The BSF Executive held its latest monthly conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday 21 April. Below is a journalistic report on the highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Lesley Morisetti (Administrator), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Mike Jennings (General Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative.
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Laura Burkhardt (Treasurer), Jana McCaskill (National Teams Officer), Steve Getraer (Farnham Park Liaison).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Actions from previous meeting​
Actions carried out after the previous BSF conference call in March not covered on the main Agenda included:
- The BSF has now issued a list of criteria that tournaments need to meet to receive BSF sanction and be included in the Events listing on the BSF website. Administrator Lesley Morisetti has circulated this list to all tournament organisers and will follow up to confirm that all of them can fulfil the criteria. You can read or download the criteria here.
- The 2016 League Heads Forum Meeting has been confirmed for Saturday 12 November in Birmingham. Details will be published nearer the time. The BSF will also convene a meeting of National Softball League teams on the Saturday night of the Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships (13 August) at or near Farnham Park.
- The BSF, along with BSUK and the GB Management Committee, is exploring the possibility of hosting the 2017 European Junior Men’s Fastpitch Championships at Farnham Park. This tournament has not yet had a bidder and has not yet been allocated by the ESF. If this were to go ahead, it would be the first time that Great Britain had hosted an official ESF fastpitch competition. However, the issue will be finding funding, as the cost of hosting the event will exceed £20,000.
Finances
In the absence of the Treasurer, Laura Burkhardt, Mike Jennings told the meeting that BSF finances are about where they should be at this time of year. Only one league has so far paid league fees, but more should soon follow (the deadline is not until 31 May).
The BSF has received a request from the GB Women’s Fastpitch Team for additional financial support because of the high cost of competing at Women’s World Championships this summer, which are being held near Vancouver in Canada. The BSF has provided additional help before to national teams in the case of World Championship competitions in far-flung places, and will consider the request as quickly as possible.
BSUK catering
BSUK has acquired the lease to the cottage at Farnham Park and will turn it into a small clubhouse which will sell food and drink to the softball and baseball communities and to others. In line with this, BSUK has engaged a local catering firm, Jamie’s, to provide food and drink on BSUK’s part of the site, mainly from the clubhouse when refurbishment is complete, and is negotiating a five-year contract that will give Jamie’s exclusive catering rights for BSUK facilities. This is a vital step in sustaining the long-term viability of Farnham Park, because the facility has run at a substantial annual loss since it opened, and revenue that BSUK will derive from the catering operation – providing that it is well used by our communities -- will go a long way towards closing the gap without the need for large rises in pitch hire costs. Jamie’s will be able to provide a varied selection of food for different occasions and requirements.
There will, of course, still be other catering operations on site – in the cricket, football and rugby clubhouses – and anyone using Farnham Park for any purpose is free to choose between the different options.
National Softball League
Having made and published a decision that this year’s National Softball League (NSL) 1 will be limited to 12 teams, with the top eight teams qualifying for Premier Nationals, the BSF has also contacted all B-grade teams to promote entry into the new NSL 2 competition.
So far, five teams have joined NSL 2 and more may do so before the tournament season gets under way. NSL 2 standings will be determined by the win/loss percentage of participating teams across a wide range of eligible tournaments, including all three Diamond Tournaments, plus the British Airways, Leeds, Bristol Main, Windsor and Manchester Tournaments, the Solent Summerball and the East Midlands Labor Day Tournament.
The top four teams in the NSL 2 standings will get automatic places in the Co-ed Nationals and the team that wins the league will be promoted to NSL 1 for the 2017 season.
The BSF has decided that any new or existing teams wishing to join the NSL in subsequent years will need to begin by joining NSL 2 and attempt to reach NSL 1 through achieving promotion.
Decision on Structural Review
As discussed at the AGM in February and during a Webinar staged by BSUK, the BBF and the BSF on 14 April, there has been agreement, following extensive consultation over the past two years, that the three organisations will become a single organisation from 2017. But this decision, taken by the BSUK, BSF and BBF Boards, will have to be ratified by the memberships of the BSF and BBF at AGMs.
In order to prepare for the start of the single organisation, hopefully on 1 April 2017, the Structural Review Project Group has expressed the hope that ratification can be achieved this year rather than next year. That should be straightforward for the BBF, whose AGM takes place in November, but not necessarily for the BSF, whose financial year ends on 30 September, with an AGM normally held in February.
The BSF’s preference is for this important issue to be debated and discussed at a full AGM rather than an EGM, where attendance may be low, and the Executive is currently exploring options regarding its AGM date.
Use of GB and BSF logos
The BSF has been approached by a national team player asking if she can use GB and BSF logos on communications designed to raise money to help her meet the costs of playing for GB in a World Championship competition.
The BSF has decided that the GB Lion logo can be used for these purposes, but any use of the BSF logo would need to be the subject of a special request.
Safeguarding
BSF Tournaments Officer Liz Graham is working with Mark Caress at BSUK to ensure that messages about safeguarding can be communicated to all BSF-affiliated teams.
In particular, BSUK (which is in charge of safeguarding operations for both Federations) wants to know when adult slowpitch or fastpitch teams have under-18 players, and is keen to suggest that all teams should appoint a Welfare Officer.
Reports from BSUK Committees
At each conference call meeting, the BSF Executive reviews reports from recent BSUK Committee meetings attended by BSF representatives.
Mike Jennings reported that the BSUK Finance Committee has approved a break-even budget set by BSUK for 2016-17, but will be keeping a close eye on the level of the organisation’s reserves.
Next meeting
The next BSF Executive conference call meeting will be held on Thursday 12 May.
Anyone with items to submit for consideration at the meeting should contact BSF Administrator Lesley Morisetti.