My report this season is a lot shorter than normal as I intend to reserve the team achievements, in the main, until the Leagues Presentation Night. However, at this point, my congratulations do go to all the teams who have managed to win silverware this season and to the other teams who played their part in the proceedings. With four divisions, last season, there was a lot more work for the members of the league council – more fixtures to be sorted out – an extra cup final at Solihull Moors and much more. I would like to thank fellow council members for their efforts during this period.

In football leagues, you generally see different cycles and trends emerging. In the season prior to last, we had almost all of our member teams remain with the league and that was why we ended up with an extra division. This season has seen a large number of new teams applying, with nine new teams accepted, whilst we have lost some old friends and some teams that just could not compete at our level. This all means that we remain at the four-division level for the season ahead.

In football leagues, you generally see different cycles and trends emerging. In the season prior to last, we had almost all of our member teams remain with the league and that was why we ended up with an extra division. This season has seen a large number of new teams applying, with nine new teams accepted, whilst we have lost some old friends and some teams that just could not compete at our level. This all means that we remain at the four-division level for the season ahead.

On the refereeing front, as you know, we had an enforced change of referee secretary right at the start of the season and although there was an initial concern that this would reduce the coverage percentages – it did not. Steve proved that he was the right man for the job in pulling in new referees, with the help of certain teams at times, and kept the coverage figure up at 95%. Given the poor start we had, this was an exceptional achievement.

The weather was much kinder to us, last season, and there were only a very limited number of midweek games – mostly due to our team successes in the outside competitions creating their own inevitable backlog. In mentioning this, I wish to extend my congratulations to Kenny, and the Beaufort boys, for getting to the final of the BCFA Sunday Junior Cup. This is the first time that the league have had a representative in a final of this sort and I am sure you will understand how much importance was placed upon the achievement. Anything like this promotes the Oakbourne in a favourable light, which of course is what we are perpetually trying to do.

Moving to the behaviour of our member teams, there is little doubt that the Whitehouse System is going from strength to strength when we compare our figures for cautions and red cards with previous seasons. Now, it is also very noticeable that referees have become aware of the upturn in behaviour from the reports that they send in. Comments such as “a pleasure to referee” and “both teams are a credit to the league” have become very regular remarks from our referees. Long may this continue.

With the league celebrating 40 years in football, a huge chunk of our time has been taken up with the planning of the special League Presentation Event – later next month. I know that, at times, you have been sick of hearing about our fundraiser – but in a few weeks time you will see what we have come up with and, I am sure, you will not be disappointed. Just to touch on the BIG FOUR-0 (which you can still buy entries for, for the next couple of weeks) - this fundraiser has proved to be the most successful ever. With a prize of £1000, and the ability provided for teams to make money from it as well, the revenue to the league has gone a long way to providing the presentation night for our anniversary event. I would just simply thank you all for your backing here as I certainly could not have done it without your help.

It is not so many years ago that the league almost collapsed, with few teams and even less finance. Our aims were always to increase the number of teams and divisions, return the finances to the once lucrative state they had been in and then to press on with as many professional improvements as we were able. I believe that we are now well down that track. We have a very healthy financial position, an increase in teams and divisions and a fast growing reputation that is most rewarding to those of us who run the league.
Thanks to Malcolm Whitehouse we now have an up-and-running Benevolent Fund of our own, which I am convinced will be of great benefit to many in the seasons ahead.

As an example of moving forward – Last year, at this time, Steve Rae told you all that he wanted to look into the possibilities of putting together our own representative side, again, and to arrange matches against other teams. It may seem that it has taken a long time for the council to return to this matter, but there has been much discussion about this issue throughout last season and we have just agreed offer a council position to someone – assuming they accept – whose sole purpose will be to bring the idea to fruition.

I had promised that this would be a shorter report than normal – and it is.

I would also just like to advise you that this version of my report – which is eventually submitted to BCFA – will appear on our league web site, as is normal.

In conclusion, I would just like to say a big thank you to all of you guys. If it were not for you – the member teams – none of our aims would be realised.