The Executive Board of the European Hockey Federation met for the second time in 2016 over the weekend in Stockholm, Sweden. The Board was in full attendance. The President thanked the Swedish Hockey Association and in particular Bjorn Isberg for their hospitality over the weekend.
The Competitions Coordination Committee also met in Stockholm the day prior to the Executive Board meeting, and they presented a report on this meeting to the Board (further details below).
The Executive Board received reports from:
Hon Treasurer Mika Rihtila presented his report and updated the Board on a number of Member Associations overdue on their payments to EHF. The Board approved various late payment fines which will be issued in the following week.
Competitions Coordination Committee, on behalf of the Competitions Committee Outdoor & Indoor
David Voskamp (Competitions Manager), Jorge Alcover (Chair Competitions Coordination Committee) & Bjorn Isberg (Chair Competitions Committee Outdoor) & Walter Kapounek (Chair Competitions Committee Indoor) reported to the Board on their meeting the previous day, as well as any other issues from their various committees.
Outdoor
These included an update on the recent Club Tournaments which took place at Whitsun, a full list of final rankings can be seen here: 2016 Final Ranking EuroHockey Club Champions Cup, Trophy And Challenge Tournaments (Men & Women)
The ongoing preparation for Youth (U16 & U18) tournaments which will take place in the coming months. It was noted that the girls’ U18 Championship III Tournament has been moved to Gibraltar. The Committee asked the Board to approve Switzerland as the host for the EuroHockey Junior U21 Championship III (Men) 2017, this was not done at the last Board meeting as no offers to host were received. The Board wished to thank Lithuania and Switzerland for subsequently offering to host.
Indoor
A report was presented on various issues noted in TD Reports from 2016 Indoor season. The Board were also informed about the hosts for 2017 club tournaments which were agreed at the recent Competitions Committee – Indoor in May – this information has also been published on the EHF Website: 2017 Indoor Clubs Women and 2017 Indoor Clubs Men.
Euro Hockey League
Final4 was a success with SV Kampong (NED) being crowned Champions in Barcelona. Some great statistics can be found here.
The Catalan Hockey Federation held a dinner to thank EHL for their support of the city of Barcelona and Hockey. President Marijke Fleuren was awarded a golden pin as a token of gratitude.
ABN-AMRO have recommitted to the EHL for a further 3 years, which was announced during the Final4.
Round 1 for the next season of EHL has been awarded to Banbridge, Ireland.
FIH
The President and the Director General updated the Board on discussions with regard to the future of the Indoor World Cup and the EuroHockey Indoor Championships 2018. In addition to this they reported on the new proposed Global League structure proposed by the FIH, as well as the new proposed changes to the FIH statutes which will be voted on at the FIH Congress in Dubai in November.
Director General Angus Kirkland updated the Board on Strategic Plan which will be presented to the General Assembly at the meeting in November in Dubai. He also updated the Board on progress with the KNHB for the EuroHockey Championships 2017, as well as the bidding process for EuroHockey Championships 2019.
Following a review of the bids for EHC2019 the board received a recommendation which was approved. This will be announced in due course
Finally, Angus updated the Board with regard to the proposed EHF Athletes Committee.
Development Projects Committee Chair Gianni Rossi, Chair of the committee updated the board on various Development activities including EHF/KNHB Sharing Knowledge and Twinning Programme, ParaHockey activity in Essen (GER) in June 2016, and Amsterdam 2017, 2015 Club of the Year Presentations, Turkey TAP progress and EHF Youth Panel.
Education Committee Chair Inez Cooper presented the reports from the 3 Working Groups:
Coaches – updates on Top Coaches Programme (TCP), Coaches 4 Europe (C4E) and SNG (Supporting National Growth).
Umpires – updates on the new EHF Umpiring Pathway which ties together Umpires 4 Europe (U4E) and Umpires Developmeng Project (UDP), as well as Supporting National Growth activities
Officials – a report on the recent TO Seminar held in Brussels (which was originally re-scheduled from the original date in November), plans for a top TD seminar which will take place in London during the FIH Champions Trophy, and plans for the TO seminar scheduled to take place in August in Breda alongside Umpires and Coaches seminars as in previous years.
Communications Committee Chair Simon Mason presented his report, updating the Board on fan engagement and streaming projects, as well as KPIs for Facebook , a new protocol for Twitter use, and details on recent website changes.
Appointments Committee
Angus Kirkland presented the report from the Appointments Committee which included an analysis of appointments from the recently completed outdoor clubs season.
General Assembly
The Board received an update on plans for the next EHF General Assembly which will take place in Dubai in November.
EHF Office June 7th 2016