West Midlands Basketball League

WEST MIDLANDS BASKETBALL LEAGUE

COMMITTEE MEETING – 8 SEPTEMBER 2009

Present: Mike Neal (Chair), Keith Kershaw (Referees), Jane Huffer (Treasurer),Andy Millington (Secretary), Tony Johnson (Appeals), Makis Chatzmichallis (Media Manager), Denise Kearney (Fixture Changes), Zoran Pancic, Nigel Evans, Stephen Barnes, Kevin Henry, Jim Smith

Apologies: Dave Slade (Vice Chair), John Taylor

The Minutes of the previous meeting were read over and signed as being correct.

1. Matters Arising

2. Response for the Table Course has been very poor with only ten candidates, two of whom have withdrawn. Mention must be made of Walsall Wizards who are sending six candidates.

3. None of the new teams, Worcester, Birmingham Mets and NVP Rockets have sent in their £20 guarantee fee. This should be sent to the Treasurer as soon as possible.

4. Multi team clubs only Walsall Wizards and Churchbridge have sent in their nominated six ‘A’ team players. Any other teams must send their list to the Secretary as soon as possible.

2. T. Morgan Marshalls

Bobby Abule attended the meeting on behalf of the above team and explained that he was having difficulty raising a team in view of projected costs. He requested that
team membership be suspended for the forthcoming season to allow him more time to get his team and finances in place. The Committee agreed to this request and it must be noted that T. Morgan Marshalls will NOT be competing in Div 3 for the 2009/10 season.

3. Secretary (Andy Millington)

1. Andy gave a brief resume of problems at Shropshire Warriors who will now be changing their match night to a Wednesday at a new venue – Sport TCAT on the TCAT campus in Haybridge Road, Wellington, Telford. Tip off time will remain the same and the website and handbook will be updated accordingly. All premier teams and Div 2 teams will be advised separately.

2. Correspondence has been received by the Secretary from Junior Hemans of Wolves CC concerning racial abuse in sport, drawing attention to guidelines set out by Sport England. This shows examples of codes of conduct in sport by national governing bodies and in particular the English Basketball Association, which are held as best practice. As the West Midlands Basketball League is affiliated to the EBBA we have already adopted these guidelines, an extract of which is shown below. These will also be added to the Rules as an addendum and displayed on the website.

“English Basketball Association (EBBA)

Extract from Code of Conduct:

Players

Treat everyone equally and sensitively regardless of their

Gender, race, ethnic origin, cultural background, sexual

Orientation, religious beliefs or political affiliation;

Do not use foul, sexist or racist language at any time.

Match officials

Must treat everyone equally and sensitively, regardless of

Their disability, gender, ethnic origin, cultural background,

Sexual orientation, religion, age or political affiliation;

Not tolerate foul, sexist or racist language from players

And/or officials.

Club Officials

Must treat everyone equally and sensitively regardless of

Their gender, race, ethnic origin, cultural background,

Sexual orientation, religious belief or political affiliation;

Do not use foul, sexist or racist language;

Use your official position to take action against spectators

Who harass, abuse or use foul, sexist or racist language

toward players, match officials or coaches.”

3. All clubs have been circulated with the fixtures for the forthcoming season but are reminded that the definitive list is circulated monthly attached to the referees’ list.

4. Registration Forms commencing this season are being completed electronically. Apparently there have been some minor problems. All teams are reminded that players and clubs must be registered with English Basketball and no player is eligible to play in any West Midland Basketball league/cup match unless he holds a current registration number. Club Secretaries must send a full list of registered players to the Secretary as soon as possible.

4. Appeals Secretary (Tony Johnson)

1. An appeal was heard by Emma Gardner (Worcester Basketball Club) against the fine of £14.28 that is required by her and other members of the Worcester team. The committee has discussed this appeal and the appeal was over ruled. The fine still stands and all players who wish to take part in the WMBL must first pay this fine.

These fines relate to outstanding monies owed to the League by Worcester Spartans Basketball Club (see minutes 4.8.2004) and refer to the following players: - Emma Jane Gardner, Adam Griffin, Laurence Rollerson, Lee Silcock, Steve Harrison and Daniel Cartwright.

4.2 Table Course

At
the moment we have 8 candidates for the course, we did have 10 but 2 dropped out. I have ordered 10 student packs in case we get late enquiries. Rebecca Orleans will be the course tutor and I will be assisting her as course organizer. This will be the last time that I will be organizing a Table course. I have notice that Aston Uni are asking for assistance in running their table, I did mentioned to the committee that I had concerns about this.

The following teams have not registered any Table Officials on their League Application form.

Aston Uni

Stoke

Birmingham Mets

Lordswood

Wolves CC Slam

Birmingham Blazers B

The following teams have only registered 1 Table Official on their League application form

Wolves CC

Lasers

Smithswood

Barton Colts

David Lloyds

NPV Rockets

Teams are reminded that it is a League requirement (rule 3biii) that every team in the WMBL MUST have 2 qualified NATO Table Officials or Officials
currently obtaining qualification having attended a registered NATO course. If any of the above teams have Table Officials then if they are qualified or has attended a registered course please forward their names, and date when qualified or date course attended. If you have a Table Officials who has attended a registered course then please state Attended registered course. Please forward details to Tony Johnson at tony.johnson2256@yahoo.co.uk by 31^st September 2009.
This is a committee ruling failure to comply will result in a fine rule 6K

4.3. Assessment sheets

Teams are reminded that iaw rule 3dii the Assessment sheet must be attached to the score sheet and sent to the results secretary, failure to do
so will result in a fine iaw rule 6n. Referees are reminded of the importance to fill in the assessment on Table Officials performance and Team conduct. The latter is use for the award of the Stanley Pears trophy. Therefore, an accurate assessment is required on Table performance and team conduct.

4.4 League Constitution

After recent events regarding rules of the WMBL, the Constitution of the League will also be placed on the web site. The committee will review the constitution
of the League and when satisfied with its contents it will be places on the web site where teams can download a copy.

4.5 Notice to Team Secretaries

Team Secretaries are reminded to read the league rules as ignorance of the rules will not be accepted as a reason for any default. In particular team secretaries should pay attention to the following to avoid costly fines:

1. Player registration – rule 2

2. Score sheets correctly filled in and sent to the Results Secretary – rule 6b & 6n

3. Fixture cancelling – rule 3ei

4. Appeals procedure – rule 4

5. Re-arrange fixtures contact Denise Kearney

6. Appeals must be sent by post with a cheque for £10.00 surety fee attached and sent to Tony Johnson

5. Any Other Business

5.1 A letter was received from Nigel Hanson regarding Aston A’s. The matter was discussed and the Secretary was instructed to reply.

2. Monies are still owed to the West Midlands Basketball League in the form of fines not paid by Aston A’s. In accordance with League rules any player who was registered with Aston A’s last season is responsible for a proportion of that fine. (See June minutes, paragraph 1. 3.1 and equates to £10.40 each)

The players concerned are:- Steve Foster, Dave McNiesh, Gareth Jeffers, Samuel Lynch, Kristian Dixon, Kevin Weeks, Ian Buchanan, Gavin Allington,
Kenny King, George Branch, Ricky Prince, Mark Jones, Paul Codling, Nigel Hanson, Steve Barnes, Steven Hansel, Simon Smith, Shaun Roberts, Aaron Branch, Luke Rojek, Adam Geniuk, Daniel Belgrave, Boubacar Traore, Ryan Lewis and K. Dennis.

6. Date of Next Meeting

The next Committee Meeting will take place on Tuesday 6^th October 2009 in Room 45 at Leasowes Sports Centre, Kent Road, Halesowen at 6.30pm prompt.