IFF Central Board meeting 2/2009 9th of May 2009
Place: Sokos Hotel Hamburger Börs, Turku, Finland
Participants:
Tomas Eriksson President
Hans Botman
Per Jansson Treasurer
Risto Kauppinen
Stephen King
Renato Orlando Vice President
Filip Suman
Stefan Kratz Competition Manager
Merita Bruun Information Manager
John Liljelund Secretary General
Minutes
§ 1. Opening of the meeting
Mr. Eriksson opened the meeting at 09.30 and greeted the CB members welcome to the meeting.
§ 2. Approval of the agenda
Mr. Liljelund informed that the appendixes 4 and 5 have been updated and handed out at the meeting.
The CB decided: To agenda was scrutinized, completed and approved.
§ 3a Minutes from the CB meetings:
07/2009 in Prague, Czech Republic (14.12.2009), (Appendix 1) and
01/2009 per capsulam (10.01.2009), (Appendix 2)
The minutes from the last two meetings were scrutinized, approved and put ad acta, with the completion that in the minutes of the 07/2009 meeting in the §4 the actual decision was missing and now added.
b) General discussion of how to implement the Plan of Action approved by the IFF General Assembly in Prague on the 13th of December 2009 (Appendix 19)
Mr. Eriksson opened the overall discussion, describing the different roles of the CB members and the tasks for the coming two years. The CB is to discuss the implementation of the Plan of Action approved by the IFF General Assembly in Prague 2008, stressing the fact that all of the IFF CB members now have their own field of responsibility, which should positively increase the level of input for the CB and bring the work forward.
Mr. Suman made a general remark about in which way the discussion should be carried out, since the Plan of Action has been approved by the General Assembly. He felt that we are merely to discuss the direction of how we are moving forward.
Mr. Eriksson clarified that we need to find the best way to continue working in the future.
Mr. King felt that all CB members should describe the actions needed in their own field of responsibility.
Mr. Kauppinen described the situation of the marketing function, where there are a number of parties promoting Floorball in a number of functions, i.e. development board with ispo, IFF events with organisers, information works by the office and the selling by Infront. The idea is to bring this together under one roof in a marketing strategy and at the same time build our own Brand and the communication of that; in order to achieve this to organise a workshop to discuss this.
Mr. Jansson felt that it is a process to define how we will outline the projects needed so that we can fulfil the objectives defined by the General Assembly. Further we should work with the branding of Floorball. Mr. Jansson felt that we should work in order to add representatives of both genders in all the IFF bodies.
Mr. Botman feels that there are two major issues that we need to work with, being the continuation in the IOC Recognition Process strengthening the IFF member associations and then bringing Floorball into the program of one or more multi-sport events. It is also important to continue the out-rolling of the change of the competition calendar.
Mr. Orlando felt that there is a need to have the strategy reviewed either internally or externally by some group, the CB needs to discuss and evaluate if we are going to the right direction and if everyone is following the common line.
Mr. Eriksson concluded that the CB agrees upon on the basic documents on how to work and that the CB will continuously evaluate the direction we are moving in.
§ 4. Economy
a) Financial result for the Year 2008 (Appendix 3)
Mr. Kratz presented the final financial report for 2008 breaking the threshold of over 1 million in turnover making a surplus of CHF 28.848,46 and the balance sheet per 31.12.2008, for the fiscal year 2008.
Mr. Eriksson felt that there is a need to grow the own equity, especially in these hard financial times.
The CB decided: To approve the financial report and the balance sheet per 31.12.2008 and decided to put it forward to the IFF General Assembly 2010.
b) Financial report 30.04.2009 (Appendix 4)
Mr. Jansson presented the financial report and the balance sheet, per 30.04.2009 stating that there are not too much to report upon, after the first four months. Further Mr. Jansson made the point whether there is a need to look in the way the finances are being presently reported. It was also raised that there needs to be conducted a strategical discussion on how to work with the equity of the IFF, using the surplus in order to develop the organisation.
Mr. Suman felt that we need to find ways to increase the income from sales and use this income in refinancing projects.
Mr. Kauppinen said that there needs to be a certain buffer to secure the day to day activities.
Mr. Eriksson was of the opinion that this discussion should be part of the coming budget process and to start the strategic process.
The CB decided: To approve the financial report per 30.04.2009 and the treasurer Mr. Jansson and the secretary general was given the task to start the preparations to build and propose a financial strategy for the CB.
c) Information on IFF claims – status April 30th, 2009 (Appendix 5)
Mr. Kratz presented the IFF claims situation per 30.04.2009. Mr. Eriksson felt that there is a problem with Brazil, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Ukraine where it seems that the claims are building up. The CB discussed and agreed that we need to be firm and treat all the member associations in the same way, following our previous decisions.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
d) New Financial System connected to the IFF Events (Appendix 6)
The IFF Central Board decided in its meeting held in Budapest on the 13th of September, 2008 to form a working group consisting of the IFF Treasurer Mr. Tomas Jonsson and the IFF secretary general Mr. John Liljelund to come with a proposal before the end of January 2009 concerning the need to renew the way the participation fees for the IFF Events are built. This has been clearly visible, when it comes to the difficulty in finding organisers for the different qualification tournaments. Furthermore the need to find one similar system for the financial compensation of all IFF volunteers participating at the Events has increased.
The proposal has been sent to the CB members already in January, discussing and approving the new participation fee system for the Adult WFC and the ExCo has for time reasons, taken the decision concerning the EFC participation fees, in order to be able to invite the teams to the tournament.
Mr. Liljelund presented the proposal and expressed that the CB needs to take a decision about the proposal for the upgraded compensation level to the IFF volunteers (referees, referee observers and jury members) in order to have enough of motivated volunteers for the coming years. The proposal has been given for commenting to the Referee Committee, which has discussed it at their meeting, feeling that this is a move in the right direction and that there might be a need to look over the level of compensations in the future.
Mr. Jansson felt that there is a need to have an upper level for the food costs for the referees.
Mr. Suman felt that we need to secure that the teams in the qualifications would not pay more than the teams playing in the final rounds.
Mr. Botman informed about the discussion held by the RC in respect to the proposal. The RC felt that it is very important that the organiser organises the food for the referees, regardless for how it is being paid for. The proposal is going in the right way.
The CB decided: To approve the proposal, with the addition that the referee costs for the teams in the qualifications shall never exceed the difference between the participation fee for the qualification and the participation fee for the teams directly qualified for the final round of the championship.
§ 5. World Championships
a) WFC 2008 Czech Republic
Mr. Suman gave a final report concerning the 7th Men‘s WFC 2008 held in Ostrava and Prague, in the Czech Republic in December 2008. Mr. Suman made a summary of the WFC 2008, which was the biggest project ever made by the CFbU.
The organiser had set three main objectivities for the event; the first was having a WFC with a high sporting level which was clearly achieved with a high level of sports in both the A- and B-division. The second was organising the event in two very big arenas and reaching the 100.000 spectators level in the WFC making this a really big event and the third objective reaching the financial result, giving a surplus of just over 100.000 euros.
In addition to the report from Mr. Suman the CB took notice of the Jury chairman report from Mr. Martin Wolmhed (Appendix 24).
The CB decided: To approve the report.
b) WFC U19 Men 2009 Finland
Mr. Kauppinen gave a short report concerning the ongoing Men‘s U19 WFC held in Turku and Raisio in Finland. The organising of the event has been an investment in to the future, since the expected loss of the event exceeds over 50.000 euros. The cooperation with the cities has been really good and there has been a big number of school kids in Raisio, but the organiser is a bit disappointed with the number of spectators in the Turku Arena so far.
Mr. Suman as the Jury chairman felt that the organiser has made a really good job.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
c) WFC 2009 Women Sweden
Mr. Jansson reported on the ongoing preparations of the 7th Women‘s WFC to be played in Västerås in Sweden. There are some issues created by the hard financial situation in Europe. The organisers have secured good arenas and the preparations are ongoing according to plans.
Mr. Liljelund reported on the TV negotiations with the possible host broadcaster (TV4) and Eurosport. Due to the prolonged process with the host broadcaster, it has not been possible for IFF to offer the signal to the takers, but we have initially discussed with YLE in Finland. The plan is to secure TV from the A-division semi-finals and the medal matches.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
d) WFC 2010
Mr. Liljelund reported about the ongoing negotiations concerning the agreement with the organiser, the Finnish Floorball Federation for the WFC 2010. The agreement will be signed before summer 2009. Further Mr. Liljelund also informed about the discussions ongoing with the Finnish National Broadcasting Company Yleisradio Oy, which will act as the host broadcaster for the event.
Mr. Kratz reported about the actions taken concerning the qualification tournaments for the WFC 2010 with a total of 32 registered countries. (Appendix 8).
The ExCo decided in accordance with the RACC proposal to organise the WFC 2010 qualifications in Europe in two tournaments with 8 teams in both based on the present ranking from the last WFC. Each WFCQ will be played in two groups of four teams where the two best from each group will play in qualification finals, where the winners will qualify for the WFC. The tournaments can be organised as a four day event.
The AOFC CB informed the IFF that Singapore will organise the AOFC WFCQ in connection to the APAC 2010, with the six registered teams participating in the tournament. The AOFC CB has proposed to play the WFCQ in connection to the APAC 2010, which will be organized in Singapore in February 2010 (Appendix 22 and 22a).
The WFCQ in America will be played between Canada and USA. The RACC will discuss with the countries concerned about the qualification.
The ExCo decided in accordance with the RACC proposal to start the negotiations with the Polish Floorball Federation and the Spanish Floorball Federation concerning the organisation of the WFCQ‘s in February 2010.
In order to create more publicity for the new competition system of the WFC 2010 the ExCo decided in accordance with the RACC proposal that the ballot for the groups in the final round of the WFC 2010 shall be organised in Turku during the U19 WFC on Saturday 9th of May.
The teams shall be divided according to the ranking of the last WFC‘s in four baskets as follows:
Basket 1: Ranking 1-4 (Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Czech Republic)
Basket 2: Ranking 5-8 (Latvia, Norway, Russia and Germany)
Basket 3: Ranking 9-12 WFCQ Europe teams (4 teams – the winners of the qualification finals)
Basket 4: Ranking 13-16 WFCQ AOFC and America (4 teams)
Each WFC final round group will then be allotted one team from each basket
Mr. Liljelund explained how the play-off tree is built in the fixture list, in order to follow the present ranking system, asking whether the CB wants to adopt a system placing the reigning champion and the runner up in different parts of the fixture.
Mr. Kauppinen stated that it is right to pre-set the groups of the teams in the first basket and an open ballot can make possibilities for tactical results.
Mr. Orlando opposed adapting such a ballot system, where teams are being pre-placed.
Mr. Botman felt that it is very important that we go according to a full ballot and was supported by Mr. Jansson.
Mr. Suman felt that there are possibilities to follow both proposals. Further he doesn‘t feel that there are any risks in accepting either of the proposals.
Mr. King also agreed that it is important to have an open ballot.
The CB decided: To approve the report and the decided to perform an open ballot.
e) WFC 2011 and WFC 2012
Mr. Eriksson informed about the request sent in to the IFF CB by the Swiss Floorball Federation concerning to change the dates of the WFC 2011 and WFC 2012 from December to May (Appendix 7a and 7b).
The SUHV is basing their request on the fact that when the WFC‘s where granted to Switzerland, the events where in May and that there is a lack of suitable venues in December and that the timing is not as suitable for TV in Switzerland in December than it would be in May. Mr. Eriksson said that he had informed the Swiss federation that the decision will be taken by the CB in May. There have been arguments that a Swiss representative, who was a member of IFF has not taken part or received information of the discussions when the CB changed the IFF Calendar, which in the light of Mr. Eriksson are not according the facts and must therefore be a misunderstanding. Mr. Eriksson feels that there is no possibility to change the timing of the WFC.
The decision to change the calendar was made in due time by the IFF CB and has been agreed upon by the General Assembly in Prague 2008 and it was made based on the certain necessities from the media, and the whole competition environment. The first event organised in the Czech Republic 2008 proved to be fantastic, on all the fields of business available like media, TV, players, officials and spectators. Before the IFF can enter into a discussion of changing the dates of the event, we need to carefully analyse the effect of the implementation of the present dates in at least a number of events.
Mr. Suman feels that the timing of the letter is surprising, when the change of the calendar was made already in April 2007, sending the letter two years later. What where the reasons for this delay? It goes without saying that the timing can‘t be changed, based on the decision by the General Assembly and keeping in mind the TV exposures and the success in Prague of the WFC 2008.
Mr. Jansson is quite surprised since the arguments used by the Swiss federation are the same which were used in order to originally change the timing of the Adult WFC‘s, especially when this was based on a thorough analysis.
Mr. Botman understands the reasons for the Swiss federation, due to the start of the preparations during this year. We should have confidence to sell our brand. Turning the calendar back will cause a number of problems.
Mr. Kauppinen agrees with the previous CB members, but is worried about who will then organise the WFC‘s of 2011 and 2012, if the Swiss are not able to do that.
Mr. King was of the same opinion that there is not a possibility to change the timing.
Mr. Orlando understands the request of the Swiss Federation, but is also of the opinion that IFF needs time to evaluate at least 3-4 events before taking a decision. In addition he agreed with the CB that the Swiss federation shall be asked if they are willing to organise the event in December.
The CB decided: Not to approve the Swiss request.
§ 6. EuroFloorball Cup
a) EFC 2009
Mr. Liljelund reported on the agreement negotiations with the EuroFloorball Cup 2009 final round organiser, being played in Frederikshavn, Denmark, from 14.-18. October 2009. The agreement was visible at the meeting. The event will be played in the Arena Nord in two arenas.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
b) EuroFloorball Cup Qualifications 2009
Mr. Kratz informed about the actions taken by the office, in order to find organisers for the EFC qualification tournaments in the end of August 2009. In order for the IFF, to be able to invite for the EFCQ in time, the ExCo has decided in accordance with the proposal from the RACC to start negotiations with the organisers of the EFC 2009 qualification organisers.
The proposed organisers are:
EFCQ East: Latvian Floorball Union 26.-30.8.
EFCQ West: Austrian Floorball Association 19.-23.8.
EFCQ Top4: Swiss Floorball Federation Men 21.-23.8./Women 28.-30.8.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
§ 7. Committees and Function reports
a) ExCo reports
Mr. Eriksson reported on the ExCO meeting held in Denver, USA, in conjunction to the SportAccord 2009. (Appendix 9)
The CB decided: To approve the report.
b) Contacts to International Sports Organisations
Mr. Eriksson reported on the meetings and discussions held during the SportAccord in Denver. IFF received feedback from a number of organisations, due to that IFF has received the IOC recognition.
Mr. Orlando reported the on the GAISF General Assembly and the change of the name of GAISF to SportAccord, despite that there has not been any proposal made prior to the meeting and moving the office from Monaco to Lausanne. SportAccord will focus on both the yearly congress, development functions like the video platform and organising the Marshall Arts event and Mind Games, additionally install an Anti-doping support to the IF‘s.
IFF had an official meeting with the IOC Sports Department, in which IOC clearly stressed the need for IFF to continue working in the same way as before and also focus more widely on developing Floorball outside of Europe. The IOC Sports Department stressed the fact that we organise regional qualifications for the Adult WFC‘s is a very important.
IFF participated for the first time in the General Assembly of the ARISF (Association of Recognised International Sport Federations) where IFF made an introductory presentation by the general secretary to the General Assembly after having being accepted as member of ARISF as number 32.
IFF held discussions with representatives of FISU, which is very pleased with the development of Floorball in the Student Sports. During the meetings the issue concerning the World University Championships and the possibilities for Floorball to enter the Universiades was discussed. It was agreed that IFF will ask the FISU Council if there are any possibilities for Floorball to be included as demonstration sport at the winter Universiade. The Swedish Students Sport SAIF has applied for the rights to organise the WUC 2010 in Umeå, Sweden. (Appendix 23)
Mr. Eriksson informed that he will raise the importance of participation in the WUC with the presidents of the four bigger associations.
Mr. Liljelund informed about the discussions with the administration of FISU, concerning the ways to move forward in order to reach our ultimate goal of playing in the Universiade.
Mr. Eriksson expressed that in connection with receiving the recognition from the IOC, the question for applying for membership of the International World Games Association has once again re-opened and proposes that we would apply for membership.
Mr. Suman informed about the 2nd schools (ISF) WFC, which took place in Slovakia in April and the greetings from the president and general secretary of the ISF concerning their views of the continuation of ISF WFC‘s, that they are waiting for a third event after which Floorball could be on the ordinary program of ISF. It was noticed that it looks like the Swedish School Sport Federation would be interested to organize the ISF championship in 2011.
The CB decided: To approve the reports and decide to apply for membership in the IWGA.
c) RACC
Mr. Suman gave, on behalf of Mr. Martin Wolmhed a report from the IFF Rules Group and presented the proposal for the changes in the present rules and bring forward the New Games Rules version 2010. (Appendix 10). The new Game Rules shall be sent to the member associations by September 2009. The CB is to agree upon the proposal from the Rule Group.
Mr. Botman raised the question of the problem with the rule concerning the Team clothing and the sanctioning of that, moving it to an administrational sanction. It was however noted that this issue had already been dealt with in the proposals.
Mr. Suman presented the proposal for the committee tasks and job description of the RACC members (Appendix 11), which was already approved by the CB in 2007.
The CB discussed some small amendments in the document.
The CB decided: To approve the new Game Rules proposed by the IFF Rules Group and the RACC tasks and job description, with some minor changes.
d) RC
Mr. Botman reported on the first meeting of the RC held in Vantaa, Finland on the 7-8th of February. (Appendix 12). Mr. Botman felt that there are a number of challenges for the RC in the future in order to develop the activities. The RC has decided to change the two year period for nomination of international referees and observers from the present August – August period to the December – December period, so that the present nominations will be valid until the Men‘s WFC 2010, in order to follow the new competition schedule.
Mr. Botman presented the proposal for the committee tasks and job descriptions for the RC members. (Appendix 13). It was further stressed that the RC needs to work ahead in order to fulfil its tasks in leading the referee work. The CB discussed some small amendments in the document and stressed the need to intensify the work to develop more female referees.
Mr. Botman proposes to approve a document for Organisers Guidelines for IFF Referees (Appendix 14), which has been developed for organisers of Friendly Internationals in cooperation by the RC and the Office. The need for these guidelines for the organisers of Friendly Internationals are clear, keeping in mind the big number of problems that referees have encountered in the last year.
The CB decided: To approve the reports and the proposals, with some minor changes.
e) Development function
Mr. Orlando reported on the Floorball Workshop held in Vancouver, Canada 16.-17.04. and the meetings with the representatives of the Canadian Floorball Federation and the representatives of the British Columbia Sport Council. The event was important for the development in Canada, giving information on how to deal with a number of things. The IOC recognition has open the doors for Floorball to the schools
Mr. Liljelund reported on the Floorball Development Seminar held in Latvia 23.-26.04.2007, in Valmiera, where over 40 participants from 5 countries took part. (Appendix 15)
Mr. Liljelund informed about the new IFF material Learn – Start – Play, which will be published before summer.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
f) Marketing function
Mr. Kauppinen informed that the preparations will start in order to build a marketing strategy during the summer. IFF has approached Puma with a written proposal for a new agreement, the contact initiated by Mr. Jansson in order to discuss to prolong the present sponsor agreement with the IFF Apparel Sponsor for the coming years.
Mr. Liljelund informed about the discussions held with Infront, concerning the sales of the WFC 2009 in Sweden and the WFC 2010 in Finland.
The CB decided: To approve the reports.
g) Medical committee
Ms. Bruun reported on the WADA Symposium, held in Lausanne on the 21.-22.04. (Appendix 25) and the out-rollement of the new IFF Anti-Doping Regulation and the IFF Registered Testing Pool and the first out-of-competition test has been performed.
Ms. Bruun further reported on the Medical Committee meeting, held on the 21th of April, 2009 (Appendix 16) and the work being done in order for IFF to have received the WADA Code Compliance, which was informed by WADA during SportAccord 2009. (Appendix 21)
The Medical committee put forward the following proposal for task description of the IFF MC.(Appendix 20)
The CB decided: To approve the reports and the proposals.
h) Material function
Mr. Liljelund made a short report, on the ispo Floorball Village 2009, held in January and the actions to be taken for the future. This project was conducted by the Development Board and a number of Floorball material manufacturers, in order to grow the market of Floorball in Central-Europe.
The material function is gathering comments from the manufacturers in order to start the process of looking over the material regulation for the upcoming changes in 2010. The material regulation is always renewed every second year, due to the fast development of the Floorball material.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
i) Athletes Commission
Mr. Jansson reported on the work of the Athletes Commission, planning to have a meeting in the next six months, to define the work tasks for the Athletes Commission.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
j) Information function
Mr. King reported on the work being done in order to re-publish the IFF Floorball Information booklet (International Floorball), the document is a PR folder, aimed to be used in order to promote Floorball worldwide. It should be published, by the end of August. The amount of web-news is increasing steadily from the IFF countries.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
§ 8. IFF Office
Mr. Eriksson informed about the meeting held with Mr. Matti Ahde, concerning the placement of the IFF Office. The present agreement will end in December 2010. It is important to be able to feel the pulse of the IOC and the sport, but still be able to secure the funding of IFF. Mr. Ahde had informed that the Finnish Federation is willing to support the IFF Office for another term. Mr. Eriksson was pleased with having received the SSBL offer and felt that IFF shall close the issue as soon as possible, latest by end of the year.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
§ 9. Member Federations
a) Members under suspension
Nothing to report.
b) New Member Applications
Mr. Liljelund reported that the Great Britain Floorball Federation has seized to exist, in accordance with the requirements of the general governing body Sport England. The reasons for the dissolution are that there have been financial issues and GBFF can therefore not have their accounts audited by sport England and apparently there is no functioning CB after a number of the members have resigned (Appendix 17).
The former Youth Section has organised themselves under Great Britain Floorball and Unihockey Association (GBFUA) and are seeking for recognition of sport England and have actually taken care of the GBFF duties towards the IFF.
The ExCo proposes that the CB takes cognisance of the dissolution of the GBFF and to grant the GB membership to the GBFUA and accept the GBFUA as the new GB provisional member. It will be for the General Assembly to accept the GBFUA as an ordinary member.
Mr. Jansson felt that the IFF CB needs to look upon the possibility to open the doors for the different federations inside the Great Britain.
Mr. Orlando agreed that we need to investigate for the possibility.
The CB decided: To approve the report and to grant the GB membership to the GBFUA and accept the GBFUA as the new GB provisional member.
Mr. Liljelund informed that there has been discussions with the Iran Floorball Federation, during the APAC 2009 and is waiting to receive an application in the near future.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
§ 10. Any other business
Mr. Botman proposed that IFF would participate in the charity project Pink Rink (Appendix 18) which is a charity project promoting the fight against breast cancer and women Floorball, giving marketing and information support. The initiative comes from one individual in Scotland and Canada.
Mr. Eriksson gave a number of good examples of a lot of charity campaigns, such as Sporting Goods to Goand Peace for Sport among others, which are also important. Further he felt that it is important to take this proposal under consideration. He proposed to put the proposal on the table, in order to make additional inquiries.
The CB decided: To approve the report.
§ 11. Next CB meeting
The next CB meeting will be held during the 25th – 27th of September 2009.
The last CB meeting of the year will be held on 10th – 12th December 2009 in connection to the WFC in Västerås in Sweden.
§ 12. Closing of the meeting
Mr. Eriksson closed the meeting at 14.50 thanking the CB members for a good meeting.
John Liljelund Tomas Eriksson
Secretary General President
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