by then you will be considered ineligible to play this season.
17: Any Other Business
·
Any email addresses to be given to Pete and Sarah for ease of
contact. Pete can be found at Peter_Hollman@londonelec.co.uk
and Sarah at googlygirl@ukonline.co.uk
·
Cricket balls have been arranged by Bert and will be available at
the start of the season
·
Standards of behaviour required to be reinforced with all new
teams
Meeting was closed at
10.10 pm
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