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IFF Central Board meeting 1/2018
10.-11.03.2018 Place: Hotel Hyatt Place Amsterdam Airport, Participants: Tomas Eriksson, President, by Skype Jörg Beer Martin Klabere Carlos Lopez Kimmo Nurminen Lidwien Reehuis, ATC Chair Ron Spence Filip Suman, Vice President, chairing the meeting Veli Halonen, Operations Coordinator Stefan Kratz, Competition Manager John Liljelund, Secretary General Excused: Monica Birdal Stephen King Thorbjörn Ovedal § 1. Opening of the meeting Mr. Suman, in the physical absence of Mr. Eriksson who participates to the meeting over skype, chaired the meeting and opened the meeting of the CB at 16:05 and welcomed the members to the first meeting of 2018. Mr. Suman is to conclude that Ms. Birdal (personal reasons), Mr. Stephen King (travel problems) and Mr. Thorbjörn Ovedal (illness) are prevented from participating in the CB meeting this time. The CB decided: To approve the report § 2. Approval of the agenda Mr. Suman to conclude that there are the following updated appendixes for the meeting. Appendix 3 - IFF Claims by 8.3.2018 Appendix 4 - IFF Claims by 8.3.2018 Appendix 5 - WFC 2017 LOC Report Appendix 6 - IFF Jury Report WFC 2017 Appendix 7 - Draft of GSI Report Appendix 10 - WFC 2018 LOC Report Appendix 11 - U19 WFC 2019 LOC information Appendix 13 - Venue Inspection report Halifax U19 WFC 2019 The CB decided: To approve the updated appendixes § 3 Minutes from the CB meeting: 05/2017 in Bratislava, Slovakia 07.12.2017 (Appendix 1) The minutes from the last meetings are to be scrutinized, approved and put ad acta. § 4. Economy a) Financial report 31.12.2017 Mr. Kratz made a short presentation, in the absence of Mrs. Birdal, the preliminary financial report and the balance sheet by the 31.12.2017 (Appendix 2). The preliminary outcome per 31st of December is close to -80000 CHF which is a bit more negative than forecasted. This is still a preliminary result, as there is a hotel bill missing from the WFC 2017. The main reasons for this is, as discussed in earlier meetings, the extra investment made for The World Games 2017, the lower marketing income, both from the general marketing sales but also the WFC. When the WFC then brought even less income than originally budgeted or even forecasted, this is then the end result. So, a deficit around 10.000 CHF higher than expected. Mr. Eriksson felt that the office has made an excellent work done by the office and the treasurer Ms. Birdal, as the year has been difficult and a tough time to get the information from the WFC. There are two issues we need to monitor, as the equity is very low, with the high number of receivables which are quite old. The deficit for 2017 was just some 5 per cent of the total turnover. Mr. Kratz expressed that the equity situation has been problematic for over a year already. The CB decided: To approve the report. b) Information on IFF claims – status March 8th, 2017 Mr. Kratz presented the claims situation by the 08.03.2018 for Associations participating in WFC 2017, registered for the WFC 2018 and those not participating (Appendix 3 and Appendix 4). The Latvians are continuing their payments and the current issues are mostly from Slovakia. Due to the financial issues for the WFC 2017, the Slovak association has presently a debt to IFF of 99.000 CHF which also negatively affects the IFF liquidity situation. The IFF Office has started the discussions on how to solve the problem mainly caused for the Slovaks due to the fact that the LOC didn‘t get the promised Governmental support. Mr. Kratz further elaborated on the situation of the other countries with debts to IFF. The next payment from Latvia will be paid in the coming months, as is the situation with a number of other countries. The following actions needs to be taken in connection to the registration of the teams for the WFC 2019, as the dead-line for registration was in the end of December 2017, in accordance of the IFF License System 2.0. The Association must be without debts to IFF by the time of the qualification to be guaranteed participation but also Associations following a set up plan to pay off their debts may be given the possibility to participate. From WFC 2020 the Association must be without debts by the time of registration. Mr. Spence asks how IFF is trying to collect the receivable, with Mr. Kratz answered that there is an active contact to these countries. Mr. Suman asked how many teams will have problems to register for the Men‘s WFC 2020 and Mr. Kratz answered that at the moment mainly Latvia and Slovakia. The CB decided: To approve the reports c) IFF General Assembly 2018, Prague, Czech Republic Mr. Eriksson informed that IFF General Assembly will be held, as decided by the previous IFF GA on the 8th of December in Prague, Czech Republic. The starting time and place of the meeting will be confirmed later, but it is likely to be held in the Clarion Congress hotel, which is the IFF hotel for the WFC. In accordance with the IFF Statutes the Announcement of the IFF GA must be sent out 90 full days in advance of the GA, which is on the 9th of September, but as this is a Sunday it will be sent out latest on the Friday the 7th of September. All proposals, motions and nominations must be sent in at least 60 full days before the IFF GA which is on the 9th of October and the IFF needs to send out all materials to the members no later than the 8th of November. Mr. Liljelund made a short recap of the discussions during the IFF CB Workshop concerning the needed changes for the IFF Statutes for the General Assembly 2018. The CB will discuss the proposal for the changes for the IFF Statutes, based on the IFF CB workshop. The CB decided: To approve the report § 5. World Championships a) WFC 2017 Bratislava, Slovakia Mr. Kratz reported that the LOC has handed in a short report of the WFC 2017 (Appendix 5), in which the operations and activities of the LOC is described. The main problem was the lack of governmental support, ticketing and marketing income. Mr. Klabere gave a short report on the event from a competition point-of-view, in his capacity as the IFF Jury Chairman. (Appendix 6) For the future it is vital that there are documents defining the problems that we faced in WFC 2017 in the future, as there was quite a number of issues with the organisation and the second arena Hant. Ms. Reehuis asked if there are some differences between the LOC report and the RACC report. Mr. Klabere stress that the Jury and the Office needed to make changes gradually to get all going in a number of days, as there was too much to do. Mr. Klabere expressed that when people know what to do, things worked well, but the preparations of the whole event was not done properly. Mr. Eriksson felt that this is the second time the IFF has needed to react in writing to the LOC before the start of the tournament. It was not possible to avoid this situation, as the preparations were not in-line with the requirements and the information was not giving to us. Mr. Suman expressed how big the adult WFC‘s have become and how vulnerable we are if the organiser will not fulfil their obligations and again thanked the IFF volunteers and the staff for a good job, which was second by Ms. Reehuis. Mr. Liljelund informed that IFF has after quite some efforts, especially with gathering the information from the LOC, been able to provide most of the data to Sportcal for the GSI Research. There are still some financial data from Slovakia missing. Sportcal made a number of on-site interviews of the LOC and the International Federation key persons. IFF has not got a first draft of the report, just in advance of the CB meeting (Appendix 7). The CB members are to come with their input in the next week, in order to secure that all important and relevant information are there Mr. Liljelund reported that the TV and Internet-TV production from the WFC 2017 worked well after some small initial problems. A total of 45 games were in the end broadcasted for TV and all broadcasted on the IFF YouTube channel and the production company Arena TV channels (Appendix 8). We had a total of 12 countries taking the live signal in one form or the other and a total of 17 companies. The 12 companies produced a total number of 4,8 million spectators. The WFC had visibility in additionally three countries and the IOC Olympic Channel, a total of 19 matches, all with English commentary, where IFF is using Mr. Olly Hogben as the commentary, which we have received very good feedback for. Unfortunately, we have no numbers from the IOC OC, but we had some 8-10 mill spectators in the News broadcasts in the participating countries, but these numbers will be available later. In total 101 matches were broadcasted by the takers in TV and these had a total broadcast time of 202 hours. In addition, the matches on the DOSB SD.tv and the Arena TV channels showed all 96 matches at the moment. Mr. Liljelund further reported on the marketing income received from the WFC 2017 (Appendix 9). The total marketing sales of the WFC was some 38.000 EUR, out of which a total of 25.000 EUR were barters. The total revenue for IFF was only 6.368 EUR, which was very low for an adult WFC. Mr. Liljelund informed that based on this negative situation with the marketing, the office has decided to only approve a fix guaranteed sum for marketing for the adult and U19 WFC‘s. Mr. Klabere agreed that this is the right way to go. The CB decided: To approve the reports b) WFC 2018 Prague, Czech Republic Mr. Kratz reported that all qualifications have been played at Toronto, Canada, Jeju Island, South Korea, Valmiera, Latvia, Tallinn, Estonia and two groups in Nitra, Slovakia, with a total of 33 teams. The following teams are qualified to the final round: Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Germany, Estonia, Slovakia, Canada, Australia, Poland, Japan, Singapore and Thailand (Appendix 10). Mr. Suman summarized that there were some discussions in Finland and Sweden about the system, but in general all other are pleased with it. Mr. Halonen made a comment that the spectator average number has increased steadily with for example in average with over 400 spectators in the qualification groups played in Latvia and Slovakia. Mr. Suman will give a short report of the preparations from a Czech perspective (Appendix 11) Mr. Suman reported that there were more than 60.000 spectators for the live broadcast of the ballot in Czech TV. The participating nations were very active during the ballot, with delegations from Finland, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. Mr. Klabere felt that this professional way of making the ballot is great marketing for the sport. Mr. Nurminen agreed and felt it was planned really well. The LOC has made a WFC preparation Health Card to follow the preparations. Mr. Liljelund reported from the ballot held in Prague 1st of March (Appendix 12) and that the preparation of the schedule is ongoing. The Ballot was very well and professionally organized, with participation of six team representatives and nine ambassadors from the participating countries and televised live on Czech TV. This ballot should act a s base for any ballot in the future. The WFC 2018 LOC will start ticket sales on the 15th of March and IFF has in order to have a first version of the match schedule ready for this, already started discussions with the main TV takers, to avoid unnecessary changes in the match schedule. The possible changes to the first version of the match schedule will be made in end of May and in October. In connection to the ballot, a venue inspection in the O2 Arena and Sparta Arena Podivinny Mlyn was carried out with the LOC. The LOC has prepared the plan for the utilization of the venues and have a great experience. There are some technical issues that still needs to be solved and the LOC will hand in the application for technical expectations. As a part of the preparations for the TV production, a deal has been reached for the TV Production, which will be made by the Czech TV and all matches will be produced with the same set-up of 6+1 cameras. IFF is coordinating the satellite segment as before. This will be quite more expensive for the IFF than the previous years, but is still a much better deal than we ever made before with Czech TV. The CB decided: To approve the report c) U19 WFC 2018 St. Gallen, Switzerland Mr. Kratz gave a report concerning the preparatory work made for the U19 WFC 2018 in St. Gallen and Hersau, together with the local organizer, where the cooperation is working well. The organizer has secured the sales of the marketing and has taken over some of the IFF commercial space. The internet-TV production has been secured with the IFF partner PolarHD and all matches are produced. IFF is still in the process to investigate the interest in TV production from the U19 WFC and preparations for this has been made. The communication with the LOC is ongoing and preparations are proceeding well in all fields. The LOC is actively in contact with the IFF in a number of fields and the preparations are progressing very well. Mr. Beer reported on behalf of the U19 WFC LOC. The marketing income is over 64.000 CHF, which is very high for a U19 WFC. The LOC got a good support from the government, but there will still be a loss of 70.000 - 80.000 CHF. There is special deal with the local TV station during the event and there will be a promotion in the city to the mayor. Mr. Suman asked what the reasons for the financial loss. Mr. Beer responded that the expected loss is due to the fact that the costs for marketing, venues and logistic are very high in Switzerland. The CB decided: To approve the report d) Upcoming organisers U19 WFC 2019, Halifax, Canada Mr. Kratz is to report that a total of 26 teams have registered, which is the same number as for the U19 WFC 2017. So far both New Zealand and Russia has shown interest to organise the U19 WFC qualifications and that discussions concerning the organization are ongoing. Mr. Kratz proposed that Canada and USA, in addition to the regular top 9 teams, shall be direct qualified and that 3 teams shall qualify from the European qualifications and 2 teams from the AOFC qualification. Mr. Liljelund reported on the negotiations held with the LOC concerning the U19 WFC 2019 agreement and the inspection of the venues (Appendix 11). The LOC has an issue of finding a second venue, which will be of sufficient space (Appendix 13) agreement is still under discussion, with IFF awaiting the comments from the LOC. Mr. Spence feels that the experience from the WFC 2014 in Gothenburg that Mr. Mac Neil had, has been critical for how the LOC is planning the event. The LOC is planning to get a lot of school to participate in the events as spectators for the morning matches. This will give a good experience for the local community and there are discussions with the schools and the military. The CB decided: To approve the report and decide to grant Canada and USA, in addition to the regular top 9 teams direct qualification for the Event. e) U19 WFC 2020, Harbin, China Mr. Liljelund informed that the negotiation with the Chinese Floorball Federation (CFF) have continued and the CFF has on the 26th of February had a meeting with the General Administration of Sports in China (GASC), which is the Chinese equivalent to a sports confederation, to be able to sign the agreement for the U19 WFC 2020. The CFF has also meet with the new management of the Chinese Ice Hockey federation which has been newly appointed, under which the CFF is organized, as it is not an Olympic Sport. The implications of these meetings are that more specific details have still to be defined by the Chinese authorities before they can provide any financial support to the CFF and therefore the CFF is not yet in a position to confirm the organization. Mr. Kratz will start to look for alternative solutions and the CB is to discuss the situation. The CB decided: To approve the reports WFC 2019, Neuchatel, Switzerland Mr. Kratz to report that 29 teams have registered at the moment, with 31 teams in 2017, missing the Great Britain and Ukraine which participated last time, as they have limited personal and financial resources to participate. Thailand has shown interest to organise the AOFC qualification and that the IFF is looking for organizers to the remaining qualification tournaments. Mr Beer informed about the preparations taken by the SUHV, especially in the field of marketing and sponsorship. Mr. Reto Gyger will be the secretary general for the WFC 2019. The SUHV has organized a meeting on the 12th of March concerning the marketing of the event, were Mr. Tero Kalsta, the IFF Sales Coordinator will participate. Mr. Liljelund informed that negotiations with the SUHV has started concerning the organisers agreement and IFF is waiting for the first feedback from the SUHV. Mr. Beer felt that the SUHV will come back The CB decided: To approve the reports WFC 2020, Helsinki, Finland Mr. Liljelund reported that the SSBL has asked for the proposal of the organisers agreement of the WFC 2020, which IFF has delivered as agreed by the end of February. Mr. Nurminen informed that the pre-LOC meeting will be held in the coming weeks. The CB decided: To approve the reports § 6. EuroFloorball Cup a) EuroFloorball Cup 2018 Mr. Kratz reported that he has approached Estonia regarding organising the EuroFloorball Cup 2018 and that Croatia has also shown interest to organise the event. The CB decided: To approve the report. b) EuroFloorball Challenge 2018 Mr. Kratz reported that Croatia has shown interest to organise the EFCh 2018 and that he has approached them for more details. The CB decided: To approve the report. c) Champions Cup Mr. Nurminen reported on the IFF Champions Cup Steering Group meeting held on the 9th of December 2018 in Bratislava and the continued preparations in regard to the Home & Away system for the Champions Cup in the future. (Appendix 14) The stakeholders are working on a concept for the Home & Away and the next CCSG meeting will be held in Copenhagen on the 28th of March. The working group Zoss-Frank-Liljelund is working on the new proposal for the Home & Away concept. The CB decided: To approve the report § 7. Committees and Ad Hoc group reports a) ExCo reports Mr. Eriksson reported on the ExCo activities during the last two months and the preparations in advance of the GAISF SportAccord Convention in Bangkok. Based on the earlier discussions within the ExCo the IFF Office has continued the discussions with the City of Lausanne to move forward in the registration of IFF in Lausanne and the Canton du Vaud. Mr. Kalsta has had several meetings with the Lausanne Sports Office and the IFF Statues have been translated into French by a certified translator. The following documents are needed for the registration, which are being collected in the meantime. - Minutes of General Assembly 2016 (signed version) - Translation of the statutes in French (done!) - Adoption of the statutes (signed version of 2016 version – done!) - Election of the members of the board (GA minutes 2016 signed version) - Election of the auditors (GA minutes 2016 signed version) - Signature of the statutes by one of the members of the board (signed version – done!) - Declaration that the members of the board and the auditor accept the election (needs signatures) - Documentation of the people who have Power of Attorney (POA) to represent the IFF (CB Minutes 05/2016 – not signed) - Confirmation that the HQ will be in Finland (GA minutes 2016) - SSBL confirms that we are subleasing an office in Helsinki done!) - IWGA document that we are going to have a joint office (subsidiary) in Lausanne IFF will then after the registration has been successful make the agreement with IWGA for the secondary office in Lausanne. The ExCo has based on the proposal of Mr. Liljelund also approved the IFF Application for the IFF participation in The World Games 2021 in Birmingham. Mr. Liljelund reported that the IFF Ethics Commission (ETC) have during the beginning of the year in cooperation with the Office created a Complaint form, which is placed on the IFF web page, for anyone to make a complaint about suspected infringements related to anti-doping, match fixing, irregular betting, harassment or corruption etc. The form is created to serve as a funnel for data collection and making it easier to define which body is to deal with the matter. (Appendix 15) The CB decided: To approve the reports b) CB members responsibilities Mr. Halonen reported on behalf of Mr. Ovedal on the development with the Western European countries and the actions taken based on the questionnaire sent to the Western European countries. There was a survey made, which indicated that there is a need to run a coordinated sport team coaches for Floorball. Denmark and Norway are to test that at some point. A Central European EOTO -project for Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia in the field of refereeing. Mr Lopez reported shortly on the development in Central and Latin America and the plans for the future. There has been a meeting held with Mr. Douglas González, from the Venezuelan Association and there are some development in the country, but taking small steps. A general email has been sent to the available contacts and some answers have been received from Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexcio and Brazil. In Colombia the clubs can also now be able to register the clubs. In Brazil there has been held a national championships. All countries are asking for material support, which the Office will try to accommodate. Mr. Klabere felt that the work done by Mr. Lopez in South America has been very good and congratulated him for it. The discussion of organising a seminar in South America is still on the radar, but it is not easy to find a good solution for everyone here. A meeting with Special Olympics Spain has been held with good results. Mr. Liljelund reported, in the absence of Mr. King is to report on the recent development in the AOFC region and the status of the proposal for the implementation of the IFF Development Officer for the AOFC, as it didn‘t work out exactly as planned with Korea. Mr. Suman reported instead of Mr. King on the results of the IFF CB Workshop on the IFF Confederations and how to move forward here based on the discussion paper prepared by Mr. King and Mr. Liljelund. (Appendix 16) Mr. Spence reported on the development in Canada and USA, especially as the preparations for the U19 WFC in Canada. The School Board will most likely pick-up Floorball as a sport in Vancouver. Canada Cup is being played again in May. Mr. Suman asked how the development should be done in North America to develop the sport and what Mr. Spence can do to develop the activities. Mr. Spence felt that the USFbA is not very active in developing the sport and gives a major focus to the national teams. Mr. Eriksson asked about the rest of Americas, to which Mr. Halonen and Mr. Liljelund answered. Mr. Suman shortly gave a report of the PyeongChang Olympic Games organised in February in Korea, in the capacity of the Czech NOC vice president. The Czech NOC President Jirka Keval was elected as the IOC member, who will be willing to support the IFF. Mr. Suman asked Mr. Eriksson and Mr. Liljelund to think about how to use the WFC 2018 to lobby. Mr. Suman further informed that the Paris Olympic Games is looking towards fewer additional events sports than in Tokyo. Mr. Eriksson informed that the IOC has now agreed on the IOC new Norm for the organisation of the Olympic Games. The CB decided: To approve the reports c) Contacts to International Sports Organisations Mr. Eriksson shortly reported concerning the on the upcoming GAISF SportAccord Convention in Bangkok, Thailand in April, where a number of Sport organisations, including the GAISF, ARISF, IMGA and IWGA have their Annual General Meetings. The Thai organiser has asked the IF‘s to activate their national associations to take part in the Sports Festival organised in connection to the SportAccord Convention. The Thai association has promised to be active and work with the organiser. The Thai association has secured a slot time in the demonstration zone for floorball on the 19th of April. IFF has made a proposal to ARISF and GAISF to include information on the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Mr. Liljelund has written a short summary of the effects on sport organisations (Appendix 17), which will be distributed in full or parts of it to the members, after GAISF has decided what and how to inform about this at the SportAccord Convention. Mr. Suman informed that the Czech federation is also looking on the requirements of the GDPR concerning the match statistics system. So far there has not been any progress in regard to the GAISF Urban Games and in discussions with the Head of Operations Mr. Philippe Gueisbuhler, he has promised to inform us as soon as something happens. Mr. Eriksson reported that he for family reasons were not able to participate in the PyeongChang Olympic Games. The IOC is very strict that if the recognised IF president can‘t have participated, it can‘t be substituted. The more important is to participate at the IOC session, Mr. Liljelund informed that IFF has continued the discussions with the IWGA concerning the possibility to open a sub-office at the IWGA Office in Lausanne. IFF has also handed in the application for inclusion in The World Games 2021 in Birmingham (Appendix 18). Originally IFF asked for 8 men‘s teams and six women‘s teams, but later got a letter asking for the number of technical officials (IFF Staff and referees) for the only the men‘s 8 teams. In addition, we have been asked to present a proposal for some inclusion of ParaFloorball to the event and we have built a proposal for a six-team mini tournament for Special Olympics Floorball. Mr. Eriksson further informed that Mr. Liljelund has been nominated for the position as Executive Board member in IWGA, where there are six candidates for four ordinary seats. It is really good that we are putting the frontier further of the IFF. This can be used in a positive way in other issues. Mr. Liljelund informed that the preparations for the FISU World University Championships 2018 in Lodz, Poland is progressing, but there are not that many team registered for the Event. So far the following have registered, so there might be an issue of having only 6 women‘s teams and maybe eight men‘s teams. IFF has been in contact to Latvia, Russia and Ukraine to ask if they would consider participating.  Mr. Suman asked if there has been any discussion in SIBF and SUHV about sending both a Men‘s and Women‘s team. Mr. Beer and Mr. Klabere answered that the decision has been a question for their respective sports departments. Mr. Suman and Mr. Liljelund understand the situation, but it is extremely important that the national associations CBs would discuss the situation to have the full picture of how this might effect the future possibilities of entering the Universiade. The IFF has brought up the possibility to introduce the playing system of the World Games in the WUC for 2020. Mr. Liljelund is to inform that IFF has approached the FIH President and secretary general, but due to calendar issues a meeting is planned for the SportAccord Convention in Bangkok, Thailand in April. The CB decided: To approve the reports d) RACC Mr. Klabere reported on the RACC activities. The RACC will have their yearly meeting on the 18.-19.8. Mr. Klabere further informed that the RACC is proposing to continue the test of using the IFF YouTube livestream for reviewing goals in IFF Events, which was tested in the WFCQs in Korea and Slovakia. Based on the report made by the IFF Event manager Ms. Sarah Mitchell, the outcome was very positive and clearly indicates that this could be an effective way of reviewing the goals also in the future. Mr. Klabere is to propose that the system shall continue to be tested at the following events during 2018: the U19 WFC 2018, the U19 EFC 2019 qualifications, the EuroFloorball Cup and the EuroFloorball Challenge. The plan is to have a regulation change proposal for the CB-meeting in December. Mr. Suman asked what situations can be checked and Mr. Kratz answered that the check would concern whether the ball was in or not and whether the goal was scored in time. In addition Mr. Suman asked if the RACC could look upon a new system for the ranking system, including the result of all international matches. Mr. Kratz reported that Spain has handed in the translation of the Rules of the Game Edition 2018. The CB decided: To approve the report and continue the test for the reviewing goals in IFF Events in 2018. e) RC Mr. Halonen reported that the RC chairman Mr. Johan Råsbrink sent his letter of resignation to the IFF in December and resigned with immediate effect from his position as the IFF RC chairman due to personal reasons. As a result of this the IFF RC meeting on the 24th to 25th of February was chaired by the IFF RC Vice Chairman Mr. Lukas Gyger. The IFF has not so far received a new proposal from the Swedish Floorball Federation to replace Mr. Råsbrink. Mr. Klabere informed that the SIBF will make the nomination before the summer. The IFF Referee Playbook have now also been updated to the version number two (Appendix 20). The IFF Playbook steering group made a lot of amendments to the Playbook and also created educational interpretation guidelines for the new Edition of the Rules of the game 2018. The guidelines have also been checked and approved by the IFF RACC and the guidelines will be taken in to the educational use for the referees right after the approval by the IFF Central Board. The objective with the Referee Playbook is to streamline and unify the rule interpretation and the way the referees referee on primary an international and secondary a national level. Mr. Klabere realised that the IFF Way of Refereeing is the document which can effect the game the most. There have been some problems in the past, which causes issues for the game and in some cases for the teams. In the IFF Way to Referee document there is no mentioning of oral communication demanded from the referees and this is definitely needed. Mr. Klabere feels that the referee observers should not enter the locker room during the matches. The referees need to communicate with the teams much more and Mr. Klabere feels that the document should be re-worked by the RC and the working group. The CB discussed the process for changing the document in principle and concluded that to change the document in accordance with the input, it has to be doublechecked with the RC, as it is within their scope of business to finalize the document. A solution was found by Mr. Halonen and Mr. Klabere to include the following new text to the IFF Way of Referee document and the CB concluded that the document was changed concerning the raised concern for some points in the following way: - Referees can deny the referee observer entering the locker room during the intermissions according to the IFF referee observer guidelines - More focus was put on the need for the referees to actively communicate with the teams on the field of play - Some changes were made also to the movements and positioning part of the Playbook in order to give the referees more freedom in their movement. - The educational rule interpretation of the conduct of the face off was also updated to be more precise Mr. Halonen informed that the made changes has been approved by the IFF RC. The RC has received proposals from Malaysia and Philippines of two new referee pairs for the AOFC referee development group. The referees are Mr. Darien Loh Wern Chun and Mr. Calvin Lim Wen Quan from Malaysia and Mr. Massada Dem Cabillas and Mr. Joshua Paul Manalili from Philippines. The CB decided: To approve the report, the IFF Way of Refereeing document with said changes and appointed the following referees Mr. Darien Loh Wern Chun and Mr. Calvin Lim Wen Quan from Malaysia and Mr. Massada Dem Cabillas and Mr. Joshua Paul Manalili from Philippines to the AOFC Development Group. . The meeting was adjourned at 19:35 on Saturday and was continued on Sunday at 09:00. . f) Medical committee Mr. Halonen, in the absence of Ms. Nurminen, informed that the IFF has handled the Anti-Doping Rule violation by an Australian national team player in accordance in the IFF Anti-Doping and Juridical Regulations. (Appendix 21) The CB decided: To approve the report g) Athletes Commission Ms. Reehuis informed that the IFF Athletes Commission (ATC) will have its next meeting during the U19 WFC in Switzerland. The ATC will use the IOC Athletes Commission documents to organise the IFF ATC. The ATC intends to come up with an action list, to support our goals for upcoming years, with the athletes from the commission. This action list will be presented after the next ATC meeting. Mr. Klabere asked if there are some persons the ATC wants to be present during the meeting. The CB decided: To approve the report h) Marketing Ad Hoc group Mr. Beer informed about the upcoming meeting of the Core Country Marketing Network Group (CCMNG) meeting, which will be held in St. Gallen, Switzerland on Friday the 4th of May, during the U19 WFC 2018. The meeting will focus on Core countries best practises, achievements and also challenges. The focus Mr. Beer further reported that the new IFF Sales Coordinator Mr. Tero Kalsta has started his work very efficiently and has had a number of meetings and taken several contacts to different companies. (Appendix 22) There has been several ideas and contacts to new sponsors and activated also the CB in their LinkedIn accounts. Mr. Nurminen has invited Mr. Kalsta to participate in the SSBL Sponsor Event in end of May (24.-25.5.2018) to learn from the Finnish federation sponsors. The CB decided: To approve the reports i) Development & Equality Ad Hoc group Mr. Halonen reported about that for the year 2018 at the time there are plans to have following Floorball Development Seminars. The first of the year will take place in Ukraine in mid-May with participants from Ukraine and also from the surrounding countries. There will be both coaching and refereeing blocks. In June in Singapore in conjunction to the AOFC Cup the plan is to carry out a three days level 2 coaching seminar. The plan to have the second FDS in Africa has moved forwards and there is a great interest towards a seminar to be held in August/September in Cote D‘Ivoire for six to seven West African nations. The plan is to organise the seminar and play an official tournament in Cote D‘Ivoire. A more advanced seminar is also planned to be held in the end of September in India in the city of Noida near Delhi. The purpose is to have a group of selected coaches and referees educated in the seminar and that way also to ensure that India would start to participate to IFF events on regular bases, since the number of players is constantly increasing in India and Floorball is an official sport in their national school and university championships. Mr. Suman asked if there has been some continuity in Africa. Mr. Halonen expressed that the western part has been activated in Cote D‘Ivoire and Cameroon has been building the activities. The programs are running steadily in east Africa. Mr. Klabere asked how we deal with the different languages in the different countries. Mr. Halonen explained that we use translators and there are always some who speak English. The CB decided: To approve the report j) International Lobbying Ad Hoc group In the absence of Mr. King the topic was moved to the next meeting. The CB decided: To approve the report § 8. IFF Office Mr. Liljelund provided some general information of the Transfer situation by the end of the year, as IFF has introduced a few new categories for transfers. So far there has been made 42 discounted transfers from the ranked 26 and lower and 21 of the student transfers, making a total of 625, which is +5 compared to 2016. (Appendix 23) Mr. Liljelund further to inform that as MS. Bruun‘s combined parental and study leave will end in end of July, the process for planning this will start in May, as she is to inform of here plans three months prior to the end of here leave. The Office is looking to keep the employment of Ms. Nurminen, regardless of the decision of Ms. Bruun, hence some alterations of work tasks are needed. The CB decided: To approve the report a) Development operations Mr. Halonen reported of the IFF Development operations from the beginning of the year. There has been no seminars in the beginning of the year. The work has started for the update for the Floorball Development Seminar materials, in relation to the new Rules of the Game. Mr. Suman asked if there has been any new issues with the EOTO-projects. Mr. Halonen stressed that there a re a number of referee projects ongoing. The CB decided: To approve the report b) Information operations Mr. Halonen reported, in the absence of Ms. Minna Nurminen that the WFC 2017 received a bigger media exposure than for the WFC 2015. When counting the numbers from April to the end of December, WFC 2017 had over 9k social media hits and 2.4k media hits. During the same timeline, WFC 2015 had less than 7k social media hits and approximately 2k media hits. However, the potential reach in the media during WFC 2015 was a lot bigger than in WFC 2017. This can be explained that bigger medias were writing more about WFC 2015 than about WFC 2017. One good example could be the much-discussed penalty shot from WFC 2015 Final that increased interest among bigger medias. The Meltwater Tracking tool report is attached (Appendix 24) Ms. Nurminen has prepared a new IFF Media Guidelines for IFF Events – Video Filming (Appendix 25), which clearly explains what the accredited media can and can‘t do when it comes to filming videos in the Events. The aim of the document is still to direct traffic to IFF channels, but also to create more visibility to the events by not completely prohibiting filming. Floorball has a solid social media visibility, we want to keep it that way. Mr. Suman felt that this is a move in a right direction and the IOC has also changed the rules for the PyeongChang Olympic Games especially for the athletes. This is needed for all to to reach the younger audience. The IFF has activated its LinkedIn Channel as a promotional tool and wishes that CB members would also be active in LinkedIn and for example like the posts that the IFF publishes. The IFF Sales Coordinator Tero Kalsta has been active there. Mr. Suman asked if there are some words missingin the Mealtwater Tracking tool for the IFF events in any language, this information should be informed Ms. Nurminen to be added to the list. The CB decided: To approve the report and approve the Media Guidelines for IFF Events – Video Filming. c) Material operations Mr. Liljelund reported that the IFF has continued to take actions and further sanctioned the Chinese brand Rockwind, due to a misleading marking of their IFF non-approved Floorball material and not following the given directions by the IFF in the first stage. The CB decided: To approve the report d) ParaFloorball information Mr. Halonen reported in absence of Ms. Nurminen that IFF has proposed to include Special Olympic Floorball in The World Games 2021 as an IFF Parafloorball event. Mr. Suman asked if there are some other activities in Parafloorball. Mr. Halonen answered that there has not been that much activity from the Powerchair Floorball or the Manual wheelchair sports. Mr. Eriksson informed that the Swedish Para Olympic Committee has applied for the Special Olympics Winter World Games 2021 in Åre/Östersund and a decision will be taken in April 2018. The CB decided: To approve the reports e) Equality operations Nothing to report The CB decided: To approve the report § 9. Member Federations a) Membership questions Mr. Halonen reported that the Croatian Floorball Federation has sent in their member application to the IFF CB with the proper and required documents, with some of them in Croatian. (Appendix 26) The Croatian Floorball Federation has also informed the IFF that they are willing to start to organize IFF events already during the year 2018. The IFF Office proposes to approve the Croatian Floorball Federation membership application with as the provisional member number 68. The CB decided: To approve the report and approve the Croatian Floorball Federation as the IFF provisional member number 68. b) Members under suspension No members under suspension The CB decided: To approve the report. c) New Member Applications Mr. Halonen also informed that there has also been interest to join the international Floorball family from Burkina Faso, which has already started the process domestically. Also Burkina Faso, Jordania, Kazakhstan and Mali have started the process to receive the registration within their national sports authorities and IFF office has asked for more information of their plans to implement Floorball to their national sports community. The IFF office has created a membership application form, which hopefully will make it easier and clearer for the candidate countries to understand what documents and actions are required in order to fulfil the membership criteria set by the IFF. The CB decided: To approve the report § 10. Next CB meeting Mr. Eriksson concluded that the next CB meeting, will be held in Bern/Zürich, Switzerland 2nd to 3rd of June. The other meetings are planned as follows: 3rd meeting in Helsinki region, Finland (GA Invitation date 7.9.) – September 1st to 2nd 4th meeting in tbd, (GA documents deadline 7.11.) – October 27th to 28th 5th meeting in Prague during the WFC 2018 – December 7th Mr. Suman expressed that the Czeh Floorball will try to find a solution to hold the October meeting in Prague, regardless of the country‘s 100th years anniversary on October the 28th since it is important for the upcoming WFC to have the IFF CB in Prague. The CB decided: To approve the report and decide the time and place for the next CB meeting in Zurich. § 11. Closing of the meeting Mr. Suman thanked everyone for a good meeting and the office for preparing the meeting and close the meeting at 10:13. John Liljelund Tomas Eriksson Secretary General President |
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