Executive Board Meeting, Minutes 13th June 2020 Video conference
ATTENDEES Marijke Fleuren, Carola Meyer, Walter Kapounek, Inez Cooper, Patrick Keusters, Peter Elders, Simon Mason, Magdalena Nazaret, Sabina Zampetti, Pamela Michaelis, Mika Rihtila, Angus Kirkland. Janna Muller – Wieland, EHF Co-chair of Athletes Committee Monika Ivanauskaite, EHF Administration Manager
APOLOGIES David Harte, EHF Co-chair of Athletes Committee
Agenda topics
President’s Welcome Marijke Fleuren
The President welcomed everyone to the meeting and mentioned that warm welcome to Monika who was attending her first EB meeting. Before starting the meeting, President Marijke Fleuren wished to congratulate David Harte (co-chair of the EHF Athletes Committee) and his wife Lyn on the recent birth of their daughter.
Ahead of the formal agenda, the EHF Executive Board wished to state that it the light of recent global events EHF stands with the IOC and the FIH in condemning racism. Both our international governing body and the IOC have made statements that the EHF and its Executive Board fully endorses: https://www.olympic.org/news/amp/resolution-of-the-ioc-executive-board-with-regard-to-racism-and-inclusion http://www.fih.ch/news/hockey-community-unites-against-discrimination/
The EHF President, Marijke Fleuren said “Being an inclusive sport is one of the pillars on which all of our activity is based. To the EHF inclusivity means access to hockey regardless of gender, age, race, religion or skill level, to create and foster lifelong friendships, teamwork and loyalty. There is no place for racism in our sport and we pledge to strive to continually listen to our members to ensure that we deliver on our promise of inclusivity.”
EHF Athlete’s Committee Co-Chair Janne Müller-Wieland added “The EHF Athletes Committee supports all our athletes as they share their voices, it’s important for athletes to feel empowered and to understand the important role they can play as community leaders. We encourage athletes to reach out to us to ensure their voices are heard. We will proactively work with the EHF to look for ways to further strengthen our commitment to equality within the community and condemn racism in any form in the strongest of terms.”
The President mentioned sad news that Nikita Yuklyaevskikh was no longer the Secretary-General of the Russian Hockey Federation. Nikita had been excellent to work with acting as the point of contact with the Federation providing good communication links between EHF and the Russian Hockey Federation.
DECISION The Strategic Plan had been circulated and the President asked for its adoption and approval. All members approved.
Minutes of Last Meeting
DISCUSSION The minutes of the last Executive Board meetings, which took on the 21st March 4th April, 18th April 2020 and 30th April, were reviewed and Marijke went through all the action points and updated the Board on them. The Minutes were then approved.
Matters Arising
DISCUSSION All items were covered by the agenda.
Communications & Commercial Report from Simon Mason / Sabina Zampetti
DISCUSSION Communications Simon Mason (Co-Chair) and Sabina Zampetti (Co-Chair) updated the Board on EHF Newsletter – EHF “Our Covid Journey” which sums up the Communications work that has been delivered over the past couple of months as we have coped with the global pandemic. Work is ongoing for showing Relive matches of the EHC 2021 and other competitions. In addition, in coordination with Tom, the second series of webinars are planned for August.
Commercial: Angus Kirkland updated the Board on two projects in relation to EHTV and EHTV+. Angus outlined the opportunity to have a “Freemium” model for EHTV where we charge an annual fee to watch our top content live and provide all other content for free. An attractive pricing model with incentives from our partners is being drawn up. The model can only commence once we are back delivering events. Angus outlined that a lot of work has gone into the EHTV+ project. This project is aiming to provide leagues in Europe an automated camera set up for streaming to the EHTV platform and a communications ecosystem around it. This will bring more content through our platform and help grow our fan community with the intention longer term that this will drive a revenue stream. We are working directly with our partners RSI and Scorrd. A separate entity will be set up called EHTV+ where EHF will be a 1/3 shareholder. The Board approved the expenditure of €5,000 to set this up.
Competitions Committee Indoor/Outdoor Report from Walter Kapounek
DISCUSSION Walter Kapounek (Chair) updated the Board on the 2021 indoor and outdoor seasons. Indoor season hosts have been announced and are on the EHF website. The Board discussed the FIH World Cup Qualification (WCQ) process, hosting requirements and the best way they can be organised. Marijke outlined that we were working with FIH to make the hosting obligations more attractive. Inez confirmed that from her perspective this level of competition was not a commercial product. Marijke, Angus and Inez will update the Board about progress with FIH on this topic.
Development Projects Report from Peter Elders
DISCUSSION Peter Elders (Chair) reported to the Board on the activities which are ongoing at the moment. We have lodged 3 further EU bids and are waiting on the outcomes: Youth leadership, European education and Female officiating. The EHF has agreed to be a partner in these programmes. The Development Committee will have a meet via video conference 3rd July.
Education Committee – Umpires from Inez Cooper
DISCUSSION Inez Cooper (Chair) presented the reports of the 3 working groups (umpires and coaches). Inez reported that she’s happy about all the work on education side over the past few months, especially the online seminars for coaches. The Umpire Working Group is continuing to spend time evaluating the framework of umpire education to modify changes at each level. They are building on an excellent system by including a set structure for each workshop/seminar.
Officials and Appointments Report from Inez Cooper
DISCUSSION Recommendations have been sent to FIH for regrades, following the Indoor 2020 season of EHF officials. Due to the cancellation of education events for 2020, the appointments and education groups agreed to exceptionally waive the requirement for officials to have attended/registered for an EHF course before being added to the list.
Hon Treasurer’s Report from Mika Rithila
DISCUSSION Mika Rihtila reported on 2019 audit report. Angus Kirkland presented the outlook for 2020 and different possible budget scenarios for 2021. Both will be updated as more information about the future is known.
General Assembly 2020/2021 Angus Kirkland
DISCUSSION The Board agreed to hold the 2020 GA by video conference on Saturday 7th of November. More details to follow. The Board discussed the options for the 2021 GA. Angus outlined that to have the GA alongside the EHC in June would be very challenging given the calendar plans as they stand. As such, it was suggested that 2021 GA should be held near its normal date in the second half of August. This is to be finalised at the next EB meeting.
EuroHockey Championship 2021 report from Angus Kirkland
DISCUSSION Angus Kirkland updated the news about EuroHockey Championship, 4th – 13th June 2021, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The EHF is in communication with the KNHB about the event and we know that it will be challenging to organize it while the future remains uncertain. The KNHB is finalising its main partner contracts this summer. More details will be at the next EB meeting.
Staff update from Angus Kirkland
DISCUSSION Marijke, Mika and Angus had reviewed the staffing approach with regard to the ongoing situation and the budgets. Over the last number of weeks, Angus had individual meetings with the staff and a group meeting with them with Marijke. The staff understand the situation – what it is and what it can be – and appreciated the President and Director General having transparent discussions with them.
Any other business from All members
DISCUSSION The Board members all updated the Board on the current situation in their own countries. We all look forward to returning to a more usual way of life and hockey! The next meeting will be held on September 18th & 19th in Berlin subject to everyone being able to travel.