On Saturday 4th April the Executive Board held its second Executive board meeting by video conference due to the ongoing travel restrictions regarding health safety surrounding COVID 19.
All Board members were present, and the President welcomed everyone. The President reiterated that as well as the health impact there will be an economic impact to which all parties will be affected and that it is our responsibility to make decisions with fairness and solidarity at our heart.
The President was pleased with the current proactive initiatives from the staff – mainly the launching of the Relive the EHC 2019 on the EuroHockedyTV platform and the educational webinars that were being launched on April 6th.
The President was also happy that during the meeting the Board for the first time ever would be joined by Athlete Committee Co-Chairs Janne Muller Wieland and David Harte!
Finance
The focus of the meeting was around the ongoing finances of the EHF and the revised Outlook for the year. The Board were updated on the recent Office Bearers meeting and underpinning our approach are the principles to act with fairness and solidarity with EHF and Member Associations.
The key aim is in these uncertain times to take action that will protect the organisation by seeking to maintain the deficit for the year at no worse than the level approved by members at the General Assembly in 2019. The Director General and Treasurer went through the revised Outlook for the budget line by line. The budget has been prudently revised and we will have to work closely with our members and stakeholders to manage the budget this year. We will continue to look at all potential areas to save costs throughout the year.
Disciplinary
There was a short update on outstanding disciplinary matters.
Athletes Committee
The President welcomed Janne Müller-Wieland and David Harte (Co-chairs of the EHF Athletes Committee) to the meeting – a first for the EHF and one that she hoped and expected will only make us stronger as an organisation.
Introductions were made and a full and open discussion took place around the impact of the Olympics moving forward by a year. Janne and David had discussed this topic with their Athlete Committee counterparts and shared their views and reasons with the Board. The Board and President thanked them for their presence and for their valuable insights.
“We were very happy that Janne and David, representing our Athletes Committee, attended the EHF Board Meeting for the first time in the history of the EHF. Now more than ever in the world we will only achieve good decisions in sport by listening to and collaborating with our main stakeholders, our athletes.”
The President closed the meeting with the next meeting scheduled for the 18th April.