Minutes of the Barnsley and District Junior Football League Meeting
Held Monday 6th November 2023 – Microsoft Teams

Management Team present – Gavin Logan (Secretary), Brian Curry (Chairman), John Neville (President); Dave Walters (Vice Chair), Faye Geary Karen Parton, Michelle Logan, Lee Beck, Nic Jones, Jack Flatters, Mark Thompson, Jon Speed.

Introduction and Welcome

The League Chairman Brian thanked everyone for their attendance and declared the meeting open.

Roll call

100% attendance in the meeting, all clubs represented which is excellent, very well done to all Clubs.

Minutes of previous meeting held on the 4^th September 2023.

Brian informed all present , the minutes of the last meeting was forwarded to all Secretaries via email, informing all clubs if they did not receive them, to contact Gavin, he will email a copy asap. Brian read out the main points then asked if any questions, all minutes were accepted by all present, Proposer Steve Holding – Durkar Juniors and Seconder Darryl Jones - Worsbrough Bridge.

Website Updates and Manager Contacts

Gavin asked all Secretaries and Manager to check telephone numbers and email addresses to make sure all details are current and correct. Please note that contacting committee members must not be done before 9am and after 8pm unless agreed with the person beforehand. The website is easy to navigate around, please go on it and familiarise yourselves with it, all main items and forms can be downloaded.

Whats App Groups

Brian praised everyone for using the groups for all the right reasons, these groups are for sharing information only and the league appreciate the cooperation from everyone regarding this. It is used for sharing match information league information, fixture confirmations and kick off times and not to be used to discuss issues or fall outs with individuals, this must be done privately through the official channels.

Kick Off Times & Team sheets

Kick-off Times 9.30am to 2pm - Gavin reminded all of the importance of letting your registrars having your kick-off times, these must be confirmed to your registrars no later than 8.30pm every Tuesday, this is a League Rule which is a mandatory request, failing to do this will result in a fine which we are trying to avoid having to implement.  Team sheets & Squad sheets, some managers are still not complying with the procedure of completing the team sheets prior to kick-off, this is a must guys, you need to list all your team players who are playing in the game and get the referee’s name and fan number before all games start, not after the game has finished. If a referee says he does not have or will give his Fan Number later, you must refuse to start the game until you have this information. It is no good you are contacting us or making any complaint regarding the quality of referees or any incidents that occur during or after any games as you have not provided the information which we are asking for as this invalidates your complaint and is seen as Poor Practice within Safeguarding and Welfare. Both the League and the County FA are now looking to start house checks on match days. Sarah Pridmore is the new SHCFA Welfare Officer, Gavin has had a meeting with her recently, she has confirmed when she comes out to matches, she will be checking that this procedure is implemented, if it isn’t, she will inform us at the league, we will have no alternative but to implement fines as per League Rule, she will also be contacting Clubs.

FA WGS – Managers and Assistant Managers Status and Player Registrations

All Managers and Assistant Managers names and fan numbers must be entered on the whole game system, if the whole game system will not allow these to be assigned to the role, then that person will lack the appropriate qualification. The individual clubs are responsible to ensure that all coaches and assistants are qualified. Aa above both the CFA and the League are now looking on the WGS and doing our house checks. Player registrations are all currently up to date, Karen reiterated registrations submitted on the WGS for approval must be paid for before approval is confirmed. Closing date for both registrations and transfers are the 28^th February 2024. To ensure a smooth registration process please ensure that all new players have the relevant photo ID and that the £3 registration fee paid prior to submitting to the league for approval.

Disciplinaries, Fines and Suspensions

We have no suspensions or fines outstanding with the SHCFA which is outstanding, our disciplinary record is a credit to us and all our clubs, well done everyone. We do have three outstanding league fines which are current, they could have been avoided however rules do need to be applied and adhered too, one was for a late notice of unable to field a team and the other two fines are for late team sheets. Karen will contact those concerned to avoid additional fines. It was noted several fines given to clubs from the CFA were due to gross misconduct and abusive language towards referees, 2- and 3-week suspensions and fines from£40 up to £200 have been sent out.

League Divisional Fixtures and  Supplementary Cup Fixtures

All fixture relaxation request we received giving the 28 day’s notice with good reason  have all been granted. There will be no further relaxations granted giving notice with immediate effect as we need to conclude as many fixtures as possible to avoid a backlog of further fixtures.

Games that have recently been postponed due to the severe weather conditions have so far been rescheduled, we will keep monitoring this for the near future and update as we go along. We currently have 26 actual Sundays in the football calendar season remains, this excluded Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and Easter Sunday, no games will be scheduled on these days only, all other weekends. expect a fixture there will also be a further 6 or 7 weekday fixtures from the 10^th April 2024 (clocks change from the 31^st March 2024).

The Under 7s are now at a stage where teams will be moved from the provisional divisions to the respective new divisions where they will be moved into the Red, Amber and Green Divisions of six and five teams respectively and will play in the home and away format to determine promotion and relegation places moving forward to Under 8s next season. The group with five teams will play each other three times. The current Under 8s Green Division has five teams in it, these teams will play each other three times whereas the other two divisions with six or seven teams will play each other twice. All other age groups will continue to play each other twice also. All age groups will start playing cup fixtures starting from the 5^th November until early December, League fixtures will then restart alongside cup fixture to keep as many teams playing weekly.

FA Accreditation

This has replaced the FA Charter Standard Award and will open for submission for the next six months starting from the 3^rd November 2023. This is mandatory to every club, clubs are asked to start the process early to avoid the possibility of being affiliated from June for the 2024/25 season, this is now an annual process. A

FA Whole Game System

Reminder to all that any Coach, Manager, Assistant Coaches and Manager Coaching, Training or Assisting with teams must all be added to your teams on the WGS, this is mandatory, the fa and ourselves are now looking at the housekeeping of this process, anyone found not to be added to the WGS will not be able to coach or train your players, fines and suspensions may be applied.

CFA Updates

Sarah Pridmore has replaced Claire MacRory as the CFA Welfare & Safeguarding Officer, Tom Measham is her Deputy and Danny Guest has replaced Aaron Bannister as the Referees Officer, there contact numbers can be found in the League Handbook on the League Website and on the SHCFA Website

AOB

All present in tonight’s meeting was reminded of the following two mandatory FA and League Rules, no player is allowed to wear black kits and names of players must not be shown on any item of kit including shirts, the league and scory rules will be applied if any team breaches these rules.

Heading rule has not been made mandatory yet. So heading is still allowed. The rules around this have not been classified and no decision has been made or decision on what is expected at this time.

The pass back rule is mandatory, however if both teams agree and the referee agrees this can be waivered.

The 2023/24 season will finish officially  on the 19th May.

Finally, we wanted to not a huge thankyou to both Faye and Michell for sorting the Teams Meeting, it has been a stressful updating with Microsoft,

Date of next meeting Monday 5th February 2024 , please note this meeting is on Teams.