Club + Community
Together, greater than the sum of its parts.
1+1=3
Contents
Introduction to the Supporters Trust movement and Supporters Direct
What has been achieved elsewhere.
Summary - Where we go from here.
Introduction to the Supporters Trust movement and Supporters
Direct.
What is a
Supporters Trust?
The basic definition of a Supporters
Trust is a democratic, not-for-profit organisation of supporters, committed to
strengthening the voice for supporters in the decision making process at a
club, and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves.
What is the difference between a Supporters Trust and a
Supporters Association?
The main
differences between a Supporters Trust and a Supporters Association are
organisational and attitudinal.
It is democratic
and not-for-profit with a clear aim of securing representation and
strengthening the links between the club and community. The
purpose of a Supporters Trust is to allow fans to participate offering huge
benefits to the club.
Unlike a Supporters Association, a Supporters Trust has
a very deep seated desire to involve the whole community in the football club
and also to involve the football club in the community – not just those members
of the community who are already ‘on-board’ as fans of the football club.
Helping the club to grow beyond its’ current bounds.
Supporters Trusts are formed as Industrial and Provident
Societies. By forming as an IPS, the groups assets can
be owned 'corporately' by the group. Members also get the benefit of limited
liability (and so do the elected officers in most cases) - members are only
liable for £1 if the Supporters Trust is sued. People who get involved in a
Supporters Trust as members know that their money is protected - it can only be
spent on items covered in its’ constitution. (For more information on
Industrial & Provident Societies, please see appendix at the end of this
package.)
The club
represents the very best of the community it plays in, and can act as a symbol
of that community for everyone to support. Supporters Trusts are about making
that really happen. The recent Football
League supporters' survey recently concluded that “… clubs are an integral part of the communities they serve … 97% (of
fans) believe that clubs have an important role to play in their local
community and 98% indicate that football clubs can make a positive contribution
to the lives of young people.”
By
helping to establish greater links between the club and the community at large,
Supporters Trusts can help clubs to grow beyond the natural bounds governed by
success on the pitch. Making the community feel part of the club can help the
football club to be all that it can be.
We believe that more than any other local
business/organisation, the football club affects the general mood of the whole
community – a healthy, forward thinking, successful club will be reflected in
an improvement in almost every aspect of our community.
About Supporters Trusts
·
Not for
profit, democratic and community focused.
·
Run by,
and representative of supporters.
·
Actively
inclusive and affordable for all.
·
Since
2000, the number of Supporters Trusts has grown from 6 to over 140.
Supporters Trusts Strengths
·
Run for
community benefit.
·
Fully
incorporated, limited liability.
·
Inclusive
not factional.
·
Accountable,
transparent, open and democratic.
·
Flexible
– suitable for all sizes of clubs whether large or small.
Supporters
Direct.
Supporters Direct are a government funded
organisation whose aim is to provide support, advice and information to groups
of supporters who wish to play a responsible role in the life of the clubs they
support.
Supporters Direct came into existence from an intention to
follow through recommendations from the government appointed Football Task
Force (FTF) that supporters should be given the opportunity to be more involved
in the running of their clubs.
In 2000 Chris Smith, then the Secretary of State for
Culture, Media and Sport announced that funding of £200,000 a year would be
made available to aid Supporters Direct in their aims.
The criteria for any group to receive support from
Supporters Direct are
a) The
organisation must be fully democratic
not only in its Constitution but in the way it conducts its affairs on a day to
day basis.
b) It must
be not for profit and the property
of its members. No member should benefit financially from membership other than
through paid employment.
c) It must
be inclusive i.e. open and welcome
to all supporters of the club and other bona fide Supporters organisations
associated with the club. In effect it should be an umbrella for them all and
representative of all who chose to join.
d) It must
be affordable to all fans.
Supporters Direct now survey trusts annually and the most common charge is £10
for individual adults, £5 for concessions £100 for life membership and
corporate membership - no one should be excluded because they cannot afford to
join.
Supporters
Direct Handbook
Supporters Direct have produced a
handbook, which acts as a guide to groups of fans wishing to establish
Supporters Trusts at their club. It is available in pdf
format at the following address http://www.supporters-direct.org/englandwales/library.htm
The handbook is split into three parts the first, which
examines the issues involved in setting up a Supporters Trust, Part Two deals
with running a Supporters Trust and Part Three with the wider work of a
Supporters Trust.
·
To assist
·
To
promote support for the Club by actively encouraging new supporters, especially
young people and families.
·
To
encourage the Club to take proper account of its supporters and community in
its decisions.
·
To
promote full, accountable and constructive involvement of the supporters in the
future direction of the Club.
·
To
develop links with supporters of other clubs to increase the constructive
influence of supporters and further the enjoyment of football for all fans.
·
To
actively oppose violence, racism and all other forms of discrimination both
within the supporters of the Club and in the community at large.
·
To create
an independent body with a formal voting structure to represent the views of
supporters.
·
To raise
money in order to support and achieve these objectives.
What has been achieved elsewhere.
-
have set up a club (‘Goal’) for disaffected youngsters using unused areas under
a stand at Sincil Bank.
- raising
awareness and lobbying for an end to practise of Banks withholding credit card
payments for season tickets and paying the club in instalments throughout the
year.
- donated
a number of youth team strips to teams in
- involved with the Barnsley Living Landmark project, with the
aim of achieving a section for the history and archives of Barnsley FC.
- sponsor
the clubs youth development system.
- sponsored a 6-a-side tournament in conjunction with the
STFC Football in the Community office - the Trust STFC Community Challenge Cup
(which in turn raised over £1400 for the Football in the Community office at
the football club!).
- after the club had the local council turn down planning
permission for a new stadium on the site of a local landfill, the Supporters
Trust successfully lobbied the council to work with the club on either
redeveloping the current stadium or working towards finding a suitable site.
QPR
- raising money for Jack Tizard
School (day school for pupils aged 2-19 years with a range of severe learning
difficulties, including profound and multiple learning difficulties). Club has since made the school its’ charity
for the coming season.
The examples listed are but a few of many projects that are
ongoing across the country. They are not meant to represent the biggest or
indeed best, just a small taster of what is being achieved by Supporters Trusts
which are much smaller than we expect a Supporters Trust at
Summary - Where we go from here.
“Sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire,
the power to unite people in a
way that little else can.
It speaks to people in a
language they understand….
The heroes sport creates are examples of this power.
They are valiant, not only on the playing field
but also in the community.”
Nelson
Mandela