12tb August 2004
Participants: B. Gill
(Pres)
T.Troughton (1st V.P.)
E. Evans (Sec)
L. Eloy (Treas)
M. Sousa (Quebec)
E. Chies (BC)
W. Hoyle (Hon Life
Member)
K. Jones (CSA Ref
Committee)
J. Knox ( Ontario Soccer
Assoc)
B.C. Report:
Elvio
Chies reported that the BCSRA has been busy hosting visiting officials for a
World Cup qualifier and the International Pacific Cup recently. Their
Association has decided to follow BC Soccer's lead with respect to on-line registration and will undergo a
trial run this year. A special levy has been introduced mat will help offset the cost
of on-line membership as well as a commerative coin to celebrate BCSRA's 35th
anniversary. The U-14/15 All Star championships had been held in BC.
Kevin
Jones indicated a World Cup qualifier will be held in Edmonton in September and the National Club
U-18 Championships will be hosted over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Rocky
Mountain Cup had recently been held with officials coining in from outside the province. The
A-League continues to operate out of Edmonton but under different management.
Kevin reported that he had sent an e-mail to Mike Seifert regarding the health
of Kieran McGanigle who has been diagnosed with cancer.
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Saskatchewan Report:
Kevin
Jones reported on recent activities. Willy Laidlaw was in charge of all the officials
when Saskatchewan hosted the All Star Girls' Championships and Sonia Denoncourt
had acted in the capacity of mentor. On 3rd August 3 major tournaments had been held that fully
stretched the officials to the limit. The is no word from Jimmy Nicholson
regarding his efforts to re-start the provincial referee association.
Manitoba Report:
Larry
Eloy gave the report. The outdoor
season has been flu
own into disarray because they had snow in May that caused over 1000 games to be postponed. Extremely wet
weather has seen another 500 games also be postponed. There simply isn't enough
officials to cover all the games scheduled for August. Two MSRA members have been suspended and
another 6 reprimanded for
repeatedly failing to show for appointments/late arrival or failing to submit
game reports etc. The monthly education sessions are on going that require a
75% attendance
rate - 2 sessions are mandatory. Hector Vergara is in Athens at the Olympics. The provincial Cup
play-offs are underway and a squad of officials has been appointed to cover all
the games. Indoor tournaments has seen an increase in abuse of officials etc
and the MSRA has submitted a policy paper to Manitoba Soccer making the teams
responsible for the safety of officials before, during and after each game.
Ontario Report:
Basil
Gill read a report provided by Joe Licandro. The date for the CSRA annual general meeting
has been confirmed for 22nd January. Several venues are still being investigated. The
OSRA will hold their own AGM on 21st November. Membership in the OSRA is
currently 800 and there will be one more Council meeting before the AGM in November. Jim
Lefkos of Toronto will be one of the Olympic torchbearers on the Cyprus leg of
the torch journey to Athens. Eric Evans provided some brief details of the pilot project
being run for the new regional
development program involving referee evaluation and advisory services that will be operated province wide
next year. The program involves evaluators that are paid contract employees of
the OSA. The next phase will see instructors be employed in the same manner.
The final phase will see game schedulers become registrants of the OSA subject to increase
scrutiny and accountability.
Quebec Report:
Manuel
Sousa provided details: Manuel indicated that they have a similar scheme in Quebec that
involves a select group but will also go province wide next year. There are approx.
5000 registered officials in the province. They also have been using videotaping of
officials during games to eliminate a number of undesirable habits etc. and analyze
performances of officials. Manuel has been invited to go to the USA Cup next
year as an assessor. He plans to take several of the young Nominated National referees
from Quebec if they are available. Quebec has two female N.N.referees. At the moment there
doesn't appear to be much chance of Quebec officials forming an association that would
join the CSRA. Manuel asked Kevin Jones about the funding arrangements which
was supposed to enable
referees in the A-League travel out of their own province. Kevin indicated that
the league only made available a fixed sum to the CSA. This had hampered the original idea of switching the
officials around.
Secretary's Report:
Eric
Evans indicated that every official on the National Program had received a second
reminder about the John B. Meachin Award. Donations of $100 had been received from each of the
CSA and BC Soccer. Each provincial referee association was urged to contribute
and urge their respective provincial soccer association to donate too. Alberta was
encouraged to donate this year as they hadn't done so last year. Hector Vergara
had been unable to go to Lima,
Peru, as originally planned as he had changed jobs and now works for Manitoba Soccer. He mentioned that
the CSRA and the OSRA should coordinate their respective guest speakers to
avoid both selecting Denise Robinson who has been to the Pan Am Games, Women's
World Cup and now the Olympics in less man 12 months. Manuel asked Eric to provide as much
information on the Fund and
Award as possible so that he could approach the Quebec Soccer Federation.
Treasurer's Report:
Larry
Eloy indicated that he hasn't sent out the invoices for the 2004 subscriptions yet but
would do so in about 3 weeks. The CIBC had managed to lose all the documents involving signing
authority of the separate account for the Meachin Award, requiring the process
to commence all over again.
Our
bank account stands at $1702.89 exclusive of the $6000 or so set aside for the Meachin Fund. Larry is recommending
a fee increase of 50 cents for 2006. This would see the fee increase from $3.00 to $3.50 per
member.
John Knox,
Vice President of the Ontario Soccer Association had been listening during the
conference call and said it had been very interesting to hear accounts from all across Canada.
Eric
Evans mentioned the FIFA question and Answer Book that appears on the FIFA web site. Some of the answers
would imply that there had been changes in the interpretation of the laws without them being
specifically covered by a FIFA circular dealing them. The problem really stems from the
re-writing of the law book
after 1996 and no mention of these alleged new interpretations until now. It was suggested that he write with
the specific details to Cathy at the CSA for the Referee Committee to discuss.
Conference ended after
85 minutes
E. Evans Secretary