Football: Caversham pays up to stay in league

Caversham has paid its $10,000 debt to Football South and will be able to play in the Southern League this winter.

''The members have done hard work behind the scenes, are getting themselves reorganised, and have come up with the money,'' FootballSouth's general manager, Bill Chisholm, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

Caversham, Otago's most successful club at senior level over the past 12 years, was in danger of being ejected from the league if the debt had not been paid.

Chisholm said the club still had ''hard work ahead to make sure they get their structures right''.

''We are going to work closely with them to make sure they get up and running for the new season,'' he said.

The positive thing for the Caversham club was that it ''woke the members up to the fact that they need to keep a hand on how things are going, keep on top of things and not just rely on one person to do everything''.

Chisholm emphasised clubs needed to have good structures and processes for fundraising.

''It was a good lesson for everybody,'' he said. ''Our role is to work with the club and help them to reorganise and go forward from here.''

The debt episode tested the resolution of the Caversham club.

Life member Steve Fleming and a few of the old stalwarts at the club tested the enthusiasm of the players and the new committee ''and we went out and got a loan.

''We can now look forward to playing football and repaying the debt,'' Fleming said. Fleming's parents, Bill and Daphne, were stalwarts of the Caversham club and played a key role in making Caversham one of the best competitive football clubs in the country.

''The club has been a big part of my life,'' Fleming said.

''But every club has its ups and downs. At the moment we are at a low point.''

Fleming was coach during the club's golden era and was determined to do everything to stop it from being ejected from this year's league. He had switched his interest to bowls and had not been involved with club activities for a few years. He was surprised when he heard about the debt crisis just before Christmas.

''I don't think a lot of our members had a full picture of what was going on,'' he said.

''Now that it is all out in the open we have tried to be as transparent as we can with the players and the committee. We will just have to get off our butts and promote ourselves.''

The club has made some drastic changes.

''We have paid people to be secretary and treasurer and that will have to cease,'' Fleming said.

''The volunteers will take over.''

The subscriptions will be raised to put them in line with other clubs.

''We have found out that we have been far too cheap,'' Fleming said. Last year, Caversham had 10 junior and six senior teams. It has been reduced to six junior and four senior teams this year.

''We have to put some proper plans in place and adhere to them,'' Fleming said. A few of the old hands have been working behind the scenes.

''We've had deadlines put on us. Just last week we weren't guaranteed to be involved with the league. We are now just concentrating on getting the club running forward.''

 

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