CONVENTION COUNTDOWN

Programme of Events

The Programme of Events is now finished and given below. I have organised a variety of speakers and increased the number of Break-Out Sessions to 8. I have a lot of game film which will be shown throughout the weekend. Note that the programme may change slightly over the coming weeks.

We still have 4 weeks to go and already 50 people have registered to attend the Convention. It looks like we will have our largest attendance for quite a number of years. My thanks to everyone for signing up well in advance. It helps considerably with the final arrangements.

No Room at the Inn (Possibly)

21 people have booked accommodation for the Friday night and 40 for the Saturday. As such, we don’t have many rooms left at the discounted rates. If you want to take advantage of the rates on offer you will need to contact Charlie by lunchtime on Friday 14th March.

Registration

The following 50 members have booked their places at the Convention. If you are not listed it may be because you have only recently confirmed your place. An updated list will be issued next week.

J Flanagan, P Sutton, W Marriage, R Grace, P Thom, D Bridgland, K Alldritt, C Dean-Young, S Tonkinson, G Coleman, T Lindeman, D Parsons, L Connor, H Richardson, C Rodgers, B Griffiths, S Silver, A Newsham, C Oates, P Clarke, A Briggs, G McJannett, C Urin, A Price, A Binns, M Wilson, J Eldridge, C Jarvis, J Briggs, N Scott, P Cottier, P Johnson, R Samples, P Parsons, R Prattley, Mt Gibson, C Gibson, M Gibson, R Vernon, B Beynon, I Sneddon, A Dobson, E Boyer, K Wickham, N Cox, A Lovell, B Yates, P Newton , J Gooding and M Snow.

If your name is not on the list please contact Charles Dean-young at finance@bafra.org. Even if you are not staying at the hotel you still need to register. Cheques to pay for the hotel rooms should be made payable to BAFRA and sent to Charles at 89 Smithfield Road, Uttoxeter, ST14 7LD. Payment should be made by 14th March.

Full details of the Convention and accommodation rates can be found here.

Davie Parsons

training@bafra.org

2008 CONVENTION PROGRAMME

Saturday 5th April

09:00 Welcome Desk - Pick up your Convention Pack (Tea and Coffee will be available)

09:30 Davie Parsons - Welcome and Introduction

09:45 Jeff Flanagan - Successful Officiating

10:20 David Pegg, SOUK - What the Hell am I Doing!!!

11:00 Coffee Break

11:10 Jim Briggs - 2008 Rule Changes

11:40 Break-Out Sessions

• Steve Tonkinson: Role Play: Practical Session

• Jeff Flanagan: Line Of Scrimmage & Goal line

• Paul Sutton: Ball Relay: Get it right

• Phil Cottier: Know Your Spots

12:15 Break-Out Sessions - As Above

12:45 Lunch

13:30 Jeff Flanagan - Dead Ball Officiating and Game Management

14:10 Break-Out Sessions:

• C Dean-Young: Pregame Opportunities

• Keith Wickham: Who is Graham Poll?

• Muz Gibson: Play Your Cards Right

• Davie Parsons: Supplementary Signals

14:50 Break-Out Sessions - As Above

15:30 Coffee Break

15:45 Julia Chatwood - To be confirmed

16:15 Jeff Flanagan - Special Penalty Enforcement

16:45 Davie Parsons - Caption Competition results, Closing Statements

17:00 BAFRA AGM - Annual General Meeting

18:00 Close

Sunday 6th April

09:00 Davie Parsons - Welcome and Introduction (Tea and Coffee will be available)

09:15 Davie Parsons - NCAA DVD - Wake up, Watch and Talk

09:30 Jeff Flanagan - Illegal Blocks

10:00 Break-Out Sessions

• Steve Tonkinson: Role Play: Practical Session

• Jeff Flanagan: Special Penalty Enforcement

• Paul Sutton: - Ball Relay: Get it right

• Davie Parsons: - Supplementary Signals

10:30 Break-Out Sessions - As Above

11:00 Coffee Break

11:15 Ken Walters - BAFA – Whole Sports Plan – Officiating

11:45 BAFRA Directors 2008 Season/Forthcoming Year

12:15 Jim Briggs - 2008 Mechanics Manual

12:45 Lunch

13:30 Break-Out Sessions

• Charlie Dean-Young: Pregame Opportunities

• Keith Wickham: Who is Graham Poll?

• Muz Gibson: Play Your Cards Right

• Phil Cottier: Know Your Spots

14:00 Break-Out Sessions - As Above

14:30 BAFRA Directors - 2008 Season/Forthcoming Year

15:00 Coffee Break

15:10 Jeff Flanagan - Continuing Success and Q&A

15:30 Davie Parsons - Closing Statements and thanks

15:45 Close

2008 COLLEGE BOWL CREW

The selection committee have been busy over the past week and after much deliberation have selected this year's BUAFL National Championship Bowl crew. Congratulations to all those selected, they are:

Referee - Steve Tonkinson

Umpire - Martin Gibson

Head Linesman – Bernard Bradley

Linejudge - Martin Cockerill

Backjudge - Brian Yates

Sidejudge - Henry Richardson

Fieldjudge - Colin Edwards

The BUAFL National Championship game will be held at Keepmoat Athletics Stadium in Doncaster on Saturday 22nd March 2008 with a kick off time of 12.30pm.

Pete Thom (on behalf of the selection committee)

operations@bafra.org

2008 RULES

The 2008 rule changes officially came into effect on 1st March (except for BUAFL games). The full list of changes is included with this Newsflash, but here is a short list of the immediate changes if you

have a game between now and when you receive your rulebook.

1. Timing rules on kickoffs and changes of possession revert to 2006 rules.

2. Kickoffs always from the 30-yard line regardless of the length of field.

3. Penalty for kickoff out of bounds increased to 35 yards from 30.

4. Essentially all Team A fouls on kickoffs or punts give Team B the option either of enforcing the penalty from the previous spot and repeating the down, or of keeping the ball with the yardage tacked on

from the dead ball spot.

The rule requiring credentials for all non-players in the team area will only apply from the start of the regular season.

Any questions, let me know.

Jim Briggs

president@bafra.org

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM will be held at 5:00pm on Saturday 5th April during the Convention. The agenda and papers will be sent out to all qualified members this Saturday via e-mail. If you do not receive yours by Sunday evening, please let me know. Whilst only qualified members may vote at the AGM, all members including associate and affiliate are welcome to attend. I shall therefore include a copy of the agenda with next week’s Newsflash.

Nominations for Directors have now closed and the following have been received.

President:

Jim Briggs (31); nominated by David Parsons (425); seconded by Charles Dean-young (258)

Phil Cottier (141); nominated by Martin Gibson (197); seconded by Brian Yates (29).

General Secretary:

Paul Sutton (312); nominated by Bill Anderson (337); seconded by Robert Friel (119).

Director of Operations:

Phil Clarke (372); nominated by Alan Dobson (308); seconded by Bob Fitzsimmonds (375)

Pete Johnson (166); nominated by Steve Tonkinson (99); seconded by William Marriage (293).

Director of Training:

David Parsons (425); nominated by Les Connor (152); seconded by Henry Richardson (358)

Director of Recruitment:

Alun Price (377); nominated by Ian Wainwright (567); seconded by Keith Alldritt (323)

Director without Portfolio (2 posts):

Daniel Bridgland (506); nominated by Pete Johnson (166); seconded by Charles Dean-Young (258)

Keith Wickham (423); nominated by Dean Wright (553); seconded by Tony Newsham (302)

This means that Paul Sutton, David Parsons and Alun Price will be elected unopposed. Daniel Bridgland and Keith Wickham will also be elected unopposed as there are two posts available for Directors without Portfolio. There will, however, be an election to determine which will serve for two years and which for only one year. Elections will be held for the posts of President and Director of Operations.

One of the papers to be sent out on Saturday is a proxy voting form. This is to allow qualified members who are unable to attend the AGM the opportunity to cast their vote through another member if they wish. These must be returned BY POST to the Returning Officer. All details will be on the form.

Paul Sutton

secretary@bafra.org

RESULTS

Sunday 9^th March – BUAFL playoffs

Northern Conference

Nottingham Outlaws 0 @ Newcastle Raiders 26

Leeds Celtics 0 @ Staffordshire Stallions 19

Southern Conference

Bath Killer Bees 13 @ Southamption Stags 35

Birmingham Lions 24 @ Hertfordshire Hurricanes 46

DISCIPLINARY CASES

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

END ZONE

CALENDAR