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ISSUE 39/07	17 October 2007

Website problems

Apologies to anyone affected, but we have been encountering problems with the BAFRA website www.bafra.org and email redirection through the same service. These are now fixed, but since the primary emailing list was one of the services affected, we have waited until now to send out Newsflash.

IMPORTANT - If you have sent an email to a @bafra.org address in the last few days, or tried to submit an incident report, it has probably not been received. Please send it again. This includes competency exam submissions to Davie Parsons.

Jim.
president@bafra.org

Director away

Pete Thom is away on holiday until Friday 26^th October. He can be contacted on his mobile for anything urgent only.

College Season

I don't think we updated everyone on the situation regarding university football for the coming season. As you probably know, BAFA removed BSAFA's authority to run a league (because of the outstanding money issue – still not resolved as far as I know) and established a new league – BUAFL. Suffice to say that all 43 university teams signed up with BUAFL, and BSAFA is no longer operating.

Assignments to BUAFL games

BAFRA will be providing officials for as many BUAFL games as we can cover each weekend – typically there are 18 games on a weekend and we cannot cover 4-5.

Pete has issued assignments for the first few weeks of the season (attached). If you haven't yet notified him of your availability, please do so as soon as possible.

In most cases Pete has assigned a four-man crew and there are no spare officials. Please, please, please don’t drop out of games if you can possibly avoid it.

Pre-paid teams

Some BUAFL teams have pre-paid BAFRA. If you are the referee for a home game at one the following, contact Charlie (finance@bafra.org) on Thursday before the game to arrange payment:

· Birmingham Lions

· University of West of England Bullets

· Bristol Barracuda

· Teesside Cougars

BAFRA debtors

The following teams still owe BAFRA money from last season and we will not be covering their games, home or away, until debts are settled:

· Tarannau Aberystwyth

· Edinburgh Wolves

· Staffordshire Stallions

· also Buckingham Chilterns University (not playing in BUAFL 2007-2008)

League information

The BUAFL regulations as they affect the officiating of the game will be listed at http://www.bafra.org/rulesctee/docs/leagueregs.htm when they are confirmed by the league, but we don’t expect any significant changes from previous years. The one most likely to be of interest to officials is that extra periods will continue to be played if the game is tied.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the BUAFL's full regulations and procedures, they can be found on the BUAFL website www.buafl.net.

During the season, away teams will be completing the BAFA Field Audit as part of their match reporting, which measures home team game management in nine categories. If the away team asks your advice about filling in the form, be prepared to give them some assistance, but don’t feel you have to fill it in for them!

BAFRA officials will continue to submit a BAFA Game Management Audit form after each game. That will be used to determine a winner of the John Slavin Award at the end of the season.

BAFA Rules Committee – request for volunteers

The BAFA Rules Committee met last weekend and agreed to adopt all the 2007 NCAA rules changes for 2008. In addition there will be changes to the procedures for dealing with delayed kickoffs and long suspensions. There will be a simple system for monitoring who is legitimately in the team area, and games won’t kick off if the chain crew or ball boys are under 14 years of age. Full details on the website shortly.

The 2008 BAFA rulebook is virtually ready to proofread. If you’d be willing to read through a rule or two, please let me know ASAP.

Jim.
rules@bafra.org

BAFRA Limited

BAFRA is now a limited company. Our Company number is 6389589. We are in the process of transferring things over to the Company, including directors’ details, membership records and bank accounts.

EFAF Officiating

We in Britain may have as many as 6 places on the EFAF panel next year (or we might have as few as 2 – won’t know until November). The Selection Committee would therefore like to receive applications from participants in the BAFRA Elite Programme who wish to be considered. Existing EFAF panel members need only indicate their desire (or not) to carry on. New applicants, please send a short officiating CV. In either case, please email your application to selection@bafra.org by 31^st October.

For anyone on the EFAF panel, attendance at the EFAF Officiating Clinic is mandatory at least every two years. The 2008 Clinic will be held in Helsinki, Finland, on 19th-20^th January. I've already passed the details on to those who went to the Dublin clinic last year. If there is anyone else interested in attending this, please let me know ASAP.

Jim.
president@bafra.org

BAFA Consultation on discipline

BAFA is still consulting its members on changes to the BAFA Disciplinary Code. If you wish to take part, go to http://www.bafra.org/rulesctee/consult/discipline.htm and answer the questions. The deadline for submissions is 31^st October.

Thanks #1

"Our thanks go to both Yorkshire Rams and Tamworth Phoenix for the game on Saturday [13^thOctober]. Both teams played excellent football with Tamworth coming out on top by just a safety. Well done to all concerned and I for one am looking forward to next season. Thanks also to game management for once again doing a brilliant job, second to none!!

Tony Newsham #302"

Thanks #2

"Can I ask you to pass on our thanks at the Kent Exiles for Nobby Scott's great help at our flag day yesterday [14^th October]. He was exceptional and a great ambassador for BAFRA. He allowed our day to be the best yet and was great fun for all and I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did. Thanks BAFRA and Nobby.

Dave Pester, Kent Exiles"

GET Into American Football video

BAFA are delighted to announce the launch of their fifty minute documentary entitled ‘Get into American Football’. The documentary, presented by Nuts TV presenter, OJ Borg, focuses on the five pillars of the sport in Great Britain – play, referee, coach volunteer and fan – and features interviews with key volunteers who deliver the sport of American Football at the grassroots level in this country.

To see OJ Borg try all aspects of the sport, go to www.getintoamericanfootball.com and click on the documentary feature icon. Spot the BAFRA member!

DISCIPLINARY CASES

7^th and 14^th October 2007

Name	#	Team	Code	Q	Offence	Suspended
None

I am not aware of any suspensions carrying forward from the last college season. It would appear that nobody got ejected after Christmas. Let's hope the good behaviour can continue!

DISCIPLINARY CASES - Life Bans

Name	Last known team	Code	Suspended
Joe BROOKS	Bristol Aztecs	BGD	Life Ban
Nigel DWYER	St Helens Cardinals	BGD	Life Ban
Cliff GODDARD	Sutton Coldfield	BGD	Life Ban
Mark WILLIAMS	Birmingham Bulls	BGD	Life Ban

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS