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BAFRA Newsflash |
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Issue: 04/08 |
13th February 2008 |
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BAFRA Newsflash |
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Issue: 04/08 |
13th February 2008 |
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BAFRA ANNUAL CONVENTION – SAT 5TH AND SUN 6TH APRIL 2008
As most of you will be aware, our Annual Convention and Training weekend is now fast approaching. Last year's event was very well attended and very successful. I’m sure with everyone’s help we can make this year's event just as successful. So make sure you keep up to date via Newsflash
Guest Speaker
I am delighted to confirm that arrangements to bring over Jeff Flanagan from the USA as our main speaker have now been concluded. Jeff hails from Hixson, Tennessee and comes highly recommended. He currently officiates in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A copy of his Resume/CV has been sent out with to members who received the pdf copy of Newsflash via email. More details on Jeff’s lectures and presentations will follow in the coming weeks.
Location
The Convention will be held at The Coventry Hill Hotel, Rye Hill, Birmingham Road, Allesley, Coventry CV5 9PH, on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th April 2008. Location and directions can be found on the hotel website: www.coventryhillhotel.co.uk
Registration
To register for the convention, you need to contact our Director of Finance, Charles Dean-young. Charlie can be contacted by email at finance@bafra.org. I will be making up personalised Convention Packs with Presentation handouts, EFAF DVD, Programme of Events, etc. You will need to pre-register in order to receive one of these.
Accommodation
Charlie has negotiated excellent rates for accommodation which are detailed below. In addition, the BAFRA Board has also agreed to provide some funding to keep down the costs. The rates indicated are per room and include all discounts and a full breakfast:
Twin Room: £40.00 per night (i.e. £20 each to share)
Single Room: £40.00 per night
Please note, to take advantage of the above rates you must book your room via the Director of Finance. Remember, you will pay a lot more if you go direct to the Hotel.
Over the last couple of years quite a few people have stayed at the hotel on the Friday night. The above rates are available for Friday and Saturday nights. As the event promises to be very popular I recommend booking your room as early as possible. You can do this at the same time as you register.
Davie Parsons
PRE-PAY BUAFL TEAMS
Prepayment teams are Teeside, Loughborough, Greenwich, Surrey, Kent, Bristol, UWE, Birmingham, ARU, Royal Holloway, Hertfordshire and Essex.
Warrick, Staffordshire and Paisley have made arrangements to pay BAFRA by invoice before the game, they should be treated as prepaid. For all prepaid teams please send in a request for payment by Thursday lunchtime, but only once your crew has been confirmed.
Some of last week's prepayment games have not yet been paid due to a lack of cheques. I am hopeful this will be resolved soon, all cheques for last week and this week will be sent out first class.
Charlie Dean
Young
finance@bafra.org
NEW MEMBERS
Following the training day for new officials, I am pleased to welcome the following into membership:
Martin Hopkins – based in Berkshire
Peter Roberts – based in Cheshire
Ross Salvesen – based in Derbyshire
I hope that they all have a long and successful career as football officials.
Paul Sutton
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This is early notification that the Annual General Meeting of the British American Football Referees Association Limited will be held at 5:00pm on Saturday 5th April 2008 at the convention in Coventry. This will be the first such meeting since BAFRA became a Company Limited by Guarantee. Under the new constitution all qualified members are entitled to stand as directors, nominate and second others who wish to stand, submit and second resolutions and vote at the AGM – this vote can be via proxy. Associate and affiliate members are welcome to attend the AGM as observers but do not have the same rights as a qualified member.
All qualified members will this week receive nomination papers for the available director posts and a form for the submission of resolutions. These will be sent electronically. Seven of the director posts are up for election this year:
Director of Operations – present incumbent has indicated that he will stand down after the AGM.
Director of Recruitment – present incumbent was appointed to fill a vacancy, not elected.
Director of Training - present incumbent has reached the end of his term of office.
Director without Portfolio 1 - present incumbent was appointed to fill a vacancy, not elected.
Director without Portfolio 2 – currently vacant
General Secretary - present incumbent was appointed to fill a vacancy, not elected.
President – present incumbent has reached the end of his term of office.
If you are a qualified member and have not received your nomination papers and a form for submission of resolutions by 5:00pm Saturday 16th February 2008, please contact me as a matter of urgency. The closing date for the receipt of nominations and resolutions is Saturday 8th March 2008.
Paul Sutton
PROOF
READING THE MECHANICS MANUAL
The
new edition of the mechanics manual is approaching the final stages
of its production. If you would be willing to proof read some
chapters, please let me know.
Jim
Briggs
mechanics@bafra.org
RESULTS
Saturday 9th February
Napier Mavericks 0 @ GCU Roughriders 20
Paisley Pyros 0 @ Stirling Clansmen 53
Sunday 10th February
Lancaster Bombers 0 @ Sheffield Sabres 48
Sheffield Hallam Warriors 0 @ Leeds Celtics 6 (OT)
UCH Sharks 6 @ UT Cougars 36
Sunderland Spartans 20 @ Durham Saints 38
Derby Braves 0 @ Nottingham Outlaws 30
Loughborough Aces 0 @ Staffordshire Stallions 36
Oxford Cavaliers 6 @ Birmingham Lions 28
RHU Vikings 18 @ Reading Knights 26
Brighton Tsunami 0 @ Portsmouth Destroyers 10
Surrey Stingers 6 @ Southampton Stags 87
Kent Falcons 8 @ Greenwich Mariners 14
Anglia Ruskin Phantoms 6 @ Essex Blades 32
UEA Pirates 0 @ Hertfordshire Hurricanes 64
Bath Killer Bees 15 @ Cardiff Cobras 10
UWE Bullets 36 @ Bristol Barracuda 20
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NAME |
# |
TEAM |
CODE |
Q |
OFFENCE |
SUSPENDED |
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Outstanding items from previous weeks |
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None |
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Note: it is the responsibility of the individual teams to ensure that their suspended players serve their suspensions in the proper game (according to the BAFA Disciplinary Code), and any dates mentioned here are intended only as a guide. |
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HOME TEAM |
REPORT |
NEXT HOME GAME |
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10/02/07 |
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Greenwich Mariners |
Greenwich play at Crystal Palace Sports Centre. The changing room was the disabled toilet which had insufficient seating, no shower, no separate toilet and insufficient room for a pre-game conference. Game balls were worn and needed pumping up. Ball persons were provided very close to kickoff. The ball boy on the Greenwich sideline was their player who had been disqualified last week, I had to ask him to go to the stands after he verbally abused Kent players (he was not on the roster or in kit). Ball person on Kent sideline changed at half time. Goals were soccer goals with extended uprights and a net (wrapped around the crossbar) on one of them. Daniel Bridgland #506 |
17/02/08 |
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Derby Braves |
The pitch was 90 yards long with yellow markings that were difficult to see in the bright sunshine. Muz Gibson #268 |
Unknown |
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Bristol Barracudas |
This was an evening game played under floodlights on the 3G Astro Turf pitch at WISE Campus, the field was 80 yards long. There were no permanent lines on the field at all, white tape (less than 4 inches wide) was used to mark the goal lines, end lines and side lines. Small markings on the tape were at each 5/10 yard line. The 3 yard lines had markings in the centre of the field to denote where PAT would go from. There were no, 5 yard lines, 10 yard lines, 9 yard marks (or field numbers), hashmarks at side lines, inbounds hashmarks or goal posts.
The number markers placed along each sideline were made of hard plastic, so were moved back to at least 7 feet out of bounds on both sides. Another 4 of these markers were used to jury rig where the inbounds hashmarks would be to allow for spotting of the ball at the correct distance from the sidelines and again these were moved as far away from the endline as possible.
The chain set was made of interconnecting rods, and came apart quite often during the game. We were only supplied with two balls after the agreed kick off time, and 1 ball person. The chain crew were supplied quite late, they were fairly slow and sometimes would not wait for signals before moving the chains - this nearly caused a few problems with penalties due to the very limited amount of markings that we had.
The changing room was not adequate in size for a normal crew (was designed for 3 people in terms of seating and space).
Despite all of the problems the game itself was very enjoyable, was watched by a fairly sizeable crowd and was played in good spirit by both teams. Phil Clarke #372 |
24/02/08 |
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Cardiff Cobras |
The balls provided were very worn. There was no private shower or toilet in the changing rooms. We were only provided with chain crew and one ballboy very close to kickoff. Bath supplied the other ballboy. Alan Dobson #308 |
Unknown |
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Outstanding items from previous weeks |
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Sheffield Hallam Warriors |
No
five yard lines; inbound short yard marks soon disappeared during
the first half; confusing rugby markings near the 10 yard
lines. |
24/02/08 |
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Kent Falcons |
Inbounds lines
quite irregular (never equal distance apart laterally). Kent use
cheerleaders for chain crew and they are often quite slow or move
despite being asked to stay put! Well done to both teams for a
hard fought contest. |
17/02/08 |
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Note: it is possible that any game may be cancelled, or any team may arrange additional games. In addition, the large number of game cancellations this week means that the fixtures listed here are highly likely to change. Any dates mentioned here are intended only as a guide. |
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PLAY OF THE WEEK:
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New this week |
Play:
A's ball, 4th and 17, on A's 31. Team A is lined up with QB A17
under centre. B77 cuts A83 on A's 31 during the down. A3's quick
kick rolls out of bounds on B's 34. |
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Last week's play |
Play:
A's
ball, 2nd and 12, on A's 30. B67 holds eligible A81 on A's 44. The
pass is deflected behind the neutral zone. The pass is catchable
by A81 (or would have been if not for the hold by B67).
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Date |
Event |
Contact for details |
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2008 |
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February 23rd (Sat) |
BAFRA board meeting |
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March 23th (Sun) |
BUAFL bowl game |
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April 5 (Sat) |
BAFRA AGM, Coventry |
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April 5/6 (Sat/Sun) |
BAFRA Convention |
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April 13th (Sun) |
BAFL season starts |
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April 26th (Sat) |
BAFA board meeting |
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May 10th (Sat) |
BAFRA board meeting |
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June 27th - 29th (Fri - Sun) |
BAFCA meeting |
n/a |
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July 26th (Sat) |
BAFA board meeting |
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August 9th (Sat) |
BAFRA board meeting |
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September 20th & 21st (Sat/Sun) |
Britbowl weekend |
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October 18th (Sat) |
BAFA board meeting |
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October 26th (Sun) |
NFL game at Wembley |
n/a |
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November 22nd (Sat) |
BAFRA board meeting |
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BAFRA Directors |
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President |
Jim Briggs |
General Secretary |
Paul Sutton |
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Finance |
Charles Dean-Young |
Operations |
Pete Thom |
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Recruitment |
Alun Price |
Training |
David Parsons |
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Director without Portfolio #1 |
Dan Bridgland |
Director without Portfolio #2 |
Vacant |
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The opinions expressed in this Newsflash are those of the contributors, and not necessarily of BAFRA or its Directors. All Incident Reports to be submitted via www.bafra.org. Deadline for articles submitted by email (newsflash@bafra.org) is midnight Tuesday. |