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IFF Central Board meeting 4/2011 Place: Hanasaari Culture Centre Excused: Stephen King Minutes § 1. Opening of the meeting Mr. Eriksson opened the meeting at 13.30 and greeted the CB members welcome to the IFF CB meeting, expressing that the meeting has been well prepared by the IFF Office and the persons concerned.
Mr. Eriksson concluded that there was one updated appendix, namely the
a) Financial report by the 31.08.2011 (Appendix 2) Mr. Kratz, on behalf of Ms. Bakke, presented the financial report and the balance sheet for the first eight months of the financial year 2011, per 31.08.2011 and we are on track in accordance with the budget. Mr. Kratz further explained that the big costs to come are the TV and Internet-TV of the Women‘s WFC, the inclusion of Prize money and TV production for the Champions Cup as well as some additional costs for the replacement of Ms. Kaarina Salomaa, Competition Coordinator. Mr. Eriksson expressed that he is very pleased with the work keeping the financial books in balance, done by the administration. The CB decided: To approve the report.
Mr. Kratz reported on behalf of Ms. Bakke the current situation of the IFF claims as per 31.08.2011 and the actions to be taken, during the upcoming months. (Appendix 3) Mr. Liljelund reported on the present situation with Ukraine, where a number of actions have been taken in order to investigate the situation with the provisional member, the Ukraine Floorball Federation. UFF has not answered the correspondence from IFF or shown any real interest to develop Floorball in Ukraine (Appendix 4a and appendix 4b). IFF has started the discussion with the other Floorball organisations in Ukraine, in order to stabilise the situation and speed up the development process in the country. Mr. Eriksson felt that this is a good example of how to sort out problems with national associations, which are not active. It is the responsibility of the national association to deal with the different obligations, like the membership fees. The CB decided: To approve the reports.
a) WFC 2011 Switzerland Mr. Wiedmer gave a oral report on the present situation of the preparations for the Women‘s WFC 2011 to be played in St. Gallen, Switzerland. All the plans are made, apart for merchandising part, where SUHV has changed the company to Interhockey. In the field of logistics most has been organised, like the transportation and accommodation, but the only open question is the arrangements with catering. All venues are booked and the training schedules are under preparation, due to the missing information from three participating countries (Australia, Poland and Slovakia). Mr. Wiedmer further informed that a kick-off meeting was organised in St. Gallen, three weeks ago, with a lot of positive ideas from the local volunteers. There are still some works to be made in the field of VIP and side events which are still under planning. The outcome for the event has been budgeted to a loss and this is a big risk for the federation, since there are a lot of pre-payments that have to be made. The turnover of the budget is CHF 750.000. There have been some problems with the old marketing company, so they have changed to a new marketing company – International Sports Agency. There are new plans made to attract new sponsors for the event. The biggest problem is that we are late in the process. The LOC has made a number of campaigns to secure a good number of spectators, with full house in the two final days. The whole Media sector is under construction, with the new media person Ms. Sarah Brunner, with already good presence of web page and social media. Mr. Eriksson expressed that he feels that it is nice to return to Switzerland and St. Gallen for the 8th Women‘s WFC. Mr. Kauppinen explained that there was the same problem with finding new sponsors in Finland before the WFC 2010. It is hard to convince the sponsors, when we don‘t know what will be the return on investment per contact and what number of matches is televised. Mr. Suman asked what local campaigns are made to support the ticket sales. We have to decide the date for when a number of matches which will be produced and in the future we need demand a production of a number of games in order to be able to receive the event. Mr. Liljelund expressed that in order to be able to act and increase the visibility of the WFC‘s, it is all related to the number of TV matches and when we know that the production of these has been secured. If we get the information very late, there is not much the IFF can do. The CB decided: To approve the report.
Mr. Tjärnquist expressed that there are some discussions going in on with TV in Sweden. Mr. Eriksson felt that it is very important that the coordination of TV questions has to be lifted on a secondary level. This work has to be continued in the Core Country Marketing network group. Mr. Wiedmer felt that the there is a problem of the value of Floorball with-in the TV‘s Mr. Kauppinen proposed that all national countries needs to find an own channel to show Floorball on TV. Mr. Beaudin felt that we need to concentrate the production to one party. Mr. Suman was of the opinion that what was said by Mr. Granqvist during the General Assembly 2010, that we need to have personal contact to the TV-persons. Mr. Eriksson proposed that we will discuss the issue more in detail during the dinner. The CB decided: To approve the report.
The IFF Associations meeting will start on Friday the 9th of December at 10.30 with a programme continuing until 16.30 and on Saturday the 10th of December between 9.00 – 13.00. The main topics during the meeting are Floorball Development and Marketing. (Appendix 6) Mr. Eriksson went through the proposed agenda for the Associations meeting and it was carefully discussed. Mr. Suman ask what possibilities IFF has to subsidise the accommodation for the participation and to help to organise the The CB decided: To approve the report, accept the new name of the IFF Associations meeting and approve the agenda for the Associations meeting. The IFF CB decided earlier that the official celebration of the 25th Anniversary (12.04.2011), shall be held during the WFC 2011. The proposal is to have the 25th Anniversary to be held as a short cocktail reception on Saturday the 10th of December between the semi -finals in the main arena. The proposal for program would include a speech by the IFF President, Awards to a number of distinguished persons who have worked for the IFF and a celebration of the IFF achievements. The IFF ExCo Proposes that IFF would award a number of important persons in the success of IFF‘s development with either a gold, silver or bronze honorary service medal. The criteria for receiving the honorary service medal are that the person must have left his active role in IFF. (Appendix 7) Mr. Botman felt that this system is not a good way to go ahead with this system; it can be a turndown and a lot of disappointment if the person would not get a gold service award. It is important that everyone can nominate. Now there is no reference on how to carry this on. Mr. Botman felt that all categories shall be open for all persons that have made a contribution to the movement. Mr. Kauppinen and Mr. Eriksson felt that this system is the best available. Mr. Kauppinen felt that all categories shall be open for all roles. We are thanking the people and want to keep them involved in the movement. Mr. Tjärnquist felt that we need to ask why we are doing this? We need to look on other ways of looking to reward also other persons. Are there also any persons who have made an extraordinary service to the IFF. Mr. Liljelund proposed that the Service awards shall be given every fifth years, decided by the CB, upon proposal from the member associations. Mr. Botman didn‘t agree of having three different levels of awards and opposes the decision to introduce a Service awards for three different levels. The new criteria for the IFF Service awards are: The IFF CB shall award these Service awards every five years, decided upon the by the CB, based on nominations. The CB decided: To approve the new criteria‘s for IFF Service awards and to award the proposed persons according to the proposal. Mr. Botman disapproved the decision of having three different levels of the service awards.
Mr. Stoll gave the final report of the U19 WFC 2011 played in Weissenfels, Germany between the 3–7.5.2011 with sixteen teams. The financial outcome was 10.000 EUR on the minus, which was caused by a number of issues. The media coverage was really good and the visibility of the sport was raised a lot during the event. The Event was also a good proof of the value of the Floorball Germany for their application to German Olympic Committee. Mr. Suman felt that this was a very modest loss for a U19 WFC. The CB decided: To approve the report
Mr. Liljelund reported on the closed negotiations for the organiser contract for the 9th Men‘s WFC 2012 in Bern and Zurich, Switzerland. The CB decided: To approve the report
Mr. Suman reported that the ExCo appointed a working group (Mr. Suman, Mr. King and Mr. Liljelund) to evaluate the official bids handed in from the two applicants for the WFC 2015. The working group has started its work and made an evaluation upon the supplied bids. In accordance with the previous IFF decisions, the IFF CB is to make a decision concerning the appointment of an organiser four years prior to the Event. The working group has based on the bids, which they find to be of a very different level and therefore hard to directly compare, made their recommendation for the CB. (Appendix 25a-appendix 25b and Appendix 26). The Finnish bid was based on the successful WFC2010 and built forward from there, when the German proposal was based on a lot of ideas of how it could be made. Mr. Suman expressed that the working group would like to stress that for the coming WFC bids that they are only the basis for the negotiations conducted by IFF and there might be need for collecting of further information in the future. The working group proposes to grant the Finnish Floorball Federation the rights to organise the 10th Women‘s WFC 2015, based on their extensive and well documented bid. From a political view, it would have been important to organise an IFF Event in Germany. Mr. Liljelund expressed that it is important to be able to compare the actual bids. Mr. Stoll explained that it is hard to find cities without the knowledge it the country can have the event. In Germany we need to have the knowledge. Mr. Tjärnquist feels that it is easy to attract interested cities, are the cities interested in having events like this. Mr. Suman felt that it should be the responsibility of the IFF to approve the City. We need to come to a situation, where we can create a competition between the events. The CB decided: To approve the report and appoint Finland as the organiser for the 10th Women‘s WFC 2015.
Mr. Eriksson reported that the Norwegian Floorball Federation (NBF) president Mr. Mortem Lindem has informed that they due to organisational, infrastructural, financial and political reasons are not in a position to organise the U19 WFC 2013, which was originally given to them for 2011. The IFF arranged a swop for 2013, due to the fact that Norway was not in a position to organise the 2011 U19 WFC. Mr. Eriksson expressed that he has held some discussions with the Norwegians and that we are somewhat surprised and disappointed that they are not willing to organise the Event. The Floorball family would have expected the NBF to organise the Event. Ms. Bakke expressed that the situation is problematic, since even a small financial loss could be crucial for the Norwegian Floorball Federation. The other reason is that the federation is not ready from an organisational point of view. Mr. Stoll felt that the decision has to be made now, since not having enough time to organise the event is the worst option. Mr. Eriksson felt that this is a severe situation, which has to be solved. The ExCo should be given the task to start negotiations with the Norwegian Federation. The CB decided: To organise a negotiation with the Norwegian Federation to clear the situation, run by the IFF President and secretary general
a) EuroFloorball Cup 2011 Mr. Kratz reported on the actions taken to secure a good organisation of the EFC 2011 Final round, in the polish city of Rakoniewice with six Men‘s and six Women‘s teams between the 5th to 9th of October 2011. IFF has signed an organiser‘s agreement with the Polish Federation still in May. There was a total of 17 teams took part in the EFC qualifications, which forced IFF to have one more qualification tournament played in Vhrnika, Slovenia and Ciampino, Italy, from where the Men‘s teams CUF Leganes (ESP) and Nauka (RUS) and the Women‘s teams Nizhny Novgorod (RUS) and Zirafa Zilina (SVK) qualified for the EFC final round. The CB decided: To approve the report b) Champions Cup Mr. Suman reported on the preparations for the first edition of the Champions Cup to be played in Mlada Boleslav between the 4th and 8th of October 2011. It has been very tough to organise the event, if the short time after final decision about Champions Cup. There have been some challenges, which are even bigger than in a major WFC event. Before the main part of the organisation was built on the local people, but there was a need to involve many federations employees. Mr. Liljelund informed about the closed negotiations concerning the organiser‘s agreement and the TV situation, where Finnish YLE, Swiss SFR and Eurosport will show matches from the Event. The Swedish TV has informed that they are not interested to broadcast the Champions Cup. Mr. Suman feels as the IFF vice president that we have taken the step in the right direction. The Champions Cup will really become the best competition for the Cities, through the local teams. We can sell these events with top Floorball. Mr. Tjärnquist feels that the CFbU is doing a tremendous job, by launching this new event. Mr. Wiedmer asked what the role of the other associations and IFF is in the preparations of the coming events. Mr. Liljelund reminded that the CB had decided that this first version just has to be organised and then for 2012, we need to look at development issues. Mr. Tjärnquist informed that the edition 2012 will be organised in Umeå, with the local teams of IBK Dalen (Men and Women). The city is participating well in the preparations and has clearly showed that it wants to have the event. Ms. Bakke informed that Norwegian clubs are worried of the raised costs of participating in the club tournaments. Mr. Botman expressed that the teams playing Ciampino felt that this was a very good tournament, since now there will be something to win. The CB decided: To approve the reports
a) ExCo reports Mr. Eriksson reported on the ExCo meeting held on the 11th and 12th of August, in Prague, Czech Republic. (Appendix 8). Mr. Eriksson wanted to stress that we are very glad that we have received the IOC recognition, even though the though work only starts now. Mr. Beaudin reported on the present activities in the Americas region (Appendix 10). The speed of development is quite rapid in North America. USA is organisationally still in their development stages, with a few centres and some states are developing faster than the other. There is god collaboration between USA and Canada. In Canada it is Ontario and British Columbia is leading the development. The co-operation with Hockey Canada is proceeding well, with a lot of support on the local level and also with NHL hockey players to replace floor hockey with Floorball. The work done in Americas has been driven by volunteers. Mr. Suman asked are there any discussions concerning the development of Central- and South America. Mr Beaudin answered that there are contacts with both Brazil and Jamaica. The CB decided: To approve the reports.
Mr. Eriksson reported on the IOC 123rd sessions decision to grant IFF Full IOC Recognition and the effect of this historic decision. The IFF further discussed this topic during the IFF CB Dinner on Saturday night. Mr. Eriksson reported on the meetings held in connection with the Shenzhen Universiade in China, where IFF meet with the leading officials of FISU, in order to find out the needed next steps from our side, so that Floorball could become a part of the Universiade programme in the future. (Appendix 11). It was stressed that the National Floorball Associations need to have more collaboration with the Student Sport Associations. Mr. Liljelund gave a short resume of the different ways Floorball can enter into the Universiade. Mr. Suman asked about the possibility to enter the Universiade in winter event. The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports.
Mr. Suman reported on the RACC meeting held in Prague, 27th - 29th of May, where the division of RACC tasks, present regulations and possible changes, future of the U19 WFC, a competition seminar and the upcoming season were discussed. (Appendix 12) The RACC has the responsibility to look after the development of the competitions, like the new system for the WFC. The RACC further proposes to increase the number of players which can be accredited in an IFF Event from 20 to 23, due to the increased number of change of injured players during the tournaments. The RACC has been contacted a number of times to increase the number of players again. The change of the number of players is from the 1st of January, 2013. Mr. Tjärnquist feels that the move is a problem, since it is not a good solution for all the associations. There needs to be a discussions when to have the U19 WFC term. Mr. Kauppinen felt that it is not good to go back to the number of the 23 players. Mr. Eriksson proposed to postpone the decision of the increase of the number of players accredited for the IFF Events. Mr. Suman explained the principal reasons for the RACC to make the proposals based on the survey made and the broad experience of the RACC. Mr. Liljelund expressed that it is important to make the decision now. Mr. Eriksson concluded that the proposal is to approve the RACC proposal concerning the date of the U19 WFC term. Mr. Suman added that the discussion about the number of accredited players and the rules for changing them will have to be dealt with separately. The IFF CB decided: To approve the report and to change the term of the U19 WFC, starting from the 1st of January 2013.
Mr. Botman gave a short report about the meeting of the RC held in Prague, Czech Republic on the 16th - 18th of September, 2011 and the decisions taken there. (Appendix 13a-appendix 13b-appendix 13c) The work of the RC is developing in the right direction, but there are still a number of challenges that has to be solved. The RC proposes to include one referee pair from Switzerland (Niklaus Güpfert/Thomas Ziegler) and one from Denmark (Jacob Frejlev/Kurt Pedersen Lot), which has previously been in the development group onto the List of International Referees. e) Development function Mr. Liljelund reported on the IFF Floorball Development Seminar held in Manila, Philippines from the 16th to the 18th of September 2011, where a total of over 80 participants participated. There were participants from Australia, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Russia, Philippines and Thailand. (Appendix 14) Discussions with the GBFUA have not lead to any concrete results and other actions needs to be taken to secure a seminar in the West part of Europe. There are possibilities that some clubs would like to organise a seminar, in order to speed up the development in the GB. Mr. Liljelund shortly reported on the Floorball Clinique organised in connection to the founding of the Jamaica Floorball Federation. (Appendix 15) The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports.
Mr. Kauppinen reported about the second meeting the IFF marketing function has organised for the IFF Core Country Marketing networking group. The meeting was held in Upplands Väsby on the 30th of August 2011, to continue the process of coordinating in the field of marketing efforts in the main Floorball countries. (Appendix 16a-appendix 16b) The most pressing issue is to have a controlled and evaluated approach on the TV situation, since now it is hard to plan ahead and sell the brand with only a few months planning time in the field of TV and Marketing. The Core Country Marketing network group also discussed the present situation of national sponsors and the positioning and brand attributes of Floorball. Mr. Kauppinen presented the proposal of the brand attributes, which is now out on a commentary round with the participants of the Core Country Marketing network. Mr. Liljelund reported on the progress made in the aim to create a corporate identity in relation to the IFF Events, where all organises uses different logos, which unfortunately don‘t live to see another day. The problem is that most of the organisers are so focused on their own identity that they fail to see the greater value in including the IFF logo in the visibility, in order to build on the brand visibility for our sport. (Appendix 17) The idea is to combine the IFF logo with the logo of the organiser. Mr. Eriksson felt that the work started with-in the Core Country Marketing network group has started off in a very good way. Mr. Tjärnquist felt that it is important to have a corporate identity. Mr. Beaudin feels that the identity has to reflect the brand identity. It would not be wise to have too many logos in the same entity. The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports.
Mr. Liljelund reported, on behalf of Ms. Bruun, about the present status concerning the IFF Anti-Doping work. The IFF Say NO! to Doping campaign continued in the EuroFloorball Cup Qualifications and will continue in the Champions Cup and also in the WFC 2011. The IFF CB decided: To approve the report.
Mr. Liljelund reported on the IFF Development Board meeting with the manufacturers held on the 31st of May, in order to discuss the projects for 2011 and the possible participation in the ispo fair 2012. (Appendix 18). The DB decided to continue the support for Germany for one more year and start a project for Floorball Canada, which is planned to run for two years. Due to financial reasons, increased prices by ispo and the deficit caused by the bankruptcy of Cape Nordic Oy, IFF is not in a position to invest additional money in the ispo Floorball Village. The DB will look for optional activities in Germany for 2012. The Development Board also approved the changes for the IFF Material Regulation edition 2012, which will be in force from the 1st of July, 2012. The IFF CB needs to approve the changes in this meeting, in order for the Material Manufacturers to be able to adopt their production, in order to meet the date of the 1st of July, 2012. The changes are mainly of a technical matter and partly already discussed during the 2010 edition approval. (Appendix 19) The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports and approve the changes for the edition 2012 Material Regulation. The new Material Regulation will be in force from 1st of July, 2012.
Mr. Stoll reported on the actions taken in order to activate the members of the Athletes Commission has for the upcoming two year period. The interviews were conducted and the summarising is being done. The Athletes have been very positive that they have been contacted and they are looking forward have a meeting with them. The IFF CB decided: To approve the report
Mr. Tjärnquist is reported on the actions taken and the data collected in connection to the Equality function. We need to have equality in all fields of the activities of IFF and this work has to be continued. Mr. Tjärnquist is further reported that the IFF has in July signed the IWG Brighton declaration and discussed the possibilities of starting a closer corporation in relation to the International Women in Sport organisation and their congress in Helsinki, Finland in 2014. It has been discussed how to use Floorball as a case study to increase equality in Sports for the IWG Congress in Helsinki 2014. The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports.
Mr. Tjärnquist reported on the actions taken in connection to supporting and promoting the different forms of ParaFloorball. At the moment there are three fields of activity, manual wheelchair, electric wheelchair and Special Olympic. The ExCo decided in its meeting in August to give the IWFF the use to further elaborate to use the IFF logo as a starting point for their logo. The countries involved in wheelchair Floorball held a meeting in August. The aim of the meeting was to clarify the path for forming a Wheelchair Floorball Federation in 2012. Mr. Liljelund informed that the IFF has been invited to participate and address the Special Olympics SOEE Sports Congress in Malta, 14. – 17.10.2011, in order to shortly present the sport and prepare the signing of a cooperation agreement and discuss the participation of Floorball in the 2013 Special Olympic World Games in Korea. The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports
Mr. Beaudin reported on the plans of the Information function for the season 2011-2012. (Appendix 28). There are three fields of activities, printed media, DVD media and mobile media. The level of visibility, which is created by the different forms of the IFF information channels, has a very large reach. Mr. Beaudin, on the behalf of Ms. Bruun, to report on the actions taken to publish a 25th Anniversary Silver edition of This is Floorball for the Associations meeting and the 25th Anniversary in Switzerland, in December. Mr. Liljelund felt that we need to look closer upon the idea of the mobile application in the near future. Mr. Tjärnquist felt that we need to look upon how to deal with the large number of recreational members. The IFF CB decided: To approve the report
Mr. Liljelund informed that the SportAccord has contacted the International Federations, in order for them to start to adopt more strict rules in the field of Sports Betting. The Office will prepare the needed changes prior to the next CB meeting and propose how to include these in the Competition related regulations. (Appendix 21). Mr. Liljelund further informed that he is looking into the possibility to employ a Competition Assistant in 2012, to help with the pressed situation, which has needed IFF to employ outside assistance for all competitions in 2011, due to the grown number of service IFF gives to the organisers. There is also a discussion ongoing with our Floorball Material sponsor, where Unihoc is investigating the possibility to sponsor IFF with a Development Manager for the years 2012 – 2014. The aim is to finalise the discussions still during the autumn. (Appendix 27) Proposal: To approve the reports.
Mr. Kratz reported on the situation of the suspended association Malaysia, which has informed that they are not able to start the payment during this year. Mr. Eriksson feels that the door is closing for Malaysia and the situation is getting more and more problematic. Mr. Liljelund reported that there has been a major development in Ukraine, where a number of different Floorball organisations have joined together in an organisation called the All Ukraine Floorball Federation. The present provisional member of IFF, namely the UFF, has not answered any of the IFF communication and not answered to the invitation of this new organisation to cooperate. It has clearly been established, that the UFF is not registered by the Ukraine Sports Authorities. The AUFF has as the first organisation built an Ukraine championships for Ukraine, with 14-16 men‘s teams and 14-16 junior (U16) teams from 15 different cities in the country. There will be six tournaments, three in the west and three in the east, with a final tournament in April in Kiev. Furthermore the AUFF is willing to pay the outstanding membership fees of the Ukraine, but not the sanction fees related to the UFF and its activities. At the moment there is just one organisation which has been seeking for official recognition in Ukraine. This organisation is a third one, the Federation Floorball Ukraine and is lead by Ms. Julia Ternovaya, which has applied for the recognition for over two years ago, but due to changes in Ukraine sports, there has not been any recognition given so far. The organisation of Ms. Ternovaya has been asked to join the AUFF, but so far the negotiations are still open, despite that Ms. Ternovaya has been a part of the discussions leading to the formation of the AUFF. (Appendix 22a-appendix 22b-appendix 22c). The IFF CB decided: To approve the reports and accept the All Ukraine Floorball Federation as the new provisional member for the Ukraine.
Mr. Liljelund is to report that Jamaica Floorball Association has sent in an application for membership on the 21th of September, which the IFF CB is to decide upon. (Appendix 23) There is still development made by Croatia, the Dominican Republic and Mozambique, but the Office is still investigating the situation, so no real applications are still present.
The CB meetings for 2012 will be set in before the next meeting.
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