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President's PageI am very aware that I have not updated the President’s page since
January and for that I can only apologise to the membership. It has
been a busy few months both with games and the business of the
association. Those attending monthly meetings will of course be fully
appraised of all the positive work that has been going on in the
association. As we approach the end of the season I thought it would
be best for me to produce a version of the Presidential remarks I made
at the AGM. At the AGM I noted my highlights and also some points for
the way forward next season.
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Since
the AGM council has met again and there were two important pieces of
news at the start of that meeting. The first concerned the ill
health of former Category 1 and FIFA referee Mr Eddie Thomson.
Since then I am sorry to report that Eddie passed away. By all
accounts Eddie was an outstanding referee in his day , a respected
observer and a true gentleman , with the latter being the greatest
accolade. He will be sadly missed by colleagues in Stirling,
where Eddie was the association supervisor, as well as in
Edinburgh where he was awarded the accolade of being an honorary life member. The thoughts of
the association are with Eddie’s family at this time.
At the same meeting we heard the news that Dougie McDonald had been
appointed to his second Scottish Cup Final. This is a tremendous
appointment for Dougie and is once again an acknowledgement of his
position as one of Scotland’s top officials. There could not be a
better role model for members who aspire to reach the top.
Douglas gains this reputation, and continues to get top appointments,
as a result of his dedicated application to his fitness and technical
development. Dougie went into the cup final with the backing and
support of all EDRA members. Once again he represented the
association in commendable fashion and handled the match
expertly . Well done Douglas.
In the next newsletter I would like to publish all the finals that
members have been appointed to. Douglas’s success has been
replicated at all levels due to similar levels of commitment and
dedication to the game by EDRA officials. Well done to those
members who got or receive prestigious appointments between now and the
end of the season. To help us to be able to publish this list it
would be helpful if members could keep the secretariat up to date with
National Cup Final appointments.
Best wishes for the summer break when it comes. And remember, do
keep up training during this break. I know that it gets shorter
and shorter each year.
Neil
Presidential Remarks 2010 AGM
In terms of Presidential remarks it is only right that I start by
thanking the council officers, team leaders, observers and the
membership for their support, help and encouragement over the course of
the year. I have thoroughly enjoyed my year as President and the
time has flown by. One thing has been certain this year; everyone
is working together towards a common goal- the development, support and
championing of Edinburgh Referees.
In terms of Presidential remarks I thought that now might be a fitting
time to identify some highlights of the year from the point of view of
council. To do this I thought I would highlight some activities
of the Action Plan groups Council set up at the start of this
year. In doing so I have an admission and a promise to
make. The groups have been very productive in focusing council’s
mind on the priorities for the association. However I am very
aware that the work of these groups has not always been communicated as
effectively as it could have with council. This will be a high
priority next year should council wish to continue with this focused
approach to EDRA developments.
The first Action Point group was led by Mark Doyle. The primary
focus was referee Recruitment
and Retention. As such it has made a number of
significant steps. Early on the Instruction and Support teams
were brought together to try to streamline the recruitment and
retention process. Mark’s Action Plan group has arranged a number
of seminars over the year including the AR seminar last night.
The group has established strong and sustainable links with the
Universities FA and continues to run highly successful entrants
classes. Mark’s group has come up with proposals for the new
council with regards to a potential ‘Passport to Membership’ and an
ongoing series of seminars to support new referees. It would be
my recommendation to the new council that this good work is continued
next year to ensure our new members continue to enter the association
in a well supported and focussed manner.
The second working group focussed on Coaching and Mentoring and was led
by Paul Reid. Probationary Referee seminars were piloted and
refinements have been made to proposals for the new council to take
forward next year. Furthermore a draft policy document on talents
and mentoring is in production and this is something for the new
council to consider.
The third group was led by me and focussed
on Membership Participation in events. Like
the other groups the action plan has fed into team leaders work and
others to try to achieve its goals. Membership participation has
been high on a number of levels:- training attendances continue to be
encouraging, meeting attendances remain high, the quiz is now firmly
established on the calendar and this year we developed links with David
Lloyd for training and social events. A real highlight for me has
been the establishment of two new awards. It gave me great
pleasure to see Calum Doyle become the first recipient of the trainers
award. Furthermore I was delighted to present David McCartney
with the well deserved honour of the President’s Award for outstanding
contribution to this association. It is guys like David who make
this association tick.
All the action groups have helped develop the association and it is
very much so down to the hard work and dedication of various
individuals like David McCartney. It would take too long for me
to mention all who have contributed something this year but suffice to
say a lot of work goes into making this association run. I am
very grateful to many people for that work as is the outgoing council
of the EDRA. In particular I would like to thank Paul for the
professional and diligent approach to his duties as association
secretary. Paul it has been an education working alongside you
and your work can only be described as outstanding. As we move
towards the retrial of the outgoing council I would ask you to put your
hands together as a thank you to all the council and the team leaders
for their hard work this year.
We will proceed now to the retrial of the council of 2009-2010 and the
election of the new council. However before doing so I would like
to make a plea to all members for the following season
thereafter. You can see the work that goes into the association
and you can also see the many positive results. The plea is a
simple one - get involved.
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