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Week ending July 1
Tributes, awards and cup
draws at annual meeting
The Boston Saturday Football League annual
meeting has been held. And proceedings were opened with a minute’s silence,
requested by chairman Roger Gell, in memory of former league treasurer Alf
Stones and Croft United secretary Roy Smith, both of whom had died during the
season.
In the main business part of the meeting, the
equalisation scheme for referees’ expenses was discussed. It was agreed that
although not all clubs had been active in providing the relevant information,
the facility should continue for next season.
The referee of the year award was presented to Nick Sleaford, the third time
he had received the accolade during his time as “the man in the middle.”
Other presentations were made to the leading goalscorers for 2006-2007 from
the league’s various divisions (cup matches not included).
They were won by the following: Premier, Lee Orrey (Croft United) 22 goals;
Division One, Luke Brittain (West End Tigers) and Rob Masters (North Sea
United) joint winners with 16 goals; Division Two, Dean Seiner (Freiston) 31
goals; Division Three, Jimmy Britton (Wrangle United Reserves) 39 goals — the
second season in succession that he had finished as overall top scorer in the
entire league.
It was agreed to donate £350 towards the Lincolnshire Football Association
Benevolent Fund.
All management committee officers and members were re-elected with the exception
of referees’ selector, Nick Sleaford who had decided to stand down due to
heavy work commitments. The chairman thanked Nick for his past service and
reminded everyone that during his final season, the referees’ selector had
achieved almost 100 percent coverage for all league matches. Terry Knott
accepted the replacement role of referees’ selector and he was wished every
success in his new post.
One new club and five new teams introduced themselves to the meeting.
Skegness Workingmen’s Club were the new club to be accepted, while there were
five additional reserve sides, whose applications were also successful. These
were from Fishtoft, Spalding Harriers, Spalding Town, West End Tigers and
Wyberton.
Meanwhile, the league reported that the following clubs had been lost to the
competition: Sleaford Town Reserves, Holbeach United Social and Park United
Reserves.
The constitution of the league was discussed and the chairman explained that
the sensible option would be to have 11 teams in both the Premier and
Division One leaving 13 teams competing in Divisions Two and Three. The
bottom placed side who had finished well adrift of the rest of their division
were the only ones who would be relegated, allowing the five new teams to be
accommodated in Division Three.
It was stated that these arrangements would enable the teams from the lower
divisions who get eliminated from various cup competitions early in the
season to re-arrange suitable league fixtures on otherwise blank dates.
Several minor rule changes had to be ratified in order to tidy up the
rule-book before a start date was agreed upon for the 2007-2008 season. This
was agreed as September 1, with a closing date of May 10, 2008 (last league
and cup matches to be scheduled for May 3).
The family of Eric Johnson, former Kirton Secondary School’s PE teacher and
local league footballer who died towards the end of the season, expressed
their wishes to donate a trophy in his memory. It was agreed that a fitting
honour to Eric would be a fair play award as Eric had never been cautioned
during his entire playing career. Likewise it was proposed by Tony Appleby
(vice-president) that the award of a trophy in the memory of Alf Stones would
also be a wonderful gesture. The family of Alf has since expressed their wishes
to donate a shield and it was agreed at the meeting that the award should be
made to the club secretary of the year for their devoted work during the
season.
The cup draws for the league’s various associated cup competitions were made
as follows:
Target Newspapers Challenge Cup (September 29): Tydd St Mary v Old
Doningtonians, Spalding Harriers v Wainfleet United, Sutterton v Old Leake,
Spalding Town v Nortoft United, Park United v Mareham United. The remaining
teams receive byes.
Main Ridge Take Away Reserve Cup (November
3): Fishtoft Reserves v Coningsby Reserves, Freiston Reserves v Westside
Rangers Reserves, Billinghay Athletic Reserves v Spalding Town Reserves, West
End Tigers Reserves v Wyberton Reserves, Spalding Harriers Reserves v Mareham
United Reserves, Wrangle United Reserves v Spilsby Town Reserves, Swineshead
Institute Reserves v Old Doningtonians Reserves. Kirton Town Reserves receive
a bye.
Eleys Sports Cup (October 6): Coningsby v Nortoft United, Fishtoft v
Woodhall Spa United, Fosdyke v Park United, Friskney v Freiston, Gedney Drove
End v Billinghay Athletic, Holbeach Bank v Wrangle United, Marshalls v
Skegness Workingmen's Club, Old Doningtonians v Sutterton, Park Road Old Boys
v Kirton Town, Skegness Town Reserves v Spilsby Town, Spalding Harriers v
Mareham United, Spalding Town v Black Bull United, Tydd St. Mary v Swineshead
Institute, Wainfleet United v Wyberton, West End Tigers v Croft United,
Westside Rangers v Old Leake. The existing sponsors renewed their backing
with a £500 presentation via James Eley, but indicted that due to company
restructuring the firm wished the competition to be known in future simply as
the Eley Sports Cup.
Barclays Brokers Willoughby Cup (January 26): Billinghay Athletic v
Old Leake, Fishtoft v Wrangle United, Kirton Town v Old Doningtonians, Park
United v Croft United, Skegness Town Reserves v Fosdyke, Spilsby Town v
Mareham United, Wainfleet United v Swineshead Institute, Wyberton v
Coningsby.
Barclays Brokers Willoughby Shield (February 2): Fishtoft Reserves v
Billinghay Athletic Reserves, Spilsby Town Reserves v Mareham United
Reserves. All other sides given byes into the next round.
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