Date: November 10th
Location: Birmingham University
Time: 2pm - 5.42pm

Attendance: Dr. Elesa Argent, Martin Boffey, Andy Fuller, Wayne Hill.

Apologies: Tom Evans, Matt Excell.

Welcome: Andy Fuller welcomed the Board to Birmingham. He praised the university for their hosting of the meeting and the use of their seminar facilities. Andy Fuller also welcomed the election of Matt Excell and indentified him as someone with a tremendous amount of knowledge on the student sport infrastructure whose value should be utilised for the long term benefit of student football.

1. Review of minutes from last meeting.
a) Are they true and accurate?
b) Have we fulfilled obligations therein?
c) Identify action points.

• The minutes from the previous meeting were taken as true and accurate although it was noted that there were a couple of spelling mistakes in their publication.
• The BUAFL has started to implement many of the programmes which were detailed in the previous minutes. However, some of the points were yet to be acted upon fully. These include:
• The BUAFL has not yet mandated that teams leave rosters with AU staff prior to traveling. There has been no formal resolution of how the BUAFL should address the issue of UCH Sharks being realigned and the effect this has had on them. Monthly financial reports have not been published externally. The status of League Application invoice payments are being displayed. This will be augmented by Player registrations when they are invoiced. The most effective way to publish accounts is probably to align them with key financial times - when League Membership fees come in, when player membership fees come in, and when there are periods of financial activity i.e. around the Championship Game.
• There has been no confirmation of the BUAFL Championship game venue (discussed later) but one commercial opportunity has been explored and is highlighted later.
  
  2. BUAFL Status Report - corporate
  a) Championship Game, Trophy and BUSA.
  b) Strategy development
  c) New intake of support volunteers - statistics, website support and development
• AF - The Championship Game venue is still being discussed. There are two schools of thought on a venue. Whilst I am keen to see the game in a stadium-type facility we are not yet at the popularity to come close to filling it. A large stadium with limited crowd looks poor and usually has a poor atmosphere. At this point it may be better to look to work with universities on hosting a game. That way we can capitalise upon ancillary services they provide and ultimately, we can work with universities to make the sport more relevant to them. Options will be evaluated and a decision made in the next month.
• A trophy has been ordered and will be unveiled in the New Year. The cost will be circa £300.
• Meetings with BUSA will be ongoing. Universities will be asked whether or not they see value in a move to align with BUSA as will teams through the research. AF reaffirmed his commitment to BUSA membership. Meetings with BUSA would be reported to the membership via the website. Content of discussions would be made available when appropriate.
• In the New Year the BUAFL will seek to bring in a number of volunteers to support its work. This will include a lead statistician and article writers for the website. A statistician has been identified and will be approached but article writers will be sought via BUAFL.net. For key operational and administrative positions no long term appointments will be made until the new corporate structure is unveiled.
  
  3. BUAFL Operational Report
  a) League Operations
  b) Team strengths / weaknesses
  c) Discipline / Appeals
  c.i) Teams
  c.ii) Individuals
  d) Review of postponed games
  d.i) Glasgow / Stirling
  d.ii) Essex / Greenwich
  e) Future considerations
• AF thanked WH for his continued hard work on BUAFL operations. Many recognised that short response times to requests from teams were impressive.
• The BUAFL is aware that there are teams who are doing an excellent job in preparing and executing games. Equally, the BUAFL is aware there are issues with some teams relating to their game day management. Much of the work which can be done this season to address this is limited. The BUAFL is compiling an evidence base on team strengths and weaknesses and will look to be proactive in rewarding / addressing these for next season. This will also be reviewed in relation to Dr Argent's research.
• WH / MB outlined which teams / players have been sanctioned and / or are making appeals.
• The BUAFL will communicate with the aforementioned teams regarding the circumstances of their fixture cancellations and to establish when re-arranged fixtures can be scheduled.
• The BUAFL will work to review its Rules and Regulations for 2008/09 to ensure that they effectively promote and safeguard high quality standards.
• The BUAFL will work with partners to build evidence bases on the strengths and weaknesses of each team in the League relating to its game day management to support them in improving next season.
• The BUAFL is delighted teams like Brighton are seeking to play on 3G Astros. It is recognised that it is unlikely that full markings will be allowed on new astros until a relationship between facility provider and team develops. The BUAFL will support the development of such relationships.
• The BUAFL will look to provide game day management workshops prior to 2008/09 season.
  
  4. Financial Report
  a) Monies in from membership
  b) Monies in from League Application
  c) Expenditure - balls / operating costs
• Tom Evans provided an internal report with financial projections focusing upon team membership fees and player registration fees. It was decided not to publish this as it is speculative rather than authoritative. Full numbers would be released to the membership in due course.
• An overall outline will be released in the minutes:
• League fees = £200 x 42
• Cost of 3 BAFA balls and postage = £97.18
• Net income to BUAFL of League fees = £102. 82
• Player fee for BUAFL = £5
• Estimated player numbers in BUAFL circa 2000.
• Player income circa £10000.
• This does not take into account Associate Teams.
• AF - The BUAFL would seek to be frugal this season to build working capital for expansion of activities and services in 2008/09 season. This could then be properly done based on strategic need building on Dr Argent's research.
  
  5. Overview of Research Programmes
  a) Full Launch
  b) Agreement on future issues to be considered inc. sport science
• The BUAFL will launch the first stage of the research and development programme in December to coincide with the Christmas break to give people time to fully review the content of the questionnaires which will form part of this. Dr Argent has finished the first stage research document aimed at team committees and coaches. Further documents are being written for Athletic Unions and wider stakeholders.
• Dr Argent has confirmed that she is looking at how a 2008 research programme is structured and what it should contain.
• It was noted that the productivity of the Sports Science group has dropped off. AF commented that this was due in a large part to him not dedicating enough time to the group. This would be rectified in the New Year.
  
  6. BUAFL Competition Formats
  a) Opportunities and Challenges
• The BUAFL is keen to widen the presence of football programmes within universities. The core work should focus upon a full football programme but it is beholden upon the BUAFL to try and grow interest potentially by using new formats of football.
• Matt Excell presented an excellent draft document on competition formats which the BUAFL could introduce and which could not only make it easier for universities to have a football programme but were also used as a development tool for athlete, coach and volunteer recruitment. The Board agreed to review his proposals and discuss fully at the next Board meeting. No new formats would be introduced without consulting the membership.
  
  7. Reflecting the concerns of the membership
• AF welcomed ME's election. AF stated he was concerned at the lack of voting. From the beginning of 2008 AF said he would look to work with ME and people drawn from the membership to address how representation could be managed going forward a) in terms of governance structure (combined with Dr Argent's research) and b) in terms of how we communicate with the membership and engage them in projects, keeping them abreast of developments and building upon the skills sets which exist. 

8. Kids programmes

• The BUAFL is working to explore the potential of working with universities on the opportunities available for students to be involved in delivering sporting opportunities for young people in their community (as discussed in the previous Board meeting). It has been noted that certain universities have funding available to support these forms of activities and other sports have used these sorts of projects successfully to a) attract new people to the sport and b) build the profile of their sports programmes and the students within them.
• The BUAFL is keen to establish two pilot projects in 2008. The objectives of these will be twofold: The first is to build a platform which enables students to benefit from such activities - working with children, designing and implementing sports development programmes, enhancing the status of their football programme in their university and community. The second is to establish a model which can build in wider funding streams in the future which will ultimately be something universities can roll out across the country.
• Two universities have been earmarked for trials - discussions are needed to clarify whether such projects are viable.
  
  9. Any Other Business
• The potential of an upgraded BUAFL website was discussed. A new website would be welcomed in terms of a) functionality and b) aesthetics.
• The potential of students' expertise in building such a website was discussed:
• Pros: engage membership, some excellent skills sets, lower cost
• Cons: how would the BUAFL structure delivery contracts and payments?
• It was decided that the BUAFL would continue to explore a new website but at this point expenditure would not be forthcoming until we had met major financial requirements - i.e. Championship game, and could properly analyse budget.

Meeting ended at 17.42.