Foreword
Great News! What better way of celebrating our 40th Anniversary than to be awarded the 'FA Charter Standard League of the Year Award' in addition we can also add the following, 'National Bronze Award for 'Respect' Leagues', 'County Award for Charter Standard Leagues' and 'Regional Award for Charter Standard Leagues' these awards are the culmination of many years of hard work by many within the League so a special thanks goes to the League Management Committee for their contribution, dedication and hard work, in addition, the support of the Member Clubs has been a major factor in ensuring that the League has been able to continually improve, move forward and implement change.
This new status of the League should enable us to further enhance the work which has been carried out to date. By adopting the recommendations of the FA with regard to Youth Development early (2014/15 implemented this season) we are once again demonstrating the forward thinking of the Council and Members. The development of all the players in the league is still our main concern and I believe given the football that we provide we achieve this goal.
On field discipline has improved dramatically and we all hope this continues into the new season. We are grateful that clubs dealt with many issues internally. We welcome this approach and hope this trend continues this season.
I'm pleased to report that excellent standards are being maintained on the field of play with some very exciting and skilful football being played. 2011/12 season statistics showed 32 member clubs shared league honours with 6 clubs winning 4 or more awards, this equated to 56% of the league membership. Pick of the clubs were Fletcher Moss, Unicorn Athletic and Ashton on Mersey. The trend is continuing for league trophies to be distributed across the league and we welcome this. T&DJFL teams again competed well in the MCFA cup with Hough End Griffins U12 winners, Parkwyddn Juniors U13 winners, and NJ Wythenshawe U14 winners. Unicorn Athletic won the CCFA minor cup competition.
35 member clubs took part in the cup finals 11 aside, mini soccer and 9 v 9 this equates to 61% of the league membership, 8 clubs achieved 4 or more finalists, Unicorn Athletic, Ashton on Mersey and St Johns the pick, again a number of teams achieved league and cup doubles.
The mini soccer finals were staged at Trafford FC and Manor Farm both venues a huge success. The spectator participation was again very good with no adverse conduct to report. I once again thank all the clubs for ensuring that cup finals are there for all to enjoy. We staged 44 finals in total.
I welcome the new Clubs to the League for the 2012-13 Season and hope they have an enjoyable and successful time with us. Special thanks to our existing member Clubs for their continued support to the T&DJFL.
The 2012-13 version of the Football Association's Standard Code of Rules is on the website and clubs must ensure that all their officials are made aware of the content. There have been some changes for the coming season so it's important that all club officials are up to speed.
Fines are issued to clubs normally due to the lack of discipline in carrying out everyday business and these are usually the simplest of tasks such as communicating results, match card discrepancies and general administration... I reiterate that we do not like issuing fines and feel the money would be better kept with the clubs, however, where necessary we will deal with offending clubs and issue sanctions.
The League referee secretaries Simon Franks and Carl Barrett are currently very busy with the acquisition of referees for the new season hopefully last season's 93% coverage of Sunday games will be surpassed. Simon and Carl as previously are tasked with improving the match coverage of referees and I know they believe that more referees can be signed up to the league. We aim to increase the numbers recruited and also retain our existing referees, your help is needed in achieving this objective. Good communication and a friendly approach goes a long way especially with the younger referees, they like coaches and managers are learning all the time and need all the support that you can provide. Any interested parties who wish to become referees can contact Simon, Carl or Brian Fletcher for details.
I have previously reported on Antony Taylor a referee who started out with us who has now had two seasons as a premier league referee. Anthony has been appointed to a number of important fixtures and is highly regarded on the professional referee list. This proves that with hard work and dedication the opportunity is available to progress in refereeing.
I must make it absolutely clear to all Clubs that this League WILL NOT tolerate any referee abuse by spectators / club officials / players and the 'Respect' programme in conjunction with the published sanctions will enable us to deal with any incident that may occur.
League service awards were presented to Colin Acton, Peter Walker both Council members, Brian McGuiness (Broadheath Central), Joe Jones (Stretford Victoria) club secretaries, Dave Richardson (Urmston Meadowside), Colin Lowe (Ashton on Mersey) and Paul Adams (Broadheath Central) club managers who have taken their respective teams through every age group (U7 to Youth). I personally thank them for the service which they have given to the T&DJFL.
We have had yet again a very busy close season with the interviewing of new clubs and have been successful in recommending to member clubs a number of new teams, which have now been accepted into the league, we will continue when necessary and if there is capacity bring in new clubs and teams, we are still probably the strongest junior league in greater Manchester with well over 500 teams taking part in organised football. We will continue to monitor all the divisions very carefully and where possible satisfy our member clubs. We currently have 57 Member Clubs registered for the 2012/13 season.
The non competitive league competition at Under 9 has now been extended to the Under 10 age group for the 2012/13 season. The cup competition for both age groups will be competitive though and will be a Europa cup competition.
The JJB (Powerleague) festival events U7 / U8 have now been finalised and dates circulated players will again benefit from this organised, safe and friendly football. The cost per team has increased since last season; however, the good news is that the increase in fees will enable us to once again run this very successful event.
The main hub of the reporting system (news, results, referees etc) is the FA Fulltime website and Barris Walker (administrator) has been extremely busy in setting up the T&DJFL sections to make it even more users friendly. All clubs are now using the website effectively. In addition the T&DJFL website is also available giving valuable information re the League, clubs, and league members.
We try to maintain our high standards every season for all member clubs and I trust that we can continue to work together and further promote our league at Local, District, County and National level.
Have an enjoyable and successful season.
John Burnett
Chair
Timperley & District Football League