GERMANY – The Congress of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) has filled the missing spots in the Executive.

The Congress, that took place in Stuttgart (Germany) on Saturday March 6th, elected as the First Vice President Petr Ditrich (Czech Republic), as the Third Vice President Nick Manning (Ireland) and as the third Member at large Reiner Husty (Austria).

CEB delegates had been received Friday night by the Local Authorities of Bad Cannstatt, one of the 23 districts of Stuttgart and the home of the main field of the 2010 European Championship.

The Congress was opened by the President of the International Federation (IBAF) Riccardo Fraccari (former CEB Vice President), who attended the Congress together with Executive Director Roberto Fabbricini.

Fraccari began his speech saying that he felt “Strange being introduced as a guest, since I still feel one of the group”.

Then he presented is vision of the new IBAF: “Our first goal is still the reinstatement in the program of the Olympic Games. With all due respect to female baseball, I believe the only chance we have is a joint strategy with the International Softball Federation“.

In Fraccari’s view the future won’t see Continental Confederations but Continental offices of IBAF: “One of the problems of baseball is fragmentation. We need to have one strategy and we need to present ourselves as a single entity”.

CEB President Martin Miller commented: “It is important for Europe to have a European sitting on the presidential chair of the International Federation”.

Other guests to the Congress were Jason Holowaty and Pat Doyle (Major League Baseball), Beata Katsuba and Tom Mallets (Little League International) and Don Fehr (Major League Baseball Player Association).

The Congress approved unanimously the 2010 budget.

It was more difficult (3 votes against, 10 countries abstained) to approve the fee each of the member countries will have to pay starting 2011. Each country will be charged € 350.

“Still we expect some volunteer contribution from the larger Federations” said Treasurer René Laforce (Belgium).

The Congress also awarded Sweden as the Federation of the Year.

Individuals will be awarded during the 2010 European Championship.

The Awards will go to:

Linda Steiger, Netherlands -  Scorer of the Year.
Dana Beszynsky, Austria – Umpire of the Year.
Mauro Mazzotti, Italy – Manager of the Year.

The 2011 Congress will be hosted by the Federation of Belgium (that will be celebrating the 75th anniversary) in the City of Brussels.

Source: Confederation of European Baseball (CEB)

Photo courtesy of Henk Seppen/L&D Amsterdam

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Tags: CEB