CKA Committee Meeting Minutes

Thursday 22nd July 2021, 8.30pm, via Zoom

ATTENDEES:

PRESENT

ABSENT

APOLOGY

Chairperson (Howard Laffling, Phoenix)

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Secretary ( Nick Collier, City)

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Treasurer (Philip Morton, Vikings)

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Fixtures (Kevin McGuiness, Tigers)

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Results (Mark Wassell, Phoenix)

✔

Senior Development (Vacant)

Junior Development (Liv Harcourt, Tigers)

✔

Refereeing (Chris West, Tigers)

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Coaching (Vacant)

Publicity (Chris Jones, City)

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CPO (Mark Wilson, City)

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OTHERS:

City Rep(s) [Simon McGregor]

Lions Rep(s) [ ]

Phoenix Rep(s) [Fiona Hall]

Tigers Rep(s) [Mark Potter]

University Rep(s) [ ]

Vikings Rep(s) [Chris Brown]

1. LEAGUE DISCUSSIONS AND RETURN TO PLAY

The AGM was closed, the committee agreed to discuss how the league might look next season. Each club gave a brief update on how their return to play had been going and how many teams they hoped they might enter.

City reported that they have been training outdoor regularly, when possible since lockdown. Their membership is at least around the same level as before Covid, if not higher, so they expect to be able to enter four or five teams into the CKL, plus 1 in SERL. Their junior membership also remains high.

Phoenix reported that they have lost several members for various reason but also have some junior players coming through into senior training. They have held some outdoor training, and have now returned to indoor training at CRC. Seeking to recruit new members and confident in being able to enter two or three teams into CKL.

Tigers have also lost a number of players, but have some younger players moving into the senior teams. Some will have to be managed carefully as they have missed some of their usual transition time. They have a positive outlook on membership numbers and team entries. The Perse are currently not taking bookings, so training has been outdoor and has been well attended. It is unclear when external bookings will resume at the Perse, which could be potentially difficult for the next season.

Vikings have only been able to train outdoors, but training has been well attended, including by new members. They expect to enter two or three teams into the CKL. They have entered a SERL team, which will include several of their young players. They are also experiencing some uncertainty with hall bookings. The Hive is being used as a vaccination centre so is unavailable until the end of October. They have plans to train at the College, but this hall will be used for exams from October to December so will be unavailable for matches.

There was some discussion about supporting the young players entering the senior league after a prolonged break from training and playing. Care should be taken to ensure development matches are played in the spirit they are intended. It was noted that some match times are very late for young players, including Phoenix and Uni home games. There was a suggestion that some additional games could be organised for 13-16 year olds who might benefit from playing with others in their own age group. Clubs are asked to contact Liv and outline how many 13-16 year old members of each gender they have who might be interested in additional game time.

Clubs

Liv has been in touch with CRC to enquire about hall bookings for junior activity for next season, and will share the details once plans are more firm.

2. 2019 SEASON OPTIONS

The 2019 was suspended due to the pandemic, so a decision needs to be taken about how the final placings should be decided ahead of the next season starting. The following options were discussed:

1. Play remaining fixtures. There are 30 fixtures across both divisions left to be played, so this isn't going to be feasible.

2. Play enough fixtures to determine some positions in the league. A rough calculation that I (Mark) did to see if we can play enough fixtures to decide top/second and play-offs (or similar) was that we would need to play at least 10. I am not entirely sure, but it wasn't a small number that we can knock off in a few days.

3. Make up some formula to estimate the results of all remaining matches or key matches. Would we agree on what this formula would be?

4. Draw line completely under the season and team rankings are as they stand.

5. Forget about 2019/20 and start 2021/22 from 2018/19 i.e. the 2019/20 starting point.

It was decided on option 4, but to follow what the EKA did for the EKL and apply ‘points per game’ to the results of the matches played in 2019/20.