This was the 38th season of the League and this is my 12th Annual Report as Hon General Secretary.

I would firstly like to extend the League’s sincere thanks to our sponsors: Chris Plaister of Plaister Auto Services, who are the main sponsors of the League; Chris Perry and David Kilmurray of Corsham Print who sponsor the Senior KO Cup and Ken Clarke of Westernsport Trophies who sponsors the Referees Appreciation Award.  Their long and continued support is much appreciated.  This season sees the end of 12 years of League sponsorship by Plaister Auto Services.  Such a long sponsorship cannot be under-estimated and their financial support has been a tremendous help to many Clubs in the past dozen years.  I’m pleased to announce that Corsham Print have agreed to take over the sponsorship of the League, which will be known as the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League from next season.  Fountain Trophies, who sponsored the Junior KO Cup for 24 seasons, will take over sponsorship of the Senior KO Cup.

In last year’s report, I advised that we had been awarded Step 7 Status by The FA and that we were one of seven Leagues who were to be reviewed. I’m pleased to report that we retained our status as a Step 7 League.  This was to be a process where Leagues would be reviewed over a three-year cycle, but The FA have now changed this to an annual process, meaning more work for both the League Officers and Clubs so expect some Ground Grading Summary Forms in the near future.  I would mention that we are somewhat borderline in achieving Step 7 Status as one of the provisions is that Step 7 Leagues must have no more than 25% Reserve teams, so we do have to be careful with our structure.  We’re still awaiting the outcome of The FA’s review of Steps 5 and 6, which would lead to the reorganisation of Leagues at those levels and a return to Step 7 of the Clubs who don’t meet the required standards.  However, we believe that The FA has given yet another extension to Step 6 Leagues / Clubs.

As most of you are aware, we were awarded Charter Standard League status by The FA in season 2012/13 and this will be coming up for review in the coming season.  It’s imperative that at least 60% of our Clubs are Charter Standard Clubs … preferably 100%.  There are still a few Clubs who have yet to submit their applications and I would urge them to do so.  To become a Charter Standard Club really isn’t that time consuming or difficult.  I suspect that many of you are probably there without realising it.  If you have any doubts, please speak with either the Wiltshire FA Football Development Officer, or even one of the Clubs who have been awarded Charter Standard.  Amongst other benefits, being a Charter Standard League gives us access to grants from The FA, which should mean fewer increases in fees for Clubs.

We’ve continued to operate our Premier Division with Level 5 Referees as The FA withdrew our Supply League status some 3 years ago.  During the past season, as it was the previous season, not one Premier Division fixtures went short of a Referee or an Assistant, which is testament to the hard work of Adie Cripps.  I am aware that some of our neighbouring Step 7 Leagues operate their fixtures with only a handful of games having Assistant Referees each week.

There are Leagues at our level who struggle and often fail to complete all of their fixtures and end up awarding points at the end of the season in order to complete their tables.  Thanks to the hard work and persistence of the Hon Fixtures Secretary, Phil Cook, this doesn’t happen on this League and, to my knowledge, never has.  Next season will be Phil’s 38th on the League, which is a tremendous achievement.  There probably isn’t an excuse he hasn’t heard for someone wanting to postpone a fixture.

Use of The FA Full-Time web site for players’ registrations, fixtures, Match Officials’ appointments, results, tables, etc has continued.  Clubs can also use the site for player statistics, match reports, etc and a few Clubs already make use of the facilities available but many do not.  If anyone requires a username and password to be set up as a Club Administrator to access the site, please contact me.  The FA offer training for anyone who requires it.  Again, please contact me if you require training.

All League Notices, etc are posted on The FA Full-Time web site and also conveyed by e-mail.  We’re currently looking to appoint a Communications Officer to post League news, etc on to Facebook and Twitter.  If there’s anyone among you who would be keen on taking this one, please contact me.

During the close season we again had to update our League Development Plan for submission to The FA and a further updated Plan and Report has to be submitted this year.  Last season’s Plan was completed, presented to The FA and duly approved.  We subsequently received grants from The FA for various initiatives.

You will see from the proposed Constitution that we’re again not proposing to operate a (Junior) Division 1 next season as there simply aren’t enough Clubs in the county to warrant four Junior Leagues.  We’re trying to work with the three District Leagues in the county to establish a pyramid system for promotion and relegation between us.  This is a system which works well in neighbouring counties, but unfortunately, the District Leagues in Wiltshire are not keen.

You will see from the Election of Officers sheet, that we have vacancies on our Management Committee and also for Club Representatives from each Division.  We will accept nominations at the Annual General Meeting but, if such a post is of interest to you or you have any queries as to what it would entail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Our Representative XI was drawn against the Hampshire Premier League in Round 1 of the FA Inter-League Cup and the tie was played at Malmesbury Victoria FC in April.  Unfortunately, our Team Managers, Wayne Kibble and Stef Kuczynski were let down by late withdrawals and players simply not turning up.  Despite best efforts of the players, we were well beaten 4-0.  Discussions with the Hampshire League showed that they had held training sessions and played friendlies prior to playing ourselves.  It does suggest that, with our League Representative XI, we either need to do it properly or not at all.  Perhaps this is something we could discuss at the Annual General Meeting.

The end of this season also marks the retirement of Dennis Cripps from the Management Committee.  Many of you will know Dennis from Marlborough Town FC, who he has served for over 50 years as well as serving on this League since 1983.  His knowledge and experience will be missed.

I must thank our President, Dennis Kilford, Chairman, Bill Shail both of whom I work with very closely and are always there for help and assistance.  I also extend my thanks to my fellow League Officers and Management Committee for all their help and assistance over the past season.

Best wishes to all Clubs for a good summer break and a successful season in 2015 - 2016.

Jim Thorn

Hon General Secretary

Firstly I would like to thank everyone connected to the League for another very successful season.

Congratulations to all winning clubs.

My personal thanks go to all the Officers and Management Committee for their efforts throughout the season, especially our League Secretary Jim Thorn, whose work and efficiency are second to none.  Also thanks to all the Club Secretaries without whose help the League would not be as successful as it has been throughout this season.

Our thanks to all the League Sponsors, without whose financial help this League would not be as financially sound as it is today.

Finally enjoy your summer recess and we look forward to the new season which we all hope will be as efficient and successful as the season just ended.

Bill Shail

Chairman

This is my third Annual Report and I advise that the League Accounts record a loss of £350.59p as opposed to a loss last year of £1,903.11p. Whilst this is an improvement on 2013/2014, I consider that a loss may become the norm for the next few years.  Given the account balances I am not currently overly concerned should this occur.

As usual, the majority of the League’s income is mainly due to FA Grants (£4,696).  However, subscriptions and registrations accounted for an additional £4,429.  The income from registration fees more than doubled this year given that we increased the fee to £2 to bring us in line with similar Leagues. 

It was pleasing to see fines reduce by over 50% to £1,325, which demonstrates how the administration of Clubs is improving.  However, I would like to see these reduce further.  I believe that Clubs could sometimes assist themselves greatly by simply consulting the handbook!   

Income has reduced by approximately £3,000 mainly due to the fines and my correction of the Guarantee Deposits in 2013/2014. 

To assist Clubs in the payment of monies owed, the League has adopted the Faster Payment Service and whilst this has been embraced by some Clubs, it would be nice to see more Clubs utilising this system as it reduces administration and cost for both the League and Clubs.

Expenditure also fell dramatically from £17,995 to £13,387.  This is mainly due to the fact that the League donated £3365 back to Clubs last season through the provision of footballs and substitutes bibs.  However, having spent approximately £1,100 on substitutes’ bibs, it is disappointing to note that few Clubs used them for their intended purpose.  Perhaps this is something Clubs could remedy next season?

For 2015/2016, it is again the intention of the Management Committee to offer footballs to Clubs at heavily discounted prices and I hope to have these available for purchase by the Clubs at the AGM.

Miscellaneous expenditure also fell dramatically, but this was due to one-off items such as unpaid cheques and the cost of football write-offs not appearing in the accounts this year.  In addition, one or two items of expenditure were re-categorised in 2014/2015. 

Due to timing, the costs of the League entering the FA Inter-League Cup do not fall within the accounting period.  This reduced expenditure by approximately £800.

Other than this, costs are generally on a par or have risen and fallen as would be expected.  

The League is in an extremely healthy position with total assets of £44,998.09p. 

I would like to thank the Management Committee for their assistance especially the Registration Secretary and Disciplinary Secretary who assist on the financial side of things and the Sponsors for their continued financial support.

I can confirm that the accounts have been audited by our Auditor, Mr Peter Mundy.

R Cook

Hon Treasurer

This time last year I took on the daunting task of following Rod’s high standard that he had achieved over many years.  Now I am at the end of my first season, which I believe as gone pretty well.  At the start, most of the work was completed via post.  It soon became clear to me that the way forward was to encourage more to be done via e-mail. This speeded up the reporting and of course is cheaper for Clubs.  I would prefer it if more clubs were able send Result Sheets, Registrations, etc via e-mail. The best way for me is if the reports or forms are scanned and saved as a PDF or Word file.   Going forward next season I want to move away from clubs having to send cheques for £2.00 every time they register a player.  I would like a system where I send a statement twice a year so that you can make lump payments for the player’s registrations. I have also moved away from keeping lots of manual records.  Instead I have been making use of the Full-Time web site to keep all the records. There are a few changes to the site that I believe could also improve reporting further and I have been talking to Jim Thorn to see if it is possible to do.

A total of 998 players were registered in the Premier Division last season plus a further 206 in the U.18 Floodlight Division.  A total of 24 transfers took place.

Well it is now season end, so congratulations to the winners and runners-up of the League and Senior KO Cup.  Time now for a little rest period before we start doing it over again.  Before I sign off I would like to thank the Club Secretaries and Team Managers for all their help so making the job so much easier. 

Brian Busson

Hon Registration Secretary

This year the League took over of the running and administration of the U.18 Youth Floodlight League from the Wiltshire FA.  From a refereeing point of view, having this Division is very good as it allows Referees, who are not at the required level for our Premier Division, to referee the Floodlight Division in order to be assessed for promotion and / or gain valuable experience.  It also give them the opportunity to work with neutral Assistant Referees, which you will appreciate is different from working with Club linesman.

This league also gives the opportunity for players U.18 to play in a fairly competitive Division.  In its first year the Division has experienced teething problems, but we hope we can build on the experience, make improvements and make it a better run Division next season.

The Premier Division finished strongly this season, with any one of 8 teams possibly coming out on top. There were some very competitive games in this Division again this season, which can only add to the value of the League.  A number of level 5-4 Referee candidates have been put forward by the Wiltshire FA for promotion and the League wishes them all the best with their new adventure.

Looking ahead to next season, I hope the Wiltshire League continues to shine and we get many great games of competitive football again.

I hope to cover all games of football with the required amount of officials on as I did this season, but before all that, I hope everyone involved has a quiet and relaxing summer break from our fantastic game.

Adie Cripps

Hon Referees’ Appointments Secretary

The Discipline Sub-Committee dealt with 99 cases last season, an increase of 19 on the previous season, which was mainly due to the number of postponements.  The increased use of technology, eg: texting of scores, the e-mailing of Result Sheets and Registration Forms, being able to make on-line payments, etc has reduced the workload for Club Secretaries.

The number of Clubs failing to notify the League (Fixtures Secretary and Referees’ Appointments Secretary) that a game is postponed, increased substantially last season.  We’re sure you phone / text your players if a game is off, so please avoid fines by making those two extra calls to the League.  If we get sufficient notice, Phil Cook may be able to rearrange a game for your opponents or Adie Cripps may be able to send the Match Official(s) to a fixture that is short.

The number of offences involving ineligible players was similar to last season.  As a reminder, it is very easy for Clubs to check a player’s eligibility.  Access to the County FA web site is available to all Clubs whereat you can see lists of players under suspension.  This also applies when you register a new player ….. when you send in a Registration Form, he will be registered for your Club (provided he’s not registered for another Club in this League) and his details added to the Full-Time web site.  It isn’t the League’s responsibility to inform Clubs if a player is suspended, so please check the County FA web site at least weekly.

The problem with Result Sheets being submitted too late has seen a dramatic reduction, so a big “thank you and well done” to Clubs.  As Brian Busson put in his earlier report, Result Sheets and Referee Reports can be scanned and e-mailed.  Some Clubs already use this method and it does save you the cost of postage.

A few Clubs still incur additional charges for late payment of fees / fines.  As started last season, all fines are sent out by e-mail, which reduced League expenditure on postage and eradicated the “lost in the post” excuse.  All fees / fines can be paid by Bank Transfer.  Again, some Clubs already use this method and it does save you the cost of postage and the risk of things going astray in the post.

This season saw 145 fixtures postponed for various reasons, a massive increase of 66 on last season.  This was largely due to Clubs in the U.18 Floodlight Division not fulfilling scheduled fixtures, which caused an awful lot of work for both the Hon Fixtures and Referees’ Appointments Secretaries.  I’m not sure if it was a culture that we inherited from the previous administration, but it clearly can’t continue.  We’ll talk about this at the AGM to reach an agreement with Clubs how best to deter / avoid postponements.  The Premier Division runs with a policy of deducting points from Clubs found guilty of postponing games without a satisfactory explanation will continue.  Perhaps we should consider awarding points and not rearranging games in the U.18 Division?  I would be pleased to receive your comments.

The Premier Division was very keenly contested and, up until February / March time, any one of 8 Clubs were in contention.  The title was won by Malmesbury Victoria FC, who had a strong, undefeated run from Christmas time and were 10 points clear by the end of the season.  Ludgershall Sports FC and Melksham Town FC Res were in the top four almost all season with the latter taking runners-up position.  Trowbridge Town FC caught up a huge backlog of fixtures to finish in third place.  Unfortunately, they had to be deducted points for fielding ineligible players, which denied them second place.  The title race was somewhat spoilt by the withdrawal of Supermarine Sports FC during March, which meant a considerable points adjustment to the tables.

The inaugural U.18 Youth Floodlight Division was won by Amesbury Town FC with Pewsey Vale FC in runners-up position.  As mentioned earlier, this Division did not run very well due to the number of postponements, which will be addressed for the coming season.

The Corsham Print Senior KO Cup saw the (then) top two Clubs, Ludgershall Sports FC and Melksham Town FC Res reach the final.  After two 0-0 draws in the League, a close contest was expected but, despite losing their keeper to injury in the opening minutes, Melksham enjoyed a quite comfortable 3-0 victory with the substitute keeper rarely tested.  The final was again played at Corsham Town and we thank them for their hospitality and use of their facilities.

I was appointed to this position at the start of the season just concluded (2014/2015), having stepped down from my previous role as Hon Registration Secretary.

The position has been introduced to all County Associations, Leagues and Clubs, in order to monitor and protect the welfare of children playing sports.

As far as the Wiltshire Football League is concerned, I am currently unaware of any issues which need to be addressed within this League.  That said however, I have requested Clubs’ comments throughout the season, but only one Secretary bothered to reply.  My conclusion therefore can only be that there are no such problems.

I have kept in touch with the Wiltshire County FA Welfare Officer throughout the season, and will be meeting her again in July where we will discuss any issues relevant generally and those which may affect this League.

Enjoy your summer break

Rod Wirdnam

Hon Welfare Officer