Clubs of all kinds urged to attend meeting on way forward

Members of sports clubs, no matter how big or small, are being urged to attend a meeting on the collaborated strengthening of clubs in Dunedin this week.

The meeting is a follow-up to the first forum, which took place late last year.

The forum is organised by Sport Otago, the Otago Rugby Football Union and the Otago Cricket Association.

Sport Otago development and events manager Michael Smith said the meeting was open to all clubs, and not just office-holders. He wanted to hear from all sectors of the sporting community and their ideas in what was a changing landscape.

The meeting is at the Sargood Centre this Wednesday, starting at 7pm.

“Club sport is changing so much and the old roles and old structures have to change and we have to look at fresh ideas,” Smith said.

He said the South Pacific Raiders sports club was an example of a new form of sports club.

The club offered various sports and families and members could join, pay one overall club fee and play different sports.

The base could still be at one clubrooms, he said, but could be used for different sports.

Hubs are already occurring at some clubs; Mornington Football Club now has its clubrooms at the Zingari Richmond Rugby Football Club. Clubs needed to look at different ways to stop people from slowly drifting away by trialling new and innovative ideas.

People might stop playing and then just leave, as they saw no role for them in the club, but all club members were vital these days.

The Sunnyvale sports ground was hosting four different sports and that could lead to players playing different codes and sharing the one facility.

To have a clubrooms being used for 20 Saturdays a year was no longer viable and the facilities should be used year round, Smith said.

People were simply not satisfied by paying subs and then sitting back. They were looking for value for money and wanting something back for their money.

People were wanting to take part in individual sports more and be able to choose the time they did that, but clubs could still offer things to these people, he said.

The forum was not limited to team sports and he said members of golf clubs, tennis clubs and other such clubs should also come along.

A meeting would also take place on March 3 at the Sargood Centre, where a national sport club survey would be presented. This would outline trends in sports clubs and specific issues around them.


 

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