Grove R.F.C generates money from a variety of different sources and generates its regular income from its members through membership fees and bar sales. The bar and the shop are great ideas and make the club a friendlier and more social place to be but bring in a consistent flow of money. The bar is the best source of income for the club and is regular as well meaning any monthly wages can be paid.
The club also has many annual events and parties such as bowling dinners and prize evenings through out the year. This is great as it bring in yet more income and promotes the club. The club spread the event evenly through out the year ensuring a balanced income but during the summer and out of season the club has loads of events such as BBQ’s which anybody is invited to these are seen nt alone to make money but awareness of the club for anybody that may want to join in the next season.
The most successful part of the club is the sponsorship with so much support from parent’s supports the companies and possible sponsors are only to please to become part of the interest and therefore sponsoring the club. The club currently has twelve sponsors supporting the club and providing the playing kit with snazzy logos on making the club look better.
Grants are hard to get hold but with all the support and interest in the club it’s a likely candidate to receive one as the clubs in order to receive a grant have to apply to the governing body and the most worthy candidate or most needy candidate receiving them. But again with the community support and the commercial interest in the club it is a likely candidate.
Task Two (distinction); critically evaluate the constitution, methods of finance, procedures and systems for a selected voluntary sports club.
The clubs methods financing and systems and procedures are very well thought out and planned and the club to date has rarely been sort on the money flow and has always been kept in a god condition and been an excellent host to visiting teams.
I have to critically analyse all the components mention above the best way I believe to do this is to list the advantage and disadvantages for each way of revenue and dram a valid conclusion at the end.
Grants
Advantages:-
- Grants offer large amounts of money which the club can use for the agreed task.
- Grants ask for nothing in return and considered to be investment in the public a little like parks and play areas
Disadvantages:-
- Grants are awarded to the most deserving or the most needed cause and this is selected by the source of the grant so the club may not qualify if it needs new toilets and comes up against a club that is more needy
- The money from the grant has to be spent on the agreed target and is not variable
The grant is an unreliable source of income for the club and I believe cannot be classed as income as the grant is given on the bases of being used in a particular way agreed both by the club and sport England in this case. So the grant is a good you be awarded as it is a free amount of money given to improve the club itself.
Events
Advantages:-
- Income of freely usable money
- Brings attention to the club
- Allows members of the club to socialise
- Offers a chances for non members to have fun with the club and want to join
Disadvantages:-
- The organisation in the events has to be done well which takes time
- The party will cost money to organise and may if not organised or publicised well not match the break point resulting in the club losing money
The events allow a excellent opportunity to bring attention to the club and offer a great opportunity to gain an income but if the interest in the events of not great then the club could end up losing money. These type of money income is very popular and are usually very successful.
Membership Fees
Advantages:-
- This provide a steady income
- The money can be guaranteed
Disadvantages:-
- Prices of membership my be too high for members to pay
- Money may not be enough
The membership fee is a steady reliable cash income that the club can use freely but the cost of the membership need to be at an affordable price. The more members there are the lower the membership can be.
Shop and Bar sales
Advantages:-
- Bar allows a place for members to socialise
- Bar and shop allow money to be spent at the club giving the club extra income
Disadvantages:-
- Drunks can cause damage in the club
- Money spent on the drink by the club may not match the amount the members spend meaning the club loses money.
The bar and shop allows extra money to flow in and a place for the supporters and members to purchase team kit and drinks allow the club to be more hospitable.
Task Three (pass, merit) identify the barriers affecting the success of the selected voluntary sports clubs and Explain the barriers.
Below are some examples of barriers that may affect a voluntary sports clubs progression:
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Retaining original players dues to school and college years etc… most players will play to 16 or 18 and then leave due to work or colleges and universities they have joined elsewhere resulting in the u17 18 and colts teams the clubs hold will struggle and there the development of the senior teams will cease. Grove RFC has currently a lot of support from the local school and sixth from so the players that leave are quickly replaced by the promotion the school gives the club. The club has also come up with the idea of a development squad which allows the club to select a group of talented players from a range of ages and giving them extra training and coaching and hopefully lead them to play for the clubs first team a bit like an academy. This academy has a small amount of funding behind it giving the players in this group kit to train in and also to act as a promotion the other players see these players in the elite kit and strive to be in the same place and work towards it. This group also contracts the players in it to return from the universities or colleges to play big games travel expenses cover by the funding of the academy. The aim of this academy is to have old players developed by the club ready and available for the club to use in time where they will be most useful.
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Other clubs this is also a major problem for Grove RFC when it come to keeping players and recruiting new ones as there are many other clubs in the area as well as the catchments for the Henley Hawks academy which rivals the development squad as it poaches the talented players who have potential for first team. The other clubs draw away the attention of Grove RFC and sometime draw the attention of valuable potential players. Grove RFC has cleverly sorted this problem out by gaining relationships with the highest profile club around Henley and has struck a deal. The talented players in the Grove sides will be feed to the Hawks academies and will provide when needed training grounds and equipment for the Hawks to use and in return the Hawks have to allow Grove RFC access to the players from Grove RFC to play in games. This is brilliant for the club as the link with the Semi professional club gives Grove RFC more attention and the deal with the academy allows the grove players in it to be coached and developed highly but still are available to play for the Grove sides. This is similar to the Gloucester Hartpury setup.
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Coaches this is a huge problem for the club as high level qualified coaches are hard to come by and expensive to qualify, there was a point where the club only had 3 – 4 level 2 coaches which was not good enough for a club with such high ambitions. It was too expensive to train the coaches. The local school who already promoted the club to its students had a P.E department which had qualified coaches in it so the club appeal to the school and with the interest already gained the support of the coaches/tutors at the school who volunteer and coach the sides in grove as well as the assistance form parents of the children the club now had qualified coaches (the volunteered sports tutor from the local school)
Task Four (merit): Produce an action plan to improve the operation of a selected voluntary sports club, identifying targets, key priorities and timescales.
Below are two action plans drawn up by myself to improve the operations of a voluntary sports club and therefore combat some of the barriers restricting the success of these types of clubs.
Action plan 1
Problem: Qualified coaches
Action:
Step 1 - The first step would be to identify the coaches that have the dedication towards the club and the ability to progress further. This can be done by simple selection methods such as monitoring training sessions asking parents and players for feedback on the coach. After the possible coaches are selected they will then be put through a training course to increase their coaching qualification.
Step 2 – after the coaches have been selected worthy of investment the funds for the course need to be addressed the money for the coaching course can come from a number of areas;
- within the club itself from; shop and bar sales, or from membership fees
- The money could also be invested from outside the club with things like sponsorship and grants. The club could receive a grant to training their coaches if it is proven to be needed. Sponsorship could be provided by local companies etc..
Step 3 – this is time to book the course the coaches have been selected and the finance has been arranged transport for the coaches to the course if they need it should also be arranged at this point. A few issues need to be sorted
- the club secretary needs to find out when the course are and inform the coaches accordingly
- then the secretary needs to book transport for the coaches if needed
Step 4 – this involves the coaches going on the course and achieving higher coaching qualifications.
- The coaches attend the course
Step 5 – this is the development of the coaches and therefore the solution to one of the problems.
- The club may need to repeat the action plan on an annual basis as the coaches ma leave and new coaches will need to be trained
Step 6 – this step involves retaining the newly qualified coaches so a contract will need to be arranged between the coach and the club stating that the coach having received his qualification need to coach at the club for a certain amount of seasons before he or she can be released. This ensure the retainment of the new qualified coaches
Action plan 2
Problem: Rival Clubs
Action:
Step 1 – the first thing to do is raise peoples awareness of the club this can be done by promotional material such as;
- Posters
- Radio
- TV
- Newspapers
And interest can be raised by success the funding of the promotion of the club should be started before the season starts and carried on right through the beginning of the season. The promotion can also include events such as BBQ’s etc…this will bring the money in as well as raise awareness of the club.
Step 2 – the second step is to create or refresh good links with useful clubs or schools in Grove RFC’s case this is the local semi pro team Henley Hawks, and the local school King Alfred’s. These links boast the profile of the club and help with player development and therefore team development leading to success and that itself will result in club promotion.
Step 3 – this involves coverage of games during the season the organisation of local newspapers and in some cases radio and TV. With these covering the games then the club will constantly be on the sport pages of the local newspapers keep the club in the limelight throughout the season.
Step 4 – any success of any of the players linked with the club must be broadcasted through webpage updates or even newspapers depending on the height of the achievement this will show the development and success of the club through its players.
Step 5 – this is to simply repeat the action plan each year in order to keep the club in the attention of the public and other clubs
Task Four (distinction): Critically analyse the action plan to improve the operation of the selected voluntary sports club.
The action plan to solve the lack of qualifying coaches has clear and easily understandable steps to follow and also achieves a solution to the lack of qualified coaches making this a good action plan. To make it better there would need to be deadlines set in order to allow the action plan to run on a certain time scale so it can be monitored.
There are two steps in the plan that will benefit that club the most these steps are step 5 and step 6 these steps will ensure the coaches are kept after the club has paid for their course. This will ensure that the club does not lose out and in the long term saves money. By having a step that advises to repeat the process annually the club will be constantly bringing higher levels of coaching through and therefore improve the standard of players at the club. Overall the reputation of the club will encourage future players to join and therefore bringing n more revenue.
This action plan for combating the problem of rival club is based around the promotion of the club and its player in order to keep the club in the attention of the public and the surrounding clubs and media through the use of promotion.
The action plan is set up in easy to read and easy to follow steps which should be followed in order to create the best effectiveness.
To improve the action plan I should include deadlines so the action plan has a time limit to get steps completed instead of brief times spans such as; preseason.
In the action plan I should have also specified more on how the club could be promoted to both non member and members through communication such as emails and web updates I should have also gone into depth on the effectiveness of the clubs website
As with the first action plan I have included a step at the end which asks to repeat the whole action plan again at the beginning of the next season becomes this will constantly keep the club in the limelight.
