Paul Rees has done some excellent work in getting this website up to date and is now by far the best it has ever been. Statistics were given on the number of visits to the site, which included some form Japan and Poland. Members were invited to pass any ideas for items to go on the site to Chris Cordy or Colin Harris. Unfortunately, Alan Wiley was unable to attend as guest speaker as he had been called away to a Premiership meeting. He hopes to come along later in the season, subject to other commitments. There were 44 in attendance including two candidates on the current basic course Copies of the voting papers for the RAE Board Election were available, which included election statements from the 6 candidates, including Colin Harris. Voters must have been members as at 31 March 2006 and associate members are ineligible. Each member has three votes. There are three ways in which votes can be cast:- To indicate the chosen candidates with a X and return the paper to T.Mills or C.Cordy. As above and bring the voting paper back to the November General meeting. By e-mail to either T.Mills or C.Cordy, whose addresses are on the website. There are 621 referees registered with the Gloucestershire FA as at the end of September, which is higher than last season. There are 24 candidates on the current course being run by Chris Thompson, of which 2 are female. There are now 31 promotion candidates and they were reminded of the need to advise Colin Harris of their fixtures as soon as possible so they can be assessed. The supply league assessment scheme is going quite well. The County RA skittles competition will take place at the Salmon Springs in Stroud on 21.10. Anyone interested in playing or attending should contact Andrew Kennedy or Peter Colley. Bristol will represent the County in the Regional quiz and volunteers for the team should contact Peter Colley. The 2007 National Draw will be all cash prizes – 50 of them.. There have been a total of 684 visits to the website last month, the most ever, including some from Poland and Taiwan. Letters were sent last month to those who have not re-joined from last season and to members who had not attended a meeting this season. There were no real trends emerging from replies received. The Management Committee want to know what is required from the Association, especially from the younger referees who are our future. Information received from Richard Monks of the Bristol Premier Combination and District League that BAWA Aces have resigned. Referees are also reminded that kick-off times change to 2.00p.m from November. The new supplies catalogue is now available. Bill Bombroff reminded members that the RA kit is excellent value for money. It may not be the cheapest, but others are of a poor quality. For the Training Topic Colin Harris reminded members of the need to ensure that advantage is communicated properly so that everyone concerned knows what action has been taken. A reminder was given that the referee can wait until the ball leaves play before administering a caution, but if the foul is serious enough to warrant a sending-off, play should be stopped immediately. Colin Harris is co-coordinating feedback on the Refereeing magazine and would welcome any comments by e-mail. Colin Harris announced the arrangement with SJP Rehabilitation that provides members with 20% off all consultations and treatments. This may lead to some sponsorship if the arrangement is successful.(Please see the attached flyer or go to their website which has also been added onto the RA's link page) If I Could Change The Laws: In place of the Guest Speaker, Colin Harris led a discussion on which single item members would like to introduce or change in the Laws of the Game and how it could benefit refereeing at local level. The most popular choice was to change the Offside Law with the introduction of a line somewhere between the penalty area and the centre circle, behind which an attacking player could not be offside. Although it was noted that this had been experimented in the seventies without being able to recall the effect, it seemed better than any other change to the offside Law that has been made or suggested. It was acknowledged that there must be some form of offside Law; otherwise the game would be ruined by the ball being aimed into the goal area all the time, as it was when the Conference experimented with the idea of having no offside from free-kicks. The next meeting is on Thursday 9 November, when the Guest Speaker will be FA Premiership Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore.