BWSL Meeting Minutes

9.22.08

 

I –Roll Call:

Teams present:  Xtreme, Rocking Flamingos, Ravens, Lunachicks, Fury, Sisterhood

Teams Absent:  Renegades, Red Bulls FC

 

II – Communication Reports from Board Members:

            A.  Vice President: Jennifer Reeves:

1.      Stats:  Teams were reminded to email Jenny no later than Tuesday after the game the following information (even if there was no score or your team lost):

·         Final score

·         Name(s) of goal scorers

·         Name(s) from assists

 

B.     Secretary:  Jean Ansourian: nothing to report.

 

C.     Treasurer:  Trudy Pitters:  absent

 

D.    Registrar: Teresa Mujica:

1.      This is the last week to add players to a team.  All new players must register online by Thursday 9/25/08. After this deadline, the only way to add a player is if another player is dropped from the roster due to abandonment, pregnancy, or injury. 

 

E.     FSSA Liaison: Heather Aguilar: absent

 

F.      Referee’s Liaison: Marie Amatuli: absent

 

G.    Games Rules Chairperson: Debbie Chin: absent

 

H.    Arbitration and Discipline Chairperson: Lauren Johnson: absent

 

I.       Marketing, Growth and Promotions Chairperson: vacant

1.      This position needs to be filled.

 

III – Unfinished Business: 

A.    Elections:

1.      We have not received any nominations at this time because election information was never posted on the website as discussed at the last meeting. Due to a lack of nominations, an election was not able to be held at the current meeting.

2.      Jenny will send out an email regarding elections to all team reps, who will then forward the email out to all team members. The email will advise that Board position nominations will be accepted via email to contactbwsl@yahoo.com thru 10/8/08.  Elections will be held at the games scheduled for 10/12/08. 

                                                                          i.      Teresa will make a list of all persons nominated for the elections. 

                                                                        ii.      Individuals who are nominated will need to be informed and asked if they will accept the position if elected.  Those who would decline the nomination will be removed from the ballot.

                                                                      iii.      Ballots will be distributed on 10/12/08 and results announced at the next BWSL meeting on 10/13/08.

                                                                      iv.      Bania is asked to place information about submitting nominations to contactbwsl@yahoo.com on the website.

 

B.     Coed:

1.      Broward County is closing Brian Piccolo Park on Tuesdays due to budget cuts. Jenny called Will today and confirmed that the park will be closed Tuesdays from 10/1/08-9/30/09.   The only field availability is on Saturday mornings.  Team reps indicated that there was not a great deal of interest from players in this option. 

 

C.     Park Research:

1.      Jenny looked into a city park in Sunrise.  They do not allow organized teams to play there; however, the fields could be used for pick up games if they were available.  Unfortunately, this does not fit our needs and would be impossible to try to organize/schedule use of this field.

2.      It was reported that the fields in Weston are not available as they are used for AYSO youth games. 

3.      Jen reports the Michelob Light League is playing in a park in a soccer park in Miramar.  She will look into availability at these fields.

4.      Bania was not present to give a report on if she was able to look into any parks in the southwestern part of the county. 

 

D.    Fall Tournament

1.      The tournament will be held on Saturday 11/1/08 from 9:00am to 5:00pm. We have reserved 2 fields.  These are the details of the tournament:

                                                                          i.      Women’s, Men’s and Coed divisions

                                                                        ii.      6 v. 6

                                                                      iii.      Games will be 30 minute running clock

                                                                      iv.      Cost: $200/team with a 3 game guarantee

2.      We are still looking for 3 more sets of small goals.  Teresa is going to ask Michelle Smith.

3.      Teresa’s daughter is going to help out with making flyers for the tournament.

4.      Bania and/or the webmaster guys are requested to update the website with the tournament information as well as setting up the registration for the tournament online.

5.      A suggestion was made to look into getting companies to donate items and/or services to raffle off during the tournament as additional fundraising opportunities.

 

E.     Webmaster Update:

1.      Bania was not present at the meeting, so therefore, no update from the webmaster guys was available. 

2.      Since there is no coed season at this time, we need to know ASAP from the webmaster guys if they are willing to work on the site still.  Currently, Jenny and Bania are updating information on the website.

3.      Jenny gave Ericka the FrontPage software so she can learn the program.

 

F.      AED Machine:

1.      A question was raised as to why we were going to spend $2,000 to purchase an AED machine when the park has them.  Previous concerns have been that the AED machine is not easy to get at our fields if it is needed.  We need to follow up with the park on the following 2 issues:

                                                                          i.       Exactly where are the machines?  Can they place one of their AED machines closer to our fields?

                                                                        ii.       We also need to find out how we would notify anyone at the park if there was an emergency situation that required the use of the AED.  We need to know their policy for the use of the machine. 

 

 

 

IV - New Business

 

B.     Respecting Referees:

1.      Referee Assignor Derrick had sent an email earlier in the day voicing some complaints from a game on 9/21/08 involving players from the Ravens team reportedly being disrespectful.  Derrick was not present at the meeting to add more to the discussion.  Jean reported events as reported from the Ravens players. 

2.      Teams were reminded that to discuss specific issues and concerns during the game, only the team captain and/or team manager should address the referees.  Players do need to be respectful of the referees.

 

C.     Uniforms:

1.      There have been problems with several teams not having matching uniforms and uniforms not having numbers. 

                                                                          i.      The league rules state: “All players shall appear in coordinated, clean uniforms at all league games.  Shirts must be of the same color with unique numbers printed on the backside.” 

                                                                        ii.      Some teams have been wearing mismatching shirts and using tape to make numbers on backs of shirts. But the tape can come off and sometimes there are multiple players with the same number (which is not allowed). Most teams have been allowed to play despite these uniform issues; however, one player on 9/21/08 from the Ravens was not allowed to play due to not having a matching uniform with a printed number on the back.  There has been inconsistency in enforcing this rule across all teams.

                                                                      iii.       Some teams have ordered new uniforms and they have not arrived yet, so there are few options of having all matching uniforms with numbers.  It was discussed that there could be some flexibility with the uniform rule in this case for the first few games. 

                                                                      iv.      Since the next game will be the fourth game of the fall season, all teams must have matching colored shirts with unique, printed numbers on the back.

 

D.    Referee Concerns:

1.      There were several concerns raised regarding the referees.  The Referee Liaison is asked to review these concerns with the Referee Assignor and have a report at our next meeting:

                                                                          i.      Referees are being inconsistent with enforcing rules.  For example: in one game, a player was not allowed to play due to a uniform issue and in the next game with the same referees, several players were allowed to play despite uniforms not meeting the standards set forth in the league rules.

                                                                        ii.      Referees are showing up late.  On 9/21/08, there were no refs on field 3 until approximately 5:10pm.  The referee then cut the game short, reportedly due to the late start time (not players fault), even though it could have gone the full time and still ended in time for the 7:00 game to start on time.

                                                                      iii.      Referees are not checking players’ equipment prior to game start.  Players found wearing jewelry in the middle of the game cause the game to stop so jewelry can be removed. 

                                                                      iv.      Referees are not checking to make sure that all players have signed the game sheet and that the game sheet matches with the cards provided.  Players played on 9/21/08 who had not signed the game sheet.

                                                                        v.      A linesperson did not know the offsides rule and the center ref had to stop the game to explain the rule to her.  She still missed offsides calls afterwards.  It appears that some referees are not knowledgeable of FIFA rules.

2.      The board needs to know from the Referee Liaison the outcome of the follow up that was requested at the last BWSL meeting on 8/20/08. Teresa was asked to follow up with Marie and have a report at the next meeting. See below which was copied from the meeting minutes from 8/20/08:

1.       There are several issues that we would like to be reviewed with Derrick, the Referee Assignor:

a.       Games need to start on time to begin the match and after halftime.  Sometimes the referees are arriving late or they are there, but not starting the match at game time.  If a team does not have sufficient players at game start time, the clock is to start and a 10 minute leeway period begins.  If there are not enough players after the 10 minutes, the game is forfeited.  If enough players show up, the game begins immediately.  A delay in the first game should not impact the start time of the second match.  A 5:00 game needs to end by 6:55 at the latest so the 7:00 game can start on time.  This is important because the lights will go off at 9:00.  

b.      We need to notify Derrick when the referees show up late to the games.

c.       Marie will look into the following issues:

1)      What is the sanction for a referee showing up late to the game?

2)      How early is a referee supposed to arrive at the field?  Many refs show up right before or right at game time.

3)      Is it the referee’s responsibility to check the field conditions and equipment prior to the game?

d.      We would like the referees to bring the different colored shirts out to the field so there is not extra delay from them having to return to their cars to change their shirt if it conflicts with a team uniform. 

e.       We have increased our referee fees to $50 and $25.  It is believed that these are competitive fees.  We need to ask Derrick to get us State Referees for our games.  State Referees have more training and are generally looking to advance thru the referee levels.  It is believed that there are State Referees available who would be willing to ref our games at our new rates.  We will re-assess the level of referees we are getting at our matches in 6 months to see if there is improvement.

f.       Referees need to verify that the player pass card presented is current (The year is marked at the top of the card).

 

E.     Rules and By-laws to new players:

1.      A suggestion was made to provide a hard copy of all league rules and by-laws to all new players to BWSL.  In an effort to save paper, another suggestion was made to clearly post the rules and by-laws on the home page of the league website.  Currently, it is very difficult to find where the rules are posted.

                                                                          i.      Bania and/or the webmaster guys are requested to place links on the home page to the rules and by-laws.

 

F.      Online Registration:

1.      This fall season there were 3 new players to the league who registered online for teams without any discussion/approval from team managers.  There is no way that someone who just visits our website and is not familiar with the league would know that they could not just register for whatever team they like.  There is not anything posted on the registration page that indicates that a player looking to join a team should add their name to the “Player looking for a team” section of the website and wait to be contacted by team managers in need of new players.  2 suggestions were made:

                                                                          i.      Password protect the team pages.  The team manager would then notify players what the password is so they can use it when they register.

                                                                        ii.      Put a statement on the registration page that informs players looking to join a team that they need to contact the team manager before registration.  There could also be a link to the Players looking to join a team part of the website.

1.      We will need some feedback about the capabilities of the website to make any decisions about this issue.

2.      There were problems with the online registration this season.  Several players indicated that the information typed in would get deleted.  When the report from Paypal was run, most players did not have both a date of birth and a phone number listed. 

                                                                          i.      Before next season’s registration, we need to make sure that all the glitches are out of the registration process so all data that is entered is captured by Paypal.

 

G.    Spectator behavior:

1.      There was an incident at the field on 9/21/08 in which some young boys (children of players) were very rude and obscene to the goalie on another field. The goalie asked the boys to stop, but they only became more rude and obscene (cussing and using hand gestures). The goalie informed the team who had brought the children.  Just a reminder to all teams, that spectators are the responsibility of the player.  Rude and disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated and the spectator needs to leave the field if they cannot behave appropriately.  Park security could also be called on to assist if needed.

 

 

NEXT MEETING:  MONDAY 10.13.08 AT 6:30PM AT THERESA’S HOUSE

 

 

AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING:

1.      Election results

2.      Park research

3.      Fall tournament

4.      Webmaster update

5.      Referee Liaison update

6.      AED machine – answers from the park