Dear Members,
Over the past 12 months the English Subbuteo Association has made some tremendous progress with the development of new events like the English Open Cup, The Sliders Tour and the new website: subbuteoassociation.co.uk
The development of the website has been a huge task and we hope this is providing great value to the ESA membership. With your support we have been able to add features like a Tournament Organiser, Article Creator, Player Profiles, Subbuteo Shop, Player Rankings and a Club Section.
The New England qualification process appeared to be well received and this led to a successful campaign at the FISTF World Cup in Madrid, where for the first time our entire squad was kitted out with official sponsored shirts.
The success above could not happen without your member support and it is essential that we continue to receive membership revenues from as many registered users as possible, because this helps fund the future development of the game.
From an organisational perspective our whole association is built on the voluntary contribution from ESA board members, tournament organisers, club managers and it is important for members / players to understand that a lot of time and effort goes into running a club or a tournament.
It is no secret that sometimes organisers can make mistakes with the format of their events but we all need to understand that all organisers want their events to be successful. On this point I think some players and officials need to respect that mistakes will happen from time to time and instead of going on a keyboard warrior rampage via a forum or social media, they should contact the organiser to understand the full facts first because sometimes these negative comments can be soul destroying.
A good example of this is the ESA decided to change the format of the National League this season based on many requests from people who didn't want the categories mixed. We agreed to try out a new format and although we had a relatively good turnout the numbers were slightly down by a small fraction compared to last year. The veteran category was in many ways a major success with a very strong league, however the Open category was very disappointing because many of the top players failed to attend. Some players made some negative comments about the new format but the good news is that we have learned from this decision and we will revert back to the old format next season.
One other area of concern for some club managers I have spoken to recently has been the frustration of players not turning up or not showing interest in supporting their club on trips. I think it is essential that players do their utmost to support their club managers and respect their voluntary effort. In truth without these volunteers the ESA would have no foundation.
I digress......
In terms of future developments, The ESA Board is pleased to confirm the 10 point strategy plan for 2014:
1. Invest in new equipment. Phase 1: purchase 20 pairs of metal goals from Extreme Works.
2. Appoint a new Treasurer after the recent departure of Paul Lawrenson.
3. Increase the number of new players within the game by supporting the development of clubs and targeted advertising campaigns.
4. Attract new sponsorship for our major events and website.
5. Create a Q&A section within the website which interacts members with the ESA board.
6. Update the tournament organiser so it can be used for major events.
7. Create and Publish a Tournament Calendar (schedule and results within the ESA website.
8. Publish the mandatory requirements for each role within the ESA Board.
9. Publish the ESA accounts.
10. Continue to embrace and support all formats of the game. e.g. Subbuteo, OS, TSPA, WASPA and FISTF.
We hope the new ESA strategy plan demonstrates our efforts to provide you with an association to be proud of.
If you have any questions about the strategy plan, please feel free to email: support@subbuteoassociation.co.uk
Just on a final note and on behalf of the ESA Board I would like to thank Paul Lawrenson for his work as treasurer over the past few years. Paul offered the ESA board some tremendous support and he leaves with our utmost respect for his voluntary effort.
Best Wishes
Justin Finch
Chairman
English Subbuteo Association
www.subbuteoassociation.co.uk
Picture of the England Squad in Madrid with shirts sponsored by Custom Planet. from left to right:
Top: Terry Arnold, Phil Redman, Matt Lampitt, Justin Finch, Robert Varney, Chris Thomas, Ben Staples, Alan Collins
Middle: Colin Fletcher, Kasper Bennett, Colin Tarry, Matt Thomas
Bottom: K Arnold, J McCormick, J Kinrade, T Price, D McCormick, D Staples, A Staples, C Bowen.
