Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting
EHF Office,
Brussels, Belgium
9th & 10th December 2016
Present
Marijke Fleuren (President), Carola Meyer, Mika Rihtilä, Jorge Alcover, Leonardas Caikauskas Inez Cooper, Bjorn Isberg, Walter Kapounek, Angus Kirkland, Simon Mason, Ludmila Pastorova.
In Attendance
Jane Brennan, Operations Manager
President’s Welcome
The President welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the year. She noted that it had only been one month since the last meeting in Dubai.
It has been a very busy time in what is usually a quieter period for hockey but not this year! The President stated that everything she would like to discuss is covered in the agenda. However, it is time for Europe to discuss how to get more women involved, it is difficult to reach them but we need to do it.
Last week the President attended an EU meeting about Good Governance. Here she met with interesting people, and she hopes to show you the self-evaluation tool that they showed her there so that everyone can use it in their respective NAs to find strengths and weaknesses in their own Federation. It is useful that we as EHF are known among this group of people. Pierre Olivier Beckers gave an excellent speech, not just about structure but also about the attitude – if these things are taken care of, we will have sustainability. He also mentioned Belgian Hockey as a great example of good governance, and that they have really grown because of good governance.
The Home & Away league getting real and it is important we are immersed in what is happening during the preparation time, so that we know what will follow. The FIH are thinking of 9 teams now, because they feel money coming from TV is increasing but it is not clear where they get their information from at this stage.
The President is very happy to see all of you again, and wishes for a fruitful meeting.
Carola highlighted that she had been interviewed by German radio regarding our Strategic Plan. She thanked AK and SM for all info, she spoke about ParaHockey. The interviewer also offered to publicise other EHF events/information.
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Apologies for Absence
Gianni Rossi
Minutes
The Minutes of the meetings held on the 11th November in Dubai, United Arab Emirates were signed by the President as a true record.
Matters Arising
Director General’s Report
The Director General presented his report.
Disciplinary Report
Angus presented a report from Tim Ollerenshaw which concluded that late withdrawals have reduced and that carry over suspensions are being trialled to move to the Disciplinary Commissioner – TDs have been informed of this. Tim is in regular contact with the EHF Competitions Manager
International Sports Convention
Angus reported that himself and Yamila Conill (EHF Operations and Partnership Coordinator) had attended this convention earlier that week. He noted that Craig Reedie gave the keynote speech.
He went on to report that he attended several seminars including Broadcast and Digital. Both of which confirmed that the younger generation is moving away from TV and instead are using screens and mobile devices.
The President noted that it is good to hear we in the hockey world are already aware of this and preparing for the future. Angus noted that it was a useful two days and it would have been a good forum for the FIH Hockey Revolution presentation.
European Games
Angus then reported on the European Games 2019 which will take place in Minsk. He noted that the EOC had approached the EHF and are keen to have hockey in the programme. They requested the event be for women, and that it should be a qualifier for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Board discussed this in full, and noted that the EuroHockey Championships has already been agreed as the Olympic Qualifier and assigned to Belgium, however we would be very interested in the EuroHockey Trophy tournaments for both men and women being part of these games. The Board agreed that it is very important to do our utmost to ensure that hockey is a part of the European Games.
ACTION: Angus will contact the EOC with this proposal.
EuroHockey Championships 2017 update
Angus went on to report on the progress of the EHC 2017, EHF staff met with KNHB on September 26th and the next meeting is scheduled for Jan 9th. Logo, tickets & Website were launched in Sept and there is ongoing interaction between two teams.
The Sharing Knowledge Programme will be rolling out throughout the year with work being reported on at the General Assembly in Amsterdam
EHF Office
Angus informed the Board that it has been decided to look to engage a part-time in-house accountant for 1 day per week, this post has been advertised on the Belgian Hockey Federation website.
Athletes Committee
ACTION: Lastly, he noted that an update on the progress of the EHF Athletes Committee will be presented at the Board meeting in March.
Communications Committee Report
Simon Mason and Siobhan Madeley presented a report from the Communications Committee
Siobhan began the presentation by referencing the New EHF Strategic Plan. She reported that the Strategic Plan presentation and supporting literature was delivered in Dubai at the EHF General Assembly. She went on to say that the Committee had looked at the impact the Strategic Plan now has on work done by the Committee. With this in mind, she presented the Communications Action Plan:
Fan Engagement Proposal
Simon reminded the Board that the Fan engagement priorities are to create added value for supporters, enhance profile of our sport, and increase number of fans for our partners.
Siobhan reported that the sub-committee of herself, Elisabeth Fuerst and Sabina Zampetti have drafted a Fan Engagement paper which will be finalised and shared with hosts to assist them before, during and after their tournaments to optimise Fan Engagement.
Siobhan then reported on the Live Streaming activities which happened in 2016. A highlight being over 4 million minutes were viewed this year! Plans for 2017 were presented with a priority on creating added value for spectators, growing our fan base and increasing the profile of the sport. All the below events were live streamed, some of which included overlay graphics generated by TMS which include match timing, and score line.
Live Streaming 2016
EuroHockey Indoor Championship (M) – Prague (CZE)
EuroHockey Indoor Championship (W) – Minsk (BLR)
EuroHockey Indoor Championship II (M) – Espinho (POR)
EuroHockey Indoor Club Champions Cup (Men) – Hamburg (GER)
EuroHockey Indoor Club Champions Trophy (W) – Dundee (SCO)
EuroHockey Indoor Club Champions Challenge I (M) – Varna (BUL)
EuroHockey Indoor Club Champions Trophy (M) – Pavlovskii (RUS) EuroHockey Indoor Championship III (M) – Vantaa (FIN)
EuroHockey Club Champions Cup 2016 (W) – Bilthoven, (NED)
EuroHockey Club Champions Challenge III 2016 (W) – (GIB)
EuroHockey5s Future Heroes Cup 2016, (B&G) – Prague (CZE)
EuroHockey Youth Championships II 2016 (W&M)- Glasgow, (SCO)
EuroHockey U21 Championships, (M&W) – Cork (IRL)
It is planned to include this technology for all streamed events in 2017. She noted that in order to ensure everything is displayed correctly in real time it is essential that the judges are fully trained in TMS and understand the importance of updating the system immediately so that the live streaming overly is correct. The President suggested that something be added to the TO Feedback form so that the TD can evaluate the TO/Judges on their performance with regard to this element of the role.
Siobhan noted that the EuroHockey Junior Championships in Valencia is not on the list below as the committee is currently investigating possibilities of streaming this tournament at a higher level.
Live Streaming 2017
EuroHockey Indoor Junior Championship (M) – Lisbon (POR)
EuroHockey Indoor Junior Championship (W) – Vienna (AUT)
EuroHockey Indoor Championship (M) – Vienna (AUT)
EuroHockey Club Champions Cup 2016 (W) – Den Bosch, (NED)
Hall of Fame
Siobhan and Simon went on to report on progress with the next inductees for the EHF Hall of Fame
They reported that a full list of proposed nominees was received from website survey which is now closed. The next step is for a subcommittee consisting of EHF President, Communications Committee Chair, Communications Manager and Nick Irvine reviewing this list and proposing a shortlist of nominees.
ACTION: This list will then open up to online voting between 1st March and 1st April.
All votes will count towards which 3 players will be inducted to 2017 hall of fame. The Board noted that this was a positive response received from the general public and look forward to the next step.
Website Analysis
Siobhan then spoke about the EHF Website and other communications channels.
On the website in 2016 so far there have been 322 Blog posts:
#FridayFocus
Most read – Club of the Year – 1,145
#MotivationMonday
Most read – EHL story – 206
#ourevents
Most read – Competitions page – 144,000
#FIHevents
Siobhan wished to thank Yamila Conill who had produced a story every week for Friday Focus and congratulated her on an excellent job. She noted that the Competitions page is what people most use our website for as the numbers reflected this, she thanked the Competitions Manager for ensuring that this page and its documents were as up to date as possible.
YouTube 2016
Over 4 million minutes of EuroHockey were watched on our Live Streams in 2016
Twitter Analysis – Organic Followers
2015: 11000 2016: 15000
Facebook Likes
2015: 11000 2016: 27000
Current Services
Siobhan then summarized what the current services provided by the Communications Committee and Communications Manager are. This included EuroHockey Branding with DropBox folders for all events and a professional approach to events with Webinars for hosts and TDs to empower our hosts to create strong brand awareness at the events. The Board discussed and agreed on certificates for Top Scorers
Siobhan is the Media Officer at typically 11 EuroHockey events per year. It was noted that with the Live streaming is critical out Table Judges are timely and accurate with their updates on TMS so regular training is important. A benefit of TMS is auto tweeting of ALL EuroHockey results in 2017
With regard to EHC 2017 it was noted that a Joint Content Strategy will be put in place and that the official Twitter handle is #EHC2017. Participating teams comms managers will share a joint DropBox for European wide marketing and social media approach. The website is now fully launched and is available in both Dutch and English. It is a goal of the Championship to be paper free with an event App instead of programme, with the possibility for partners to engage in direct marketing.
Siobhan informed the Board that work was ongoing with relaunch a mobile optimized Website.
The President thanked Simon and Siobhan noting that it was clear these are exciting times, and we are only at the beginning! Angus informed the Board that work was being done to look at the various options for our live Streaming approach form 2018 onwards. It is a fast-moving area and there will be a proposal to the Board of the various options at the March meeting. ACTION.
The President went on to say that she is proud of the committee, the EHF and Angus for recognising the importance of this as early as we did.
FIH Executive Board Report
The Executive Board had a full and open discussion about the recent elections for the FIH Executive Board. Jorge noted that we must look to future and learn some lessons from how the result of the elections. We need to be aware of our culture and where it fits with the rest of the world.
Each member of the Board was asked and gave their comments. The overall feeling was of disappointment for the lack of support from within Europe for the European candidate and that it is incumbent on us to understand why and assess what action can be done to improve this. It was felt important to start earlier in identifying and supporting a candidate.
ACTION: Leonardas issue of non-attendance at out General Assembly of those who have not paid debts. AK invited LC to bring proposal to next meeting to change statutes and discuss for the March meeting.
Women’s Meeting
The President talked about gender balance. She noted that we need to work on getting a European woman on the FIH Executive Board in two years’ time. She reported that the women in the EHF EB – herself, Carola Meyer, Inez Cooper and Ludmila Pastorova would meet separately and discuss this before coming back to the EB with some proposals and ideas from this meeting.
Update: On Saturday, following the meeting with the female EB members, the President reported that the next step should be at least one meeting where we invite some women who are active in Hockey in Europe to set up a programme. For this, a budget will be required for a type of Sharing Knowledge Programme.
ACTION: Angus confirmed that this can be discussed and a line item can be added to the budget for 2017
Anti-Corruption Regulations
The President reported that the FIH are discussing a template which should go into statutes of CFs and NAs and she noted that this would be looked at during the next EB meeting.
Competitions Committee – Outdoor
Bjorn Isberg presented the report from the Competitions Committee – Outdoor
EuroHockey Club Cup, Trophy and Challenges (Men & Women) 2017
- EuroHockey Club Trophy, Men – Elektrostal (RUS) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Challenge I, Men – Vinnitsa (UKR) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Challenge II, Men – Gibraltar (GIB) – 7 teams
A team from Lithuania withdrew before the deadline.
The President reported that a representative from Turkey had approached her in Dubai to say that it is very expensive for them to travel to Gibraltar, and what is the procedure if they wish to speak to somebody about this. Bjorn advised that they contact the Competitions Manager directly. It was noted that Gibraltar had also withdrawn from some tournaments for the same reason. Unfortunately, it can be difficult/expensive to travel to and from Gibraltar which is why it is important to award them tournaments from time to time in order to balance out this cost.
- EuroHockey Club Challenge III, Men – Lipovci (SLO) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Challenge IV, Men – Predanovci (SLO) – 7 teams **
A team from Gibraltar withdrew before the deadline
- EuroHockey Club Champions Cup, Women – ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NED) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Trophy, Women – Munich (GER) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Challenge I, Women – Siauliai (LTU) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Challenge II, Women – Vienna (AUT) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Club Challenge III, Women – Porto (POR) – 8 teams ***
A team from Gibraltar withdrew before the deadline
- EuroHockey Club Challenge IV, Women – will not be held – 3 teams ****
From the 3 teams left in this event (TUR, NOR, UKR) only the TUR club expressed interest to host the event. TUR have also expressed concern about this teams’ participation due to budget issues. Where it is expected that in either the Challenge III or IV at least 1 team will be withdrawing at a later stage, no Challenge IV will be held.
The EHF Competitions Manager will visit Siauliai in winter and most likely Munich, Vinnitsa and Gibraltar in Spring.
EuroHockey5s U16 Championships 2017
Championship (B) – Walcz (POL)
Teams: AUT, BLR, BUL, CRO, DEN, FRA, GEO, ITA, LTU, POL, POR, SUI, TUR, UKR, WAL, FIN
GIB withdrew before the deadline. 1st replacement team MLT declined the invitation to be promoted.
2nd replacement team FIN was asked and has confirmed they would like to play in Walcz.
Championship II (B)
ARM asked to play as they have now paid their debts. As there are not sufficient teams to hold an event (minimum 4 teams necessary), they could play in the Championship II if sufficient teams are found to play. However, in the hope of facilitating Armenia and other teams, the Competitions Manager has asked GIB, MLT, HUN, IRL, SRB if they are interested to play a 2-day Championship II event. As yet there have been no replies.
Championship (G) – Wattignies (FRA)
Teams: AUT, BLR, CRO, FRA, GEO, GIB, ITA, LTU, POL, POR, TUR, UKR, WAL (13)
The FIH and the Great Britain Hockey Board has an agreed protocol in place regarding the qualification of British teams for Olympic events. For the 2016 – 2020 Olympic cycle, the GBHB has advised that the nominated country for Great Britain will be England. This means that the performance of England only will be considered for qualification for any Olympic event. This includes the forthcoming EuroHockey5s Championships 2017 (in Walcz (POL) for boys and in Wattignies (FRA) for girls) which will be the EHF’s qualification tournament for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Thus, if either Gibraltar or Wales should come first or second in the EuroHockey5s Championships 2017 they will not be eligible for the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games, and the qualification place will be offered to the next highest ranked team in the EuroHockey5s Championships 2017. They have been informed about this.
EuroHockey Championships (Men & Women) 2017
- EuroHockey Championship, Men – Amsterdam (NED) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Championship II, Men – Glasgow (SCO) – 8 teams
AZE has been suspended and been replaced now in the Championships II by SUI
- EuroHockey Championship III, Men – SI Zelina (CRO) – 8 teams
SUI has been replaced by MLT
- EuroHockey Championship IV, Men – Lipovci (SLO) – 5 teams
- EuroHockey Championship, Women – Amsterdam (NED) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Championship II, Women – Cardiff (WAL) – 8 teams
AZE has been suspended and been replaced now in the Championships II by UKR
- EuroHockey Championship III, Women – SI Zelina (CRO) – 5 teams
EuroHockey Junior Championships (Men & Women) 2017
- EuroHockey Championship, Men – Valencia (ESP) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Championship II, Men – St. Petersburg (RUS) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Championship III, Men – Lucerne (SUI) – 3 teams
- EuroHockey Championship, Women – Valencia (ESP) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Championship II, Women – Hradec Kralove (CZE) – 8 teams
For the Junior Championship tournaments, the composition of the pools will be the responsibility of the EHF and will be based upon the World Ranking of the participants’ senior teams (at the moment the match schedules are prepared). This is new in comparison to what was done in the past.
The EHF Competitions Manager visited SUI in September and visited various indoor and outdoor venues, one of which was Lucerne.
FIH
Following on from the work of the Event Portfolio Working Group, the FIH Executive Board has agreed that from now on, dates for all proposed continental events must first be agreed by FIH before Continental Federations can make any agreements with hosts etc. The reason for this is that the forthcoming Event Portfolio will be critical for FIH to deliver its goals in the Hockey Revolution and therefore it is vital that there is good co-ordination between all stakeholders. So, for all events (senior, junior and youth + nations and clubs) EHF need to ask approval from FIH for the date of the events.
- As of 1-1-2017 all outdoor senior and junior matches will be played 4 x 15min.
Bjorn asked the Board for their opinion about whether our U16/U18 events should also be played in this 4 x 15 min format?
The Board agreed that all international matches 11 aside should be played 4 x 15 minutes for the sake of consistency
EHF can play the EHL and EHCC with the 4 x 15min format as Given that the Rules of Hockey and the FIH Tournament Regulations which vary the Rules of Hockey apply to International Hockey and the top domestic League level of National Association Hockey, it makes sense and is consistent that this also applies to the top CF Club competitions.
- The Board were asked if the Trophy/Challenge events continue to play 2 x 35 min?
As per their decision above, the EB asked that approval for this be sought from the FIH.
2018 and 2022 World Cups will be played with 16 teams. The 2018 qualification system is: 16 teams: Host, 5 Continental Champions, 10 from World League Semi-Finals.
Following a question form the FIH the Board agreed to confirm that the EuroHockey Junior Championships in 2019 will be the qualifier for the 2020 Junior World Cup
The EHF Competitions Manager visited the FIH in Lausanne in September and had a fruitful meeting with Martyn Gallivan.
ABN AMRO Junior EHL
The entry deadline is 15 December, but so far the following teams have confirmed their participation: SV Kampong (NED), Mannheimer HC (GER), Real Club de Polo (ESP), St. Germain (FRA). The nominees of ENG and BEL will be determined soon. A TD and UM and 6 national umpires are appointed by EHF to this event in Eindhoven at Easter.
Junior EHCC
It will be investigated if a Junior EHCC could be organised during Whitsun at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, completely funded by the teams themselves. More information will be provided at the next EB meeting.
Competitions Committee – Indoor
Walter Kapounek presented the report from the Competitions Committee Indoor
Indoor Junior Championships 2017
- EuroHockey Indoor Championship, Men – Lisbon (POR) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Indoor Championship II, Men – Lipovci (SLO) – 7 teams
- EuroHockey Indoor Championship, Women – Vienna (AUT) – 8 teams
The EHF Competitions Manager will visit Lisbon.
UKR Women have confirmed that they are still ready as first reserve. Since they are ready to enter, but not able to play anywhere, one team will be relegated and UKR will take their place in 2019.
EuroHockey Indoor Club Championships 2017
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup, Men – Vienna (AUT) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy, Men – SI Zelina (CRO) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I, Men – Budapest (HUN) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge II, Men – Alanya (TUR) – 5 teams
One Group: Railway Union (IRL), Gaziantep Polisgücü (TUR), Kutaisi (GEO), Aker SC (NOR), Anavryta HC (GRE.
The Board notes that Kutaisi (GEO) are invited back again after paying their debts to EHF. Anavryta HC (GRE) kindly asked to enter, which was approved. HC Kilppari (FIN) withdrew due to safety issues. ARM was invited into the tournament, but declined.
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup, Women – Wettingen (SUI) – 8 teams
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy, Women – Siauliai (LTU) – 7 teams **
Keçiören Bağlum (TUR) has withdrawn due to financial issues and due to the late date the highest ranked team in Challenge I (CRO), was unable to change their flights and accommodation so they declined the invitation to play in the Indoor Trophy.
- EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I, Women – Cascais (POR) – 8 teams
Kutaisi (GEO) are invited back again after paying their debts to EHF.
On the subject of safety concerns, Walter asked the Executive Board to confirm that all countries are equal with regard to the awarding of tournaments and that there are no restrictions on the committee when making their decisions/recommendations
Agreed
The EHF Competitions Manager will visit Budapest and Siauliai. The EHF Competitions Manager visited SUI in September and made a tour along various indoor and outdoor venues, one of which was Wettingen.
EuroHockey Indoor Championships 2018
Championship III (Men)
Walter updated the Board that SCO had indicated they would be willing to host, but had to discuss internally. In the end, they came back mid-November with the decision they couldn’t host. Therefore, no offer was received, so CYP has been appointed after a draw (held during the last CCI webinar in September). The Competitions Manager has called CYP in the end of November and explained the procedure. As they have not hosted any event, they really must consider the options to host this and they will come back to EHF in the beginning of January.
FIH Indoor World Cup 2018
Dates are most likely between the 6 – 11 of February 2018, but so far, no host has been confirmed. CCI await the decision from FIH. FIH has published the qualification criteria for the IWC 2018.
Responsibility charts Indoor
A short resume of the changes in the indoor responsibility charts was presented. All changes were accepted except the 2nd Umpires Manager for 7/8-team events. The strong recommendation from the Appointment Committee was to increase the number of Umpires Managers from 1 to 2 for 7/8-team events because of the intensity during indoor tournaments. CCI agreed that it would be very beneficial for both the umpires and the teams. But the CCI also made it clear that they don’t want to increase the costs for the hosts.
ACTION: It was agreed that this proposal should be approved and the EHF Office will find a solution to cover the extra costs so that hosts are not burdened with this.
Webinar
November 29, 2016 the CCI held a webinar as a 2nd meeting during the year and updates were received from all upcoming events and outstanding issues were discussed.
Euro Hockey League
Jorge Alcover reported on the Euro Hockey League
He noted that the EHL Board met in September, and again in November at which time the draw for K016 was done and live streamed along with interviews and reactions from players. Oranje Rood and Eindhoven have reached an agreement to host KO16 over next 3 years and Bob de Voogd will be an ambassador for the club Oranje Rood for KO16. Tickets already on sale and the next meeting will take place on 10th January.
Jorge went on to report that conversations with City of Barcelona quite positive to have Round 1 in 2017/18/19 and finals in 2021. He noted that it is good for us to have long term agreements as this takes off the pressure of finding hosts and makes for easier organisation.
He went on to report that EHL’s Chairman proposes many interesting initiatives to the Board, the most recent being about the production of sonic branding which was very impressive. We hope to have it ready for KO16. The President noted that EHL is really growing in professionalism, particularly since Banbridge it is clear to see that EHL is on a crescendo!
Hon Treasurer’s Report
Mika Rihtila Presented his report to the Board
Mika reminded the Board of the Development of Financial Performance figures which was presented at the General Assembly in Dubai. He also presented some outstanding debtors to the EHF and the Board agreed the following:
FYROM/Estonia/Moldova – it was agreed not to invoice them for subscriptions in 2017 as they are not taking part in any EHF events, however once activity resumes these Members will need to start repayment of outstanding debts.
Payment plan proposals from Greece and Ukraine were also discussed and next steps were agreed.
Angus will contact both Member Associations with feedback from the Executive Board.
It was noted that Georgia still has outstanding amounts owed and the Board agreed that if this was not paid in full by 31st January Georgian teams would be removed from the U16 events in 2017.
Development Projects Committee
Norman Hughes presented the report on behalf of Gianni Rossi, Committee Chair
EHF Youth Panel:
The Panel has 3 new members since Dubai – France, Slovenia, Turkey. Jamie Hooper has stepped down to focus more on his umpiring and job so new co-chairs are Leen Ryckx from Belgium and Kontantinos Tsiamis from Greece. Norman reported on a growth since the General Assembly in London with a leadership group of 8 and a general membership of 36.
- Leaders Festival, Amsterdam 2017: planning well underway with accommodation booked and draft programme published. Invitations sent to all NAs 24th November
- EHF Youth Camp: negotiated a special discount price for emerging nations to send in total 30 children to be part of this “Official Side Event”
- EHF Caravan: Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech seem keen to have the caravan again in 2017.
EHF Para Hockey
FIH signed MoU with INAS in Dubai and there has been EHF Para Hockey Forum in January 2016 and another one took place on 10th. 8 nations attended alongside Special Olympics representatives.
We have received an Invitation to be part of INAS Europe Multisport games in Paris July 2018.
The Integration Tournament in Antwerp was a great success with Youth Panel members supporting the event.
It was confirmed that Euro Para Hockey Championships invitations have been sent to all NAs.
The Board discussed the need to increase membership and to target the next group of potential countries. It is clear as Europe we must work hard to push ParaHockey forward.
EHF/KNHB Sharing Knowledge- TWINNING PROGRAMME
Norman updated the Board on the activities in the twinning’s.Belarus-Push: Plans for 2017 well underway.
Lithuania-Push: need to firm plans for 2017 but vision is to join Belarus and Ukraine
Ukraine – KZ: need to firm plans for 2017 as above
Norman asked the Board to approve this programme, it was agreed on principal however there would need to be an agreement with Ukraine about the repayment of their debts before any additional Development activity could be offered to them.
ACTION: Angus will follow up with Ukraine.
Croatia- Oosterbeek: 1 to 2 more clubs being formed in Split region in 2017 so plan is to support this group. Also, completing the 2 small pitches for the 2 groups
Czech- HOD: after a lot of contact online the twinning started w/e 11-13 November. 3 days full of meetings in various hockey areas. Plans already tabled for 2017.
Bulgaria- Athena: BHF group visited Athena Fri-Wed end Oct. Young players and leaders given full experience of life and roles in a Dutch club
Poland- Kampong: Successful visit by Polish U16 group end Oct. Plans for 2017 being firmed up
Austria– Oranje Rood: preliminary visit 21-26 Nov. They will use this visit to work out what they can do together in 2017
Switzerland– Oss: Norman reported that following discussions with Switzerland they have decided not to go ahead with this twinning as it is not currently relevant to their development. The Board noted this with surprise as Switzerland had in fact requested the twinning.
Venlo-Portugal: stopped on Portugal’s request. Venlo happy to have a twinning with another country
The President thanked Norman for all the hard work on the Sharing Knowledge/Twinning project. Norman noted that we are starting to see signs of a legacy now, for example with Austria and Oranje Rood who plan to continue together.
The President emphasised the importance on reporting on all of this at our General Assembly and to share some advice on how to continue for the next 2 years.
EHF Club of the Year
Nominations papers have been sent out to all NAs 24th November. The President suggested a series of interviews with former winners to create interest in next year’s competition.
EHF GIVE and GET
Norman informed the Board that a carpet from Berlin has been delivered to Ukraine (Kiev)and another pitch from Darmstadt HC Germany pitch has been delivered to Slovenia (Lipovci) whilst a pitch from Beerschot Belgium has gone to Croatia (Zagreb). Oranje Rood shave sent clothing to Balkan and Central zones
EHF Survey 2016
This will go out in Jan 2017 for completion before end June 2017 and the data collected will be reported at the EHF Congress in Aug 2017.
Education Committee
Inez Cooper and Norman Hughes presented the report from the Education Committee starting with the coaching report.
Coaching
Papers for 2017-18 nominations sent to all NAs for the Top Coaches and Coaches 4 Europe Programme with an entry deadline for the end of December. The group will be 16-18 coaches with 4 mentors with an agreement made to partner FIH at EuroHockey Championships 2017. There are 2 seminars planned for 2017 – EHL KO16 in April and EHC at Amsterdam in August. New mentors have been approached to freshen up the programme with a new modular approach with more emphasis on Sports science in the programme as agreed at October Education meeting.
A full report on what was achieved by the coaches taking part in TCP and C4E and the mentors who helped them was also presented.
Coaching 4 Europe has 2 seminars planned in 2017 – Lisbon in March and Amsterdam in August. Again, new mentors have been approached with a big emphasis on working on the pitch doing practical coaching.
Regarding Supporting National Growth (SNG), papers for 2017 sent out with deadline for seminars end Feb 2017. In Dubai, several NAs approached for coaching support – Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Estonia and Norway.
In 2017 onwards SNG means just that. Our EHF Educator will sit with the NA and agree a coach development strategy for next 2-3 years. A local Coach Development lead will be given the task of auctioning the plan and tracking the progress of local trained coached (every 6 months). SNG is available to single NAs at their cost or from our budget if available
In 2016 85 coaches passed through the EHF Education programmes, and it is hoped to increase this number to over 100 in 2017. All above is in line with the operations plan and budget
Officials
There will be a TO seminar (Intermediate level and Judges ready to move up) in Brussels (BEL), weekend of 31 March / 1 April 2017. Participants have been selected for this seminar in good cooperation with EHF Appointments Committee. The EHF office has been asked to send out an invitation letter to the National Associations and the participants. There will be a participation fee which will be EUR 150.
There will be a UM seminar in Amsterdam (NED) at EHC from 19-21 August 2017. The seminar will be open for all European umpires’ managers. In October, all umpires’ managers received a first message about this event. The UM Seminar 2017 is organized in good cooperation with KNHB and preparations started 2 years ago. The chair of the OC is Yolande Breda (NED). During this seminar, a diversity in workshops will be offered for different types of umpires’ managers: starters, less experienced and highly experienced.
Previously EHF EB was asked to reserve in the Budget of 2017 an amount of 5.000 Euro and this was approved. EHF has asked FIH Academy to participate in the budget for 5.000 Euro.
There will be a Technical Officials seminar (Basic level – Judges), 25-27 August 2017 to be held again in Breda at HC PUSH. Although not easy, due to the EuroHockey Championships, the Committee are confident that they will find suitable course conductors on time: Anne Witherspoon (SCO) and Sonja-Annabel Swede (GER) have confirmed their availability. As soon as KNHB has confirmed the local officials, the liaison and TD will be nominated for this tournament. The participation fee will be the same as last year – EUR 100.
Cooperation with FIH and FIH World Academy of Sports
Norman Hughes informed that the FIH and FIH World Academy of Sports is interested in participating and funding this year UM seminar in Amsterdam. The Committee stressed that it is important to maintain a good relationship with André Oliveira (FIH Sports coordinator) in order to receive support from FIH Academy. FIH’s plans and views for future education of Officials in the continents is not clear, however the Committee, working group officials, is happy to give and receive any input.
New feedback report on TO’s
A working document on development and feedback of Technical Officials has been drafted and the Committee inform the EB that in 2017 (indoor season) the Committee in good cooperation with EHF Appointments committee will start with a project to implement this feedback report: TD’s of indoor tournaments will be asked to fill in both feedback reports (the official FIH report and the new feedback form). In the next meeting these reports will be evaluated.
Umpires
Inez presented the report form the Umpires Working Group.
She noted that 3 former UDP Umpires: Marcin Grochal (POL) Group 1, Sarah Wilson (SCO) Group 4, and Laurine Delforge (BEL) Group 7 officiated at the recent Olympic Games in Rio.
UDP 2016
She went on to report on UDP activities which took place in 2016:
Group 8
Feb 2016 There was a practical weekend in Spain with Nathan Stagno in Feb followed by a full UDP seminar in London with Craig Gribble in June and then Graduation in Valencia in October.
Group 9
Had a practical weekend in Belgium in March also followed by a full UDP seminar in London with Craig Gribble in June and mentor visits.
Group 10
Group 10 activities launched with a weekend in Vienna in April followed by a full UDP seminar in June in London with Craig Gribble and then a weekend with the mentors at the EHL Rd 1 in Banbridge in October and a practical weekend in Holland.
Group 11
Was announced in October.
UDP 2017 – Planned activity
February – Group 10 – Malaga
March – Group 11 – Launch, Vienna
April – Group 9 – Brussels
June – Group 9 Graduation at EHL, Group 10 & 11 also at EHL
August – Group 10 & 11 – Amsterdam
October – Group 10 & 11 – Practical Weekends to be confirmed.
Umpires 4 Europe
34 umpires from 17 nations attended a weekend in Breda and U4E ha now successfully integrated into Umpire pathway and is both a development programme and a route to UDP. Rob ten Cate delivered pre-and post Breda the U4E webinars and each group will organise an exchange weekend. Each U4E umpire has a PDP (personal development plan) supported by their mentor
U4E Plans for 2017
Plans are for exchange weekends – Croatia/Spain/Belgium-Feb/Mar and Breda weekend 25-27th August. Webinars to be confirmed but are scheduled for Feb, May, Aug and No with Henrik Ehlers taking the first one.
Supporting National Growth in 2016 involved 1 SNG seminar delivered in Scotland in Sept by Philip Schellekens with 7 umpires from 4 nations attended. A Strategic review of SNG took place and a Level 1 Umpire coaches course was developed and piloted in Scotland.
SNG Plans for 2017
- Pilot a Level 1 Umpire coaches course at Breda linked to FIH Academy
- Align with FIH Academy on the education of Umpire coaches
- Develop a programme to support NA umpire development plans
We have also commenced a “blue sky thinking” review of all our programmes, and the possibility of expanding them or creating additional ones, which will be completed by the March meeting of the Education Committee.
The debate in 2017 will include What is the support for top umpires beyond UDP level? How can we continuously improve on our Umpire Development Pathway and our 3-tier approach? Can we enhance and expand current programmes to reach more umpires?
The President thanked Norman, Inez and Gianni, along with chairs of all the Working Groups for their hard work. Norman in turn wished to thank the EHF for nominating him for the award he received at the recent FIH Congress in Dubai for his work in development. He wished to note that he accepted it on behalf of a very large team of dedicated volunteers. The Board once again congratulated Norman on his award.
Appointments Committee
Sylvie Petitjean presented on behalf of Ray O’Connor, Appointments Committee Chair. The Appointments Committee had its meeting on 8th October 2016. And the main items covered were reviewing indoor season 2016, reviewing outdoor season 2016, reviewing appointments indoor season 2017, discussing appointments outdoor season 2017 and the responsibility charts indoor and outdoor upon request of David Voskamp, Competitions Manager and the selection of UDP group 2017 in relation to the process and outcome.
Sylvie informed the Board of a concern regarding the levels of EHF Umpires on the world stage. The table below outlines the development of male and female umpires Europe.
Levels EHF umpires 2012 and beyond
Male
| Level | 2012 | 2014-2016 ** | August 2016 |
| World Panel | 6 | 3 | 9 *** |
| World Development Panel | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Grade 1 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
| Promising Umpires List | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| International | 60 | 45 * | 47 |
* when no new umpires will be educated
** based on assumptions and ages (retirement)
*** Retirement to be expected from: Blasch, Jamson, Stagno, van Eert
Female
| Level | 2012 | 2014-2016 ** | August 2016 |
| World Panel | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| World Development Panel | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Grade 1 | 7 | 6 | 4 **** |
| Promising Umpires List | 3 | 6 | 8 ***** |
| International | 36 *** | 24 * | 30 |
* when no new umpires will be educated
** based on assumptions and ages (retirement)
*** in the present group of 36 are a number of umpires who will develop to PUL and GR. 1 in the next 4 years, but then there will be no follow up at the moment.
**** Bagdanskiene (LTU), Harrison (ENG), Hippler (GER, 45), Kaltypan (UKR, 47)
***** not all capable for Grade 1
Given the above the Appointments Committee note that the EHF need more international umpires to be able to deliver highly ranked umpires for the future and to offer the appropriate level for all international matches and that we need to reflect our present system of appointments and umpiring education. Sylvie confirmed that a working group has been created to address this issue. The President noted that this is extremely important and looks forward to receiving future reports on the progress.
FIH Umpiring committee has suggested to mix genders in tournaments in national leagues. FIH request that EHF support this initiative for our NAs leagues and consider this as a possibility for our Youth joint tournaments.
Request about the number of Umpires managers for indoor tournaments – this was covered earlier under the Competitions report.
Sylvie asked that the Board clarify who is responsible for any changes in responsibility charts.
The Board agreed that changes can be discussed and agreed by the Committees (Appointments & relevant Competition Committee) with the Board making a final decision on any changes with a major financial implication to the host. Jorge noted that these items can also be discussed at the Competitions Co-ordination Committee Meeting.
EHF/FIH List
Sylvie went on to say that there is still some frustration about the procedure for the FIH officials list. Often EHF is asked for feedback on proposals but it appears that this feedback is not taken into consideration/further discussion. The President advised that Bjorn as member of the FIH Competitions Committee should be the main link on this subject and things should be clearer in future.
It was also noted that correspondence on this list should come through the EHF office.
Sylvie outlined the current links to the EHF Education Committee. An Appointments Committee representative was present during selection process. Questions regarding process and whether we are making sure to fill the gap in umpiring at top level for Europe. Concern was expressed regarding the selection of two Belgian umpires. Henrik Ehlers to feedback to Education committee.
It was noted that we need a seminar to educate future video umpires. The 2017 UM seminar will have active EHF Ums with potentially 2 levels. This will be in conjunction with the FIH Academy, so participants will be from all over the world.
There will be 3 Officials seminars for 2017: basic judges, TO seminar and TD seminar (for upgrading TOs). The Grading system to qualify for the promotion list needs revision and UMs need to feedback correct marks. It was also noted that when officials are upgraded from TO to TD, we should make sure they have the correct support and education in this change.
2019: 50 Years Old
The President informed the Board that Jorge Alcover will chair a group to prepare to mark the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the European Hockey Federation
Jorge reported that he has started this progress by focusing on the History of EHF, the Legacy of EHF, Acknowledgement of key people, and a Celebration. He informed the Board that he would come with a budget request in March, and the President asked the Board to send on any ideas to Jorge that they may have on this subject. ACTION
Any Other Business
Angus asked for the Boards approval to share all EB papers with the staff in advance of meetings
Agreed
He went on to express his thanks to the Board, it has been a great year. He also wished to note his thanks to the staff for their work, and said he was feeling enthusiastic about the coming years – our competitions are going from strength to strength.
The President thanked everyone for a great year, a great job done by all, staff and volunteers. As she had stressed in Dubai she went on to say that we are all very thankful that we enjoy our time together and we hope that this provides a good example to people around us and maybe the world will be more beautiful in future.
She closed the meeting by wishing the Board a Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2017.