IFF
 
     
One World — One Ball

IFF Central Board meeting 3/2016
04.09.2016

Place: Hotel Kampa – Stará zbrojnice, Prague, Czech Republic

Participants:
Tomas Eriksson, President
Monica Bakke, Treasurer
Heiko Jassmann
Steve King
Martin Klabere
Magdalena Kotikova, ATC Chair
Carlos Lopez
Milan Rantakari
Filip Suman, Vice president

Veli Halonen, Operations Coordinator
Stefan Kratz, Competition Manager
John Liljelund, Secretary General


Excused:
Jörg Beer
Johanna Mikkola


Minutes

§ 1. Opening of the meeting
Mr. Eriksson opened the meeting and welcomed the CB to the third meeting of the year and thanked for a nice dinner with the Czech Federation and a very productive workshop. Mr. Eriksson is to conclude that the following CB members Mr. Jörg Beer and Ms. Johanna Mikkola are excused due to personal matters.

§ 2. Approval of the agenda
Mr. Eriksson to conclude that there are the following updated appendixes for the meeting, which have been sent to the CB by mail earlier this week.

Appendix 2 - Financial report 31.08.2016
Appendix 3 - IFF Claims 31.08.2016
Appendix 4a - Licence System situation 31.08.2016
Appendix 4b - WFC 2016 Claims Situation 31.08.2016
Appendix 6 - WFC2016 LOC report
Appendix 7 - EFC schedule
Appendix 11 - Americas report
Appendix 22 - Borås CC report

§ 3. Minutes from the CB meeting:
02/2016 in Kaisankoti, Finland (11.06.2016), (Appendix 1),

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

§ 4. Economy
a) Financial report by 31.08.2016
Mrs. Bakke made a short presentation based on the financial report and the balance sheet by the 31.08.2016 (Appendix 2).
The outcome for the eight months period is 138.440 CHF, which is lower than compared with last year. The cost for the office has gone up, with more employees than last year and we have a slightly smaller income from the material approval system. The aim for the year is to achieve a zero result.
Mr. Kratz reported that we will fill the cost side this year.

CB decided: To approve the report


b) Information on IFF claims – status August 31st 2016
Mr. Kratz presented the claims situation 31.08.2016 (Appendix 3) the license system situation (Appendix 4a) and the WFC 2016 situation (Appendix 4b) by the 31.08.2016. A total of 48.500 CHF has been paid off since the previous meeting.

Based on the situation we have had so far the countries in crisis are mainly Russia and Singapore. The IFF Office has held discussion with both member associations and reports the following.

Mr. Liljelund gave a status report of the National Floorball Federation of Russia (NFFR) is in serious financial problems, due to a lack of license and membership fees from its regional members and are therefore not able to pay their respective membership and participation fees. In addition to this the NFFR has been cut all financial support for 2016 from the Russian Government due to the financial crisis in Russia and it has come to the knowledge of the IFF Office that the NFFR also has debts to IFF member associations. The IFF Office has continued the monitoring of the situation and feels that we need to wait until the end of October before a final decision of a possible suspension of the Russian membership can be made, due to the unclear situation inside the organisation. The IFF Office will contact the NFFR and inform that the possible suspension would seize all activities of Russian Floorball on the international scene, if the outstanding debts to IFF and the National Associations are not dealt with until the 30th of October. In the meanwhile, the NFFR has due to the IFF Development Board project, gained three new regional federations in Khakasiia, Krasnayarsk and Udmurtiya. The project is run by the NFFR secretary general Mr. Konstantin Zhukovsky.

Mr. Suman asked if teams can register for the WFC 2018, if they have debts. The Office answered that the teams can register as the License system 2.0 will only come to effect after the General Assembly, but the teams can‘t participate if they have debts anyway, so the system will be used proactively also for the registration. The IFF will move the registration date for the WFC until end of February 2017.

The Singapore Floorball Association is under reconstruction governed by SportSG (the National Sports Confederation) and Mr. Todd Vladich, Deputy Director NSA Capability Development has been appointed the interim General Manager of the SFA.
As agreed the SFA has not only been able to pay the 8.000 CHF during summer, to secure the participation of the Singapore team in the Men‘s WFC 2016, but also been able to pay the whole outstanding IFF debt in August. The IFF secretary general proposed that the CB will strike the SFA from the observation list, as they have cleared all their debts.

CB decided: To approve the reports and to continue monitoring the situation with NFFR and move the registration date for the WFC 2018 to the end of February 2017.


c) IFF General Assembly 2016
Mr. Eriksson reported that the 14th IFF the General Assembly will be held during the WFC2016 in Riga, Latvia on the 10th of December at the IFF Official Hotel Radisson Blue Latvia, starting at 08:30 and expected to end until 13:00.

The invitation for the IFF GA shall be sent out 90 full days prior to the GA, which is on the 9th of September 2016. The member associations are to hand in all proposals, nominations and motions to the IFF GA a 60 full days prior to the IFF GA, which is the 10th of October 2016. The IFF CB shall send out all proposals and materials of the GA 30 full days before the meeting, on the 9th of November 2016.

The CB is to approve the announcement of the IFF GA (Appendix 5) and it shall be sent out until the 9th of September. The Agenda for the IFF GA will be sent out after the CB meeting in November. The normal topics to be discussed at the GA are the Annual Report 2015 – 2016, Plan of Action 2017 – 2018, Budget 2017 – 2018 and Nominations. The Special Topics are for this GA are the already CB approved proposals Statutes change, Membership fee proposal, License System proposal. The CB discussed the possibility to propose an enlargement of the Appeal and Disciplinary Committees in the IFF Statutes for the General Assembly.

Mr. Suman asked when the nomination for the CB Committee members will be invited for nomination and the Office answered by the WFC. Mr. Suman further asked how we will deal with the member associations in debt to the IFF in respect to the voting right to the IFF General Assembly. Mr. Liljelund answered that we will follow the system we have had, based on the IFF Statutes.

Based on the discussions of the ExCo the possible persons to be invited to the GA and the WFC 2016 are:
IOC, IOC members, IWGA management, SportAccord President Baumann, Wroclaw LOC, IMGA, ARISF and International Federations‘ Presidents
IFF has applied for the IOC Patronage for the WFC2016 and invited IOC President Thomas Bach and the IOC Sports Department. We are awaiting a decision by October by the IOC.

Mr. Eriksson further informed that the Celebration of the IFF 30th Anniversary will take place on Saturday the 10th of December in the WFC Main Venue Riga Arena, between the two semi-finals. IFF started to present Service Awards in 2011 and as decided earlier will do so every five years. The CB is to prepare a list of potential nominees for Service Awards, so that they can be approved in November.

CB decided: To approve the reports and send out the Announcement of the IFF General Assembly 2016.


§ 5. World Championships
a) WFC 2016 Riga, Latvia
Mr. Kratz reported on the WFC 2016 preparations based on the LOC preparatory report (Appendix 6). The preparations are moving ahead well and the next preparatory meeting will be held on the 14th of September The ticket sales has started for individual tickets by the beginning of September, with ticket sales still lacking back a little.

There are so far 1.208 tickets sold for the final and a total of 3.048 tickets. Most of these are bought by foreigners and the organiser has built sections for Estonians, Finns and Swiss supporters. The Swedish fans have not yet started to buy tickets, but also here the traffic is starting to build up. The LOC started the individual ticket sales for the WFC on the 1st of September, in order to ensure that all capable persons will buy their tickets. The sales of sponsorship is also continuing and some sponsorship deals have been made. The next preparatory meeting will be held in September, in order to be able to secure that the preparations are in order. The media accreditation will open on the 17th of September and the first draft of the VIP-system will be presented by the end of September.

Mr. Rantakari reported that it has been a real challenge to get the LOC to understand that there are potential sponsors for a longer cooperation, so we need to be flexible with the way we operate.

Mr. Suman asked if there is a need to be concerned for the number of spectators and Mr. Klabere stressed that this is one of the key issues for the success for the Event.

Mr. Suman further asked if the LOC is actively using the Eventello Event management tool and Mr. Halonen answered that the LOC has used it to a good level.

Mr. Liljelund reported on the present situation concerning the TV. The negotiations with the producer of the signal PolarHD, the company which produced the TV and web-streaming signal from the WFC2015 in Tampere, has only now been finalised, due to issues with the producer and the question of how the Latvian TV will operate. The TV is set for Latvian TV and Finnish YLE, Swedish TV4, Czech TV which will show all matches of their teams and the semi-finals and Final. Negotiations are ongoing with Germany, Norway and Switzerland and starting with the other countries. The TV situation will be reported more in detail during the next CB meeting.

CB decided: To approve the reports.


b) WFC 2017 Bratislava, Slovakia

Mr. Kratz reported that China has applied to register late to participate in the WFC2017, which would give a total of 31 registered teams and that the playing mode for the AOFC qualification, if the registration is confirmed by the CB, will be changed accordingly. The organiser of the WFCQ in New Zealand has agreed to have eight teams in the tournament.
In the meanwhile, also Malaysia has informed that they are looking for the possibility to participate.

The Americas qualification will be played in Markham (ON), Canada.

Mr. Kratz is further gave a short update of the negotiations of the agreement with the LOC WFC2017, which has now been signed.

Mr. Suman asked in which process the Slovak organiser is, in relation to earlier Women WFC.
Mr. Kratz expressed that the LOC is still in the starting stages.

CB decided: To approve the report and confirm the late registration of China.


c) U19 WFC 2017 Växjö, Sweden
Mr. Kratz reported that the preparations for the U19 WFC 2017 final round is going on in accordance to plans and that a preliminary schedule is worked out with the organiser and it will be finalized after the qualifications. The U19 will be played in two arenas with a distance of 300 m between them, with the main arena taking 6.000 spectators and the smaller 2.000. TV4 will be the host broadcaster and the Swedish matches will be shown on TV4 Sport and the Final in the TV4 main channel.

The qualifications will be played in Italy 6th-10th September with 10 teams and Japan 18th-20th September, with 4 teams.

CB decided: To approve the report


d) Upcoming organisers - U19 WFC 2019 and 2020 and WFC 2021 and 2022 organisers
Mr. Kratz reported that he again has asked for interested organisers of the U19 WFC 2019 and 2020.

The interest should originally have been handed in by the 25th of April 2016 and the new date was set to 26th of August 2016. Slovakia has reconfirmed their interest for the organization of U19WFC 2019 and there is an initial interest shown from Canada to host the Men‘s U19 WFC 2019 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Mr. Kratz further reported that he has asked for organisers of the WFC 2021 and 2022. The reason for starting the process with these events already now is due to the expected date collision for WFC 2022 with the FIFA World Cup 2022 (announced to be played in the period 21st of November – 18th of December 2022) and the need for IFF to be prepared for alternative dates.

Mr. Klabere expressed the smallest possible change would be to change it to January.
Mr. Suman asked what we will do in respect to the U19 WFC and the decision has to be taken before the IFF General Assembly in December.

CB decided: To approve the report and continue the process for the U19 WFC 2019 & 2020 and WFC 2021 & 2022. The decision of the U19 WFC 2019 shall be made in December 2016


§ 6. EuroFloorball Cup
a) EuroFloorball Cup 2016
Mr. Kratz reported that the first edition of the EuroFloorball Challenge was played 25-28.08.2016 in Budapest, Hungary with 4 teams in both the Men‘s and the Women‘s Challenge tournament.

The winners and qualified teams for the EuroFloorball Cup 2017 were Phoenix Fireball SE (Hungary) for Men and CDE El Valle (Spain) for Women and qualified for the next years

EuroFloorball Cup. There were over 12.000 views for this tournament, with 60 per cent from the participating countries

The EuroFloorball Cup 2016 will be played in Weissenfels, Germany 5-9.10.2016 with 6 teams in both the Men‘s and the Women‘s Cup (Appendix 7). Mr. King asked if the Russian Club teams will participate and Mr. Kratz replied that they will and that all costs have been paid.

CB decided: To approve the report.


b) Champions Cup 2016

Mr. Rantakari reported on the preparations of the Borås 2016 Champions Cup and the activation of the public and participating teams, based on the decisions of the Champions Cup Steering Group and the CC communication plan, put together by the LOC, the City of Borås and the IFF. The IFF has started a SoMe competition for the CC, which focuses on finding a slogan for the Event, which gave a number over 40 proposals. (Appendix 22) The visibility in the City of Borås is very good. The CC will be well visible in TV4 and Swiss TV is taking the Swedish matches. The discussions with the other countries are ongoing.

It has been challenging to get the teams activated and it has been the Russian Nauka, has been very active. The ticket sales have not started too well yet. The World Games and the WFC 2016 will be promoted.

The Champions Cup Steering group will convene during the Champions Cup in Borås to discuss the future of the Champions Cup. Mr. Suman expressed that it might not be easy to find a solution for how to continue with the Champions Cup.

The next edition of the CC 2017 will be played in Seinäjoki, Finland.

CB decided: To approve the report


§ 7. Committees and Ad Hoc group reports
a) ExCo reports
Mr. Eriksson reported on the activities of the ExCo after the previous ExCo meeting held on the 17th of August, which discussed the outcome of the IOC Session in relation to the Olympic Games in Rio, the International Sports situation, the upcoming CB meeting, the Core Country 10 meeting in Wroclaw and the preparations for the IFF General Assembly. (Appendix 8)

Mr. Eriksson informed that the next CC10 meeting will be held in Wroclaw, Poland on the 8th to 9th of September, in connection to the World Games test-event in Wroclaw from the 9th to 11th of September, organised by the Wroclaw LOC and the PFF. The main topics for the CC10 meeting is the promotion of the World Games 2017 and the Cooperation between the CC10 countries and IFF. (Appendix 9) All ten countries will participate in the meeting with either their presidents and/or secretary generals. Mr. Suman concluded that it is really good that all ten countries are participating.

Mr. King reported on the present activities of the AOFC and the discussions the AOFC Presidium has held in Bangkok and how it will affect the IFF in general. (Appendix 10) The issue is that a number of countries think that the WFCQ is too expensive for the countries. There is a plan to run an AOFC competition in South-East Asia.

The proposal has been sent out to the member associations and five countries have answered so far. The AOFC is building an AOFC Competition calendar.
The other major issue discussion is the introduction of an AOFC development officer, partly funded by IFF and partly by the AOFC countries. The AOFC countries are looking forward to build a new membership fee structure.

Mr. Rantakari asked how the plans are to look over the international competition calendar with the new dates and tournaments. Mr. Eriksson answered that the coordination of all events must be discussed in debt, so that there are no collision of the dates.

Mr. Eriksson informed on behalf of Ms. Mikkola about the activities in the Americas (Appendix 11). Mr. King has been in contact with the Brazilian federation on how the confederations are built.

Mr. Liljelund informed that the IFF Ethics Commission has informed that they want to discuss the issues related to Mr. Salim in the Ethics Commission meeting on the 4th of December. In addition they want to have a look on the proposed IFF Guidelines for Harassment in Sport. The meeting will be held during the WFC 4.12.2016.

CB decided: To approve the reports


b) Contacts to International Sports Organisations
Mr. Eriksson shortly reported on the 129th IOC Session held in Rio, Brasilia in connection to the Rio Olympic Games, which he attended. The main issues of the session were the inclusion of the five new events in the Tokyo 2020 games. These are Baseball & Softball, Karate, Skateboarding, Sports Climbing and Surfing. The overall implications are that the way is open for new sports in the Olympic Games. The other topics were connected to the broader spectrum of Good Governance in Sports. (Appendix 12) Mr. Bach stressed that the sports community needs to do something new in the field of the Anti-Doping.

Mr. Eriksson further reported of the meetings with different sport organisations, like the meetings with the Indonesian NOC president Mr. Erick Thoir and the SEA Games countries NOC representatives.

Mr. Suman also reported on his experience from the Rio Olympic Games and the implications on the five new sports in the NOC. The IOC instructed that the five new sports for Tokyo, should be included as voting members of the NOC. This will have an enormous impact on the National Associations. It will be very interesting to know how Golf and Rugby7‘s will be treated in the future. Golf had really bad reputation before the Olympics, but the final day and the good TV figures might change. It was really interesting that in each venue there was very different visibility of the IF‘s in their venues.

SportAccord
Mr. Eriksson reported on the discussions held with the SportAccord President Mr. Patrick Baumann, who said that things have been brought back to normal in the SportAccord.

ARISF
Mr. Eriksson has discussed with the ARISF President Mr. Chiulli, who also informed that the IOC has now released the ARISF development funds and that he has been elected as the vice president of the SportAccord Council.

IMGA
Mr. Jens V. Holm has informed that the IMGA will make the decision of the European Master Games 2019 in September and has decided to include Floorball on in the organiser contract, so we will be on the program regardless of the host city.

IWGA
The IWGA President Mr. Perurena and the IWGA CEO Mr. Gossow, has in their discussion praised the IFF for being very active and acting as a role model in connection to the preparation of the Wroclaw World Games 2017. Especially the IFF Activation Plan has been seen as a very good project, which the IFF CB will finalize in its workshop. (Appendix 13)

Mr. Liljelund shortly reported about the World Games 2nd Competition Manager meeting in Wroclaw, Poland on the 25th – 27th of August 2016. The meeting was aimed to give more information about the present stage of the preparations. (Appendix 14)

FISU and the World University Championships
The WUC was organized in Porto, Portugal from the 18th to 24th of July with a total of 9 men‘s teams and 7 women‘s teams. The event was well organized in two of the Porto University Venues with accommodation in the dormitories of the University and the food in the University restaurant. Everything in the venues, was well organized and the match secretaries was conducted the by the Spanish Association with around 10 volunteers in Porto. There was a number of issues in relation to the transportation of the teams and the information to all participants. Both the Men‘s and Women‘s category was won by the Finnish. The IFF assisted the WUC with the participation of Ms. Sarah Mitchell. (Appendix 15)

The next edition of the WUC will be played in Lodz, Poland 2018 and the dates for the Event are set either to the end of June or the end of July, due to the accommodation issue.

Mr. Suman reported that the Czech representatives felt that University representation can be only on the European level.

SEA Games
Mr. Eriksson presented the report of the present situation with the SEA Games. It seems that the Malaysian organiser of the SEA Games 2017, has made a decision not to include Floorball on the program after the SEA Games Council meeting, where Floorball didn‘t get enough support from other countries than the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. There are some plans from the Malaysian NOC to organise a Sports Festival during the SEA Games for the six sports not included at the SEA Games. Discussions with the Philippines NOC have started to include Floorball in the SEA Games 2019 in Manilla.

CB decided: To approve the reports


c) RACC

Mr. Klabere reported on the RACC activities and the jury schedule for 2016/2017. In addition the IFF Athletes´ Commission has nominated Emanuel Antener (Switzerland) to be a member of the Rules Group. The RACC proposes that Emanuel Antener becomes an ordinary member of Rules Group for the edition 2018. (Appendix 17)

The Latvian Floorball Union (LFU) has asked for an exemption to let the Estonian Women‘s National team play in the Latvian Women‘s league and the RACC is positive to a test for the upcoming season provided that the ordinary league in Estonia isn‘t affected and that both the Latvian and Estonian associations, can build a schedule that works for both countries.

CB decided: To approve the reports and elects the ATC representative Mr. Emanuel Antener as a member of the IFF Rules Group Edition 2018.


d) RC
Mr. Halonen reported that the IFF RC decided in the end of year 2015 to start an “IFF Way” of refereeing program, in order to define the international standards for officiating in IFF events and international games. The IFF CB has also approved the program in its meeting earlier this year.

The first meeting concerning the program was held in Prague from the 13th to 14th of August with participants from Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. The meeting was very fruitful and all the participants agreed upon the need for the program. It was mutually agreed that an IFF basic level referee “play book” will be introduced to the IFF RC in its next meeting in October and then taken to the IFF CB for approval.

Based on the guidelines of the Play Book the IFF will organize an educational meeting for all IFF referee observers during the first weekend of WFC 2016 in Riga in Latvia. In that meeting the purpose is to more widely to agree upon the interpretations of the Rules of the game and then in co-operation with the IFF RACC to make those valid.

Mr. Klabere expressed that he is worried that the RC is teaching the referees, so that they are in the way of the players in goal scoring situations. Mr. Halonen explained that the problem comes from Sweden, where the referee observers have though the movement pattern to the referees. This has been discussed by the RC.

The IFF RC is also working with the upcoming international referee and observer nominations for 2017-2018. The IFF member associations have been asked to send their proposals of the nominations for International Referees and Observers to the IFF office latest by the 15th of September 2016.

CB decided: To approve the report


e) Medical committee
Mr. Halonen, in the absence of Ms. Bruun, informed that the IFF Injury form has as a part of the present research process, been updated with minor changes (Appendix 16) and available on the IFF website under Materials. More focus needs to be put on reminding teams to update the injury status (in case of severe injuries).
The first draft of the IFF Events injury studies research paper has been provided by the researcher Kati Pasanen for a feedback round, by Ms. Bruun and the IFF Medical Committee Chair Mr. Frey. Ms. Pasanen intends to send the abstract of the research to the IOC World Conference 16-18 March 2017, Monaco. She will attend the conference anyway, so this is a good event to present the study findings and to promote floorball.

Mr. Liljelund informed that IFF has made an agreement with Ms. Anna Jacobson that she will take care of the IFF Anti-Doping Testing during Ms. Bruun‘s maternity leave.

CB decided: To approve the report.


f) Athletes Commission
Mrs. Kotikova shortly reported on the IFF Athletes Committee activities during the summer. The plan of the player blogs has started again, with blog‘s from Australia and the Netherlands. The next step will be the activation plan for the World Games.

The IFF Athletes Committee elections will now be organised for the male representatives in Riga during the WFC 2016 and the Women representatives will be elected during the WFC 2017 qualifications. The IFF Office is in the process to send out the invitation for nomination to the IFF Athletes Commission. As a part of this it is for the CB to decide if the IFF ATC for the next four year period can consist of more than one member per country, apart from the Chair. The idea is that the election will be conducted as one, but in two stages, one during the Men‘s WFC 2016 and one during the Women‘s WFCQ2017. The results will be communicated only after the Women‘s qualifications. (Appendix 18)

The CB felt that in the future we need to have one per country, but for this election you can nominate for both categories.

CB decided: To approve the report and decide upon the number of representatives per country.


g) Marketing Ad Hoc group
Mr. Suman shortly reported on the situation of the Combined Sales Project and the start of the sales activities both in the member associations and on the IFF level. It is now up to gaining some results.
Of the countries participating in the project Slovakia and Switzerland has indicated to be interested to sell. IFF has contacted a number of the sales companies and set up meetings for September to start the process. The issue will be discussed in the CCMNG meeting, but it probably lies in the hands of IFF to achieve sales. The IFF Office will produce a report of the sales situation.

Mr. Rantakari expressed that the discussions have started with a few companies and looking for contacts to international agencies now after the Rio Olympics. So far contacts have been taken with two agencies. A first step is taken with an Agency working in Latvia. It will take some time to break through with the companies.

Mr. Suman further reported that the Core Country Marketing Network Group meeting will be held in Borås, during the Champions Cup on the 30th of September, to discuss the continuation of the sales process.

Mr. King asked if there is some coordination between the IFF and the National Associations. Mr. Rantakari and Mr. Suman answered how the communication system is aimed to work.

CB decided: To approve the reports


h) Development & Equality Ad Hoc group
Nothing to report.

CB decided: To approve the report


i) International Lobbying Ad Hoc group
Nothing to report.

CB decided: To approve the report


§ 8. IFF Office
Mr. Liljelund informed that Ms. Gitta Olsson the new Office coordinator has started in August and is now mainly responsible for contacts to member associations and the transfers, but more tasks are being added as time goes by. Update of the IFF Staff working tasks has been made, with all the tasks are made by the Office.

Ms. Anna Jacobson will act as the IFF Anti-Doping contact, during Ms. Bruun‘s maternity leave and be responsible for the Testing and Doping Controls.

Mr. Liljelund further informed that the agreement with the Finnish federation has been signed for the IFF Office in Helsinki, Finland for the period of 2017 – 2020.

Mr. Eriksson would like to thank the Finnish Floorball Federation for their support to the development of the International Floorball and thanked Mr. Liljelund for his activity to close the agreements.

Mr. Halonen reported on the outcome of the IFF CB workshop outcome concerning the EOTO project and the actions needed to be taken by the IFF CB. The EOTO process will be included in the IFF Annual Report 2015-2016. Based on the outcome we will need to build an activation plan for the IFF General Assembly

CB decided: To approve the report and take the needed decisions in the EOTO project.


a) Development operations

Mr. Liljelund reported on the Floorball Development Seminar organised in Harbin, China in connection to the China Floorball Federation Initiation Floorball Forum, from the 14th to 18th of July. The Forum was well organised and attended by a number of high level Chinese sport officials, for example the Director General of Winter Sports the Chinese Olympic Committee Mr. Ren, who will act as the president of the CFF. (Appendix19)

The CFF is still building its organisation and negotiating with the Chines General Administration of Sports/NOC on the practical issues. As a result of the visits in Harbin and Xi‘an, the CFF has asked for permission of the NOC and has now applied for participation in the WFCQ 2017 in New Zealand and also started the preparations to apply for the either the WFC 2021 or 2022 in China. I have also been informed that the CFF has closed a cooperation agreement with the NOC.

There are the following seminars scheduled for the rest of the year:
- India 9.-11.09. - Coaching and Refereeing (Mr. Veli Halonen and Mr. Saravanan (SIN))
- Douala, Cameroon 23.-25.9. – Coaching and Refereeing (Mr. Juerg Kihm (SUI) and Mr. Ronny Brännbacka (FIN) Mr. Halonen will represent the IFF).
- Antalya, Turkey 15.-17.10. – Coaching and Refereeing (Lecturers open)

In addition to these discussions are ongoing to organise a seminar in Australia and Uganda maybe next year.

Further Mr. Liljelund reported that Mr. Halonen has started to run the IFF Development function operational activities from the start of September.

CB decided: To approve the reports.

b) Information operations
Mr. Halonen, in the absence of Ms. Bruun, presented the proposal for the IFF Social Media Guidelines for Accredited Persons at IFF Events. The version sent out here is a first version, which has still before the CB meeting been overlooked by the IFF Staff in the IFF Office meeting on the 30th of August (Appendix 20).

CB decided: To approve the report and the Social Media Guidelines


c) Material operations
Mr. Liljelund reported that the special permission to use Too Long sticks in Floorball for players over 190 cm will continue also for the season 2016 – 2017. In connection to this there has been a Master Thesis research made on the stick length effect on the player‘s back health in Switzerland. IFF is in contact with the person who made the research.

CB decided: To approve the report.

d) ParaFloorball information
In the absence of Ms. Bruun, Mr. Halonen informed that the Manual Wheelchair Floorball group has been very active during summer and held a meeting during the Prague Wheel Open 2016 in August. IFF received the information that the intention is to participate as countries inside the IWAS and to establish a board of the International Committee of Wheelchair Floorball (ICWF) in order to have a more formal organisation. The preparations continue so that the ICWF countries are to give their input in October 2016. The development of the Special Olympics Floorball is moving rapidly forward and is continuing to grow all over the World.

More information of the activities and present situation in the ParaFloorball status report (Appendix 21)

Mr. Eriksson felt that it is imperative that IFF continues to support the development of ParaFloorball, as this will give as the best possible development of our sport in all sences.

CB decided: To approve the reports


e) Equality operations
Mr. Liljelund reported that the IFF Equality Officer, Ms. Sarah Mitchell is developing a “Guidelines to Prevent Sexual Harassment & Abuse” for IFF. The work is ongoing and IOC has during summer given more input in the question.

CB decided: To approve the report


§ 9. Member Federations
a) Membership questions
Mr. Liljelund reported that there are at the moment a number of nations which have taken steps and asking questions of how to become IFF members. These countries are probably ready to hand in their membership application in the next 6 to 12 months. The countries are Burkina Faso, Colombia, Kenya, Somalia and Venezuela. In addition to these we have Croatia, Hong Kong, Luxemburg and Taiwan, who are in the stage to start the process.

CB decided: To approve the report


b) Members under suspension
There are no members under suspension

CB decided: To approve the report.


c) New Member Applications
There are no member applications

CB decided: To approve the report.


§ 10. Next CB meeting
Mr. Eriksson proposed that the next CB meeting will be held in Riga, Latvia, on the 5th to 6th of November. The IFF CB workshop will be held on Saturday afternoon discussing the GA documents, so arrival to Riga is on Saturday.

For the CB meeting during the WFC 2016 in Riga, Latvia the arrival date is on Wednesday evening 7th of December or Thursday 8th of December and any need for additional accreditations will need to be handed in by end of October, as there is a limited number available.

CB decided: To approve the report and decide the time and place for the next CB meeting in Riga, Latvia.


§ 11. Closing of the meeting
The IFF President thanked the CB for an efficient meeting and ended the meeting at 12:00.


John Liljelund, Secretary General Tomas Eriksson, President

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