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IFF Central Board meeting 3/2019
Excused: Excused:
§ 1. Opening of the meeting Mr. Eriksson informed the CB that Mr. Kimmo Nurminen has in writing resigned from his position as a CB member with immediate effect by an email today. (Appendix 30) It is with growing concern Mr. Eriksson sees that a number of IFF CB members are resigning during their term of appointment. So far there has been a few from Germany and Finland as well as one from Denmark and Switzerland. Mr. Eriksson informed that the Finnish Floorball Federation Central Board had already earlier decided to name a successor for Mr. Nurminen and after receiving his resignation today handed in the proposal for a replacement. The SSBL proposes to replace Mr. Nurminen with Ms. Kaarina Salomaa (Appendix 32), who is a former international level player, national team team-leader (U19 and Women) and former IFF Competition Coordinator. Ms Salomaa is also presently the chairperson of the SSBL competition committee. Mr. Eriksson proposes to accept the resignation of Mr. Nurminen and accept the replacement of him with Ms. Salomaa Mr. Liljelund expressed that it is unfortunate that the resignation comes so late in the process, as it seems that the SSBL CB has made the decision already earlier. This is not very good. Mr. Eriksson stressed that it is important that there is an active link between Ms. Salomaa and the Finnish CB, which has been discussed earlier with the SSBL President Mr. Risto Kauppinen. The CB decided: To approve the report and accept the resignation of Mr. Nurminen and accept the replacement of him with Ms. Salomaa, as proposed by the SSBL.
Appendix 3 - Financial report 31.05.2019 updated
§ 4. Economy Further Mrs. Birdal presented the financial report and the balance sheet by 31.05.2019 (Appendix 3). The outcome per 31st of May is 165.133, which is 201.500 less compared to the same period last year. The liquidity is 140.000 lower compared to last year partly due to the U19 WFC 2019, which also affects the outcome, but mainly due to that the organisers fee and marketing income from WFC 2018 was already paid earlier than the same for the WFC 2019. Mr. Eriksson and Mr. Liljelund stressed that a solution must be found to solve the liquidity situation of the IFF. This started with the WFC in Riga 2016 and then continued with the Bratislava 2017 and the U19 WFC 2019 in Halifax. Mr. Eriksson and Mr. Liljelund proposes to find both a short- and long-term solution. The short-term solution could be to take a long-term solution via a loan from one of the member associations to sort out the liquidity problem which is caused by the three events in 2016-2019, as it will take some time for IFF to re-build the liquidity. The longer period solution is to advance the payments to IFF for the organisers and buyout fees for the IFF Events and that the office will look upon implementing a system with bank guarantees and come back with a proposal for new organisers of the U19 and Adult WFC‘s. Mr. King asked how likely it is that we will get the outstanding debts with-in the next six months or so. Mr. Liljelund answered that the issue is mainly with Latvia, as the indications looks pretty good for Canada. Mrs. Birdal felt that we need to make a plan for how we can solve the overall system, with some members are accumulating debts. Mr. Suman thinks that the situation is quite complex, and we need to be on our toes in the case. Even if they are one day late, we need to act hard. In the Latvian case we simply need to rely on the License system and that it will work. Mr. Suman feels that the only way is to ask the big federations to invest more, as there is no other solution. Mr. Eriksson is pleased that the CB members understand the difficulty in the situation. Mr. Klabere feels that we need to have a solid solution for the self-finance of the IFF for the future or receive much more marketing income, as long as we don‘t have the possible to ensure that we can collect all fees from the member associations or have other resources. Mr. Spence asked if there is a possibility that IFF would take a line of credit or increase fees to the members for both membership and organisation. Mr. Liljelund answered that the preferred short term solution is still the loan for one or a few of the member association and then the long term solutions needs to be discussed more in detail in September. Mr. Eriksson expressed that the secretary general will handle the discussions in relation to these questions with the member associations. The CB decided: To approve the report and the proposal to have the Office to prepare a b) Information on IFF claims – status May 31st, 2019 Mr. Houman felt that we need to look upon Latvia in two ways, as they have organised the World Floorball Championships and therefore look upon the debts related to the WFC in a longer period of time. Mr. Kratz expressed that is exactly what IFF has done as the debts relate back to 2016. The aim of the Latvian association is to clear the WFC debt still during this year. Mr. Klabere has discussed with the Latvian President Mr. Ilvis Petersons, who had said that they should have paid some fees still today. Mr. Kratz informed that they after 31st of May has paid 4200 CHF and plan to pay some 6.000 CHF by the 15th of July. Mr. Liljelund proposed to ask the member associations for the yearly Financial Reports, in order for IFF to understand what means the association has to pay the debts. Mr. Suman asked what the next step are for the Latvian plan. Mr. Kratz gave an explanation to which Mr. Suman felt that the plan needs to be more concreate. Mr. Klabere felt that the plans and the effects of not paying should be described much more in detailed. A plan is needed with exact payments and final dates for payments and the consequences if you don‘t pay was supported by Mr Suman. Mr. Liljelund expressed that it not as easy as it looks, as the member associations needs to follow their financial situation closely and also then money doesn‘t always come from the government in a planned time table. Mr. Lopez feels it is very important to clearly inform the members of what the effect is if they can‘t pay. Mr. Liljelund proposed that Mr. Kratz will make a detailed payment plan with exact effects for the members with debts, in accordance with the IFF License system, as not all members prioritise to pay off debts to the IFF. Mr. Kratz reported that also Russia has fallen a bit behind. They explain this with a more than expected expensive participation in the U19 WFC but state that they will be on track in July. Further Mr. Kratz reported that the U19 WFC 2019 organiser, in addition to the loan agreement mentioned in § 5b) U19 WFC 2019, has fallen behind with the payments of the buyout of travels and daily allowances, the marketing agreement and the 2nd part of the organisers fee, a total of 39.000 CHF already in advance of the Event. The first payment shall be made in end of July, second in the last of September and the last by the end of December 2019. Mr. Spence informed that both Floorball Canada and Mr. Anthony MacNeil has indicated that the debt will be paid back and they will discuss the process in the coming weeks. Ms. Birdal thinks that we need secure the payments as planned. Mr. Beer asked how the Halifax organiser plan to re-pay the Mr. Klabere asked how the total sum is built between the loan and the other fees from the organisers contract. Mr. Kratz explained that the fees from the organisers contract is 39000 CHF and the loan agreement is 82654.52 CHF (107722.10 CAD). The CB decided: To approve the reports and to present the Latvian federation with a detailed payment plan and effects if they are not able to pay in the dates. Further the CB decided to get back to Canada and Russia regarding their participation in the WFC 2020 in the next meeting. Mr. Liljelund reported on the TV arrangements and the TV-site check organised on the 22nd of May in Neuchatel with the TV production company PolarHD. The TV setup will be quite good with 6+2 cameras in the main arena and 3+2 cameras in the 2nd arena. There is sufficient space in the arena for the TV operations and the Commentator positions. IFF has held discussions with the main takers of the TV signal, either directly or through the member associations and based on this first update of the match schedule has been done in very good cooperation with the LOC, which should be published before the 15th of June.(Appendix 7) The CB decided: To approve the reports b) U19 WFC 2019, Halifax, Canada Mr. Liljelund reported on the events leading up to the U19 WFC 2019 and the call for help made by the LOC just little over a week before the start of the Event. As the LOC didn‘t have the funds to pre-pay the 2nd venue and the Team accommodations at the University, the ExCo made a decision proposed by Mr. Liljelund to step in and provide the organizer with a loan in order not to jeopardize the Event, when all teams were already on their way to Canada. Mr. Kratz reported on the loan agreement (Appendix 9) made with Floorball Canada to solve the liquidity crisis the U19 WFC organizer faced before the event started which jeopardised the use of the B-arena and the main team accommodation. The loan (107.722.10 CAD (82.654.52 CHF)) shall in total be re-paid during 2019 with payments July 31st (33%), September 30th (33%) and December 31st (34%). Further Mr. Kratz reported that LOC were very short of volunteers and late in all preparations which affected the overall standard of the tournament. In addition, the number of spectators was very low and far below the expected by the LOC. Mr. Halonen reported on the huge problem with the flooring in the main arena, a problem which was continuing for the entire event. The main problem was that Gerflor provided the IFF with a flooring that had been wrongly rolled and stored for three years and this and the ice covering plates in the arena caused the floor to be one of the worst ever in any IFF Events. Without the extremely professional and helpful attitude of the Gerflor installation crew, it is doubtful that the tournament could even have been played in the main arena. Mr. Liljelund reported that IFF has discussed the matter with Gerflor and it has become clear that there was a mistake from their side in providing this flooring for the main venue. There was no problems with the other flooring in the B-venue. Mr. Liljelund proposed that the office would prepare changes in the contracts regarding payment schedules, bank guarantees to avoid future financial problems for the IFF with organisers. Mr. Klabere stated that he can only show his greatest gratitude for all the IFF personnel who worked and tried to fix the issues in Halifax. The most important is that it didn‘t affect the games too much. Mr. Suman felt that it is important that there is a CB member is represented during the events. Mr. Eriksson expressed that the IFF was represented by the IFF CB member Mr. Ron Spence. The CB decided: To approve the report and the proposals c) Next Events The LOC preparations for the WFC 2020 are proceeding well and the cooperation with the IFF are well on track. (Appendix 25) The organization of the Event team is made. The Event Director: Hanne Pirkola (since Oct 2018) and Marketing and Communications Manager: Minna Koivisto (since March 2019). The team will be enlarged with an Event Producer (9/19) and an Event Coordinator (1/20). d) Upcoming Events Mr. Kratz reported that the U19 WFC 2020 qualifications will be played in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy, with 5 teams; Russia, Hungary, Austria, Netherlands and Italy, from which two teams will qualify Mr. Halonen informed that the IFF Office has this week have opened the Event Management Tool – Eventello for the U19 WFC 2020. The CB decided: To approve the reports U19 WFC 2021 U19 WFC 2022 § 6. EuroFloorball Cup The invitation has been sent with 19th of June as last day to register. The CB decided: To approve the report. b) EuroFloorball Challenge 2019 After that Slovakia had taken over the EFC instead Mr. Kratz is communicating with Italy and France for a possible organisation of the EFCh. The expectation is that Italy will revert to the issue later this week. The tournament, if played in Italy, will be played the first week-end of September. The CB decided: To approve the report. c) Champions Cup 2019 Mr. Suman reported on the preparations of the Champions Cup 2020 to be played in Ostrava Czech Republic. The Club Vitkovice will act as a co-organiser of the Event as they are champions in both men and women. The discussion of where to play is ongoing. Mr. Liljelund reported on the CCSG meeting held on the 21st of May in Copenhagen, which discussed the next steps in the process for the new Home&Away concept based on the feedback from the different stakeholders. (Appendix 10). Based on the feedback the CCSG decided to build a test version for just the Top4, to test the whole concept in a real competition situation, maybe already within the present four-year period. The stakeholders will come with their initial comments to the CCSG, which will have Skype meeting on the 12th of June to push the process forward. Mr. Liljelund shortly present the updated Champions Cup Concept and the next steps forward (Appendix 11). Mr. Suman asked who is to lead the CCSG, which Mr. Liljelund expressed we need to decide upon in the September meeting. Mr. Klabere felt that the test model is a good solution at this stage, but we need to continue to work with the proposal. The finance looks much better now, but we still we need to avoid giving money to the clubs for the traveling in the future, but this is a very good proposal to start building the new tournament format. The CB decided: To approve the report and the proposed Champions Cup proposal.
Mr. Eriksson reported on the meeting with the CEO Special Olympic International Mrs Davis and CEO SSOE Mr Evangelista in Stockholm on April 11 about the 2021 World Winter Special Olympics to be organized in Sweden in February 2021, where floorball might be the biggest sport when it comes to the participation. Mr Eriksson took part in the Swedish NOC AGM on April 23, and the implications if Sweden is granted the rights to organize the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. Mr. Liljelund reported that IFF has on the 16th of April 2019 finally received the official registration of IFF in Lausanne, in the Canton du Vaud (Appendix 12). IFF now needs to follow a number of Swiss rules and Mr. Liljelund has negotiated with the Swiss lawyer Mr. Philippe Rentz, former IFF International Referee that he will help in the registration with the social and health insurance company, the tax office and some other authorities. IFF has made an agreement with IWGA for the office at the IWGA Office. Mr. Suman felt that this is a major step forward. The Sportcal GSI Event Study for the IFF Men‘s World Floorball Championships 2018 has been published and has already provided Czech Floorball and IFF with a lot of positive feedback from various stakeholders. (Appendix 13) Mr. Beer informed that the SUHV will have a meeting with the sporting authorities for the support for the WFC 2022, using the Sportcal GSI report as a basis for the support. Mr. Eriksson ones again congratulated the Czech Floorball. Mr. Liljelund presented the working process for the IFF Strategy in advance of the IFF Association meeting in Neuchatel in December. The idea is that the work for the new Strategy will start during the autumn of 2019, with the objective to prepare for the member associations discussions during the IFF Association Meeting concerning the common view of the direction of IFF‘s future. The process will start with a number of questions that are listed below which will be asked widely with-in the Floorball Community outside the National Associations, to build a broad base for the discussions. The results of the initial interviews and the Association Meeting outcome will act as the base for the preparation of the IFF Strategic vision for 2021-2032. The Process shall be led by a Task Force consisting of IFF CB members, Member Associations representatives, other stakeholders and the IFF Office, which shall be elected in September. The IFF ExCo will act as a Steering Group for the process keeping it on track. The Task Force will make two preliminary submissions to the Floorball Community, with the first version in April and the second in August in 2020, which both will be scrutinised by the following entities: the member associations, IFF Committees, Outside stakeholder groups (Elite teams, Leagues, Athletes, Fans, Media, Sponsors, Coaches and referees). The objective is to build a broad-based picture in which direction the Sport World is moving towards, what future scenarios and trends will affect and challenge our future (Appendix 14) Mr. Suman and Mr. Klabere felt that the proposal is also quite good and will be a good base for the future work. Ms. Reehuis reported that the Athletes Commission discussed the issue in their meeting and already named their representative. The CB decided: To approve the reports b) CB members responsibilities Mr Lopez reported about the development in Central and Latin America and the plans for the future. (Appendix 29) It has been difficult to get answers from the Latin American countries, as the situation has received a lot of visits from players and other Floorball people from Europe, which gives the countries a wrong idea of the development and how to go forward. The situation in Colombia is advancing slowly and in Brazil there are good things being done. The BFF is working well with the Brazilian NOC. Mr. King reported on the present status of the AOFC activities and also on the experiences of the implementation of the IFF Mentor Coach Mr. Juerg Kihm for the AOFC with New Zealand as the country during the U19 WFC 2019 in Halifax, Canada. (Appendix 28) Mr. King has received a report from Mr. Kihm for the mentor program, where the cooperation with the coaches worked really well in Halifax with the U19 WFC and the planning was much much better. The biggest problem is to apply the Game plan under pressure and therefore the lost the control of the games more than expected. We need to develop game sense for the smaller countries. Mr. Spence gave a short report on the present issues in Northern America. (Appendix 27) Ms. Reehuis asked what the next step will be for Floorball Canada. Mr. Spence answered that the idea is to analyse the outcome and build the sport on the experience with local and national follow-up. The CB decided: To approve the reports c) Contacts to International Sports Organisations SportAccord As a part of the SportAccord Convention, GAISF in coordination with the local organisation arranged a Sport Festival United through Sport, promoting Youth sport displaying some 60 different sports, among them also Floorball. The Australian federation had organised a demo game with players from the Brisbane Floorball Club playing against each other and then another test-out session for local school kids. (Appendix 15) Mr. Liljelund thanked Mr. King for the work put into the preparations and coordination with the Brisbane Floorball. GAISF AGM Mr. Eriksson further to inform that GAISF had together with the I Trust Sport Foundation executed a shorter Good Governance survey with the ARISF and AIMS members of GAISF. The study was similar as the ASOIF/AIOWF. There were 47 responses on the 20 indicators, scored from 0 to 4. Quite a number of federations were scored. Total score was 80 and there was A1 5 IF‘s (over 60), A2 (over 50), B1 with over 30 and then C with above 10 The average score seems to rise with the number of staffs. ARISF IWGA/TWG During the IWGA AGM the World Games 2025 was awarded to Chengdu, China, the IOC informed that the Calendar Commission has been re-formed to discuss the increasing number of Events and that it would be key that the NOC‘s would start supporting the delegations for the World Games. Mr. Liljelund presented a plan for sales of IWGA sponsorship using the IWGA members qualification and World Championship events to support sales, in line with the Combined Sales proposal during the AGM IMGA World Urban Games The preparations have been made with so there will be 6 IF‘s that will be on the Competition program: Basketball (3x3), Cycling (BMX freestyle), Dance Sport (Breakdance), Flying Disc (Freestyle), Gymnastics (Parkour), World Skate (Skateboard freestyle). The showcase sports are indoor rowing and Laser run (Modern Pentathlon). GAISF will conduct an evaluation and application run for the World Urban Games 2021 in Budapest program in the end of 2019. Based on this we need to organise an Urban Floorball Championships before the end of the year. GAISF further informed that the World Combat Games will be held in 2021 in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan. Mr. Eriksson reported on the ASOIF AGM, he attended during the week. The main questions were to find a solution for how to divide the money after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and could only find a solution after five voting rounds and the criticism towards the Tokyo Olympics organisers, Mr. Eriksson reported that the preparations of the 30th South-East Asian Games to be organised in November-December 2019, are well underway. IFF is coordinating the materials for the venue with the Philippine Association. The Floorball tournament is planned to be played in the beginning of the SEA Games, which is good as the Women‘s WFC will start on the 7th of December in Neuchatel. There will be played a test-event in Manilla, in conjunction with the Technical Manager meeting. AOFC has assisted the Philippine federation, as there has been some cash issues for the organiser of the AOFC Cup. Mr. Kratz informed that the venue for Floorball has not been decided. Mr. Liljelund informed the Floorball Philippines has found a flooring from Handball Philippines Mr. Eriksson reported that the AOFC President has called and informed that Thailand has been awarded the Asia Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2021 and that Floorball is on the program. IFF has started the communications for the Sports calendar, in order to avoid the clash with The World Games in Birmingham. For Floorball this will be very important to promote Floorball to all the Asian countries. Mr. Suman felt that this will be a major step forward for the Sport and we shall use it as a platform for further growth. M. Eriksson agreed and added that the costs for the participating teams will be covered by the NOC. Mr. Eriksson further reported that he has been asked to join the World Dance Sport Federation Ethics Commission as a member. The CB decided: To approve the reports d) RACC The following Associations have reacted to the letter of Future Floorball testing during the season 2019-2020: Finland: Finnish Cup. 3x15 min, 17 players + 5 officials – already approved The RACC proposes that the tests for the IFF Events, should be executed only in the EuroFloorball Challenge, with the IFF Future of Floorball set up. Mr. Klabere also congratulated the Czech Floorball for their first World Championships achieved in the U19 WFC 2019 in Halifax. Ms. Reehuis asked if any of the Athletes Commission members were included in the process for the decisions concerning the testing of new game formats for Future of Florball. Mr. Klabere answered that the National Associations has been asked what they need to test. The meaning of the tests is to get as much information how the game will change, and we are in the evaluation phase for a few years. The RACC hasn‘t made the evaluation form yet, but the National Associations could be asked to include the Athletes views in the evaluation. The CB decided: To approve the report and approve the proposal for the members tests in Czech Republic, Great Britain, Finland, Korea, Switzerland and the 6 Nations Cup. IFF will also test the basic set-up in the EuroFloorball Challenge. e) RC Before the season the main question was that will there be more penalty shots awarded in the games due to the fact that the two minutes bench penalty was not awarded in conjunction of the penalty shot anymore, but the outcome was that there was no significant change compared to the previous seasons. This was also clearly visible in the IFF events, which were played during the season 2018-2019. The RC has nominated a total of 38 referee pairs from 18 different countries during the year 2019 so far for the IFF events. The CB decided: To approve the report f) Medical committee The IFF Medical Committee is planning to have a meeting during autumn 2019 in Zurich, with September 25th to 26th as preliminary dates. The IFF will ask the IFF Athletes‘ Commission for input regarding future anti-doping awareness campaigns (instead of Say NO! to Doping). The question is also, if the campaign shall continue to focus on only anti-doping or shall it be a broader campaign, including more aspects of fair and true sport (against match fixing, corruption etc.). The ATC to discuss this during their meeting in June. Mikael Karlsson has received a four years sanction by the Swiss Olympic Disciplinary Chamber for Doping Cases due to the presence of the banned substance cocaine. The ADRV was committed on 6th October 2018 on the occasion of an in-competition test in Kloten (suspension period: 16.11.2018 - 15.11.2022). The CB decided: To approve the report g) Athletes Commission The ATC thinks it‘s good to combine anti-betting and anti-doping in a new “Play True” campaign. The CB decided: To approve the report h) Marketing function The sales efforts have been aimed towards international Scandinavian brands and/or international brands that have partnered with LOCs in WFCs. The main negotiations are with Sports Apparel Sponsors, currently active discussion with Hummel and Puma. A few other Main Sponsor offers are out which are being actively followed up (AJ Produkter, Ice Power (Offer for 2019-2020 sent last week), HMD Global). Our Finnish agent also has few leads open for the events coming up in Finland and Sweden 2020-21. There are new negotiations started with a new sales partner, called Protocol Sports Marketing. (Appendix 19) The sponsors reference videos have been published on the IFF Youtube channel and website. They are being utilized in posts made in LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook as well as support material in sales material. The fan survey for Floorball was supplemented with Czech data and finalized. The results are ready (Appendix 20) and published. There were no breakthroughs as such however the survey validates several things that had been self-defined as being facts. These are now validated facts to back up sales negotiations. The final version of the Sportcal GSI study of the WFC 2018 has been published and utilized as part of sales / marketing. The results of the fan survey and Sportcal study have been distributed to the CCMNG group. Editorial material about the success in WFC 2018 and floorball in general have been distributed to Nordic business papers and magazines. In developing our portfolio in terms of attractivity towards the fans and potential sponsors there are active negotiations with a company which produces digital brand activation services (e.g. live voting (venue/stream/app), social media wall, decibel meter, etc.). The idea has also been tested with Unihoc and the aim is to create a concept for them for WFC 2020. Mr. Liljelund expressed that there has been a lot of work done and eventually there will be some results. Mr. Eriksson felt that the way we have been working has been much better than in the past. The CB decided: To approve the reports i) Development & Equality Ad Hoc group The development of the referee in the AOFC area has been very positive and the AOFC educators have done a very good job with the basic educations. Singaporean Floorball Association would like to have the clinic on annual basis, and they would like to support the AOFC referee development with this clinic mainly by providing the facilities and real games to be refereed by the participants and the IFF would provide the educator and one top referee pair from Europe to help with the education. The CB decided: To approve the report j) International Lobbying Ad Hoc group The CB decided: To approve the report § 8. IFF Office The CB decided: To approve the report a) Development operations IFF is also discussing to build a general Floorball Coach Education structure from Basic to Expert level together with the Kisakallio Sports Institute for the China Floorball/China Hockey Association. The CB decided: To approve the report b) Communications operations The CB decided: To approve the report c) Material operations The major changes are listed in the appendix (Appendix 22a) and the whole Material Regulation is in (Appendix 23). IFF will also in the Material Board meeting propose some new components to the tested materials, which we will inform more about after the Material Board meeting. The Material Board is proposing to use the 2019 development funds for the Philippines Sea Games preparations and the World Games 2021 preparations. The report from the Material Board meeting will be delivered to the CB meeting The Material Board had in its yearly meeting decided to include a new clause concerning the marking of Grips for floorball sticks and the requirement to have the same branded grips as the stick from 1st of July 2020, with a one year transfer period. (Appendix 31) Mr. Eriksson felt that the Material Board is a very important forum, to keep all the manufacturers onboard. The CB decided: To approve the report and the proposal for the Material Regulation 2020. The CB decided: To approve the reports e) Equality operations The CB decided: To approve the report § 9. Member Federations Mr. Eriksson stressed that we have to be patience with the process. The CB decided: To approve the report b) Members under suspension The CB decided: To approve the report. c) New Member Applications The IFF office has now received the required documents for the membership application and the IFF office proposes to approve Kuwait national Floorball Committee to become the IFF provisional member number 73. The CB decided: To approve the report and approve the Kuwait National Floorball Committee (KNFC) as IFF provisional member Nr. 73. § 10. Next CB meeting The CB decided: To approve the report § 11. Closing of the meeting
John Liljelund Tomas Eriksson
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