1. Incorporation.
Midland Council have implemented a change in the Association, following a decision of the ACM to incorporate MRHA into “A Private Company Limited by Guarantee Articles of Association of “Midland Region Hockey Association Limited” The full Articles are posted on the MRHA web site. under ‘Home” tab [first item]

2. Affiliation fees - Midlands
2.1. A reminder that the affiliation fees for the men’s clubs within MRHA [£30 per club] are collected via the Men’s League fees.
2.2. The fees from the Women’s Clubs [also £30 ] are collected via each County HA.
2.3. I would confirm that a joint club therefore pays a total of £60.00

3. Affiliation Fees – England Hockey.
The affiliation process is now reverted back to EH. The affiliation process, will now commence on 1st October and ends on 30th November.
3.1.1. The later deadline is to allow more accurate player data to collated by clubs
3.1.2. There is a helpline via joe.daniel@englandhockey.co.uk

4. MRHA Handbook.
A copy of the 2018-2019 Regional Handbook will be distributed to all clubs.
4.1. The Men’s clubs will receive their copy along with the League Handbook..
4.2. The Womens and Mixed clubs will be posted out to those clubs I have addresses of the Secretary, otherwise will be distributed by the County LHA. Please notify me if there are any errors or updates required or if you are no longer your club contact.
4.2.1. Both Handbooks list the joint MRHA Fixture Priority Calendar. This lists the priority for
each date in the hockey calendar and should assist in preventing any clash of dates..

5. Indoor Hockey
5.1. A major concrn is the lack of volunteers to assist with the organisation of the Indoor programme. Need table officials amongst others..
5.2. Men’s and Women’s Indoor Midland Qualifier arranged for Saturday 8th December also at Aldersley. Please contact Laurie Alcock if wishing to enter.Entries will close on 14th November which is the Midland Council meeting. PLEASE NORIFY THE HON SEC OF ANY WILLING VOLUNTEERS
5.3 Schools & Youth Indoor. Entry Forms will be issued by MRHA S&Y. Please notify anyinterest from clubs to Jackie Sharp and from schools to Jo Barnes. All Indoor is at Aldersley.
Sun 2nd Dec Schools U16 & U18 Girls Sun 9th Dec Schools U16 & U18 Boys
Sat 15th Dec Clubs U16 Boys & U16 Girls Sun 16th Dec Clubs U18 Boys & U18 Girls

6. England Hockey Red Card and Match Day Misconduct Offence Regulations.
6.1. It is vital that ALL Red Cards that are issued are reported to the CDA. Please note that an Adminstrative Fee of £60 is levied, to be paid within 7 days of the issue of the Penalty Notification Form and a £10 additional fee will be levied for late payment..
6.2. The Red card and Match Day Misconduct Offences are now published in the MRHA Men’s League Handbook and the MRHA Handbook. The relevant report forms can be downloaded from the Ethics and Equity section of the England Hockey web site.
6.3. Please note the statement from the Regional Discipline ~Adminstrator on pages 33

7. Midland Men’s League Handbooks.
7.1. These have been distributed direct to all Men’s clubs. If your club has not yet received their Men’s League Handbooks please contact Nick Haynes [League Secretary]

8. Web Sites
8.1.1. All clubs should be aware that the main communication medium being used for all Hockey matters is now via relevant web sites. The main ones are:-

Midland Regional web site [www.midland-hockey.org.uk]
England Hockey [www.englandhockey.co.uk]
Midland Men’s League [www.mrha.co.uk]
Midland Performance [www.midlandsperformancecentres.co.uk
Midland Umpires [www.mrhua.org.uk]
Midland Schools & Youth [ www.schoolsandyouthhockey.co.uk]
Midland Women’s League [note no www prefix] [http://mrhawl.clubbuzz.co.uk]

8.1.9. Other sites can be accessed using the“Links” section of the EHB site

9. Insurance.
MRHA wishes to advise clubs to check the scope of their insurance cover for Public Liability, especially with regard to the cover for club umpires who may not be members of the club as club membership may be required by the club insurance policy. If there is a claim against an umpire appointed by the club who is not covered by the club’s insurance policy then the umpire may be able to sue the club committee who appointed them. Many players, and especially parents
of young players, are not aware that they are not covered for Personal Accident under the normal EH policy.
9.1. There have been cases where MRHA affiliated clubs played non-affiliated MRHA / England Hockey teams/clubs in Summer Leagues and Tournaments in the Midlands. This is against MRHA rules and could invalidate the insurance cover of affiliated clubs when they play non affiliated teams/clubs.
9.2. The insurance risk for an affiliated clubs playing non-affiliated clubs/teams is that the nonaffiliated clubs/teams is not obliged to carry insurance and therefore any successful claim against the non-affiliated clubs/teams and its players maybe difficult to enforce. The member
of the affiliated club who is injured when playing a non-affiliated team may be able to sue the committee of the club for negligence in allowing a game against a non-affiliated team.

10. Player Pathway.
10.1.1. Many of you will be aware that the “Single System” for young players has been re-branded as “Player Pathway” with three Performance Centres within MRHA The new programme commences on Sunday 24th September and runs until August 2019
10.1.2. There are Junior Development Centres [JDC] operating thoughout the Midlands. The contacts for the Development Groups are listed on page 35 Please note that this is the route into the Junior Academy Centres

11. Masters [Veterans] Hockey. [men & women]
11.1.1. COULD YOU PASS THIS INFORMATION ONTO ANY ELIGIBLE PLAYERS IN YOUR
CLUB. [NB The age qualification is to ATTAIN the age in the year of the t/ment]
There are now representative regional Masters tournaments in 2018 fo
Men’s Over 75 13/14 April 2019 Men’s 0ver45 27/28 April 2019
Men’s Over 55 27/28 April 2019 Men’s Over 70 04/05 May 2019
Women’s 040 & O45 04/05 May2019 Men’s O60 & O65 11/12 May 2019
Women’s O60 11/12 May 2019 Women’s Over 50 11/12 May 2019
Men’s Over 40 01/02 June 2019 Men’s Over 50 01/02 June 2019
Women’s Over 55 08/09 June 2019 Women’s Over 55 08/09 June 2018
MRHA Masters Committee – contact details are on page 5 of the Handbook with the Email contacts for the various age groups. Please let manager/s know of any player interested International Masters.
England Hockey are organising trials for the International Masters teams for the 2019 programme during the Autumn. Contact the respective Midland organisers for further details.

12. Regional Discipline Administrator Reminder
Players urinating at the side of hockey pitches in sight of other players, spectators, officials including the public seems to be a growing habit. Players and clubs reported for this action can expect suspensions with fees and/or fines to be imposed if found to contravene the EH code of conduct.

Your RDA advises you that the action described above definitely contravenes the Hockey code.

I recommend Club officials ensure all players resist the temptation and at venues where toilets are some distance from the pitch all players and attending officials are aware of the potential problem.

Any overt contravention should be reported as a Match day Misconduct Offence (MMO) or as a Disrepute offence as appropriate.

About Leicester Westleigh Hockey Club
Leicester Westleigh Hockey Club runs both Junior and Senior teams throughout the year. Fancy learning to play or taking your hockey to the next level, why not drop us an email for more details, LeicesterWestleigh@outlook.com.