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One World — One Ball

IFF Central Board meeting 1/2010 2nd of February 2010

Place: Orchard Parade Hotel, Singapore

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 10.00 and greeted the CB members welcome to the meeting.

§ 2. Approval of the agenda

Mr. Eriksson concluded that there was one updated appendix, namely the appendix 3, IFF Claims situation as by the 31.01.2010.

The CB decided: The agenda was scrutinized, completed and approved.


§ 3 Minutes from the CB meeting

04/2009 in Västerås, Sweden (10.12.2009), (Appendix 1)

The minutes from the last meetings were scrutinized, approved and put ad acta.

§ 4. Economy

a) Financial report for the Year 2009 per 31.12.2009 (Appendix 2)

Mr. Jansson gave a short report on the financial report by the 31.12.2009 and the balance sheet for the financial year 2009. The fiscal year of 2009 was a good year for IFF, with the Women‘s 7th WFC in Sweden. We were able to keep the budget. Mr. Liljelund stressed that the biggest difference to the budget is the investment made on the TV and the Internet TV in relation to the WFC and the EFC, where there are less income compared to the Men‘s WFC. We have also received an additional support from IOC and ARISF, which were not included in the budget originally.

Mr. Eriksson felt that the progress is good, especially when the total turnover is growing.

The CB decided: To approve the financial report and the balance sheet per 31.12.2009 and decided to put it forward to the IFF General Assembly in Helsinki on the 10th of December 2010.


b) Information on IFF claims – status January 31st , 2010 (Appendix 3)
Mr. Jansson gave a report concerning the situation of the IFF claims per 31.01.2010, stating that especially India, Malaysia and Ukraine are still lacking behind in paying for their activities. The decision taken in the last meeting is to automatically suspend these countries of the 1st of March, if no actions are taken by them before that.

Mr. Kratz presented the actions taken with the countries in debt after the CB meeting held in Västerås in Sweden in December. The countries have been informed, but there has not been any reaction from these countries. Further he expressed that there is a clear pattern that the members are paying off their old debts in February, when they get local grants.

The CB decided: To approve the report of the claims by 31.01.2010 and decided to suspend the member associations, which have not starting paying their debts by the end of February, by the 1st of March 2010. IFF will remind the member associations of the decision.


c) Budget for 2010 (Appendix 4)
Mr. Kratz presented the work done related to the budget process. The IFF General Assembly has made a decision about the budget for 2010 and the IFF Office has in co-operation with the committees and functions prepared a proposal for a revised budget for 2010.

Mr. Liljelund expressed that the budget has been built on the assumption that there is a place for a sixth employee for the fiscal year 2010 as decided by the Central Board earlier on..

The CB decided: To approve the proposal.


§ 5. World Championships

a) WFC 2009 Västerås, Sweden

Mr. Jansson gave a short report about the 7th Women‘s WFC played in Västerås, Sweden. It was hard to make the event to go round from a financial point of view, during the recession and the hard financial times. The problem is that the Women‘s WFC are not yet cash cows for the organisers, but an investment for the future. From a sporting perspective the event was organised quite well. The IFF Office should be docked to the organiser much earlier, to give professional input and thus avoid problems.

Mr. Suman gave a report about the WFC 2009 in Västerås, from the Jury point of view. Mr. Suman felt that the there needs to be a better link between the IFF and the participating teams, in order to get all the information. Apparently there were a lot of problems with the practicing sessions, which only came to the knowledge of the IFF only after the event. The WFC is growing to a massive tournament, which cannot be organised within only a year of preparation. We should know how the organiser is working for the WFC 2011 and WFC 2012. We need in general to increase the control and the direct support from IFF to the organiser.

Mr. Orlando felt that the teams going to the Events, are only asking for a number of things and not giving anything themselves in return. We need to work more closely together with the member associations, but at the same time we need to be careful when approaching the coming organisers.

The CB decided: To approve the report


Mr. Liljelund gave a report on the broadcasts from the WFC. IFF had made an agreement
with the host broadcaster (TV4) together with the Swedish Federation, in order to secure the
TV visibility from the event. The co-operation with TV4 worked quite well, but there were some
minor problems with the lighting and the partly equipped commentary position for the Czech
TV. The following TV matches were broadcasted abroad:

Eurosport The group match CZE – SWE (7.12.) and the semi finals (11.12.) and final (12.12.) on Eurosport 2
YLE/Finland Finnish semi final and medal match
CzechTV Czech semi final and both medal matches
Swiss TV Showed an IFF produced high-lights from all Swiss games and the whole match from the semi-final and the Final.

The CB decided: To approve the report.


b) WFC U19 Women 2010 Czech Republic

Mr. Suman gave a report on the preparations for the Women‘s U19 WFC to be played in Olomouc in the Czech Republic 4th – 8th of May 2010.The preparations are moving forward very well in Olomouc, despite some financial issues. The thing which makes the organisation difficult is the poor level of the communication with some of the participating teams. It is pretty obvious that with the though economical situation there are a number of countries, which are not in a position to give information to the organiser. The web-page is up and working and tickets sales will start in February.

The CB decided: To approve the report.


c) WFC 2010

Mr. Kauppinen informed about the preparations for the 8th Men‘s WFC and stressed that there has been a lot of work done, which will result in the start of the Ticket sales, opening of the web-pages and sending out the first information letter to the participating teams. The biggest problem so far has been the difficulty to secure an accommodation solution from the hotel providers. The recruitment of volunteers has exceeded all expectations and the first training session will be held during the Finland-Sweden Matches at the international week-end in beginning of February. The co-operation with the IFF has worked well, especially related to the match schedule and the TV. There is a lot of work needed to secure the sponsorship.

Mr. Eriksson felt that it has to work between the organiser the participants and the IFF.

Mr. Liljelund reported about the agreement signed with the Finnish National Broadcasting Company Yleisradio Oy, which will act as the host broadcaster for the event. There is a total of 6 to 7 matches produced for the Finnish market and IFF has agreed upon the price for additional production for member associations. IFF will send out the TV offer in beginning of March.

Mr. Suman felt that it is very good to have secured TV so early in the year.

Mr. Kratz reported about the actions taken concerning the qualification tournaments for the WFC 2010 in El Escorial (Spain), Singapore and Babimost & Wolsztyn (Poland), Singapore and Hamilton (Canada). The office has worked very hard since the WFC 2009, to bring all needed preparations to end. The qualifications in Europe will be organised as four day events, with 8 teams in each qualification. There are five teams taking part in the qualification in Singapore.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.


Mr. Kratz informed that the Floorball Federation of India (FFI) has decided to withdraw from the qualification for the WFC 2010 final round played in Singapore, despite the efforts taken by the IFF Office in order to explain the effect of such a withdrawal. The FFI has informed that they are withdrawing for financial reasons. (Appendix 5 a-b)

Mr. Eriksson felt that this is not at all acceptable and very unfortunate, especially taking into account the late withdrawal and the effect this has for the organiser and how it affects Floorball in Asia as a whole.

Mr. Orlando felt that it is important that all members have to be dealt with in the same way, in accordance with the Statutes and the valid regulations.

The CB decided: To approve the reports and to put forward the withdrawal of the FFI from the WFCQ 2010 to the IFF Disciplinary Committee.


§ 6. EuroFloorball Cup

a) EFC 2010

Mr. Suman gave a report about the actions taken by the RACC and the ExCo in order to develop the EuroFloorball Cup and to find a positive solution in the present problematic situation. IFF had invited for working meetings with the presidents and the major clubs of the four biggest federations during both the WFC and the clubs in January 2010. (Appendix 6a, Appendix 6b).
There have been a number of discussions held between the federations, the clubs and the other concerned parties. For the IFF it is important to have a top club competition, in order to promote the sport in general. The federations and the top clubs agreed that the cup has to be open for teams from all countries. The goal is to have a competition, which has to be attractive for all teams taking part and we have to find a solution which is not more costly for all participants.

Mr. Suman proposed to the CB that the IFF would create a new top club competition, where we keep the present system with qualification for the EFC final round, but only for countries ranked 5 and down and then creating a new Champions Cup where the countries ranked 1-4 in accordance of the WFC, together with winner of the EFC would play. The final format of the European Cup‘s will be prepared by a working group headed by Mr. Suman, which will make a detailed proposal for the CB in May 2010.

The EFC 2010 will be conducted as planned and the decision of how the EFC competition will be made by the CB latest in September 2010.

Mr. Orlando felt that the meeting with the Clubs was very good and that there is a clear need to develop the IFF‘s second most important promotional window.

Mr. Eriksson stated that all parties need to be aliened and cooperate, to secure the success of the EFC.

Mr. Kauppinen felt that there has been a good work done and it is very positive that the Clubs have been included in the process.

The CB decided: To approve the report and to install a new European Club competition. The working group headed by Mr. Suman was given the task to come with an overall proposal for how to organise the European Club Cup‘s from 2011, for the CB in May 2010. The EFC 2010 will be conducted as planned in Latvia, in October 2010.


Mr. Kratz reported on the practical arrangements concerning the EuroFloorball Cup 2010 in Latvia and the qualifications. IFF will now send out the invitation for the EFC 2010 in April, IFF has asked for organisers, since there has now been a clear situation to build on.

Mr. Liljelund informed that the negotiations with the appointed organiser of the EFC 2010, the Latvian Floorball Union has been set on-hold due to the present situation. It has been agreed to continue these in February.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.


§ 7. Committees and Function reports

a) ExCo reports

Mr. Eriksson felt that the Presidential and Secretary Generals meeting was very good, especially having introduced the working groups and the key note speaker given by Mr. Jan Fransoo. The Presidential meeting gives the member federations the opportunity to share experiences with other countries and to give feedback to the IFF. Mr. Eriksson gave a short report on the discussions held by the ExCo with the ARISF President Mr. Jan Fransoo during his visit to the WFC 2009 in Västerås in Sweden.

Mr. King reported on the activities of the Asia-Oceania Floorball Confederation (AOFC), with positive feedback with Indonesia and Iran as a new members and the re-establishing of the New Zealand association. The AOFC will have their General Assembly on Friday the 5th of February in Singapore. The AOFC has no present structure and the AOFC needs to build upon their internal organisation. APAC for 2011 will most probably be an internal event.

The CB decided: To approve the reports

b) Contacts to International Sports Organisations

Mr. Eriksson informed that IFF has received the financial support from the IOC for the Recognised Federations for 2010. The support is aimed to different development programmes and anti-doping work towards full WADA Code Compliance. (Appendix 7)
Mr. Liljelund reported upon the ARISF development support of 6.600 USD has been applied for and the Office is in the process of making the report for the activities of 2009.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

c) RACC

Mr. Suman informed about the draw made concerning the match schedule for the WFC 2010 in Finland, where the organiser could choose the day of a possible quarter final and the rest
were balloted. (Appendix 9) The organiser needed to publish the match schedule and release the ticket sales information by the beginning of February and it was therefore needed to ballot the schedule in order to build the ticket system and for the TV negotiations.

Further Mr. Suman informed about the updates made in the Competition regulations National Teams for 2010, based on the changes made by the CB earlier. The first change concerns the new system of 16 teams in the WFC‘s and the second, the participation fees for the WFC‘s, which were updated.

The CB decided: To approve the reports.

c) RC

Mr. Botman gave a report on the RC meeting held in Västerås in December during the WFC 2009 and the plans for the RC for 2010. (Appendix 8). There is a lot of time and money invested in educating international referees and still we see a large number of referee‘s falling-out. Therefore there has been a plan to build a long term plan for international referee development for 2015. The RC will present a plan for the CB in September.

The RC decided to make a proposal for a change of the nomination procedure of International Referees for the period of 2011-2012 (Appendix 13), in order to streamline the nomination period with the International Competition Calendar. The new nomination period will be from 1st of January 2011 until 31st of December 2012 and the member federations will be asked to nominate their international referees already in August 2010. The referees can also specialise on either Men‘s or Women‘s games in the future.

The RC decided to propose for the CB that there would be a sanction fee in case of late incoming applications for nominations of International Referees for International matches, since this causes a lot of unnecessary work for the RC and the Office. The RC proposed to start using such a fee from the beginning of 2010, based on the administrative sanctions mentioned in the juridical regulations. The sanction fee would be CHF 100.

Mr. Eriksson felt that it is important that the RC now will follow the requirements of the physical tests, which has been installed from the start of 2010.

Mr. Botman explained the present system of the RC physical test and the implementation of the new test where the national federation will conduct the tests in connection to the nomination of the International referees.

All the referees who are nominated for the next two year period will have to pass the new physical test. This is especially now when the age limit has been removed from the International Referees requirements.

Mr. Orlando felt that there can‘t be a sanction fee based upon the feeling of a person or the treatment of them, but everything has to be handled in accordance with the regulations.

The CB decided: To approve the report and to decide to start using the sanction fee for late arriving applications for referee nominations for the International Matches.


d) Development function

Mr. Orlando made a short recap of the evolution of the IFF Development Programme, which the CB decided upon in 2004. The programme has been successful and the five year plan will have to be evaluated in 2010, in advance of the IFF General Assembly 2010.
In 2010 there are still planned three Floorball Development Seminars for the year 2010, where discussions are held with Great-Britain for the summer 2010, Russia in September (24.-26.09.) and Slovenia or Serbia (autumn) to organise the seminars.

The CB decided: To approve the report and decided to give the Development function to make an evaluation of the programme for the IFF General Assembly.


e) Marketing function

Mr. Kauppinen gave an oral report concerning the work done for the preparation of the IFF marketing strategy and presented some power-point charts. The marketing function has used an external working group consisting of marketing specialists (Floorball clubs, Floorball manufacturers, Sponsors) with two external consultants, which has made some strategy framework steps, looking at the customer insights, the customer segments and starting to build on the Floorball Brand, in order to build a marketing strategy.
Mr. Kauppinen explained how the Marketing strategy was built and how it is linked to the main strategy approved by the IFF General Assembly in 2008 as a sub-strategy.
The marketing strategy will be presented for the IFF CB meeting in May 2010.

Mr. Suman asked if there have been any ideas of how to organise the sales of the IFF marketing rights.

Mr. Liljelund made a short explanation of the proposal of how to deal with this in the marketing strategy.

Mr. Orlando expressed that it is very important to involve the countries early enough, in order to avoid unnecessary problems.

Mr. King asked how to move the strategy into practise.

Mr. Kauppinen answered that the IFF General Assembly first needs to approve the marketing strategy and then the IFF CB and the Marketing function needs to roll-out the made decisions.

The CB decided: To approve the report.

f) Medical committee

Ms. Bruun reported that there has been made some minor updates in the IFF Anti-Doping regulation, due to the fact that WADA has made changes to the Code for 2010, as late as in December 2009. (Appendix 10) The changes are concerning the articles 4.4. Therapeutic Use and also the article 7.1.3. concerning the Results Management. These changes have to be approved by the CB, to give force to the Anti-Doping regulation.
As a result of this, the AD Guidelines for IFF Events (Appendix 11) have also been changed and the proposal is that the CB will approve these proposals.

The CB decided: To approve the report.


g) Material function

Ms. Bruun gave a short report about the preparations of the ispo Floorball Village 2010, to be held in February 2010, with a total of 12 manufacturers participating. The Village is built in the same ways as before, with star players for exhibition matches and test-zone for the public. The IFF is working together with Floorball Germany and the local Munich club, which will organise demonstration games with children.

Mr. Kauppinen felt that this is a question for the Marketing function where we should be present.

The CB decided: To approve the reports


h) Athletes Commission

Nothing to report.


i) Information function

Mr. King reported about the plans of the Information function to produce a Handbook for Organisers of IFF Events, including separate parts for example concerning the Media and TV. Ms. Bruun informed further that the Information function is planning to make a face-lift of the IFF web page during 2010, in order to keep the web-site up to date. The face-lift will include a number of technical elements that will enhance the usability of the web-page, as was the wish of the respondents in the Information Survey.

Mr. Eriksson felt that this is a good way of broadening giving support towards the member federations.

Mr. Jansson felt that there need to be more success stories in new social medias like the Facebook. We need to invest more resources and materials into Facebook, especial entertainment and more personal information.

Mr. Suman felt that there is a great need for such a Handbook manual towards the organiser.

Mr. King stressed that this is the best way to have consistency between the different organisations.

The CB decided: To approve the report.


j) Equality function

Mr. Jansson informed that there are now a budget installed for the Equality function and a number of actions are to be taken. We need to be different as a young sport.

The CB decided: To approve the report.


§ 8. IFF Office

Mr. Liljelund informed that Mr. Veli Halonen has been employed as a new Office Coordinator, instead of Ms. Katriina Sahala from the beginning of January 2010.
Mr. Halonen has vast experience of Floorball after having been a Floorball referee for over two decades and serving on the Finnish referee committee and as an International Observer. Based on this new recruitment, the tasks of the employees were re-defined and some small changes were made. (Appendix 12).

The CB decided: To approve the reports.


§ 9. Member Federations

a) Members under suspension

Nothing to report.

b) New Member Applications

Nothing to report.


§ 10. Any other business

Mr. Orlando informed that he is resigning as the IFF vice president and a member of the IFF CB, effective from the 30th of April, based on an agreement with the Swiss Floorball Federation.

Mr. Eriksson informed that he regrets the resignation of Mr. Orlando, but as it is an internal Swiss matter, it is for the IFF to accept the resignation. Mr. Eriksson thanked Mr. Orlando for his contributions as IFF vice president.

Mr. King felt that it is important to remember that Mr. Orlando was elected by a number of countries and feels that Mr. Orlando has performed excellently; during the short time he has been part of the IFF.

Mr. Jansson was shocked hearing about the for the IFF CB secret, agreement and the resignation of Mr. Orlando.

Mr. Kauppinen expressed that we are firstly representing the IFF, not the national associations.

The CB decided: To approve the resignation of Mr. Orlando.

§ 11. Next CB meeting

Mr. Eriksson informed about the upcoming IFF CB meetings for 2010;
02/2010: 08.05.2010 - Olomouc, Czech Republic
03/2010: 04.09.2010 – Place open (need to be held 90 full days prior to the IFF GA)
04/2010: 16.10.2010 – Place open (to be held after 60 full days prior to the IFF GA)
05/2010: 09.12.2010 – Helsinki, Finland
IFF General Assembly 10.12.2010.

The CB decided: To set the CB meeting for the year 2010, with the next meeting being held on the 8th of May in Olomouc, Czech Republic.

§ 12. Closing of the meeting

Mr. Eriksson thanked the CB for a good meeting and closed the meeting at 12.45.

John Liljelund
Secretary General

Tomas Eriksson
President

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