CHAIRMAN’S REPORT - Kieron Cotter - AGM – WSYL – 13th June 2005

May I welcome you all to the West Surrey Youths League AGM for the end of the 2005 season. This has been my sixth year as your Chairman and I would like to thank the Clubs and our Management Committee for their continued support.

For the coming season the league continues to grow, we have attracted 445 teams which will give us a playing membership of nearly 7000.

Looking back to the year 2000 the league had 260 teams and 3900 players, so you can see how we have grown.

The commitment shown by your Management Committee remains faultless and I am delighted to report that the team for next year remains virtually unchanged. To be able to maintain our excellence the Management Committee now has over 30 members.

Because of their commitment to running of this league they give up a tremendous amount of a very valuable commodity and that’s time. Many if not all have other commitments both in the work place and at home yet every week they all find time to make sure that you have fixtures to play.

I would like to add my own heart felt thanks for their commitment and support and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with you all.

I am sure you will agree with me that your Management Team deserves generous recognition and a big thank you.

Whilst I am on the subject of the Management Committee a plea please from our Registration Secretary. Please do not send your registrations by recorded post as his wife works shift work and gets woken up to sign for your mail. A Post Office receipt will be proof of posting.

To promote youth football can I remind all the clubs here today that for the under 7’s and under 8’s there is no joining fee nor is there any registration fees, to join the league in those age groups is completely free.

This year we organised a ‘Fun day’ with various competitions for the under 7’s at AFC Wimbledon. The event was attended by over 170 under 7’s and was a total success, as such we will be repeating the event next season.

Presentation day on Saturday last was extremely successful and well supported. For all those who attended in setting up the trophies and organising the teams, namely, Dave and Gail Workman, Debbie Birch, Pam and Roy Lomax, Ian Brockman and his son Wayne, Sarah Street and Neil Excell a huge thank you. When you think that they were there at 9am until 6pm, we presented over 1100 trophies and medals to 73 teams. For the first time this year we recognised the hard work of the teams Managers and awarded them each with a medal. We estimated the day was attended by about 3,500 people. As you can imagine we were all shattered at the end. But the day went like clockwork.

However on one particular age group (the under 14’s) four teams turned up with just 4 or 6 players. This is not acceptable and when we refused to let there managers take the surplus trophies away we were subject to a torrent of abuse. No one deserves being treated in this manner after all the effort was made to make the day a day to remember. It is not acceptable for clubs /teams to arrange to enter tournaments on a presentation day. Apart from that incident it was a real pleasure for us to receive much praise from others.

Earlier this year we sent out letters to a number of clubs, highlighting their poor sportsmanship marks. Those clubs were warned that unless there was a marked improvement they would be required to attend a disciplinary hearing where it would be decided if they were to be allowed to reapply for membership for the coming season. Those of you who have visited our web site will have seen the decisions we came to.

This season again saw tremendous successes in the County Cups. We were winners in the Surrey County Cup for under 11,12,13,14, and 15. Plus in the under 15’s we also won the Hampshire County Cup and we were Champions in the Middlesex County Cup at under 13’s, 14’s and under 15 finalists.

We were Inter-league Champions at under 10, 13, 14 and 15 and were Inter-league runners up at under 11 and 12,

I just wonder if anyone anywhere in the UK can say what I have just said. It is a remarkable achievement and these kinds of results can only be achieved with all your dedication in promoting football amongst our youth. In light of those results I would like to give my heartfelt thanks for all your efforts, extremely well done and thank you.

I am delighted to inform you that we continue to receive the support from our sponsor for the coming season. Our sponsor is “Instant Portfolio” a property development company. We thank you for your support, which assists the league in so many ways.

Next year we will have reached a landmark in the West Surrey Youth League, the league was started in 1966 and we will have been in existence for forty years. I have put in motion and have had a positive response in asking the Premiership Football League Clubs for signed memorabilia. We will enter every club in a free draw and those names that are drawn out will receive the memorablier so that they can either raffle or auction the item to raise funds for their respective clubs.

May I thank you for your continued support and I continue to be extremely proud to be able to represent the WSYL. May I wish you all a well earned rest this summer and my very best wishes to you, your families and to all your teams, and the very best of luck for the coming season.

………………………………................

Kieron Cotter

13//06/2005