It is with excitement that we are launching our new clubhouse menu this Saturday the 25th May 2013. This is just in time to see The Gap Men’s table topping Reserves take on second placed Samford at 2:30. Then at 4:30 our Men’s firsts, on the back of three wins in a row, take on Samford’s table topping first team. Finally, The Gap women’s Diamonds play Toowoomba at 7pm as they try to reclaim top spot in their competition.

They are as follows:

1) Competition Schedules, SSF and Divisional

Over the past month, Football Brisbane staff has been working to the best of their ability to deliver the competitions played at all levels. To put this into perspective, I am talking about 39 Senior Competitions with 477 teams and 225 Junior and SSF Competitions with 2143 teams involved. All competitions being played by 67 clubs on 441 different fields between February to October, with almost every single field having been committed to alternative events outside of the Football Brisbane Competitions.

This has not been an easy task and has resulted in a lot of angst from Club Administrators, Parents, Coaches, Managers and Players. For this I apologise and assure you that I will do everything possible to ensure these issues are not repeated in 2014.

As of 5:30pm this afternoon, all SSF Competitions were redrawn to move matches that were scheduled for the first Saturday of the June School holidays (Saturday the 22nd of June 2013) away from this date.

There has also been a number of Divisional and SSF competition movements by teams who were not coping or were too strong for their competition.

The less obvious impact of this work is the possibility of schedule changes being regressed and fixture clashes that had been fixed, again being a problem. However, it is our intent to have this weekend’s fixtures in place by 5:00pm Wednesday and all fixtures for the season visible for all competitions by the end of the week. Any alterations after that time will be communicated to the clubs involved in the changes, and we do not expect there to be large numbers of these.

2) Rules of Competition reminder – SSF

It has been brought to my attention that there are still Clubs and their members (Coaches and Managers) who are unaware of the following rule (relevant section highlighted in yellow). Please ensure all members of your club are aware that they are not to enter the SSF field unless called to do so by the Game Leader or Instructing Referee. This rule is as much for the enjoyment of the players as it is for their protection.

9.6 Team Officials

(d) A team official can only enter the field of play when the Game Leader or Instructing Referee indicates to do so.

(e) All coaching/instructions for OSSF games should take place from one point on the sideline and coaches should refrain from moving up and down the sideline whilst coaching. No coaching / instructions should take place from behind the goals. Coaches are reminded that the primary purpose of OSSF is for the players to have fun and coaching instructions should be kept to a minimum.

3) Rules of Competition reminder – Junior Divisional

Borrowing Players has limits in Junior Competitions. Please ensure your team management is aware of this and in particular the sentence in the second paragraph, relevant section below and highlighted in yellow.

13 BORROWING PLAYERS AND REGRADING

13.1 Borrowing – Competition

A team playing in a fixture shall be permitted to borrow players from a lower division in that particular age group, or an equal or lower division in a lower age group (e.g. an U13 Div 3 team can borrow from an U12 Div 3 or lower team). The number of borrowed players should only bring the total number of players to 13. In the event that a club does not have a younger age team in an equal or lower division, but does have a younger age team in a higher division, the club may apply for dispensation to allow a certain number of players to be borrowed. However, should dispensation be granted the match will be awarded as a 3-0 win to the opposition team.

4) Policy – Communications Protocol

The Communications Protocol in the Clubs Administration Manual available on the Football Brisbane website home page, is designed to streamline communication between Football Brisbane, the Clubs and the Club’s members.

I ask all clubs to highlight this information to their members. It follows that the preferred method of communication by a club’s member is through that club in the first instance. If the club administrator is unable to provide the information, the administrator can communicate with Football Brisbane.

Club Administration Manual

5) Policy – Resolving issues

With the season now well underway, we are seeing issues arise between clubs and their members or other club’s members. It is the policy of Football Brisbane that attempts to resolve issues should first be at the origin and only be escalated one step at a time. Therefore, should a dispute between members of two clubs occur, the team management on site should attempt to resolve the issue amicably. If this is unsuccessful, it should be escalated to the club management committee, who should liaise with their counterpart from the other club. If this negotiation is still unsuccessful, it can be escalated to Football Brisbane.

In all cases, we recommend the use of the ‘Play by the Rules’ complaint handling process which is available on page 4 of the Clubs Administration Manual via the following link.

6) Policy – Video and Photography of players

With the increase in social media, there have been a number of questions raised about filming and photographing children involved in football matches. I would draw your attention to the following link, which sets the position taken by Football Brisbane. While the memo is from 2007, there is no section that is not correct and current.

Videotaping and Photography of Matches

As a matter of course, Football Brisbane has no issue and recommends to its clubs that parents and friends wishing to take images of the children should not be restricted from doing so. However, as the document states, the decision on this belongs to the club who holds the property lease and we will respect the club’s position on this topic.

• Stage 1
• Stage 2
• Stage 3
• Stage 4

The Gap Pastime Club was established in 1955 when The Gap was still a new community.  The current Canteen block was the original clubrooms and 3 floodlights were installed in 1970 for night training.  Members provided the materials and the labour to improve the facilities bit by bit over the years.  The Clubhouse was built in 1979.  To meet the changing needs of the local community and to provide worthy facilities to meet the demands of a growing football culture, the Club facilities need constant maintenance & renewal.

Clear plans for the future of the Club will help direct scarce funding where it is needed most.  Club Priorities for 2013 are:

·         Additional field space for training

·         Field lighting upgrade to allow night games

·         Clubhouse refurbishment

Members are asked to review the plans and offer their comments and suggestions to vicepresident@gapfootball.org.au

Thanks for your input,

The Gap Pastime Club Committee

This is a chance for you to sample what is on offer at The Gap’s newest gym.

A reminder about their offer to our members

For the players: All players will have the opportunity to join Energize 24/7 at a corporate rate of $8.50 per week. This membership would have no joining fee and no lock in contract. The player would be required to pay a $29 fee for an access key or $49 for a smart key. Both of these fees would be fully refundable on the return of the key.

For family members: All parents will have the opportunity to join Energize 24/7 at a rate of $9.90 per week. This membership would have no smart key access fee and no lock in contract. The joining fee for parents would be reduced to $49.For further information on the new Energize Fitness 24/7 gym, check

out the website at energize247.com.au or call the centre on 3300 5551.

Come and support a fundraising for “Breast friends for a Cause”

Come along and form a team

Win great prizes

Have loads of fun

Support a fantastic cause

Where:   The Gap Football Club

              25 Glen Affric Street (off Waterworks Road), The Gap

When:     Saturday 29^th June 2013

Time:      6:00 doors open

              Questions start at 6:30pm

Cost:      Only $35 per head

              Save – organise a table of 8 and pay only $240

       Pre-payment please – contact Angela for details 0413 319 708 or angie007@optusnet.com.au

All alcohol and drinks can be purchased on the night at the club

Bring your own food

As a result of the huge number of team movement requests from clubs received as late as 5.00pm yesterday, we are seriously concerned that the timeline of 5.00pm today for delivery of divisional competitions will not be met. Therefore I ask your patience while we work through the competitions.

In relation changes for this weekend in both SSF and Divisional competitions. Again the large number of movements mean we will not be able to make individual notifications to clubs. Therefore, I will advise when we have the majority of competitions available for sending to club members and onto the website.

Regards

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the squirts program for 2013 at The Gap FC.

With the first session taking place this weekend, now seems like the perfect opportunity to run through a few administrational tasks associated with the program.

Dates and times…

The timetable for squirts has been uploaded onto the clubs squirts website for sometime, so you should be familiar with the dates of the 10 sessions on which the program will run, on Saturday mornings.

With regard to time, sessions will commence promptly at 8.30am each week and the program will run for an hour.  There will be some additional things to do on the first morning so I would appreciate if everyone could arrive at the Club on time allowing us to finalise those issues as quickly as possible.  The first session is likely to run overtime by about 15 minutes as a result of these tasks.

Where…

For the first two weeks of the program, we will be using allocated space within the clubs main playing area.  I will ask for all parents and squirts to gather in the grassed area in front of the canteen in time for the first session.  The club canteen will be open and serving coffee, tea, etc for the duration of the session.

By the third session the program will be moving to a specially curated space at Payne Road School behind the club. 

The area at Payne Road has been secured by The Gap FC specifically for junior football and in particular the squirts program.  Unfortunately, due to the severe weather during the summer months, the field isn’t quite ready for use in time for the commencement of the program, which is why we will begin at the club. 

When the time comes to move across to Payne Road School for the third session I would ask all parents to continue to park at The Club, rather than the adjoining roads around the school in order to avoid any congestion.  This is important as it is part of our contracted agreement with The School for shared use of the space.  The grounds are accessible via a short walk on the bike track from the club car park and plenty of parking spaces are available at the club.

We will look to set up some kind of bbq style breakfast available for parents down at the Payne Road oval once we have made the move.

What to bring and equipment…

By Saturday all squirts should have boots and shin pads.  These are required for the program due to the Football Qld Insurances.

On Saturday we will be distributing the equipment provided as part of the fees prior to the session.  This will include a uniform of shirt, short, sock, a size 2 skills ball and a water bottle.  All equipment should be brought along to each session for the duration of the program and can be kept at the end.

If you are worried about any potential sizing issues, have your child wearing something they can run around in on the day, and see me after the first session. 

My child has never played football before / doesn’t know the rules…

Don’t be alarmed.  The squirts program is not a technical coaching program but a tempered introduction to the game.  The very basics of the game are slowly introduced and experienced through different drills, skills and games focussing on motor skills like passing, dribbling etc.  Participation is valued over winning.   And most of all its going to be fun.

Players from both the men’s and women’s senior teams at The Gap will be assisting me week to week to ensure there is an appropriate number of coaches on hand to give every ‘squirt’ sufficient attention.

And finally…

Places are still open for the squirts program so if you have a friend who you think may be interested in joining, I would ask you to inform them.

I look forward to seeing you all at the first session and I encourage you to bring along your cameras and upload your photos to share on The Gap FC’s facebook page.  Please stay tuned to the following website for all quirts information http://www.gapfootball.org.au/juniors/squirts-football

Kind regards

Will Page

One of the most prominent issues encountered is the way the new Competition Management System displays matches. It has obvious issues and Sporting Pulse are working with us to correct the duplication of teams being displayed on the website view of our Competitions. An issue that is not visible to the administration from the back end of the system.

I can categorically state that Football Brisbane is hurting as much as every club and family because of the issues caused by the inability to provide a full competition schedule from the start of the season.
We are working to correct this and hope it will be in place early next week.

Finally as Operations Manager, I apologise to every member of the Football Brisbane fraternity for the difficulties they have faced through the start of this season and assure we will work to correct it and use these lessons to ensure it never happens again.”

Reuben Robertson

If however, you would prefer to receive your tickets intact so that you have the option to on-sell them and recoup the money outlaid, please email GPCArtUnion@gmail.com  before 17^th May 2013 and they will be issued to you with butts intact.  The ticket butts will need to be returned to the canteen before 13^th July 2013 to be included in the draw.

This year the prizes are:

$1,500 voucher for travel, plan a fabulous holiday at the end of the soccer season!

 $800 fuel to get you to all your training and games!

Energizer 24/7 Gym memberships to keep you fast and fit to take the field, or for mum and dad to keep up with the commitments of these soccer children!

A children’s bike, a family ticket to watch The Roar play at Suncorp Stadium and more!

If you would like extra booklets to buy or sell, please email GPCArtUnion@gmail.com.

The home team on each pitch is responsible for those duties.

• U6/7 Field 1A home team looks after the timing and siren
• U8 Field 2A home team keeps an eye on proceedings.
• U9 Field 2B home team keeps an eye on proceedings.
• U10/11 home team keeps an eye on proceedings.

Peter Randall is the coordinator for matchdays. Should Peter be unaivailble on matchdays another volunteer will be avilable for support.

How do you prevent injuries?

Recovery – is you child recovering after sport?

What kinds of training of best?

What shoes are best and are orthotics needed?

 Listen to our experienced presenters: Kirsty McNab: Sports Physiotherapist (Winter Olympic and Australian Tennis Open Physiotherapist), Amanda Searston: Podiatrist, Mel Quinn: personal trainer, kids club co-ordinator, The Gap Health and Racquet Club

An information evening on:

Wednesday 1^st May At 7pm

At: The Gap Health and Racquet Club

Numbers are limited.

Call Physiologix on (07) 3511 1112 to book or email admin@physiologix.com.au

The season is upon us and I now have the vast majority of the apparel for all the junior teams in the Under 6 through to under 11 age groups.

Under 6, 7 and 8

Each team in this age group will receive a set of 6 short and shirt combination.  The sizes are split into the following:

Under 6 = 3 x size 4 and 3 x size 6

Under 7 = 3 x size 6 and 3 x size 8

Under 8 have all size 8 and quantity depends on team size that was notified at the order date.

Under 9, 10 and 11

Each team in this age group have a white shirt (travel shirt) that is worn to the game and gold playing shorts which are worn to and during the game together with the already issued purple playing shirt.  Sizes are as follows:

Under 9 = size 8 (still waiting on 4 travel shirts)

Under 10 = size 10 (still waiting on 6 travel shirts)

Under 11 = size 12

I hope to have the missing items before distribution begins and will notify affected teams at time of pick up if they have not yet arrived.

Distribution

All kit can be collected, by a representative of each team, from the equipment room at the following dates and times:

• Thursday 11 April between 7pm and 8pm
• Friday 12 April between 6pm and 7pm
• Wednesday 17 April between 6pm and 7:30pm
• Friday 19 April between 6pm and 7:30pm

To find it please follow this link:

• Training and Field Usage Guidelines

• SSF Under 6
• SSF Under 7
• SSF Under 8
• Field 1 A, B, C is located next to field 1
• Field 2 is between the skate park and field 1