BSF President Stella Ackrell and Treasurer Mike Jenning represented the British Softball Federation at the recent 37th European Softball Federation Congress, held from February 2-4 in Mellieha on the island of Malta, hosted by the Malta Baseball and Softball Association.
Twenty-two member Federations were present at the annual meeting, plus delegates from two new Federations, Cyprus and Lithuania, who are in the process of submitting documents for affiliation to the ESF.
The meeting was also attended by International Softball Federation President Don Porter.
For the second year in a row, a draw was made during the Congress plenary session to determine groups in ESF competitions, two of them involving British teams.
British motions
The BSF had submitted five motions for consideration by the Congress, with mixed results. Three were passed, one was accepted in principle and one important motion was defeated.
The motion accepted in principle had to do with the provision of electricity and wi-fi for reporters at ESF competitions. While the requested provision will not be made mandatory, it will be added to the list of requirements that ESF tournament inspectors look for in checking out a facility.
The three motions passed were:
- A motion that in competitions involving 10 and 11 teams, three teams should go forward to playoffs from each of two initial round-robin groups rather than two. The BSF (and many other countries) felt that sending only two teams forward from groups of five or six was insufficient and this motion passed easily.
- A motion that in competitions involving eight teams or more, after initial round robins are played, those teams that do not go forward to playoffs should nevertheless have their remaining games structured towards playoff games and a final, as we do with “plate tournaments” in the UK. This is a new concept for the ESF and the motion passed very narrowly. But with more and more ESF competitions being played in one big pool rather than separate A and B Pool tournaments, a large number of teams are left with no meaningful games after the first day or two except to play for places, and the British motion will make their remaining games more interesting.
- A motion stating that amendments to ESF Competition Regulations or Technical Regulations which impose or change monetary costs, penalties or guarantees may not be changed without prior Congress approval, and must then remain unchanged for the full season following. This is to make sure that teams entering European competitions do not plan for one set of costs only to find that they've suddenly changed.
The British motion that failed to pass concerned the money that needs to be paid to the ESF if a country cannot send an umpire to a European competition for each national or club team from that country that plays in Europe. Our understanding had been that an umpire deposit of 375 euros would be forfeit in such a case, but it appears that a long-time ESF regulation actually requires both forfeit of the deposit and a fine of a further 375 euros – a charge of almost £700. We argued that 375 euros was more than sufficient to cover the travel costs of an umpire from another country that would have to be found to cover the place we couldn't fill; but the additional 375 euros is regarded by some on the ESF Executive as an incentive to countries to get more umpires trained.
At the current time, this cost could be a serious burden for the BSF since we have so few ESF-qualified fastpitch umpires to send to European competitions.
However, there appears to be some sympathy within the ESF Executive that the charge is excessive and we will ask for the issue to be revisited next year.
Commissions
Four important Commissions are held on the Friday at ESF Congresses – Finance, Development, Marketing and Technical/Competitions. These Commissions are where substantive discussion takes place and decisions are made that usually then receive approval at the Congress plenary session.
The Finance Commission was told by Treasurer Eddy van Straelen that ESF income and expenditure is in line with budget predictions and that the ESF maintains healthy reserves.
Totoni Sanna, Chair of the Development Commission, told delegates that 50% of the 2012 development budget will be used to grow softball among children and young people in Europe, primarily through a new youth programme called Bee-ball and the production of a Teacher's Manual.
Three new members of the Development Commission were introduced: Anton Kops from Holland, who will lead the Bee-ball programme; Jens Terkelsen from Denmark, who will be responsible for men's fastpitch development; and John Austin from Ireland, who has taken over responsibility from Bob Fromer for ESF slowpitch development.
Bee-ball is a progressive mini-game development programme for children and young people that has been very successful since its introduction two years ago in Holland. The programme starts on a very basic level with children as young as five, but adds training and competition elements in two-year stages up to the age of 19, at which point players are “training to win”.
ESF Vice President Ami Baran reported that an agreement between the ESF and the American Amateur Softball Association (ASA), first presented during the last year's Congress in Antwerp, has taken great steps forward. Under the agreement, the majority of ESF Federations will be “adopted” by an ASA state organisation and help will be provided in the form of equipment and clinics for coaches, players and umpires.
Great Britain will learned which American state we are “twinned” with in the near future.
An impressive Marketing Commission session was led by Michael Schmidt along with new Commission members Ruud Van Zetten and web consultant Davide Dozza.
Michael reported that during the 2011 season, play-by-play action summaries were available on the ESF website for all European competitions and there was TV coverage at the European Women's Championships in Italy, with most games broadcast on the Internet and the final live on Italian television. The tournament had 4.5 million hits on the Internet, including1.5 million hits for the final, with over 40,000 unique visitors.
Meanwhile a new ESF website will be introduced in 2012 which should increase the reach of European softball substantially.
The ESF will also embark on an ambitious promotional plan over the next two years, including exhibition games, training, and school programmes all over Europe. In 2013, national teams from countries such as Japan, Australia, China, the USA, Canada and New Zealand may come to Europe for showcase games ahead of the IOC's decision on restoring softball to the Olympics in 2020.
The Technical and Competitions Commission reviewed tournaments held in 2011 and allocated two Cup tournaments that did not yet have a host. The European Women's A Pool Cup will be played in Enschede in Holland and the European Women's Cup Winner's B Pool Cup will be played in Trieste, Italy.
Slowpitch development
The ESF's new Slowpitch Development Commissioner, John Austin, reported that slowpitch clinics will be held this year in Europe for players, coaches and umpires, including an ESF Slowpitch Umpire Clinic in Bulgaria from April 18-22. An international tournament will be held on the weekend of April 21-22 (British teams are invited) at which the trainee umpires will be assessed.
The schedule of slowpitch competition in Europe is likely to move to a new cycle from next year, with the European Slowpitch Championships and European Slowpitch Cup both being held in alternate years. This will mean an expansion of the European Slowpitch Cup competition, since league winners from the previous two years in each country will be eligible to enter.
It is also likely that slowpitch-specific pages will be developed on the new ESF website this year.
Drawings for tournament groups
During the plenary session on Saturday, drawings were made – and streamed live on the ESF website -- to determine the initial round-robin groups in four tournaments, two of which will involve GB teams.
In the European Junior (Under-19) Women's Championship, Great Britain had the good fortune to move up from ninth seed (where we finished in 2010) to eighth seed because one team above us in 2010 will not be playing in 2012. This put GB in the second tier for the draw rather than the third tier, and with two teams going forward from each group, this should increase GB's chances of making the playoffs. The groups for this tournament are:
Group A: Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania.
Group B: Italy, France, Croatia, Denmark.
Group C: Czech Republic, Great Britain, Israel, Greece.
Group D: Germany, Spain, Austria, Ukraine.
In the European Men's Championship, where GB finished third in 2008, eight teams were drawn into two groups:
Group A: Denmark, Netherlands, Israel, Croatia.
Group B: Czech Republic, Great Britain, Belgium, Slovakia.
However, with the withdrawal of Slovakia from the tournament just announced, the format may revert to a round-robin among all seven teams.
Another top-three finish will qualify the GB Men's Team for World Championships in New Zealand next winter.
Maltese offer
The Malta Baseball and Softball Association told delegates that the country was keen to offer warm-weather facilities to European Federations for pre-season training camps for national teams and other squads.
An artificial turf field is available next to hotel facilities in Mellieha, and both the Federation and Air Malta are keen to provide good deals.
Next Congress
The 2013 ESF Congress will be an election Congress.
Bids to host it from Vienna and Moscow were on the table but both were withdrawn and the ESF will choose the 2013 Congress location at a later date.