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Spring newsletter 2021
News Date 02/03/2021
  SPRING 2021 NEWSLETTER

Dear Colleagues,

You will all be very aware that no football has been organised under the auspices of SAFIB since the middle of March 2020.

WINTER MEETING 2021
A decision was made by the online SAFIB Winter Meeting, held via Microsoft Teams on Thursday 4 February 2021, that it will not be possible to play out any tournament soccer during the SAFIB 2020-2021 season. However, it may be possible to arrange some friendly international fixtures. That will be for the individual member countries to arrange themselves.

SAFIB BOB DOCHERTY GIRLS UNDER 15 INTERNATIONAL CUP 2021
Please note that the SAFIB Winter Meeting agreed the following: -

******************The 2021 Bob Docherty Cup Tournament is CANCELLED ******************

SAFIB ALLEN MCKINSTRY BOYS UNDER 14 SCHOOLS CUP 2021
Please note that the SAFIB Winter Meeting agreed the following: -

*****************The 2021 Allen McKinstry Cup Tournament is CANCELLED ******************

SAFIB WINTER MEETING 2022
You will be aware that Florian Bechon had offered to host the 2021 Winter Meeting for us at Clairefontaine, the national headquarters of French Football. I have written to Florian and asked him if he would pencil in a weekend early in 2022.

TOURING AUSTRALIAN UNDER 18 SQUAD
The Australians are still planning a tour to the UK and Ireland in January 2022. Dave Woollaston will co-ordinate their fixtures so please liaise with him.

SAFIB 5 NATIONS BOYS ALLEN McKINSTRY CUP, MAY 2021
Since these footballers are still at their schools, it was hoped to play this tournament, postponed in May 2020, some time in 2021. Four Heads had indicated a willingness for their school teams to travel to Dublin. I have informed these schools that it seems very unlikely that their tournament can now be staged. The nominated school from Wales had already withdrawn from any proposed event.

PARTICIPATING TEAMS
Republic of Ireland Scoil Mhuire, Clane (FAIS winners)
Republic of Ireland St. Joseph’s College, Galway (FAIS runners up)
England Whitgift School, Croydon (ESFA winners)
Northern Ireland Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh (NISFA winners)
Scotland St. Andrew’s Secondary School, Glasgow (SSFA winners)
SAFIB BOYS UNDER 16 VICTORY SHIELD 2021
Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have been invited to participate in the 2021 Victory Shield competition in Northern Ireland. The proposed dates were Saturday 23 October to Saturday 30 October 2021, which is a half-term week in most of our countries. However, since the announcement of the draw for the various UEFA Under 17 tournaments, it appears that the suggested dates above may have to be tweaked and the SAFIB Victory Shield brought forward by a week to Saturday 16 October to Saturday 23 October 2021. Bob Nesbitt in Northern Ireland is the contact.

SAFIB AGM 2021
It is hoped that this will be a face-to-face meeting, so arrangements are in hand to have the AGM in the Maldron Hotel at Dublin Airport. Our hosts will be the Football Association of Ireland Schools. However, no one can be sure at this stage whether travel will continue to be discouraged around the time of the AGM, but please put Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 September 2021 on your calendars.

National Associations have been asked to discuss with their colleagues proposals for changes to the Bob Docherty Cup 2022 and the Centenary Shield 2022. Please refer to the minutes of the recent SAFIB Winter Meeting for the full details of the proposals. (Minute 5 – Tournaments and Matches)

CALENDAR YEAR
I can confirm that for all SAFIB international competitions and tournaments (Centenary Shield, Victory Shield, Bob Docherty Cup) squads assume that all players have been selected from a calendar year rather than an academic year. For inter-schools competitions (Allen McKinstry Cup, Rod Houston Cup) teams are chosen from Academic Year groups.

INSURANCE
This is to confirm that I have paid a sizeable sum of money to renew our annual insurance with Bluefin for the 2020-2021 season.

BRIAN GILLILAND R.I.P.
Many of you will be aware of the sad passing, on February 11, of Brian Gilliland, a former Chairman and Secretary of the Northern Ireland Schools FA. SAFIB’s condolences have been sent to his wife Liz.

SAFIB LIFE MEMEBERSHIP
I have thought for a while that we should honour some of our colleagues, who have made a significant contribution to SAFIB over the years, by offering them Life Membership of the Schools Association Football International Board. There would be no particular perks attached to the award (unless you count an ongoing invitation to the SAFIB AGM or Winter Meeting) but rather a recognition by colleagues of the support SAFIB had received over the years from that particular individual.

In the first instance I would envisage the award going to all past Chairs of SAFIB, but I am sure there will be others who might qualify who have not had the opportunity to be at the helm. I am assuming that each SAFIB AGM would be given names to support (or reject) after proposals had been considered in the first instance by the SAFIB Executive Committee. I will await any feedback on this proposal before proceeding any further. We might, for example, also wish to include colleagues from overseas.

Stay safe / cadwch yn saff / fanacht slán,

Mike Spinks (SECRETARY SAFIB)

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