This update is for all YEL club and team officials and covers
Brian Ridgard
Scheduling games and staggering kick off times
Kick off times relaxation
COVID-19 Coordinators meetings
Player registrations – inc duplicate players in same age group
League Fees
WGS helpers
Deadlines for new teams – wed 19th 5pm
Confirm access to full-time and check venues
BRIAN RIDGARD
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Brian Ridgard on Monday 10th August. Brian was 78 and our longest serving and best known referee. He was a referee for 46 years and was still very active last season and it is highly likely that he will have visited your Club at some point.
There are very few people who can remember the YEL without Brian being around. When Kev Cooper joined in 1991 Brian was the Fixture Secretary for around 120 teams, a far cry from the 1,200 teams we have now and everything was meticulously recorded by Brian by hand; Hand written monthly fixtures photocopied and given out at monthly meetings. Brian was also a Vice Chairman and Chair of the Girls section in the 90s.
Along with his partner Sharon and long time friend Maurice (who passed away earlier this year) they would also be ever present at YEL Presentation days and Cup Finals where they gave so much time for the children of the YEL.
Brian had many, many friends in the YEL and the wider Nottingham footballing community and he will be sadly missed by all. Our thoughts go out to Sharon, his family and friends.
Brian’s funeral will take place at Bramcote Crematorium on Friday 21st August at 2pm. There are still COVID-19 restrictions in place and, as such, the service is restricted to 30 people inside. We are looking at whether or not we can have a presence outside the crematorium and create a socially distanced ‘guard of honour’ on the driveway up to the building. If you would like to be part of this (if permitted) and pay your respects, please email me directly – ceo@yelonline.com and I will keep you advised/updated.
SCHEDULING GAMES AND STAGGERING KICK OFFS
We would strongly advise all clubs with a multi pitch site to look at how you are scheduling your games and whether it would benefit staggering kick off times in order to meet your facilities/risk assessment requirements for controlling numbers in line with COVID-19 guidance. There is no Forest, Derby, Leicester, Mansfield or Notts game for people to rush off to as grounds are currently closed to fans. If you have six games at your venue, why not have three at 10am and then three more at 12.30pm to allow the 10am participants to finish and leave safely. The participants in the 12noon games can then arrive safely and good social distancing can be maintained throughout the day. This may also help with allocation of referees as one ref could potentially do two games.
RELAXATION OF MINI SOCCER KICK OFF TIME RULE
In order to assist clubs with managing numbers on site due to COVID-19 restrictions and associated risk assessments, the YEL Board have made the decision to relax the rule for kick offs in mini soccer and bring it in line with 9v9 and 11v11 matches. Matches for mini soccer can therefore now kick off between 10am and 2.30pm and the home team has control over the kick off time up until 10 days prior to the game. Inside ten days of the game, the home team must seek the agreement of the opposition to amend the kick off time from the default. The earliest kick off time for mini soccer is 9.30am however this always has to be agreed with the opposition first, regardless of the number of days’ notice given.
COVID-19 COORDINATORS MEETINGS
Thanks to all of the clubs who have registered their COVID-19 Coordinators. The first of our COVID-19 Coordinators meetings took place online on Thursday. My thanks go to Stephen Rooth from Notts County Girls who delivered a great overview of the considerations he took into account when preparing his risk assessment. This was followed by a really positive Q&A/discussion between Coordinators where some excellent ideas were shared. If you didn’t make this first meeting, I would strongly advise attending the second one on Tuesday 18th at 7pm which will follow the same theme. Invites will go out on Monday 17th to all COVID-19 Coordinators who did not attend the first one.
Reminder: Risk Assessments around training and match days MUST be carried out before any football activity restarts. This is FA Guidance! Also, ANY opposition official may ask to see your risk assessment in order to ensure their players are playing in a safe environment.
WARNING: To ensure some uniformity of process and to protect our members, The YEL Board have agreed that any club/team who has not entered a COVID-19 Coordinator which could infer that they have not completed the necessary Risk Assessments prior to the start of the season may well have their FIXTURES WITHDRAWN by the YEL as it is a collective responsibility for everyone to keep everybody else safe.
If anyone wants an additional invite to the meeting who is not a COVID-19 Coordinator, please email ceo@yelonline.com and you will be added to the invite list.
PLAYER REGISTRATIONS
We currently have just under 11,000 players registered (increase of 2,500 since last week) which, given the unprecedented year we have had so far, is very reasonable. We are expecting 16,000 players by the start of the season which means we still have some way to go and just 22 days left for them all to be in! First deadline of 16th August is looming. We need to see at least half a squad (ideally min of 6 players) registered for each team. Please load the players as quickly as possible (ensure teams are definitely going to be able to compete) otherwise this could cause disruption to the fixtures which have been set, if teams withdraw at late notice.
Also, we have noticed some clubs registering players for more than one team within their club at the same age group on the same day. Whilst WGS will permits this, wed would point out that FOR U9s UPWARDS, THE YEL ONLY ALLOW PLAYERS TO SIGN FOR ONE TEAM AT AN AGE GROUP ON THE SAME DAY. U7s & U8s sign for an age group and can play for different teams from the same club within that age group. If you have mistakenly added a U9s upward player to more than one team, please notify the YEL Office who will advise what needs to be done. Any club found signing a player to more than one team is likely be fined.
LEAGUE FEES
Reminder to all treasurers, the deadline for payment of league fees is August 16th, Any club that is experiencing any kind of financial difficulty in paying the league fees should message the CEO via Scoreline messages – select CEO from the dropdown box – giving details. All league fees MUST be paid as soon as possible. No club will be permitted to play any YEL games until fees have been paid.
WGS HELPERS
One of our members has suggested that we create our own ‘Go to team’ of Whole Game System volunteer helpers to provide assistance to new YEL clubs/new volunteers for existing clubs who may be struggling with the complexities of the system. If you would like to be one of these volunteers and are happy to spare some time to talk people through the process, please drop me an email – ceo@yelonline.com – I’m sure any assistance from those who have used the system for a while and are familiar/comfortable with it, would be appreciated.
DEADLINE FOR NEW TEAMS TO BE ENTERED FOR THE START OF THE SEASON
For the particular attention of new U7s and U8s – Please note any teams that want to start from the beginning of September, have until Wednesday 19th August 5pm to get the application for the team in and registered on Scoreline, the team registered with CFA, listed on Whole Game System and showing on Full-Time. If ANY of this is not completed in time, the admission will be deferred to the next intake which will be the start of November. No exceptions will be made regardless of circumstances/who is to blame as we have to start the season on time. Applications for inclusion from November will need to be made by the beginning of October at the latest.
CONFIRM ACCESS TO FULL-TIME AND CHECK VENUES
ALL YEL TEAM MANAGERS/COACHES – It is essential that all existing managers and coaches attempt to log into Full-Time using last year’s username and password. Anyone who cannot access Full-Time should message the YEL Office via Scoreline or drop the office an email – yel@live.co.uk.
Automated emails have gone out to ALL new team contacts. Please look out for these – check spam, junk etc – and click the link to verify your email address. Then log into Full-Time to ensure it is working properly.
Please also check your venues are correct on Full-Time. Any issues with incorrect venue information, please contact YEL Office either by Scoreline message or yel@live.co.uk