The Inline Hockey Ireland AGM took place on Sunday 22nd in th Alsaa, Dublin.
This past season IHI had 302 senior and 120 junior members registered, this is an increase of over 250 on the previous year. Following the coming together of IHI and the NIIHA and their six clubs this was one of the main factors for the member increase along with the joining of three new clubs Galway Pitbulls, Clare Waves and Dun Dealgan Warriors and the return of Kilkenny Bandits to regular competition.
In September of last year 2013 IHI became a member of the Federation of Irish Sports this allowed us to join the FIS Insurance Program which has given us significant savings. As told at the previous AGM IHI continued the process of application to become a member of FIRS and on 28th Feb 2014 Ireland was made an affiliate member, which allows entry into international competition under the FIRS programs. IHI will continue to work to become a full member within the coming months.
As under request from the Irish Sports Council and FIRS the continuation of the formation of Irish Roller Sports was persued, it was put to members the way in which a vote for the governance of IRS was to be taken. The vote of Proportional Representation was chosen, i.e. 1 council vote per every 1-99 members of the relevant member bodies.
A vote to determine if the affiliation to FIRS will continue, this motion was passed. IHI will continue to work on its relationship with this international body.
League Report
During the past season there were 220 scheduled senior games within leagues and cups, there were 8 tournaments between junior and seniors levels. The Hibernia Cup was launched with the top two Senior teams from both the North and South competed in a playoff tournament to determine the best Senior Team on the Island, this was won by the Northern Cyclones, with Galway Pitbulls placing second.
National Training Program Report
The National Training Program comprises of four sections, Senior mens, Senior Ladies, Juniors and Officials. This is the development program of Inline Hockey and is part of a 5 year plan.
Falcons (Under 18 all nationalities)
We currently have 20 juniors from Bangor, Belfast, Dundalk. Athlone and Cork.
When scheduling permits we try to get together on average every 4 weeks for either practice or games. Since it's creation the program has competed in The NIIHA U14's and U16's league cup winning them both, one cup resides in Dundulk the other is in Cork.
During the All Ireland playoffs a selected team played 2 games against the Armagh Stars senior silver team. Although they lost the players gained valuable experience against a stronger opposition. Even gaining the respect and praise of their opposition.
During the weekend of the 14th and 15th June the program was split into 2 teams to enable them to take part in an U18 tournament in The Valley in Newtowabbey, NI. They played against 2 strong teams from the Midlands in the UK.
The white team played well showing great unity to finish 4th, they improved with each game. The black team finished 2nd beating the tournament favourites on route to the final.
2 players, 14 & 15 have been chosen to train with the Men's National Squad, we feel this is testament to the hard work and progression they are making through the program.
Following the Report aout the Falcons, a proposal of a Scholarship Program was made. This scholarship would be giving up to 4 memers of the falcons program the opportunity to train and travel with the Mens National Squad free of charge where possible. This scholarship will be mostly covered by the National Squad Program with a vote taken to support this program by the members, motion was passed.
Ladies
Over the last year there was a development of a ladies National Squad. This squad included ladies from all across the island and trained numerous times at the Alsaa in Dublin and other venues. They entered their first tournament the Valley Vase, special Thanks to Corey McKay. This brought the squad together. They have continued to train up to the end of the season and brought a team to Slovenia to Ladies only tournament.
This squad will be grown over the next season to include more ladies and bring in juniors.
Mens
Following the 2013 AGM, a Mens National Squad program was developed, during the summer of 2013 two trials took place. While the long term aim of a 5 year plan was established, which is to have a consistant squad travel to International tournaments. An opportunity of sending a team to the IIHF qualifiers for the 2014 World Championships was given with short notice, 4 weeks. This tournament took place in Passau, Germany. Latvia and Macedonia were the other two nations that took part. Ireland played Macedonia and won their first International match. Then Ireland took on Latvia and while they played well, they lost to Latvia and Latvia qualifing.
Through out the playing season the National Training took a back seat as almost every weekend for the entire season league or cup competition was taking place in either North or South or both leagues. Once the season finished the Training program restarted with an open trial (open to any player with an Irish Passport) that was held in the Alsaa, Dublin. A second training took place and following this a squad of 16 was selected, this squad will be grown over the coming months with the addition of new players and also the inclusion of Falcons within the program.
The opportunity of sending a team to the IIHF qualifiers for the 2015 tournament was offered again this year. However the tournament was to be held in Bulgaria and only 3 weeks notice was given. The coaching and management staff decided that this was an almost impossible task with the cost of almost 800euro per player due to such short notice. To maintain momentum for this program the team will be playing in a tournament at the Midlands Arena, UK in August.
The 2016 IIHF qualifiers and the FIRS World Championships will be the goal for next summer and the program will be allowed to continue through out the regular season, thus allowing better preparation.
Referrees
This year saw the continuation of referree training. An addition of a skating skills test and review of the rules was done. A number of individuals were awarded a level 1 certificate. This is part of the overhaul of officials and over the next season a level 2 and possible higher will be conducted. A continuous review of the rule book and officials training will be conducted to increase the standard.
Fees, Registration and Insurance
The 2013/2014 season had a registration fee of 10 per Junior member and 25 per Senior member. This covered clubs to train with a public liability for the venues that they used. During the last year it was put to the committee the option of having personnal accident cover. This was investigated and following a number of quotes an approximate cost of 5euro per member was given as the increased cost to our current policy.
A vote was taken to change the insurance policy to cover personnal injury while playing or training, this also changed the cost of membership to 15 for Junior and 30 per Senior member for the 2014/2015 season. As agreed the rate for players in Northern Ireland was to be determined based on exchange rates og Monday 23rd with a review to be done in December. Therefore a cost of 12 GBP for Junior and 24 GBP for Seniors will be the standing rate.
With the increasing number of members, all membership will be done through the clubs for the coming season. Full details and instructions will be announced shortly.
Election of Officers
The following people were elected
Chairperson - Victor O'Brien
Vice Chairperson - Gerard Spence
General Secretary - Michael Creane
Treasurer - Hugh Bancroft
Childrens Officer - Paul Cummins
DPO Juniors - Janis Kipars
The remaining committee positions will be appointed within the near future along with the Head of Officials and Discipline Officer. Applications to these positions are open, should you wish to apply please email committee@inlinehockeyireland.org
Any Other Buisness
A vote was taken to change to Internet banking, motion was passed.
A welcome of three new clubs to IHI for the coming season, Dublin Wolves, Waterford Vikings and West Coast Pirates.
A detailed club registration form was to be sent out, this is to give us better information for planning of leagues and competition.
