League Chairman Report
The past year has again been a very busy one for the League and one where once again our principles of it being the Members’ League and not the Committee’s League have been at the forefront of decisions.
These started not long after the AGM last year with a series of meetings to discuss the constitution of the Leagues at various age groups. These proved to be lively to say the least.
The League following a difficult winter with a number of fixtures being postponed also discussed the proposal of playing in the summer. Following opinions being sort through social media and a consultation meeting between the committee and invited clubs from the various regions covered by the League a meeting was held to discuss the options further. Again this was a lively debate covering the pros and cons of summer football and what could be done to alleviate the fixture congestion. The meeting voted overwhelmingly to maintain the League in its’ current status and to look at ways to ease the fixture pressure, especially over December and January. It also voted to increase the number of Cup Competitions and therefore free up a Sunday or two that way. Someone did point out that this would require more final venues and more match officials. I’m sure this is a challenge both myself and Lucy are looking forward to!!
Many member clubs also pointed out that teams did not help themselves by not bringing games forward to September when a light night was available and better weather on offer. They felt that if this was done and a local game arranged it was a far better option than the League generating fixtures where one team may be from Barnsley and the other Worksop. It was also felt that games were called off too early and that pitch inspections should be left as late as possible or games delayed an hour (where possible) to allow pitches to thaw out in the case of a frost on a sunny Sunday morning. The emphasis though must be on preventing the away team travelling for no game and of course the safety of the players.
The League has commenced a partnership with the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and this is the first such partnership in football. The FA are closely looking at this to see how (and if) it works and the League is determined that it should be a success. That said we don’t mean it should only be a success for the Hospital but also for the League and in the next 12 months we will be looking at a better return to the League than at present. The SUFC ticket offer has raised £2,665 for clubs in our League and £1482 for the League itself, it’s a start but we feel things can get better. That said I personally thought it would take 12 months for the partnership to bed in and to work out what it was that potential sponsors are looking for and what we can offer them. The stumbling block is whilst we have a large number of players we don’t actually reach them all and we are looking to address that by setting up a player’s newsletter to run alongside the League one. This makes us more attractive to sponsors as they see a large database that gives them access to promote their products or services. Also with the effort that this takes I have delegated the task of liaising with the Hospital to our new Vice Chairman and hopefully he, with the assistance of Mark Ashmore can drive this forward to the benefit of both the Hospital and the League.
The League has once again carried on its good work with Respect and Charter Standard with local and Regional awards in both areas. We have won the Silver Award for Respect and today we find out whether we have won the National Gold Award. The Silver Award entitles us to have the FA Cup come to a League Function or event and we are currently looking at whether we can use this to raise funds for the League, for Clubs and the Children’s Hospital. Well done for everyone’s efforts in promoting respect and fair play.
The season ended with our Presentation evenings in Barnsley and we managed to cover 6 out of the 10 evenings with a guest. Many thanks to SUFC, who through the Children’s Hospital became involved with the League and sent 4 Youth players to 2 evenings and Captain Blade to another. It was nice to see that 3 of these players had been involved with our League, as indeed had the other guests. One of the other guests Corbin Shires was actually at the Metrodome himself just over 12 months ago and has gone on to sign professional terms with Mansfield Town, making his debut in the last match of the season against Accrington. Whilst not been a household name yet he made the effort to attend and it shows our young footballers that it is possible to make it and for that he should be commended.
As you will see from item 7 (in the League AGM agenda) we have lost some committee members and gained some new ones. I thank Stuart for his work with Futsal and Chris and Mitch Dennison for their work over the past seasons and welcome Steve, Ryan, Steve, Helen, Mark and Lisa to the Committee. If I’ve missed a newbie I apologise. To the stalwarts that are staying on the Committee I thank you once again for your considerable efforts and to say what a fantastic job you all do for the League. To you all out there no matter how involved you are with your clubs a thank you from all the 12,000 plus boys and girls who enjoy their football in the Sheffield & District Junior Sunday League as without you there wouldn’t be a League.
I’m however going to leave you with a thought as we are now in midseason where teams are having trails in an attempt to become a better team next season. I’m going to tell you a little true story and then let you decide whether you feel that winning a football match is better than providing a safe and happy environment for a boy or girl to enjoy their football. A boy started his playing life at one of our clubs at either U7 or U8 and went right through to completing the U15 season, with his team being relegated at the end of it. The team had trials for U16 and the boy was not selected to play even having been there every season since U7 or U8. He didn’t find another team and consequently was lost from the game. Not only was he lost but his mate also quit saying the treatment was wrong and if he wasn’t picked then he wouldn’t play either. So this resulted in 2 boys lost to the game including 1 who had been loyal to a club for 8 or 9 seasons. I’ll let you think of the question I posed above after listening to that.
Thanks again for all you are doing enjoy the close season and have a great 2015/16 season.
Thanks
Matt Hardman