Amateur Football Combination

Affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance, London F.A., Middlesex F.A. and Surrey F.A.

Spirit of Football

Playing in the Spirit of Football, Promoting Fair Play and Respect for All

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2006-07 Season - League Secretary's Report

by John Monk (Hon. Secretary)

Five years since the launch of the AFC and still just one name on the list of AFC Champions � Old Meadonians.  How do they do it ?  Clearly they have talented players but equally importantly they have a sound infrastructure and, in Rory Vermeulen and Paddy Rumley, excellent coaches.  Last season they took the title with a late run but nothing was left to chance this time around.  They had eased themselves into top spot by 21st October and there they stayed for the rest of the season eventually winning by a margin of 12 points from runners-up Bealonians.  So it is congratulations to Meads once again and lets hope that Rory and Paddy can bring the winning habit to the AFC Representative Team as well.

Premier Division new-boys Old Parmiterians did well to claim third place three points behind their East London rivals.  Congratulations also to Hale End Athletic who, having been relegated in 2006 have bounced right back up again, only pipped to the Senior 1 Championship on goal difference by Enfield Old Grammarians in their centenary year.

It didn�t all go the way of Meadonians at Senior level this season though.  They were defeated in the final of the LOB Senior Cup by Old Minchendenians.  This was a tremendous performance by the Minch team who were playing four divisions below Meads this season.  Their success offers encouragement to all teams with aspirations to play at the highest level in the AFC.

I must now move straight to the topic which has dominated the AFC Executive�s time and energies above all else this season � discipline.  At the end of last season we launched Rob Gibbs� brainchild � the �Spirit of Football� campaign.  This initiative which sums up the standards of sportsmanship and respect which the AFC aims to maintain has been praised both within and outside the AFC as a very positive move.  To quote the Non League Paper for example �it is a message we support wholeheartedly�. 

However, it is very worrying that in the campaign�s first season there has been a sharp increase in the number of serious disciplinary incidents within our competition.  This was evident early on and by Christmas AFC Officers were remarking that in previous seasons on Sunday mornings they wondered whether there might be a report of a disciplinary incident requiring investigation by the AFC.  This season it was a question of when and how many reports would arrive, not whether there might be any.  The Discipline Committee, chaired by David Goldring, looks at serious cases involving violence, abuse or racism.  This is quite separate to the AFA�s role in dealing with red and yellow card reports from referees. 

This season the Committee has had a huge workload.  Apart from the normal monitoring of disciplinary reports of which there have been many, they have interviewed 4 Clubs about their poor disciplinary records (with one further interview scheduled shortly) and sent letters warning 6 other clubs that they need to make significant improvements quickly. 

One Club�s discipline was so poor that they were suspended from the competition before Christmas.  After considering their representations that they could gain control of the guilty players they were allowed to resume playing AFC matches.  Almost immediately we received further reports which then resulted in a ban for the rest of the season � the AFC�s message simply had not got through to them although it is hard to see how it could have been clearer.

To illustrate the extent of the problems which we are facing, we received a letter from someone unconnected with any AFC Club who has played at a senior level.  She happened to be passing a pitch on which an AFC match was being played.  In her letter she says �I was so appalled at the disgraceful behaviour of one of the teams that I felt compelled to write to you�.  �I have never seen such abuse being given to a referee before in my life�.  �In all my years coaching, refereeing and playing the game I have never seen behaviour like this and was disgusted�. 

I have heard Club Officers trying to defend abuse of referees by claiming that the ref �wasn�t very good�, that he �brought it on himself� or that he �made poor decisions�.  I have also heard people defending violent conduct on the grounds that the other team were guilty too or that there had been �provocation�.  Let me be clear.  Clubs and Club Officers must take ownership of these disciplinary problems if they are to be tackled effectively.  This means acknowledging where the problems lie and taking steps to identify trouble makers, not trying to defend behaviour which is indefensible.  Then it means taking tough action.  Put bluntly, there are too many players who are unable or unwilling to live up to the spirit of football principles.  The Clubs know who they are and if they cannot modify their behaviour the Club has to be brave enough to kick them out and put them on the list of players banned by Clubs published on our website.

Next season we will push ahead with the Spirit of Football campaign.  In the words of Rob Gibbs, what we as the AFC are asking is that we stop for a moment and take the opportunity to consider the way the game is played today recognising the background reasons for introducing the League�s �Spirit of Football� initiative � reflecting that this remains a great game and that it is far too good to be under any sort of threat.

For such a campaign to be worthwhile and to stand any chance of success, it is essential that all involved with the League are fully supportive from now on by positively promoting the initiative at every opportunity with the theme gathering momentum year on year.  The level of success will be dependent on the willingness of players, managers, officials and administrators to embrace the concept and incorporate it into their approach to every game.  There is no disgrace in striving for success, but it has to be done in the right way, within the spirit of football.  Sporting success and good sportsmanship can, and should, go hand-in-hand.

Turning now to more positive aspects of the season, Miles Briggs took over the Chairmanship of the Dinner Committee this year.  He and his colleagues arranged a splendid, glittering and thoroughly enjoyable event.  The organisation was very professional and the Committee�s work has been widely complimented. 

One of the highlights was the presentation of a trophy in memory of Roger Price.  Roger was the Secretary of Ealing Association FC who sadly passed away last November.  The Club funded a new AFC trophy and organised a charity match which raised �7,445 for Pancreatic Cancer UK.  Roger�s parents Pat and Richard were able to attend the dinner and presented the new trophy which will be held by the champions of Division Intermediate West from now on.

Another highlight was the surprise presentation of an FA 50 Year Award to Fred Nuckey.  Fred has been a great supporter of amateur football for most of his life and he still works tirelessly for the AFC in many capacities, for the AFA and for Bealonians for whom he is Club Secretary.  I can�t think of a more deserving man to receive this award.

It was the centenary of our County Football Association � the Amateur Football Alliance � this year.  The AFA organised a series of events to mark the anniversary with a centenary dinner at the pinnacle.  AFC Officers were well represented at the dinner although, disappointingly, Clubs were less so.  Nevertheless it was an impressive event with the Chairman of the Football Association as guest of honour and a variety of speakers, some from AFC Clubs.  The dinner served as a reminder of the roots of the AFA and a time when there was a split between the professionals and amateurs with the AFA championing the amateur cause.

The AFC received a very generous gift of more than �10,000 left to us by Dave McCarthy who died suddenly in 2003.  Dave had football running through his veins and was a hard worker for both the Southern Olympian League and the Amateur Football Combination, as Referees Secretary.  He was also deeply involved with Referee Instruction and Referee Assessing for both the London Football Association and the Amateur Football Alliance.  Dave asked for the money to be used to set up annual awards for our referees.  The Referees Committee are discussing ideas on how to use Dave�s legacy to best effect.

Staying with referees, Bart O�Toole and members of the Referees Committee continue to do excellent work to recruit, retain and develop our match officials by supporting the referees' secretaries, formulating and implementing recruitment policies and discussing and advising on league policies on refereeing issues generally.

A key issue for them and one which is currently of concern throughout amateur football is the question of CRB checks for referees.  Within a season the FA intends to introduce new mandatory guidelines requiring referees to be CRB checked.  The current directive from the FA is that by season 2008-09 this must also extend to �Club� referees.  A significant number of qualified referees registered with the AFA (and other County FAs) have so far declined to complete the CRB check and, if nothing changes, they will not be able to continue refereeing.  Add to this Club referees who will also be prevented from continuing unless they are CRB checked and it is clear that there will be a dramatic reduction in the number of people available to referee our matches.  The AFC, the SAL, the AFA and many other football organisations are united in lobbying for a change in the FA�s stance.  We will be keeping all our Clubs informed of developments via the website.

Another of Bart�s roles is chairing the Rules Revision Committee.  This Committee meets just once a season and otherwise communicates via e-mail.  Despite having only a single meeting Bart and the Committee manage to cover all the rule changes proposed by other Committees and the Executive or which are necessary as a result of FA and AFA rule changes.

As I mentioned earlier, Rory Vermeulen and Paddy Rumley took over running the Representative Team this year helped by Fred Nuckey who handles administration.  Of 6 fixtures planned only four were played with a win and three draws.  The team has been entered in the National League System Cup run by the FA.  This is a national competition with regional rounds in the early stages.  The competition winners will go on to take part in an international tournament.  We have been drawn against the Bedfordshire Football League in the first round and good luck to the team for a long run in the competition.

Looking to the future, in my view the AFC still has a lot of untapped potential which we need to build upon.  This season under the very able Chairmanship of Jim Buttress the Development Committee held a special brainstorming event for which we brought in facilitators.  We want to identify the key policy areas affecting the Combination.  A list of issues has been prepared and each is assigned to committee members to draw up reports which we intend to use to produce a strategy for future development of the AFC.  This should tie in nicely with a programme of regional meetings with Clubs we propose to organise.  Development ideas will be topics for discussion at these meetings.

As usual the Combination�s Officers have put in a tremendous amount of work to see the season through to completion � a total of 3,115 games were played this time which is an impressive statistic by any standard.  I have mentioned Bart O�Toole several times and I make no apologies for singling out two other people for special praise, Danny McConnell and Bob Coates.  Danny because of the many hours of time and effort which he puts into updating and developing the AFC website.  Bob through his work in the �engine room� of the AFC organising and coordinating fixtures and referee appointments and also chairing the Constitution Committee which drafts a new constitution for the AFC each season.  There are of course many others who have all worked very hard and we are lucky to have all of them on board.

In closing I would like to thank all the AFC Officers for their work throughout the season.  In doing so I should mention our Chairman, Jim Buttress.  Jim lives a kind of double life with football on one side and horticulture on the other.  His leafy activities have lead to regular TV appearances with increasing demands on his time and, after much thought, he has taken the decision to stand down as Chairman at the end of next season after many seasons at the helm of the Old Boys League and latterly the AFC.  I know that this has been a difficult decision for Jim because he has put his heart and soul into the AFC and he will find it hard to let go.  I hope that 2007-08 will be an outstanding season for the AFC and for Jim with our spirit of football shining through.

John Monk (Honorary Secretary) - June 2007

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