BAFRA ANNUAL CONVENTION – SAT 2^ND AND SUN 3^RD APRIL 2016

2016 Rule Book

The 2016 BAFA Rule book is currently at the printers. You will be able to pick up your free copy at the registration desk on the Saturday morning at the Convention

Programme of Events

The Convention Programme is taking shape and should be completed next week. Again we have included a total of 8 Break-out sessions, covering a variety of topics, which everyone will be able to attend. There will also be plenty of game film and various presentations throughout the weekend.

70 and counting

The following 70 Members have booked their place at the Convention. If you are not listed, it may be because you have only recently confirmed your place in the last couple of days. An updated list will be issued next week.

Stuart Alger, Graham Baker, Jaeson Bennett, Jim Briggs, Jed Brooks-Lewis, Roger Brown, Derek Burridge, Darren Carr, Phil Clarke, Martin Cockerill, Graham Coleman, Alisha Darkins, Ian Davies, Roy Davis, Steve Egan, Tim Fisher, Jo Foxon, Barry Gent, Martin Gibson, Muz Gibson, Roger Goodgroves, John Griffin, Ben Griffiths, Krister Halvorsean, Graham Hedges, David Hewitt, Rob Hill, Daniel Holt, Heather Horner, Phil Hume, Mark Hurst, Chris Jarvis, David Knight, Albert Lambert, Bill LeMonnier, Tzvi Lindeman, Andrew Lovell, Frank McParlin, Jason Mead, James Meredith, Andrew Murrell, Russell Newton, Tim Ockendon, Ian Papworth, Toby Papworth, Davie Parsons, Tom Pennick, Euan Peterson, Vladimir Platonov, Michael Prentice, Henry Richardson, Mike Roberts, Conrad Russell, Clive Sandle, Ian Sneddon, Shawn Sombati, Kevin Stanton, Darran Sterling, Paul Sutton, Pete Thom, Steve Tonkinson, Sean Welsh, Keith Wickham, Colin Willox, Mark Wilson, Dean Wright, Jon Wyse, Brian Yates, Charles Young, Stuart Young.

Let’s Get Registered

If you are not taking advantage of the excellent accommodation rates available at Yarnfield Park Training & Conference Centre you still need to register to attend the Convention. To register please contact Sean Welsh at convention@bafra.org. Full details of the Convention and accommodation rates can be found at the following link: http://www.bafra.org/newsflash/2016/201605.htm.

Payment

Payment for Convention rooms are due by 20^th March and payment can be made electronically or by cheque.

By cheques; with full payment included, should be made payable to BAFRA Ltd and sent to Charles Young at 18 Southgate, Whitworth, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL12 8UQ. Cheques may not be cashed till this date.

By electronic payment; please ensure your payment reference is your full name and BAFRA number e.g. “Roger Brown 469” and use the account number 10255350, sort code 16-16-11, BAFRA Ltd, RBS, Cheetham Hill, Manchester.

By electronic payment plan; It is appreciated that some people may wish to spread the cost and make multiple payments over the weeks leading up to 20^th March. Please use the same instructions as above. If you wish to make multiple payments, then you must make the payments electronically and not by cheque.

Please let us know how you wish to pay by including this information in your email to Sean Welsh at convention@bafra.org when you register.

Game Fees

Unfortunately, payment for the Convention cannot be taken from Game Fees. The administration work involved is far too time consuming and does not fit well with our newly introduced process of paying games Fees by direct transfer to your bank account.

Davie Parsons

president@bafra.org

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

As always, a proportion of the director posts are due for election at the meeting. This year these are: President, General Secretary, Director of Training and Director without Portfolio #1. All of the present incumbents have indicated they are intending to seek re-election except for the Director of Portfolio #1 who will be standing down after the AGM.

The directors encourage all qualified members to consider putting themselves forward for one of the above roles (whether or not the existing incumbent is standing). Should any member considering standing require more information about any of the roles prior to submitting their nomination they should contact me, or if they prefer, another director.

The following nominations have been received (correct to 5:00pm on Wednesday 24^th February 2016):

President:

Davie Parsons (425), nominated by Steve Tonkinson (99), seconded by Les Connor (152)

General Secretary:

Paul Sutton (312), nominated by Stuart Young (33), seconded by Mike Cavanagh (465).

Director of Training:

No nominations yet received

Director without Portfolio #1:

David Knight (135), nominated by Roger Brown (469), seconded by Phil Hume (52)

I will keep this list updated via Newsflash until the closing date. Please note that nominations must be sent to me, electronically, to arrive no later than 5:00pm on 5^th March.

Paul Sutton

secretary@bafra.org

THE BAFA SAPPHIRE SERIES (WOMEN'S TACKLE FOOTBALL) 12^TH MARCH, 26^TH MARCH, 16^TH APRIL EVENTS!

The Sapphire Series commences this Saturday. Can I begin by thanking everyone who has already offered their services to work tournaments. However we do still require one more official at both Leeds and Edinburgh for the first series of games on 27^th February. Other tournaments will be played on 12^th March, 26^th March and 16^th April. We now need volunteers to come forward for all of these tournaments. Details are contained below. We have already had some Elite officials make themselves available and I hope all of them cover at least one of these events. In addition can I ask that newer officials try to cover a tournament as this will be valuable experience to take you into the Senior League season. The support of BAFRA officials will be a valuable contribution to the development of BAFA's women's football programme.

The Sapphire Series is the national championship for women’s contact football. The series, which runs from February to April sees teams compete across a number of tournaments in the standard 5 v 5 format and now for the first time, the new BAFA 7 v 7 format. The 7 v 7 format will be used for the five Division 1 teams playing for the Sapphire National Championship; The nine Division 2 teams will compete at 5 v 5 format for the Div 2 North and South conference titles. The series runs with tournament-style game days at which 4 -5 teams will be present. There will be 4 tournament dates with 3 regional based tournaments taking part on each of these, so a total of 12 tournament events. Teams play two games each per day and tournaments are expected to last around three to three and a half hours. Officials can expect to officiate 2-3 games, all lasting between 45-60 minutes. Most events will start first games at 13:00 and will be finished by 16:30 latest. All tournaments take place on a Saturday .

Dates, formats, times and venues for the tournaments are as follows:

12^th March 2016

• AJ Bell Stadium Salford (7 v 7) 6 officials required

• Hamilton Stadium East Kilbride) (5 v 5 ) 4 officials required

• Portsmouth or London (TBC) (5 v 5) 4 officials required

• 26th March - Hatfield (7 v 7), Teesside and South London (5 v 5)

• 16th April - Birmingham (7 v 7), Chester and Norwich (5 v 5)

We will put all these events onto Arbiter but seek officials to contact us about their availability asap, especially for the first series of events on 27^th February.

We are particularly seeking officials who are willing to be part of the introductory and development of the new 7 v 7 Format and ideally attend several of these events to help bed-in the rules and mechanics and provide feedback to the competition organisers and to other game officials. Please come-forward quickly to that we can provide copies of the game and competition rules for the new format ahead of game days.

Officials will be paid a game fee for all of these assignments directly through BAFA/BAFRA.

Richard Vernon

operations@bafra.org

BAFRA FEES FOR PLAY-OFF GAMES

Several Referees have asked for clarification regarding charges to teams for Play-Off games.

As stated in the Members Handbook. Teams pay for a 5-man crew for all BUCS play-off games and a 7-man crew for the bowl game and all finals as per the annex to our T&Cs.

Richard Vernon

operations@bafra.org

BAFRA CHARITY 2016

BAFRA will be holding its annual charity weekend again this year and, as in the past, the charity will be chosen by the members. Please send any nominations for this year’s charity to me to arrive by 5:00pm on 2nd March.

Members attending the Convention on the Saturday will be invited to select this year’s charity from those put forward. Each year we have succeeded in increasing the amount raised for our chosen charity. Let’s hope that this year again beats all previous records.

Paul Sutton

secretary@bafra.org

3 MAN CREWS LAST SUNDAYS

Can I thank all officials who worked one of the eight games played last Sunday where we had to field a 3 man crew. This was due to an unprecedented number of late withdrawals from crews.

We realise working a 3 man crew is a tough job so we are very grateful for your assistance in making sure that the final week of the regular season went ahead with so many games covered. Finally, a specific mention to Aminul Hassan, Stuart Young and Peter Roberts for completing a 3 man crew Double Header. In 5 years of assigning officials to games this is the first (hopefully last) time I have asked officials if they were willing to do this so many thanks for your assistance. I know the teams have also expressed their gratitude for your hard work.

Richard Vernon

operations@bafra.org

RESULTS

Hallam Warriors 14-20 Durham Saints

Stirling Clansmen 42-3 Loughborough Students

Birmingham Lions 27-10 Hertfordshire Hurricanes

Bath Killer Bees 49-8 Imperial Immortals

Lancaster Bombers 0-44 Glasgow Tigers

Sunderland Spartans 6-13 Newcastle Raiders

Hull Sharks 44-0 Huddersfield Hawks

Leeds Beckett Carnegie 22-33 UCLan Rams

Nottingham Outlaws 40-0 Worcester Royals

Warwick Wolves 32-6 Staffordshire Stallions

Tarannau Aberystwyth 0-22 Exeter Demons

Swansea Titans 19-0 Cardiff Cobras

KCL Regents 42-28 Solent Redhawks

Reading Knights 6-25 RHUL Bears

Kent Falcons 8-0 Brighton Tsunami

Cambridge Pythons 40-0 Sussex Saxons

Teesside Cougars 24-0 UWS Pyros

UWS Pyros 0-30 Teesside Cougars

Heriot-Watt 0-10 Edinburgh Napier Knights

Edge Hill Vikings 22-8 Liverpool Raptors

LJMU Fury 14-20 Bangor Muddogs

MMU Eagles 21-14 Leeds Celtics

York Centurions 0-26 Manchester Tyrants

DMU Falcons 0-28 Leicester Longhorns

Coventry Jets 3-6 Lincoln Colonials

Bournemouth Bobcats 7-27 Bristol Barracuda

BNU Buccaneers 14-13 Chichester Spitfires

Brunel Burners 29-6 Southampton Stags

City Sentinels 12-9 UEL Titans

Oxford Lancers 39-0 ARU Rhinos

DISCIPLINARY CASES

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

END ZONE

CALENDAR