Minutes of Committee Meeting - 31 January 2023

NORTH WEST INTERMEDIATE RUGBY UNION LEAGUES
SPONSORED BY HALBRO
Minutes of the Committee Meeting: By Zoom 31st January 2023 @ 7pm

Committee Present: Fred Swarbrick, John Powell, Andy Thompson, Paul Riordan, Peter Harrison, Peter Rhodes, Paul O’Riordan, Craig Hines, Craig Ross, Tommy Hughes, Greg King, Ian Cousens, Mark Asley and Sarah Shackleton
Apologies: None

Matters Arising:

The Fleetwood player is progressing well and thanked the Committee for the help provided. No complaint had been received from Aldershaw with regards to opposition player numbers.

Finance:

The RFU monies have not yet been received from Lancashire RFU. It is believed that this has now been sent to them. Tommy Hughes to chase it up. Nothing much else has happened since the last meeting. The cost of Zoom is going up to £15 per month. A discussion took place with regards to swapping to Microsoft Teams which is free, to save money. Paul Riordan to check it out.

Sponsorship:

No new sponsorship. Cups are still not sponsored so will be called the Barry Allen Memorial Finals

Cup Competition:

Anselmians to get 4 finals and Leigh 3. Fred is meeting with the engraver to discuss needs. GK, IC, CH, CR and TH to go to Leigh Finals FS, JP, PH, MA, SS and PR to go to Anselmians
A discussion took place regarding inclement weather on a cup weekend and if unable to use either team pitches. This is because the rounds follow on each week. In order to avoid complaints etc John will send out recommendations to the committee and ask for comments. Once agreed this will then be posted on the website and Facebook. It was agreed that next year the cup competition will be played throughout the season.

Fixtures:

John Powell reported that there were no games outstanding and that all were now re-arranged or had gone to the pools panel. 46 games had gone to the pools panel and there are 17 double headers. PH raised the issue regarding weather weeks being used for postponed games when teams are short of players, that when these dates are needed for weather postponed games, they are not available and the pools panel result is not always agreeable to the teams. In 4E Spartans queried their league position and JP said this was a GMS issue as the RFU use points difference whereas our leagues use head to head results. It will be sorted at the end of the season. There were 6 teams that left the leagues in January and that made a total of 18 in all.
JP showed a chart on how each league was performing in relation to games played. The figures ranged from 73% up to 95%. Overall the average was 84% well above last year. JP reported there was a difference between his and the RFU figures some better and some worse. He is waiting access to their system to ascertain what the differences are.

Dinner:

At Preston Grasshoppers, everything is sorted Friday 12th May. £20 per head with £5 going to the Benevolent Fund. Maximum numbers 220, promised numbers 180

Trophies:

Any outstanding trophies need to be returned to Fred as soon as possible. New/Reconditioned trophy needed for the Div 3C/3N cup.

New Tackle Law:

A discussion took places regarding the new tackle law (below the waist) that the RFU intend to introduce in community rugby for next season. The consensus of opinion was that it would be very difficult to referee, poorly thought out, no consultation and not good for the game.

Player Registration:

A document came out from the RFU about player registration. It was a poorly worded document and referred to registration of players to a club rather than game day registration and game cards.

Meeting closed at 20:45