Blog Post

April 2024 NEHYL Newsletter Snapshot #11

Apr 12, 2024

April 2024

This season is heading into its final stages – and in the older, competitive age groups there is still a fair amount of football to be played for many teams. With the lighter evenings there are several teams looking at organising midweek fixtures to help clear the fixture backlog – if you do look to bring a match forward or try to fit a previously postponed fixture into an evening slot then do keep your Div Sec in the loop. Whilst matches for the younger age groups will finish at the end of April/early May, the older age groups will in some case be playing into May. The playing season formally ends on May 31st.

There are a few dates for your diaries across the following activities.

League Presentation Evenings

The season always has its finale with Presentation Evenings across all age groups at Princes Hall, Aldershot. The dates and times for each age group are published here. Our Presentation Evenings not only celebrate those who have won or finished as runners-up in their respective Divisions but the Fair Play winners for each age group.

Div Secs will be in touch with more details nearer the time – and once all those invited to attend are known – and will be looking for a team photo for each team represented.

Presentation Schedule →

Cup Finals & Play-offs

Cup Final dates have also been announced for all age groups with Finals in April and May. Again, the details of dates and venues can be found here – this will be kept up to date as finalists secure their place in their respective final.

Where a division has teams who finish equal on points at the top then it may be necessary to have Play-off matches at the end of May to determine 1st and/or 2nd places. Where teams agree, there is the option for the position to be shared. Should play-off matches be necessary then your Div Sec will be in touch to co-ordinate logistics.

View Dates →

Girls Festival

Our first season back supporting Girls Football comes to a close on May 12th with a football festival at Frimley Lodge. There are more details about the event here – and we hope to be in a position to very soon confirm the details for NEHYL Girls Football for next season. Watch this space !

Read the article →

Tournaments

The League are happy to publicise Summer Tournaments for member clubs that have been sanctioned by the relevant County FA. You can find more information here.

Before entering a tournament, do remember that League and Cup fixtures take precedence over club trips and tournaments. Should a team who enters a tournament and then does not fulfil a scheduled league or cup fixture then they will face a charge and a fine for failing to fulfil a fixture. It’s also important to remember that on any given day that there is a maximum playing time for players that varies by age – there’s a full breakdown in the League Rules on pages 10 and 11.

Tournament Listings →

AGM & Pre-season Meeting

The League AGM will be held on Tuesday 11th June at Princes Hall, Aldershot – more information will be circulated to Club Officials nearer the time. And the pre-season meeting will also be at Princes Hall on Friday August 30th.

It’s always appreciated if teams can signal their intent to continue playing next season to their Div Sec – this certainly helps with planning and making sure the age group Divisional Structure – or Constitution – is as accurate as possible as we head towards the start of the new season.

Discipline

And we finish this newsletter on the prickly subject of Discipline. Despite the lower number of games across March, the number of OTRs** received were higher than February. The vast number of OTRs being received in March have been noted in case future OTRs are received against the same teams; however, several OTRs received were escalated to county which has added to the 61 cases awaiting feedback from across this season.

As part of a wider review of discipline at the end of the season, NEHYL will be reviewing the processes undertaken in this first year of having the discipline panel and will be presenting findings/updates on discipline at the forthcoming end of season AGM. In the meantime, we continue to ask for Club Secretaries to review the OTRs being raised by managers as a triage prior to submitting to the league.

The League so far this season have sent out 6 first stage warning letters to clubs and have met now with 2 clubs in person to discuss their ongoing discipline problems (with some further meetings to be set up).

All that said, the total number of OTRs received across this season to date (182) is still low in comparison to the total number of games played.

** [An OTR, Opposition Team Report, is raised where any score of 4 or less is awarded on the Match Report Card (MRC)]