Kit, socials, subs and festivals

The following was agreed at a committee meeting of the club held at the OC Club, Thames Ditton on October 7, 2009

Subscriptions
It was agreed that the Club subscription should be maintained at £375 for the 2009-10 season, with a concessionary rate of £175 for students, unemployed and goalkeepers. These rates would be reduced to £275 and £135 respectively, if paid by the end of October 2009. The subscription is inclusive of all match fees and summer league fees. Any member not paying their subscription by the 30 November 2009 will be not allowed to play for the Club until the subscription is paid.

Socials
Nick Lewis proposed that there should be three socials during the season and an end of season dinner. As regards the three socials, it was thought this would consist of a Bonfire Night Fireworks evening on 7 November 2009; a race night on 12 December 2009 and a repeat of the hugely successful curry and quiz night on 6 February 2010. It was noted that the Rugby Club and UCL Academicals should be invited to attend these socials. Tickets for the socials will be on sale individually, but a ticket for all three purchased in advance would be discounted to £20 from a total of £27.50.

Kit
The Club colours are: blue and orange (home) or white (away) shirts, white shorts, blue socks with orange and white rings. Every player is required to play in the Club colours and the new style blue and white shirts in particular.

Kit enquiries are to be addressed to Helen Hawes. Helen advised that there were good stocks of most items available, although she would be ordering more blue shirts. She is also looking into the feasibility of ordering Club tacksuit bottoms.

Matches against the School
Matches against the School would be taking place again this year, it was thought on 9 January 2010.

Mixed Hockey Festival 2010
The committee expressed its thanks to Jon Heard, who has organised a mixed hockey festival which is to take place at TD on the weekend of 2 to 4 July 2010.

Summer Leagues 2010
The Committee also expressed its thanks to Jackie Waite who has kindly agreed to organise the ladies, men’s and mixed summer leagues in 2010.

Insurance
It was agreed in principle that it would be a good idea for the club to be insured, subject to cost considerations. Details to follow.

Discipline
Discipline in general over the last few seasons has been good. This is to be encouraged again this season. The Club will not tolerate bad language or abusive behaviour towards umpires or anyone else. Transgressions will be reported to the Committee, as will any yellow or red cards.

A yellow card for dissent will be punished by a requiring the player to umpire a further game during the season for one of the other sides in the Club. Subsequent yellow cards for dissent will be punished in the same way plus a £10 fine.

As regards the end of season dinner, it was proposed that this should be held at an outside venue of some distinction, in order to attract players and partners from across the Club. Tickets would be subsidised by the Club. The likely date for the dinner is 16 May 2010.

Details of subscriptions for 2007-08

The committee has approved the new subscription rates for the 2007-08 season.

These are as follows:-

Full £150
Student/Under-23 £90

As was the case the season, regulars can pay a lump sum which includes all match fees and offers a substantial discount over the season. The subscriptions for this are;

Full £275
Student/Under-23 £200

The committee would appreciate as many people taking this option as it makes the weekly job of the captains considerably easier and also means we can pay our early-season liabilities on time.

The more astute of you will realise that the subscriptions have gone up. They have, but this is the first increase in a decade and rising costs have left us with no alternative. They are still among the lowest in the area and, given the facilities on offer, the committee believes they still represent excellent value for money.

There is also, for the first time, an incentive for players who attract new recruits. Anyone who brings in a new member will get a £10 reduction in their own subscription (this becomes applicable when the new member pays his sub) and £10 increments for each additional new member thereafter (up to a maximum of four).

For this season only, there is a one-off addition of £20 to all subs. This will buy a numbered new-style home shirt as we have been reprimanded by the league for not having numbered shirts outside the 1st XI. Each squad has been allocated a batch of numbers so from the start of the league season, we should all have new shirts. Speak to your captains about this.

On the subject of kit, Ed and Alison Breton have kindly agreed to stock the major kit (shirts, shorts and socks) behind the bar at TD so ending the usually futile chases around the car park to find out who actually has new kit in their boot. It also means there will be no excuse for players taking to the field in a variety of odd shorts and socks.