| Top Table: Meeting Chaired by Tony Vass, Chairman ( WBA ), Kevin Wells, Vice Chairman( Leicester City ), Julie Woods, Travel Secretary ( Everton ), Roger Pyne, Minutes Secretary ( Exeter City ), Sandra Cunningham, Sports & Social Secretary ( Ipswich Town ). |
| 1. Apologies for Absence |
| Nick Head (Southampton), Jane Pike (Burnley), Paul Morrison (Aberdeen), Rose McEwan (Hibernian), Peter Cherry (Liverpool), Alan Parry-Jones (Chester City), Martin Garrett (Coventry City), Dominic Moran (Manchester City), Paul??? (Republic of Ireland), Neil Le Milliere ( Exeter City ) and Lee Jamieson (Plymouth Argyle). |
| 2. Attending meeting for the first time |
| No one was attending the meeting for the first time. |
| 3. MINUTES OF MEETING 325 |
| 3.1 Thanks to Phil Cordingley and Steve Moon for their corrections which have been made to the minutes version to be sent out with to the agenda for meeting 326. |
| 3.2 Many thanks to Ian Todd (Sunderland) as he noticed they have the wrong date and month at the top! |
| 3.3 Richard Cockton (Sunderland), points out that para 9.1 should refer to the West not East coast. |
| 3.4 It was pointed out that Dave Leitch was at the meeting. Subject to this and the corrections noted in the agenda for meeting 326 the minutes were approved. |
| 4. MATTERS ARISING FROM MEETING 325 |
| 4.1 CONSTITUTION REVIEW Dominic Moran (Manchester City), has passed his suggestions for the review of the constitution to the Committee who are considering them and we will circulate our views in time for the January meeting. |
| 4.2 FA DIARY The FA has sent the following message to the Secretary “Thank you for contacting The Football Association. I have passed on your details to David Barber, The FA’s Historian who also compiles our diaries, for his attention”. But nothing further has been heard yet. |
| 4.3 MEGA TRAIN DELAY COMPENSATION As reported in the last minutes Passenger Focus had advised that the TOC was responsible for delay compensation even though the tickets are bought through Mega Train. However after making a claim for a delay on SWT they had refused to compensate and Passenger Focus are now following this up. |
| 4.4 SPORTS EXCHANGE SHOW The Chairman circulated details of this to all clubs after the last meeting. Gerard de Waal (Gerard.deWaal@sportsexchange.tv) has now sent a revised flyer about this which is below and asked if this could be circulated to all clubs. “Worried about West Ham? Bored of Bolton? Furious with Fergie? Wanna be on TV? The Fansxchange is definitely for you! |
| Sportsxchange is a dedicated sports analysis channel on the Sky platform, channel 456 and streamed live on www.sportsxchange.tv .Every Friday an hour is devoted to YOU, the football fan, on our Fansexchange sofa. |
| You, along with two other football fans, will chew the fat and discuss the week’s football issues with our presenter Patrick Kinghorn. A no-holds barred debate where anything goes! |
| The show is pre-recorded at 3pm and goes out at 9pm that same day. If interested, please contact Gerard, Geoffrey, Jo, Callum or Kelly on 0207 942 7942. Or email at Production@sportsxchange.tv . |
| 5. Chairman’s Report –Tony Vass (WBA) |
| 5.1 Tony Vass had visited the Offside Bar in Old Street as a possible alternative venue for meetings. It was pleasant, but City Road/Old Street are not best placed for easy access by public transport. Tony feels that The Exmouth Arms is still his preferred venue. |
| 6. Secretary’s Report – Neil Le Milliere (Exeter) |
| 6.1 Neil Le Milliere (Exeter City) has given his apologies and in his absence the was nothing to report. |
| 7. Treasurer’s Report – Nick Head (Southampton) |
| 7.1 Balances |
| Nick Head (Southampton) had given his apologies and was not present. He had hoped to arrive later to collect subs, etc. The balances per the agenda were: |
| Current a/c £593.08 |
| Deposit a/c £2,750.19 |
| The following monies are outstanding and should be paid at the meeting or arrangements made with the Treasurer to get them to him. |
| Subs: Dundee United, Hearts, Hull City, Leeds United, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. |
| Pool: Hearts, Hull City and Newcastle United. |
| Darts: Plymouth Argyle, Rotherham United, and Sheffield Wednesday. |
| Darts Cup: Bolton Wanderers, Derby County, Exeter City, Gillingham United, Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Manchester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle. |
| 7.2 Monies Received |
| None |
| 8. Webmaster’s Report – Phil Cordingley |
| 8.1 Nothing to report. A reminder of Phil’s contact details – phil_cordingley@tiscali.co.uk |
| 9. Travel Report – Julie Woods |
| 9.1 Julie brought up the subject of combined rail travel. A letter was to be drafted in respect of this and circulated. |
| 9.2 Monica Hartland ( Stoke City ) mentioned that travel to Stoke on 10th January 2009 only single tickets were available, but as the West Coast modernisation was due to finish shortly, the journey times were now a respectable 1 hour 24 minutes. |
| 10. Sports and Social Secretaries Report - Sandra Cuningham (Ipswich |
| 10.1 Pool [also see Annexe A] |
| 10.1.1 It was reported updates are available on the web. |
| Steve Cole, Newcastle |
| 10.2 Football [also see Annexe B] |
| 10.2.1 The 2008/09 season continues to serve up surprises and strange score lines, with teams on the wrong end of a beating one weekend handing out drubbings of their own the following week. We’ve had an 11-0, a 10-0, an 8-2 and several 6-0 and 5-0 score lines. |
| The Republic of Ireland continue to sit atop Division One, the perennial favourites Norwich City are hot on there heels now, and London Hibernian are closing in too. London Scottish and Glasgow Rangers currently occupy the two relegation places. |
| In Division Two, Blackpool continue their impressive debut season and a are 4 points clear at the top, Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion sitting several points clear of the rest in 2nd and 3td respectively. |
| The Second Round draw for the DB Cup was made at the last league meeting, and the following games take place this Sunday, 7th December: |
| London Scottish v Plymouth Argyle |
| Blackpool v Dundee United |
| London Hibs v Hull City |
| Exeter City A’s v Republic of Ireland |
| Aberdeen 2 v Brighton & Hove Albion |
| Aberdeen v Glasgow Rangers |
| Stoke City play Bristol City on January 11th, with the Norwich City v Middlesbrough clash still to have a date set. |
| For details of all fixtures, results & league tables, please check our website at the following address: |
| http://football.mitoo.co.uk/News.cfm?LeagueCode=APFS2008 |
| In response to a question, Phil Middleton (Bristol City) stated that football players were encouraged to be members of the playing club to discourage “ ringers “.Photo ID is now required and this has encouraged referees to our leagues, so all is going well at the moment. |
| 10.3 Darts [also see Annexe C] |
| 10.3.1 No update was available at the meeting. The meeting was advised that Nottingham Forest had donated a trophy for the pairs competition in memory of Adrian Hancock (Manchester City). Those attending the meeting agreed that this was a fine gesture by Nottingham Forest. |
| 10.4 Social Secretary |
| 10.4.1 Sandra Cunningham (Sandra.Cunningham@hotmail.co.uk) had nothing to report. Sandra expressed thanks to Rangers for providing the facilities and refreshments for tonight, and this was echoed by the meeting. Sandra then posed thoughts regarding the end of season dinner dance, should it formal or less so, and how could we avoid low numbers as in the past. A decision would have to be made in January. Was a river boat disco an alternative that might prove popular? |
| Sandra, sandracuningham@hotmail.co.uk |
| 11. AOB |
| 11.1 Date of next meeting – Monday 5th January suggested back at the Exmouth Arms. |
| 11.2 S27 THE VIOLENT CRIME REDUCTION ACT 2006 John or Monica from Stoke City will be raising the disgraceful treatment of some of their supporters when the Greater Manchester Police applied S27 of The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, which allows police to remove people from an area for 48 hours. See article at www.fsf.org.uk/news/Policing-of Stoke-fans-raises-serious-concerns.php |
| This new tactic by this force could affect all fans travelling to games in the Manchester area. |
| John Wood (Stoke City) stated that Stoke fans were drinking in The Railway Arms, (Irlham, Greater Manchester) with no apparent problems, when police arrived in force and served a S27 notice. Some 80 people were bussed back to Stoke even though some did not live in Stoke, and others then had to go back to Irlham to collect their vehicles. John said the Football Supporters Federation were making a complaint, and this sort of action could happen to anyone. Julie Woods (Everton) would enquire at the next Railway Fans’ Forum as to where the Behavioural Charter stood in relation to this. Ian Todd (Sunderland) wondered whether the police were acting on “ prior intelligence “, but Football Supporters’ Federation police contacts seemed surprised at the police action in this case. Ian wondered if someone in Greater Manchester Police was trying to make a name for himself. (there had been past incidents involving Reading on the way to Huddersfield). Monica Hartland (Stoke City) said that even the landlord of the pub concerned backed the Stoke fans. Robbie (Rangers) said that peaceful Rangers fans were threatened by riot police, but backed off when camera phones were produced. Rob Hughes (Cardiff City) asked if Staffordshire police were involved. They would have known that the Stoke City do not supply away tickets to known troublemakers. |
| 11.3 Steve Moon (Nottingham Forest) said that the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust were arguing with the club about the policy of season ticket holders being forced to buy home cup tickets whether they wanted them or not. |
| 12. Meeting Closed: 20.18 |
| Annexe A |
| APFSCIL: Pool report: December 2008 |
| CONTACTS CHANGE: |
| Hearts: Stewart Brodie ( Mob ) 0777 637 1729 |
| RESULTS SO FAR |
| WBA 4 Hull City 5 |
| SOUTHAMPTON V ROTHERHAM UNITED |
| Newcastle United 4 Exeter City 5 |
| Hearts 3 Derby County 6 |
| WBA v Southampton |
| Derby County 4 Sunderland 5 |
| ROTHERHAM UNITED V EXETER CITY |
| Hull City 3 Newcastle United 6 |
| EXETER CITY V WBA |
| Hearts 2 Sunderland 7 |
| Southampton 4 Newcastle United 5 |
| Rotherham United 5 Hull City 4 |
| Sunderland v Rotherham United |
| Derby County v Southampton |
| Hull City v Exeter City |
| Newcastle United v Hearts |
| Fixtures above in CAPITALS are outstanding. |
| LEAGUE TABLE |
| P W L F A Pts |
| Newcastle United 3 2 1 15 12 19 |
| Sunderland 2 2 0 12 6 16 |
| Hull City 3 1 2 12 15 14 |
| Derby County 2 1 1 10 8 12 |
| Exeter City 1 1 0 5 4 7 |
| Rotherham Utd. 1 1 0 5 4 7 |
| Hearts 2 0 2 5 13 5 |
| WBA 1 0 1 4 5 4 |
| Southampton 1 0 1 4 5 4 |
| Steve, Steve Cole-WW (steve.cole@bbc.co.uk) |
| Annex B |
| APFSCIL: Football report: December 2008 |
| All League details can be found at: http://football.mitoo.co.uk/News.cfm?LeagueCode=APFS2007 |
| Annexe C: Darts report: December 2008 |
| To Follow |