MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE VACANCY

Your league Needs a Treasurer

The league is looking to appoint an honorary treasurer. This job is vital to the progress of the league and offers a variety of challenges and opportunities. Brian Smith - Chairman - on 07770 914429 or Bob Brown - General Secretary - on 01992 509823 will be pleased to have an informal, no obligation chat with anyone considering the benefits of getting involved.

The treasurer's role requires some book keeping skills and experience. Our accounts are, from the start of the current season, managed via an on-line book-keeping system and the league's administration is entirely web based.

The honorary treasurer is a full member of the league's management committee and will need to be free to attend the regular meetings held each month throughout the season except July and August. All costs and expenses are paid and, where necessary, equipment (laptop, printer, etc) and services (phone line, broadband etc) can be provided.

The committee prides itself on the fellowship it offers to its members and we warmly invite applications from supporters of the league who would like to make an additional contribution to its management and development.

The league's development depends on the ideas and energy of its leadership and we need to fill this key role so that we can continue to drive the league's progress

For more details please contact either Brian Smith - Chairman - on 07770 914429 or Bob Brown - General Secretary - on 01992 509823.

WORMLEY ROVERS LOOKING TO STRENGTHEN THEIR BACKROOM STAFF

Premier Division Club Looking For New Committee Blood

Wormley Rovers is a leading club in the Herts Senior County League and one of the most ambitious, setting higher standards both on and off the pitch with each passing season and the club is seeking to appoint a General Secretary and a Fixtures Secretary to play a key role in their continuing development.

These are unpaid posts but offer a major opportunity for someone to get involved in the day to day running of this go-ahead club.

If you are interested please contact Peter Dent on 01992 412134 (home), 07941 161487 (mobile), 01992 447410 (business) or by e-mail to p.dent4@ntlworld.com.

UPDATED CLUB DIRECTORY

The 2011-12 handbook is in the post to club secretaries (one copy for each team entered). As always, there have already been changes, so an updated copy of the Club Directory can be downloaded from HERE

DOWNLOAD FORMS DIRECT FROM THE WEBSITE

Is Your Ground Up To Standards?

Clubs failing to meet the League's ground availability and grading requirements risk charges and other sanctions including suspension, witheld promotion and enforced relegation.

The cut-off date in any season is 31 May and clubs whose ground availability and standards are in breach of league requirements on that date will have their status considered by the Management Committee.

Availability

Clubs must ensure the availability of an approved ground throughout the entire season. Any club unable to meet its fixture obligations in terms of home pitch availability risks the suspension of their membership until they are able to assure the Management Committee that acceptable arrangements for playing home games have been made. Clubs unable to give this assurance prior to the AGM may not be permitted to compete in the forthcoming season. Clubs losing access to a suitable venue may be suspended should this occur during a season.

Appendix 'A'

The criteria we measure our grounds against are contained in Appendix 'A' to our rules. This is printed in our annual Directory and Rule Book and on the Noticeboard and all clubs are encouraged to check that they continue to meet the requirements therein.

Action is taken against clubs and where restrictions or additional requirements were imposed then these remain in force until the underlying reason for them has been remedied or otherwise attended to.

Of particular concern are those clubs which previously conformed to standards but have since experienced weather or other damage which they have not rectified and the small number of clubs given dispensation regarding temporary accommodation or other facilities but which have stopped meeting their end of the agreement.

The league will take action against clubs letting their standards slip and this could include a requirement to play at another location, demotion or expulsion from the league.

SHARING PROBLEMS?

A Problem Shared is Not Always a Problem Halved

Several of our clubs share pitches with clubs both in the County league and in other, external leagues. This trend may well increase as the number of County standard pitches shrinks. Clubs contemplating sharing need to make sure they have a workable agreement in place before committing to the arrangement.

Our fixtures secretary will always work with another league to ensure the fair sharing of facilities between clubs whether in or out of our league but it is not their job to make sure pitches are available. Every club gives an undertaking to provide an approved pitch on a home and away basis throughout the season between its start and end dates and the fixtures secretary will assume this is the case when casting fixtures and cup ties. He will not have time to check with other leagues to see if a pitch is or isn't available.

Clubs must also make sure that the pitch they use is the one that was approved by the league. Ad hoc bookings of unapproved pitches are not permitted and all changes MUST be notified to the fixtures secretary and approved by him before the fixture can go ahead.

Please make sure you work with our fixtures secretary on all pitch matters and always remember it is your club's job to make sure the approved pitch is available when required.

EMERGENCY REGISTRATION DANGER

Don't Sign Up to Trouble

NB: Don't forget the deadline for player registration is 31 March in any season.

There has been a steady stream over the years of clubs coming to grief when using the emergency registration procedure. Players signed in a rush sometimes do not remember to tell their new club their full history. Players already signed to another club or on a ban - sometimes from a neighbouring county FA - may, in the heat of the moment, forget to mention these key bits of information and when it comes to light, sometimes several weeks, and matches, later, their new club finds themselves in the cart.

The league will always help, when there's time, and Phil or another officer willwillingly check our records when asked. The county website also contains disciplinary information and this is available to registered club officers. In addition, as with the league, the office at Letchworth will always help with enquiries and these can be emailed to the registrations department at the FA where appropriate.

The league admits no exceptions to its rules regarding ineligible players and clubs pay a heavy price when bans and suspensions come to light after a player has played. Please be very careful, particularly with emergency registrations, and always make sure you ask a player signing-on for you where they played before. If it was for an out of county club, check with the appropriate county FA BEFORE fielding the player. This advice is especially relevant if the player's previous club has folded. There may be debts to be paid which, until cleared, mean the deceased club's players are all suspended sine die.

Where a club has done its best to check a player's eligibility and feels, subsequently, that it was deliberately misled they should seek advice from the county FA and from the league. It will not help with any ineligibility charges that may have already been incurred but the county may consider the club's efforts in mitigation and the league may, at its discretion, wish to consider refusing the player's future registration.

SPACE TO SPARE?

League Needs Some Storage

We cannot go on relying on our committee members to take our bits and pieces into their own houses and property and if anyone has some space they could let us have we would be very grateful. We would pay a reasonable fee if that was necessary.

If you can help us out, please get in touch with Brian Smith Chairman Herts Senior County Leagueor by phone to 07770 914429.

SOME GENTLE REMINDERS

A Couple of Ways You Can Help Your League

These are currently turning up in Registration Secretary Phil Knott's letterbox on occasion when they should be sent to Dave Smith, our Fixtures Secretary. It would save some postage and speed things up a bit if clubs could remember to send their forms to Dave in the first instance.

Telling the League about Postponements

The committee was asked to remind clubs that they must in all circumstances other than when a blanket OK has been given, follow the procedure laid down in the handbook when postponing a game. If this procedure is followed, our Referees Secretary, Norman Appleby, can re-deploy his match officials and unecessary travel by away teams, spectators and officials can be avoided.

Getting Games Played during Bad Weather

The committee encourages all clubs to do whatever they can to get their games played and we particularly encourage clubs to discuss the possibility of switching venues when their pitch is unfit but their oponent's is OK or they have an alternative they can offer. Switched games CAN with the fixtures secretary's permission be considered as either home or away fixtures according to the needs of the League (ie whether we have a backlog or not) and whether the two teams have already played each other or not.

Basically, we are asking that clubs do all they reasonably can to get their games played during the seemingly never endingperiods of bad weather we experience each season.

www.hsc.leaguemanager.biz/mobile

Getting Results on the Move

As I go around our grounds on match days I am always intrigued by the amount of interest shown in my mobile when I get the results up on it. There's no magic to it. I don't have any inside info or a special phone. Anyone who has a mobile phone can take advantage of the free, instant results and tables service provided by the makers of our website - leaguemanager.biz.

You can use your mobile to access the latest results and up-to-the-minute league tableswhen you're not at your PC simply, quickly and for no additional cost. Regardless of the make of phone ornetwork you use, if you have internet access on your mob - sometimes called 3G - you're in.

It's free (other than what your network provider charges you for internet access) to get details of fixtures, results, league tables; even the address and contact details of the club you're playing and telephone numbers for the match referee and assistants. Very handy on a Saturday when you don't know where you're going or you've got a possible no-show. Click here for more details.

A tip. If you can, set your font size to the smallest your phone allows. You will then see all the information on one screen without having to scroll from side to side.

PUT THAT FAG OUT

Council Premises Are Smoke Free Zones

Regardless of what you smoke, cigarettes, pipe - or anything else - you cannot light up anywhere on council sports premises or any other premises which are "communal" or where paid employees work. We have been advised that councils and other letting organisations will refuse to rent their pitches to clubs which don't abide by this legal requirement and may cancel already agreed hiring arrangements where there are reports, or evidence, of non-compliance.

You willl need to be matchless in the changing rooms saving your glowing performances and any other fiery moments for when you're on the pitch.

YOUR PASSWORD

Ask and You Will Receive?

Like lots of websites you use, the league asks for a password and access to some of the faciltities on our website is not possible unless you provide one. But what should your password be?

The second rule is another slightly saddening one; when it comes to keeping your important data safe you are at most risk from family and friends. So; don't share passwords and don't reveal important ones - to anyone.

Third rule? Don't try and do it yourself. There are lots of password checkers that will help. A good one can be found here. Give it a try; make up a phrase you can remember - footymad11? - and try it in the checker. When you get a good one - 4th rule: don't trust internet password checkers - change it round slightly and then log on and change your password for your details here.

Finally, I repeat, please remember not to use a password that protects really important personal information on websites that don't need that amount of protection. (The more often you use a password the more times it exists "out there" in the interweb and the more likely it is to be discovered). You need at least two passwords.

While logged on please remember to check your details; particularly date of birth, post code and email address. If they are wrong or missing please fill-in the correct information as this is a great help to us when we need to match players and referees etc with data from other bodies like the FA and so on.

Tremendous Excitement, Clubhouse Goes Mad, Beer Stocks Exhausted

This Could be your Clubhouse as League Results Come In

You can just picture the excitement amongst your players as they watch the County league tables change before their eyes as Audrey and the wonder of the web do their stuff.

If you have a TV in your clubhouse, connecting it to the internet via a cheap PC and a dial-up telephone connection is easy, costs pennies and is immensely interesting (that bit's not true, possibly). The introduction of very inexpensive Netbook computers - costing less than 200 in many cases - and the availability of "dongles" providing 3G+ access (as fast as many household internet connections) makes setting up a TV to show County league results very straightforward and relatively easily affordable for most clubs.

Showing the results and tables as they come in and are updated will increase the number of people using your bar making investment in the small amount of equipment required self financing.

Watch your teams' fortunes ebb and flow on the telly - for more details get in touch with Brian Smith.

Club Secretaries - Check your Details?

Everybody in the league relies on the details provided by clubs and recorded on the website. Whether it is a league officer sending out information, a home club wishing to confirm a match or referees and players looking for venue details, everybody turns to the website.

Is Your Email Address Correct?

Every club must have a monitored email address

It is a league requirement for clubs to use the website to enter their match result cards and to record goal scorers. Please make sure that your club is equipped and organised to do this.

Ideally the club secretary would be the club officer with access to the internet and email. Other club members can be designated as your contact point but they must appreciate that the league will expect them to provide a consistent and reliable link to the club in the secretary's place.

If you would like additional usernames and passwords for anyone in your club (who may be operating as your internet and email "officer" for example) please let me know and I will set them up and email them their logging-on details.

Club Announcements

We warmly encourage clubs to send in announcements about their activities etc which we will be pleased to publish here.

If you are looking for new playing personnel, a sponsor, a manager, whatever, and feel that publicity on this site might help then get in touch.