As mailed to club secretaries today

Membership for 2020-21, let us know now. The Virtual AGM is due 17th June. Refs news + if you find your own ref let Mark know!

Membership for 2020-21, let us know now. League Membership forms for next season will be emailed to secretaries before the end of March, to be returned with your latest club details for the virtual handbook to John Luckhurst by 31st May. The form is available on this site under the resources menu.

1. If you are changing your email or giving up the role to someone else can you let John know now so that the information can go to the correct address
2. If it is NOT your intention for the club to continue next season you should let John know by 31st March in writing. You may forfeit your £50 deposit if you don’t let the league know by the end of this month?

So far we have had one new club making a request to join next season. If you know of any others please pass on my contact details below, to them.

Thank you to those of you that have sent in ideas and proposals to make improvements to the way the league is run, and all of these messages are being taken into consideration as we move towards the AGM.

The Annual General Meeting is on Thursday 17th June. Again it is highly likely this will be virtual, unless the Covid 19 restrictions on us are completely lifted. Full details will follow, nearer the date. Please make a note of the date now.

If you would like to get more involved in the League Management please let anyone on the committee know. Meetings have been virtual during the pandemic, and will probably continue that way into next season.

Referee Appointments

Our League attended the Wiltshire Referee Appointments Officers (RAO’S), meeting this week where a collaboration between the county leagues was launched to retain and re-register local referees, and discuss new methods to fully engage those already taking middles, and attract more. As you can imagine it has been a struggle with the pandemic to run referee courses, to train new ones, which may impact on referee numbers and our coverage for next season.

Mark already has a good number of referees signed up, and better placed than ever to allocate a referee for your game. As frustrating as it can be waiting for a referee to be allocated on Full Time, these appointments can be made by him up to the morning of the fixture. We fully understand it is not ideal for your match preparations, but be re-assured to know he will still be working on it on your behalf! He will strive to cover every one of your games.

With new RAO’s weekly communications going into place, it is most important to contact your referee by Thursday evening, at the latest, to let them know your game is still going ahead, (as other Leagues will be looking to take up any without a game confirmed).

Yes Ref have been campaigning across the Leagues in Wiltshire, but agreement was reached on Monday between us, that the League’s own RAO’s are best placed to find the right referee for you!  “Yes ref” should only be used as a last resort, and you must contact Mark if you engage Yes Ref or find your own referee.  He will appoint who he considers to be suitable for the game, and although “Yes refs” will apply the Laws of the Game, they may not be as “prepared”

Whether, if by accident or design, two refs attend the same match, the League Appointed will take the match over the “Yes ref” official, and your club will be charged by the League appointed referee. So please keep checking your Full Time alerts, and keep up your communications with Mark.