Chairman's Notes from Council Meetings

Council Meeting 17 March 2012.

The Council meeting began after the Chairman’s welcome with a report from Hon Auditor Peter Jordan who had been on his annual visit during the preceding two days. Peter gave Council a brief outline of his work and praised the Trustees and Council for the way in which the finances had been handled in such difficult economic circumstances.  Peter also outlined at the request of the Chairman his ideas on a possible expansion of the role of the Honorary Auditors in the future. Peter is an astute and well respected member of our footballing family and his ideas are both well thought out and innovative.

Council discussed in detail the venue for next year’s Counties meeting as well as the timing of the meeting. London is still a possible venue but more information will be available after the May meeting when next year’s calendar will be a major item on the Agenda.

Phil Harding presented the Trustees Report and stated that the Association would end the year with a small surplus - considered by our Professional Auditors to be further evidence of good financial management and secure budgeting. Council were pleased to receive the news that despite such difficult economic conditions ESFA finances were in good health. This is testament to the excellent work that Dawn Howard continues to undertake on our behalf, as well as to the various committees and their chairmen. Given the increase in our activities, the accounting and budgeting procedures proved to be particularly effective.  We are pleased to report that, following the success of last year’s ProStar kit voucher scheme, this year we are in a position to make a similar offer to counties. Moreover, we will again be giving a T-shirt to every participant in our various Easter festivals.   Further evidence of our good financial stewardship is that we have recently paid off the balance of the mortgage owed on our headquarters.  With interest rates on investments so low this was considered to be a prudent move, and it has also released approximately £15,000 into our annual budget.  

The AGM preparation and format was discussed in a great deal of detail and several innovative suggestions regarding the way in which the meeting is to be conducted provided lively debate. One thing that was decided was that the AGM would be a celebration of achievement and not a shooting gallery. Last year the AGM took 5.5 hours and was almost totally negative with personalities and clashes thereof overriding the necessary business of the Association.  A new way of producing and delivering the Annual Report was considered, as too was inviting our two international squad captains to the AGM to give a report on their respective seasons. My stated aim at the beginning of the year was to make us a more businesslike organisation. We have certainly achieved that aim in Council meetings and I intend that the AGM be the same.

CEO John Read highlighted several items from his written report to Council. There had been some slight problems with two of our sponsors, TESCO and DANONE. These were not insurmountable and the monthly meetings would help to solve the problems. Having a third party involved in the TESCO deal, a management company, has caused some of the problems but I am confident that they will be very impressed with the finals day when ESFA is usually seen at its best.

John also reported on the ongoing relationships with the FA, ESFA and the National Game Board. Council quizzed John on his activities and meetings during the period since the last Council meeting.

He also reported on SAFIB and a lack of progress in moving the organisation forward from a fixture based group to one which is an effective information exchange and a pro-active body.

The CWO report and an update of where we are regarding compliance with FA rules is due out on the 30th of March and Council members will be supporting the chasing up of those still not compliant.

All four committees met Governance, Community and PR, International and Competitions. Updates were provided by all chairmen of the groups regarding current business. Competitions are at the finals stage in almost every age group and they are coming thick and fast. Mike Spinks and his team are working flat out. The competitions appeals group heard a case and upheld the decision of the national competitions department. Governance considered some minor rule changes for the AGM and the International Committee chairman updated Council on the forthcoming fixtures and their arrangements. Community and PR have produced coaching information for primary teachers and discussions are at an advanced stage to put on some development courses for primary team managers during the summer coaching course at Repton.

Each of the regional groups also met for a brief period to discuss regional matters and brief reports were fed back to the whole group.

The four committees as well as the whole Council continue to look at the 3 year plan instigated by Mike Coyne. Using the traffic light system almost all of the items set by Mike have been turned green with only a few remaining on amber. I have asked Chairmen of their groups to prepare new challenges for the coming year where we must continue to move our organisation forward. The plans similar to those used in development planning in schools are a useful tool to measure the progress of Council in meeting their annual targets and have been a very good evaluative tool.

An Association has asked for a more detailed update of where Council has gone in relation to the 17 points raised by the review group. They pointed out that other Associations had supported them in their written request for more information and detail than I had provided in my Chairman’s notes. I must apologise if membership think that I am being less than honest or lack transparency in my efforts to keep membership abreast of what ‘goes on’ at Council meetings. I stated that each of the points would receive due consideration and every point has been discussed in each of the committees and then by Council with a written response to send to membership well in advance of the AGM. I have a collation of information from my council Colleagues on their interpretation of our discussions before I and the Vice Chairman formulate an official response, ratified by Council, prior to publication. All have had a copy of the document that Council considered and so far:

1 and 2 were passed at the last AGM. Item 3 is proving challenging but an increased role for the auditors and a plan to ask for a completely independent Council member, such as those appointed by the FA is in the thoughts. Neil Pont has drafted some potential job descriptions. 4 has been addressed but the view of the incumbent Chairman always has to be considered. 5 has seen Council given appropriate documentation regarding the role of trustees and the fact that the four committee chairman are responsible for their budgets which are reviewed monthly addresses this issue. 6 and 7 have been partly completed and succession planning is underway. 8 has been completed.  9 is still under discussion and when the final draft of a job description is completed then recruitment will begin. 10 has been improved significantly and there will always be room for more improvement.  11 will be dependent upon recruitment in 9 and will involve a great deal of cascading and dissemination of information. 12/13 are already in place and the fact that only two counties needed support after business plan submission shows a positive outcome for those points. 14 was a fait accompli and the partnerships had disappeared before ESFA could garner information. 15 is too big a job and would be too expensive to do and monitor. 16 has been tackled with the Tesco sponsorship and the Premier League may also help with this aim. 17 has been achieved in general terms but will always be an ongoing situation and be a year on year decision regarding finance. The role model situation has been addressed and these young men form part of our flagship. Come and see them in action promoting ESFA.

John Appleby
Chairman