Pre and post match guidance to club secretaries and managers

Dear all, with two weeks of the new season behind us its time for  a few notes from me about admin and some important do's and don’ts that will hopefully improve the league for everyone and also save your club money on fines which I am sure can be better spent elsewhere. I apologise in advance for this long winded e-mail but please take the time to read it all as it will assist you avoid fines and help the efficient running of the league.

The league do not want to fine clubs we could do without the extra work it makes for league officers, however in order to keep high standards we set these penalties in the hope it will ensure that teams run their admin and match day business correctly. None of the following advice is new; it’s all been in the rules for some years now so please help us by grasping a basic understanding of the rules and get to grips with what are simple instructions for the pre & post match responsibilities of team managers and club secretaries alike.

• Spectator Lines / Barriers

Each pitch should have a spectator line / barrier for every match. An exemption can be applied for by contacting me by e-mail where there are good reasons for not being able to do so. This exemption is on a season by season basis and must be applied for at the start of every season. Fines will be levied against those who do not comply with this rule from next weekend 27^th September 2009. Please get something organised or contact me ASAP for an exemption.

• Corner Posts / Flags

An amazing amount of you still play without corner posts / flags. They are an essential part of the playing area. Please make the effort to use them as again from next week fines will be applied for not having them.

• Information to Refferee & Opponents 5 days notice.

Sadly many of you are leaving it late to contact your opposition and referee’s. There is really no excuse for this given the e-mail system. I understand that multi team clubs have an issue with pitch allocation which often means it’s hard to put a time on a game. In these circumstances please send an e-mail to confirm the match at least and explain the time will follow ASAP. Where there is to be a PM kick off please bear in mind that what notice your team would require when for example staging a 2pm KO.

• Swapping ID Cards

I know that this is a practice some find laborious and whist I am sure most teams do comply there is still a good number of teams who don’t.  I accept that the system is set up to prevent a small number of cheats from playing unregistered players and that as a result the rest of the league has to go through the time consuming and costly process of providing the information and producing the cards. The fact is that if they are not checked on match days there is absolutely no point in having them. This season we are going to be checking this on a regular basis and any team who does not offer their cards for inspection will be fined. Persistent offenders will be called to the league management committee and their future with the league discussed.  They cost you time and money to produce so use them.

• Team ID Check Forms

There will be times when teams will have genuinely forgotten to bring the cards etc which is when this form must be used.

It is available on the league website under league forms using the link. http://www.wsyl.org.uk/   This must be used when a team has no cards to check. Please print of a few copies and keep in your football bag to use when needed. The instructions are simple. Teams who don’t fill in this form when the opposition has no cards can expect to be fined. The system is there to protect you please make full use of it.

• On Line Match Result Cards

These are an essential part of the structure on which the league is organised. Teams must go on line and enter the details before the timed deadline. The first late entry is a fine of £5 and the second and thereafter £20. This is money wasted by not completing a 10 minute simple task. Please take the time to answer the questions accurately and honestly. We have a number of result cards that don’t compare for the same game. Somehow often the scores don’t match, more commonly the corner flags, spectator line, and swapping ID cards question has a no answer by the opposition and a yes answer by the home team. I fully understand why the answers would appear as such but all I would say is that this wastes the valuable time of league officers trying to establish the truth of the matter. All we ask is for an honest reply. In these cases where the versions differ the league will look to fine clubs for completing the match cards inaccurately. Please also take the time to double check the information before you press send epically that players that played in the game as future matches like cup games and semis and finals could depend on the accuracy of your entry. Teams that fail to enter the cards in time are fined but we still want the information so it must still be completed late or not. This season teams will be fined for every week the entry is not completed so please lets get them done ASAP.

• Telephone Result Line

Again an essential part of league business, it gives us an early heads up on matters effecting next weeks fixtures and provides a fast service for those of you seeking results and compiling your own league tables. Please can everyone note that it is only the HOME team that must phone in the result before the allotted time. Please follow the instructions carefully and leave a message of the team’s age group, division and the result. You would not believe the permutations we get of this. It’s a really simple task so please try and get it right as it again wastes a lot of time trying to work out what did actually happen.

Lastly I would just like to say that the above issues are only really attributable to a small percentage of you but sadly that minority cause more extra work for the league officers than everybody else. They tend to be the same teams every season. I know better than most the workload of club secretaries and managers but I would urge you to get help from a reliable person where you can for some of these match day tasks and spread the load.

We have a fantastic league with high standards which we are determined to maintain. Please help us to get the administration side of things right and this will improve the league as a whole and ensure you spend your hard raised funds on the players and not on silly fines that could easily be avoided.

If anyone needs further guidance or clarification on any issue raised here or otherwise please fell free to contact me at any time.

Kind regards, Frank Thompson [General Secretary SYL]