News - 14/04/2003
By Michael Jackson
AGM Approaching...
The AGM will take place on Saturday, 26th April at Academy Sports Club. To speed up the AGM process, the minutes of last year's meeting can be found below...
CHAIRMANS OPENING ADDRESS
Jim Strange opened the meeting and welcomed those attending. He thanked both the committee and the team captains for their support and efforts during the year and also congratulated David Caldwell on his selection for the Ulster Junior Squad. He said that the club must look forward more positively to the coming season and, as it is the Centenary Year much more effort needs to be made to make the events a success.
MATTERS ARISING
It was noted that the club had managed to field a 3rd XI during the season.
The proposed centenary tour had not got off the ground and it was decided to put a proposition to the members for a tour to Glasgow at the beginning of September. Details are contained in the letter to members attached to this report.
On the matter of coaching David Caldwell had been fulfilling the position for the past season and it was agreed by all attending training that he had done an excellent job.
Jim Strange stated that the Centenary book launch that had been scheduled for January had been postponed but that it was imminent..
HONORARY SECRETARY REPORT
From a secretary’s point of view there have not been many changes in the past year. However there are a couple of points that will affect the way the club is run to some degree or another have been brought to our attention.
The Child Protection legislation that was introduced and was supposedly to be implemented by all clubs with the introduction of a Child Protection Officer and a Policy has not been taken any further forward as the Ulster Branch has, so far, not held the required seminar. I do expect this to happen in the coming season.
The second point is the position of the club vis- -vis coaching and Insurance. There is a very clear requirement that a person HAVING a coaching qualification must oversee training sessions. This is not a reflection on the ability of a person to coach. If somebody without a qualification undertakes to organise coaching then that person may be held personally liable for any resultant claims for damages due to any injury during the session. Neither the club nor the coach can get liability cover unless there is a qualified coach at training.
Going on to events during the past year the committee have again been extremely disappointed in the level of support given to fund raising activities. We had hoped that our message about attending such events as the Night at the Races and the Sponsored Bike ride would result in better attendance. Not to be. The same faces turned up and the results were uninspiring to say the least. The outcome has been that Stephen Duffin has pulled out of organising any fund raising. I would like to congratulate those who did make the effort especially the non-club members such as Howard (Fred) and the wives. We will be holding a bike ride again and I would like to think that if I can cycle the 7 or 8 miles, with a drinks break, that the younger members could also make the effort.
We will be voting for a new committee later in the proceedings and I would like to see some new faces. We have been criticised for the way we run things but so far nobody has wanted to join the committee and try to make a difference. It is everybody’s club not ours.
HONORARY TREASURERS REPORT
Stephen Swann presented the accounts. He was disappointed with the attitude of some members to paying subscriptions and match fees and pointed out that when one took all things INTO consideration the club had actually mad a small loss over the season. This was due to the income being about the same as previous years but that expenditure on equipment, pitches and the Centenary celebrations were far greater than previously.
He was also extremely disappointed in the support for fund raising, This was down considerably over the previous 12 months.
The accounts are appended at Annex “A”.
CAPTAINS REPORTS
1st XI Captains report
I would like to thank Soupy for all his help particularly for taking most of my players every week. Thanks to D.C for his coaching. The 1stXl just need to sort out the discipline for next season. That’s one of the reasons I am stepping down as captain plus it's just to hard. I hope the 1st will do well next season.
Scott Higginson
2nd XI Captains report
Once again I have thoroughly enjoyed captaining the seconds and looked forward to every Saturday afternoon when we would pit our wits and skills against the likes of Cookstown, Raphoe, Banbridge and Garvey.
Pre-season expectations were not high, as we had stayed up last year more by default than results. This year it was all supposed to be about survival and consolidating our position in Junior five. But with a number of new recruits coupled with returning experience the season began to look up. A narrow defeat at the hands of the firsts and then an excellent run of results pre-Christmas meant that we were no longer contemplating relegation we were actually seriously looking at a possible promotion tussle.
Four points behind second place at Christmas isn't a bad place to be but a bad run of results, losing five games in a row through January and February, left us out of the cup, losing to Mossley none the less, and once again we were left fighting for survival. But 4 wins FROM our last five games against Ban, Annadale, Garvey and Cookstown all major clubs ensured Junior five status for next season.
A playing record of played 20 won 9 lost 11 is a record for all of the second eleven to be proud of and is also the best record in the club this year.
As the Ali G interview may go "Rambo, how come seconds win more than yous, is it cos yous crap" BOOMSHACKA!!
The low points of the season for me were both against Armagh. At home we done everything but score, but then Armagh did what we had spent the last hour attempting, we lost cohesion, lost discipline and ultimately lost a player to the changing room. Away at Armagh we were looking to put the record straight and let these boys know we had an off day at Ballysillan and for the first 25 minutes I could not have written the script better myself. 3-0 up and cruising. Be it lack of tactical knowhow FROM myself or maybe we stopped playing and they started but Armagh came back to 3-2 at half time and in the second half systematically took us apart and eventually won 6-3.
But the highs more than made up for the lows. For me the games against Banbridge were special. Away to where we had lost 9-0 the year before, we travelled with a younger and much more inexperienced team, I thought it would be backs to the wall. But every player gave their all, Paul Reid scored easily the best individual goal of the season and Stephen Duffin clinched the winner with only minutes remaining, to win 4-3 in what can only be described as an epic match. If away it was all about Reid and Duffin at home it was all about Nicholl and Young who carved INTO the Ban defence to give a fantastic display of attacking hockey. Young had a perfectly good goal disallowed but did not lose the head as some more senior players may have done, but regained composure and FROM the resulting hit out fed Nicholl a superb ball for him to score. We eventually won the game 5-1.
I am also sure that the 1-0 victory against Ballynahinch will be remembered by some as our best game of the season, not least by Young who took the opportunity to nutmeg the teacher and clinch a 1-0 victory on the gravel at Hinch.
I do have the habit of mentioning individuals but this should not detract FROM the fact that all of our best games have been strong solid team performances which I hope is what the seconds are all about. We do not have, and as captain I do not want, players who think they are better than their teammates and feel they can beat the opposition on their own. We do have our good players as all teams do but I truly believe that the seconds are a strong, unified team who enjoy playing together and who have worked hard for each other throughout the year.
It is the players that make that team and it has been encouraging for me and I hope encouraging for the club to witness the continued development of Grant, Young and Baird who are all blossoming INTO excellent club members, the emergence of Nicholl, Cookie, McDonald, Irwin and Bell who have all displayed their commitment to play for East Antrim for the foreseeable future and the re-emergence of Gillespie, a former club captain who has returned with renewed enthusiasm for the game of hockey. Few players have worked harder than Gillespie this season, adapting to the astro turf game and losing 47 stone in the process. A structured approach to Tuesday night training has undoubtedly helped all of these players this season, and you know its working when a player FROM BRA tells you he gets more benefit FROM Tues. night than on a Wednesday afternoon where a certain coach has been coaching for a number of years compared to DC's few months. A thank you to DC who has been there every Tues. night, and to Johnny Hammil for teaching Cookie how to kick a ball, all be it a couple of games too late.
The continued loyalty of Leitch (who captained a winning side at Garvey, how many of us can say that), Watson, Duffin, Baker and McStae have all added a depth to the team that would be hard to replace. But once again Paul Reid has been the calming influence both on and off the pitch. Captaining the side on no less than five occasions this year, once again leading by example in every manner and doing more than his fair share of collecting match fees.
I thank all the players who have played for the seconds this year (probably everyone in the club) and also to Skelty, Rambo and Menaul who all umpired on at least a couple of occasions this year and a special pat on the back to Menaul for HAVING the balls to send Jonty off for calling him a w*****. Without umpires it is impossible to play the game and I appreciate the time given by the afore mentioned.
To be fair my own availability has been unsatisfactory this year. Missing no less than 6 games for one reason or another, mostly work commitments.
I have thought long and hard about next year and have decided that if nominated and elected as second eleven captain I would be delighted to take up the post once more, however, I cannot guarantee my availability will be any different than this season but I will attempt to attend training at least a couple of times before Christmas. It is up to the members to decide whether or not this is satisfactory.
S Campbell.
3rd XI Captains Report
I do not intend to bore you with the details of the 3rd XI results for the season. Suffice to say that we made the effort to put out a team for most of our fixtures, thus giving a number of members a game far more often than if there had not been a 3rd ‘s and some who would not have had a chance of playing at all. For this reason alone I count it a success.
It was a shame that a few “probables” did not feel it was worth the subscription and ruled themselves out for selection. Had we had all those who started the season we may have done even better.
I will end by thanking all those who did play for me and commenting that everybody who has played for the 3rd ‘s has for the most part enjoyed his game and on the whole we have avoided acrimony with the opposition, the umpires and, surprisingly enough, our fellow players. That alone has made it worthwhile and I trust that there will be somebody willing to run the team for the coming season.
M Jackson
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Officers were elected as follows:
COMMITTEE
POSITION NAME
1 PRESIDENT DEREK READE
Vice presidents En bloc
2 CHAIRMAN JIM STRANGE
4 HON. SECRETARY MICHAEL JACKSON begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
3 HON. TREASURER STEPHEN SWANN
5 MATCH SECRETARY GRAEME REID
6 CLUB & 1ST XI CAPTAIN ALAN BURGESS
7 1ST XI VICE CAPTAIN DAVID CALDWELL
8 2ND XI CAPTAIN STEWART CAMPBELL
9 2ND XI VICE CAPTAIN PAUL REID
10 3RD XI CAPTAIN NOT NOMINATED
11 3RD XI VICE CAPTAIN NOT NOMINATED
12 SCHOOLBOY REP – BRA MARK MCDONALD
13 SCHOOLBOY REP - MODEL EDWARD BAIRD
14 YOUTH LIAISON GRAEME COOKE
15 PR OFFICER STEPHEN SWANN
16 INDEPENDENT MEMBER NEIL HERMON
17 INDEPENDENT MEMBER DAVID MENAUL
18 INDEPENDENT MEMBER ALAN MURPHY
19 DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE G HOOKS
20 DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE J GREER
21 DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE I McSTEA
ADDITIONAL VP NOMINATIONS
STEWART WALLACE
HOWARD HARDY (FRED)
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Tom Watson proposed a vote of thanks to Michael Jackson for organising the Annual dinner aand asked it to be noted that there was a feeling that the room which we had been given this year was not as suitable as in previous years. Michael said he had had the same reports and was taking it up with the Glenavna.
Alan Burgess suggested that the Club change back to an all green strip in a different material. This was agreed in principal and alan is to provide samples for the next committee meeting.
Stephen Swann requested that all members make every effort to attend Centenary functions and especially the dinner at the Dunadry in October.
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