Flexible payment plans or pay a deposit and rest on delivery Ultra low costs
One simple design which helps us keep costs down Sizes XXS to XXXL
Style of print
Heat transferred club crest
Heat transferred crest and sponsor logo
Embroidered club crest, heat Embroidered transferred club crest sponsors logo
Cost per shirt exc. VAT and exc. delivery Cost per shirt inc. VAT exc. Delivery
11.80 14.16 14.16 16.99
13.57 15.93 16.28 19.12
Email: mcourt@grassrootmedia.com Call: 0800 8 20 21 22
Contents 2 Grassroot Teamwear Cricket shirts 4 MD’s Letter 5 Michael’s Trohpies Club trophy offer just for our member clubs 6-7 Meadons Insurance Cricket club insurance from Meadons Insurance - piece of mind guaranteed 11 RAM Balls Discounted footballs 9-12 It’s the Law... Marcus Law’s first ever monthly column with us, this month talking to you about what your managers should be doing right now... 13 Our Game 14-15 Sports Psychology with David Harrison Get some tips to change the way you think about the game 16-17 Grassroot Teamwear If your cricket club is looking for new playing shirts you probably won’t be able to find them this cheap anywhere else 18-19 Player fitness with Isaiah Barratt This month.. Flexibility 20 Mindset Matters with Bernard Baines The most positive man I’ve ever met passes on some of thoughts to you 22-23 easyfundraising.org Easy & cost-free way to raise club funds
24 Football Club Corner Q&A with this month’s club of the month 25 The Mug Shop Make money for your club by selling club mugs to your players, members & fans 26 Club news 27 Twitter Directory See which clubs are where on Twitter 28-29 KB Cricket Check out the Stinger Bowling Machine for under £350! 30 Club Classifieds Items for sale from other member clubs 31 Competition Winners!! Details of last month’s competition winners 32 Cricket Club Corner Q&A with this month’s club of the month 24 Grassroot Media Guide to... Race Nights Might give you some ideas on putting on a popular and fun fundraising night 8 RAM Cricket Discounted cricket team training equipment 28 Club Scarves Use clubscarves.com to make your club money by selling your very own personalised club scarves
Grassroot Media Contacts Twitter @grassrootmedia Facebook.com/grassrootmedia LinkedIn search for Matthew Court Office telephone number 0800 8 20 21 22 Mathew Court’s email address mcourt@grassrootmedia.com
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The MD’s Letter Hello and welcome to the latest Grassroot Media Magazine. I hope you’re enjoying it - we’re certainly enjoying putting it together for you. And this month I’ve really enjoyed talking to some new contributors. Contributors who I hope you’re going to find useful in how you run your clubs & teams, contributors like Bernard Baines - easily the most positive man I’ve ever met and really has been an inspiration to me even though I’ve only met him a few times! We’ve also got Isaiah Barratt & David Harrison on board, a fitness expert and sports psychologist respectively who are starting this month to talk to you about how what they know and think could help you, your clubs and your players. The Twitter directory is coming along but still a bit sparse so if you’d like to be featured just drop me a line. Same goes for the club classified section - remember it’s free for you to advertise in there to all of the other clubs in the network.. For those of you who remember from last month, we were up for an award as Best New Business in the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. Well we got to the final but didn’t win, which was annoying, but the next day we found out we were named in the final four for the Federation of Small Business’s Best Business in East Hertfordshire. Nice. I’ll let you know how we get on, I don’t think there’s any prize money but if there is I’ll come up with an idea on how you guys can win it. A few football clubs still haven’t got their fixture data over to us for the new season, I know you may not have the final data yet but a good guess is all we need right now, the more accurate stuff can come later nearer the season start. One thing I’m finding is that a few people aren’t getting my emails so please can you make sure mcourt@grassrootmedia.com is added to your contacts so I don’t end up in your trash or spam (although someone would say I am trash with a big spam but keep those kinds of opinions to yourselves). There are also about 35-40 clubs that still haven’t given us their bank details for us to pay them for the football season just gone. If we can’t pay you, well we can’t pay you, as simple as that really so please drop me your bank details. Lastly, following on from the football player survey last month this month we have a cricket survey where your club can win £50 from us at Grassroot Media - search your emails or ask me for a link to the survey and get your players filling it out - the more players that enter from your club, the more chance you have of winning the £50. As ever, any questions/comments/concerns please get in touch using the details on page three.
Mat Court - MD
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TEAMWEAR OFFERS At Ram we can solve your club team wear needs with our own brand shirts and shorts. We also make matching goalkeeper’s kit. Guide prices: Shirt: £27+VAT Keeper’s shirt: £33+VAT Shorts: £13+VAT We can make up any design you can think of and prices include all printed logos & numbers. Our ultralightweight shirts and shorts made of 100% polyester high-tech material also incorporate moisture management for player comfort
It’s the Law...
Marcus Law who has managed Conference sides Kettering Town & Tamworth (including their famous FA Cup run to Everton) talks to you about the all important pre-season...
Pre-season is important. Simple as that. What you and your group of players do pre-season really sets the stall out for the rest of the year. What you’ll get out of the column this month are my thoughts and ideas that you can use to plan your preseason, if you need ideas that is! You should have two aims when it comes to pre-season: 1) assess and increase individual fitness levels & needs and 2) working on your pattern of play... With fitness, your players will come back to you at varying levels of fitness and you need to have a look at how you (and they) are going to get them where you need them to be for the coming season. Obviously the needs for a centre-half are different from those of a central midfielder which in turn are different for a centre forward as they will all have different types of fitness that is required from them. Have a look at what you think each position needs fitness-wise and then see where the player in question is lacking and come up with a programme that helps them get where you both need them to be. If you have access to a sports scientist, this is where he or she will become involved. If you haven’t got a sports scientist it could be worth seeing there are any universities or colleges near your club that has students that might want a bit of experience working with footballers.
There will be different types of work for the players to do from biometric work to SAQ (speed, agility, quickness) that should relate to the different movements the players will make in the 90 minutes of a game depending on the position. Regarding pattern of play, there is not a better time of the year to work on any changes you may be thinking of implementing than during pre-season. If you are radically changing your teams pattern of play then at the start of preseason you really do have a clean slate to start from to build up the new style in time for the first competitive matches. Through your pre-season fixtures the aim is to make sure you are ticking the boxes for everyone in the squad to get their onpitch minutes so they meet their needs for the start of the season whilst you’re thinking about who is going to be your starting eleven. This will most likely change on a daily basis as new players join, current players leave or injuries occur. You have to be adaptable and cannot be rigid in thinking at the start of pre-season “right, that’s my starting eleven and that’s it” as it will change and you will be forced in to making decisions as to where you want the team to go. I like to get my players in early as I feel you need to have enough sessions to
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cover off everything you want to achieve pre-season. If you have your players in once a week you’ll need to have a longer pre-season than if you have two or three training sessions a week if you want to achieve the same individual goals with each of your players. I know that many of you won’t be able to get your players in for the full eight weeks of pre-season that I like to have (and that I feel a team needs at Conference level) but I’ll tell you how I do things and if that helps you structure yours then great. And while I’m talking about getting players in early, you might find that players will be keener than you might expect to get back kicking a ball around with their mates, that’s what they like to do so they might jump at the chance of a longer pre-season. Older players might not be as keen to come back in early and an early pre-season could scare the hell out of them. Modern technology and the quality & education of coaching and coaches at all levels now is a lot superior than 10-15 years ago. It’s not all about running up and down hills so try not to think of pre-season in the same way that you did when you were playing and running up and down those hills.
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I tried to get twelve sessions in before the first pre-season game and then as many pre-season games as you can get in as this gives you the best chance to get players’ minutes under their belts – and players like playing! Sometimes I have Friday & Saturday games; obviously a player won’t play 180 minutes across the two games, but perhaps 60 in one and 30 in the other. I like this as it gives the player a chance to rest, to combat fatigue and build endurance through recovery. Like I said earlier, I am not expecting all of you to be able to get that kind of commitment from your players but you see the principles I follow and hopefully can apply them in some way yourselves. It’s probably a bit late for you now but I like to give my players a programme for them to follow during the off-season. Players generally like to keep fit, which is a great thing, but sometimes they need structure to their off-season training and that’s where a programme given to them by the manager comes in. In it I would have things like a wall planner for them to easily see what they should be getting up to, an outline of the main principles that went in to coming up with the programme itself, advice on heart rate training (proven to increase fitness levels quickest and with minimum output) , some pitch run exercises they can do on any pitch that’s still marked out, advice on warm ups, weights and functional/dynamic training. As this is the time where players will go on their holidays I also include a bit about how to keep fit easily while abroad, one of my top tips in there is to make sure you measure the pool before doing any swimming sessions as it’s not likely to be the 25m length you’re used to. Some managers will purely use preseason friendlies as their pre-season programme. I disagree with that, as you can probably tell! This is an approach that was followed more in days gone by but
the access to education, the fact there are more & better qualified coaches and that we all have easier access to a lot more information than ever before means we don’t have to stick with what we’ve done in the past, or what the previous manager did, times have changed and the amount of resource you can get your hands on at any level of the game means you and your coaches can try new things, as most of you probably want to. For me when I was starting out it was looking at this information and these resources and adapting for my situation. Currently the vogue is for a lot of four minute 4v4 work. I know of a premier league coach who will have twelve of these four minute games and that would be their fitness session (after a warm up of course, and any physical work the individual players required). But you could also do the same session if you were working on changing the style of play; you could break it down in to conditions to get the players thinking about making the decisions you want them to do in the new style. It’s a good way to start making changes in a style of play so that when you really get in to changing the decisions the players make later on in pre-season a lot of work has already been done quite easily. As I said, it’s not just about running up and down hills anymore... You can completely change your teams’ style of play during pre-season, but bear in mind it can be a lot more difficult going one way to another. For example if you’re going to a less convoluted system where the decision making process and technical elements are less required than the previous way your team played then this is a lot easier to implement and achieve than going the other way. If you want to change your team to play in a Martinez or Rodgers style then you’re going to have to plan in a lot more short work to create little pockets of space and
technical work to create that free flowing passing game. Or if you wanted to be a counter attacking team you’ve got to go through showing the difference between build up and counter. Whether you’re successful in changing the style of play It all comes down how many how you’ve got of these important pre-season sessions and how realistic, with the players you have, is it to play a certain style. Things have changed now with football becoming more intelligent and forward thinking in that you don’t just sign good players any more, managers and coaches are much more targeted in the players they bring in to work in particular positions within certain styles. Sometimes things won’t go your way preseason and you’ll have to adapt. For example it’s a period of time where outside influences or influencers can affect your players and it is vital that everyone on the coaching staff is singing from the same hymn sheet. Focus and concentrate on what you know and what you think works and you’ll do better than anyone being influenced or persuaded to do something else during pre-season. It’s that important, but I guess you’ve got that message by now! Make the pre-season work varied through different activities (one coach I know gets a local salsa teacher in to run a session – the players have a laugh and don’t even realise they’re getting a fitness session) and it makes it enjoyable. Be careful not to over work them, recovery is a very important part of football fitness if you think about how a footballer moves on the pitch with lots of sprints, stops & starts so make sure you include this recovery within your sessions & programme. Make the players feel like they don’t know what they are going to be doing when they turn up for training, make them smile and they might come back asking you to get them in even earlier next year!
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One of my actual off-season condition programmes to keep players going through the summer, could be useful for you and your players:
Off-Season Conditioning Programme Wall Planner
Training Day / Week
Light/Moderate Week
Moderate/Hard Week
Hard Week
Hard to Intense Week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
TEMPO Training
REST
25 mins steady swim or bike
REST
TEMPO Training & Cond.P2
REST
Active rest
LSD Training & Staple ex.
REST
INTERVAL & Cond. P1
REST
TEMPO Training & Cond.P2
REST
Pitch Run 1
INTERVAL & Cond.P1
REST
TEMPO Training & Cond. P2
REST
LSD Training & Staple ex.
REST
Pitch run 3
TEMPO followed by INTERVAL Cond P2
REST
LSD Training & Staple ex.
20 min Fartlek
INTERVAL & Cond. P1
REST
Pitch Run 2 Plus 20 min steady state
Here you can see how much work can go in to pre-season: Date June July
August
Meeting Time Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Saturday Tuesday Thursday
Saturday
Start Time Finish Meeting Venue Element Type
10:30 18:30 18:30 09:45 13:30 18:30 18:30 09:45 13:30 18:30 18:30 10:30 13:30 18:30 18:30 11:30 18:30 18:30 10:30 13:30
11:00 19:00 19:00 10:00 13:45 19:00 19:00 10:00 13:45 19:00 19:00 10:45 15:00 19:00 19:45 11:45 19:45 19:45 10:45 15:00
13:00 21:00 21:00 11:30 14:30 21:00 21:00 11:30 14:30 21:00 21:00 11:30 17:00 21:00 21:45 19:00 21:45 21:45 11:30 17:00
Home Ground Training Ground Training Ground Gym Training Ground Training Ground Training Ground Gym Training Ground Training Ground Training Ground Training Ground Home Ground Training Ground Home Ground Home Ground Home Ground Away Ground Training Ground Home Ground
18:30 10:30
19:00
21:00
Training Ground Training Ground
18:30 10:30
Training Ground Training Ground Home Ground Home Ground
START OF THE SEASON
Training Training Training Training Training Training Training Training Training Training Training Training Game Training Game Game Game Game Training Game Game Training Training Game Game Training Training Game Training Training
Fitness testing and Introduction to New training Ground Speed work (sprints) plyometrics and SAQ Circuit Speed work (sprints and endurance) Circuit Football 4 min work SAQ and endurance (possible run) Plyometrics, football endurance Circuit Football 4 min work Anaerobic loading (short session/high intensity) Game Play Session Technique Work Evesham Home Football Based Fitness Thurnby and Neva Wroxham Away Hinckley United Home Cradley Town Technique Work Coventry Sphinx Home Game Play Session Technique Work
Game Play Session Technique Work Football Based Fitness Game Play Session
TBC
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Sports psychology Sport Psychology is growing in importance at all levels of sport and I am happy to be contributing a monthly insight into the mental side of performance. My name is David Harrison and I am a BASES Accredited Sport Scientist in Sport Psychology based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. My company, Pinnacle Performance (www.pinnaclperformance.co.uk) works with teams, athletes and coaches from a range of sports to help maximise potential and performance. The first of these articles is the foundation of everything else that we do. Without it nothing else will work and we are unable to reach the potential we have. Coaches and players need to work on this and develop it and also help others develop it. We are talking about Self– Belief. Self-belief is the most important aspect of being successful in sport, business and education. Without it no one will be able to reach and then maintain PINNACLE PERFORMANCE. This belief influences everything you do and so it must be positive to feed your actions. Like the plant food you
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give your house plant which stimulates growth and allows the plant to make the best of the window sill you have placed it on. Without this plant food the plant would just exist and not thrive. Like the plant on your window sill your belief needs to be positive and be fed regularly by the reference points which maintain it. So self-belief needs to be fed positive reference points to maintain its position otherwise it will inhibit or even stop you from moving forward. Positive reference points that are reinforced regularly give a stronger belief (the analogy I use is one of a kitchen table where the table top is the belief and the legs are the reference points). So be an optimist and concentrate on your strengths; have your glass half full.
However, be aware of your areas of development but focus on your strengths and change your references points by using words. These words are the means to describe your belief and your performance. So words make reference points. We are always talking to ourselves and so you are what your words say you are. You have control. So feed your belief with positive words. Do this regularly, do it every day. Use strong positive words to 'big up' your strengths; to exaggerate them. Use words to turn your weaknesses into positive strengths. If you are small how can you use this to your advantage? Turn your weaknesses into an advantage and then are they still weaknesses? Have some fun with this. Remember you are what you say you are! Like the picture above the little kitten has a belief that it is a big lion and so will act like a big lion. This is the same for the footballer, cricketer and the coach. A great exercise is to recollect your best performance and write it down. Use these strong positive words and make your weaknesses strengths. Next month we will continue looking at self-belief and how we can develop it. If you have any comments about the article then I would be happy to hear them. Contact me via email at pinnacleperform@gmail.com and visit my website www.pinnacleperformance.co.uk for more information on sport psychology.
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Grassroot Teamwear A while ago I was getting some quotes for a contact at a cricket club and realised first hand just how expensive buying kit could be. So, we have decided to launch our own range, imaginatively called “Grassroot Teamwear”. The idea behind it is to offer you, our clubs, some of the cheapest shirts available in the UK. This is very much a budget service but the shirts are better quality than you’d expect for the price, mainly because the margins we’re operating at are extremely low. As with the rest of the Grassroot Media business, the motivation behind doing this is to save our clubs money. If it is successful then we might look in to the more complicated arena of football teamwear, but for now it is just cricket playing shirts. No T20 tops or training kit for now, no fancy piping, no fancy designs, just simple white/cream playing shirts at the cheapest price we can do for you, our member clubs. These prices are not available to non-member clubs so there’s not much point telling other clubs about it that aren’t part of the network. Please see the advert opposite for more information and prices. Once we get our first completed order we’ll print photos of the finished article so you can see what they are like. Any questions or to place an order please contact Mat on mcourt@grassrootmedia.com or call 0800 8 20 21 22.
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Flexible payment plans or pay a deposit and rest on delivery Ultra low costs
One simple design which helps us keep costs down Sizes XXS to XXXL
Style of print
Heat transferred club crest
Heat transferred crest and sponsor logo
Embroidered club crest, heat Embroidered transferred club crest sponsors logo
Cost per shirt exc. VAT and exc. delivery Cost per shirt inc. VAT exc. Delivery
11.80 14.16 14.16 16.99
13.57 15.93 16.28 19.12
Email: mcourt@grassrootmedia.com Call: 0800 8 20 21 22
Player Fitness Isaiah Barratt New to the magazine, Isaiah Barratt starts his regular column looking at how your footballers and cricketers can increase their flexibility and the benefits associated with being more flexible.
With the end of the football season upon us and as we get over those knocks and bumps, I want to talk to you this month about Flexibility. Flexibility is the most important area to focus on within any elite sport. It increases the ROM (range of movement), reduces joint stiffness, improve mobility and most importantly it improves performance. You could start with the simplest of ‘dynamic’ stretches (stretching whilst moving) to help get the blood flowing, heart pumping as well as warming the body and joints up. Static stretching (stretching whilst stood still, sitting or lying down) could be performed during or after your workout to focus on the chosen area to stretch. Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds. Progress to PNF (proprioceptive muscular facilitation) stretching once comfortable with stretching and you feel like your flexibility is improving. PNF stimulating the Golgi tendon organ. This type of stretch is regarded as one of the best for improving flexibility and range of movement. Even though quite complicated to perform it’s definitely still worth learning. ‘Hold and relax’ stretching is a great method if you have a partner to assist you in your stretches. Your partner extends your leg whilst of the floor to the point of some what mild discomfort, and then stretch is hold for 10 seconds. Next
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you must contract your hamstring by pushing the extended leg upon your partners hand to the point of further discomfort and must then be held for 6 seconds before ‘relaxing’ the hamstring into a further passive stretch for 30 seconds. This will then increase the ROM. alternatively you can contract your chosen muscle then ease into your stretch with applied pressure for your partner ‘Contract-Relax’. Both methods are great and should be performed with 48 hours between each PNF stretch for effective recovery.
I myself incorporate PNF stretching into my training regimes and find that it really helps with my own performances whether it is lifting free-weights or doing plyometric exercises as full movements can be achieved under greater pressure and strain on your joints and muscles.
Great benefits are noticeable when playing football as my speed, agility, balance, coordination and power all improve. Give it a try yourselves and watch your performance improve week by week. Here is a step by step routine that I perform after my cool down, maybe you want to try it out. This is for when your haven’t got a partner to assist you with PNF stretching: Groin saddle stretch Sitting side reach stretch Hamstring stretch Follow the guidelines above for desired stretch you want to perform. Left: Sitting side reach stretch Right: Hamstring stretch
Left: Groin saddle stretch
Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed it. Isaiah Barratt
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Mindset Matters with Bernard Baines Bernard Baines looks at what can put and keep you in the right mindset to be more effective in whatever you’re doing, whether it be at work, in the clubhouse or on the pitch. Mindset Matters...
A life changing thought... You are not the person you were last week. You are not even the person you were a few seconds ago. That’s because your body is changing all the time. Cells are regenerating, your hair and nails are growing and your skin is shedding. Even your thoughts and memories are constantly being updated. In fact, you are the living embodiment of change. But then so is everything else around you. Take a look in your garden or the local park. Plants are changing shape, renewing leaves and changing colour by the moment. Urban landscapes of streets and buildings change a little every day – sometimes dramatically. The rubber on your car tyres is a little less than yesterday. The weather is restless. And don’t get me started on technology. Are you getting the theme? Change is not just part of life; it is life. We are not just a part of change; we are change. Everything to do with life is change. Yet on my professional travels, I’ve learnt that some people are surprised by change in the workplace. Suddenly they seem afraid of change. Hello?! What are they thinking?! Let’s acknowledge that the process of ongoing change - in any environment - is completely essential and natural. Like our fingernails growing. That’s how life works. And whether we are a person or an organisation, we might as well be alive. ©Bernard Baines 2013
As a trainer and life coach Bernard Baines helps individuals and teams achieve what they want to achieve by developing a positive mindset. bernard@mindsetmatters.co.uk www.mindsetmatters.co.uk
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Football Club Corner Craig Edmondson, Treasurer at Parkfield Amateur FC in Sutton Coldfield Tell us a bit about your club... what do you do, where are you, which leagues, how many members etc... Parkfield Amateur FC is a grassroots amateur football club based in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. It was established in 1926 and currently has three open aged teams playing in the Birmingham and District Amateur Football League and one youth team playing in the Central Warwickshire Youth Football League. Have you had any famous players pull on the shirt? Not exactly. Although, saying that, whilst his name will not be known, but we did have a former Montserrat International (Ashton Buffong) who played for us for a couple of seasons. The Monsterrat national team is famous for playing in "The Other final" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Final) vs Bhutan on the date of the 2002 World Cup Final. Ashton played a couple of earlier matches and travelled to Bhutan in the squad but did not make the team for that game. It has been more the case of playing against famous players. Back in the late 1940s the club used to have an annual charity match against Warwickshire Cricket Club. The WCC team included England Test players H.E. (Tom) Dollery and Eric Hollies on several occasions. And more recently the 2nd team came up against former Villa player Stefan Moore in a league match playing for Silhill 4th team after he had been released by Kidderminster. Tell us something interesting about your club... The club was founded by the son of former Aberdeen FC (1903-05) player Dr John Sangster and was originally called Paddock FC. The first colours were chocolate, with blue sleeves, and white shorts. The closest the lads could get to their favourite team, Aston Villa's, colours. Have you got any advice for other clubs in our network looking to be more successful when it comes to generating funds? Try to utilise contacts of your players especially those that have their own businesses. The last kit sponsor was a business that supplied the goalkeeper at work (but just ensure you keep on the right side of the Bribery Act!). Remember, it does not just have to be cash. It can be just as valuable if a business donates a service or product which means the club saves that expenditure. What do you find is the best approach to getting advertisers and sponsors in and around the club? Being able to demonstrate that you can give something back to the advertiser/sponsor. Have you had particular success in selling to particular markets? Not a particular market, but definitely local businesses. Which brand would be your perfect sponsor and why? The actual brand is not that crucial as long as it is a respected one. It is all about what they are willing to provide, the relationship & what they want in return. But if we had to pick one, something like Sky Sports would be great especially if media exposure came with it. Have you got a Twitter page our other clubs can make contact with you on? @parkfieldafc If you’d like to have your club featured on this page please get in contact with Mat Court at mcourt@grassrootmedia.com and we’ll get you in front of the other clubs in the network.
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MAKE MONEY FOR YOUR CLUB BY SELLING CLUB MUGS TO PLAYERS, FANS AND MEMBERS Here’s a quick Q&A with Brinley, the owner of The Mug Shop: Q. Can you give us a step by step guide as to how we get our football or cricket club logo & name on to a batch of mugs? A: Firstly compile good quality digital copy/s of the image/s you want to use on your mug design. If you are familiar with Photoshop visit the "Design your own mug" section of the Mug-shop.co.uk website and download the relevant PSD template and create your design. Alternatively, if you need assistance creating your design then email your images to design@mug-shop.co.uk along with a design brief of your requirements and they will create it for you. Once your design has been created you can go online and upload your design when placing your order using the "Design your own mug" section of the website, remembering to enter the 10% discount code GRASS during the checkout process. Q. If we have a sponsor can we add their logo on to our mugs? A: Yes! Designs can incorporate any image combinations so for example you could have your logo on one side and a sponsors on the other. Q. How long does the process take from start to finish? A: If you already have a completed design the turnaround is usually 5 days. Q. How long have you been making mugs? A: Since 2002 Q. How is the best way to get in touch? A: Email is our preferred method of communication using the address: design@mug-shop.co.uk
Club news Bronze CC raided This month we heard about some shocking news from one of our more proactive clubs, Bronze CC, when thousands of pounds worth of kit was stolen from their site in Walsall. Of course they were insured (not sure if it was through our partner Meadons or not but that’s not the point of this at all) but as we all know it’s not just the money & equipment side of things when this happens, it’s the hassle and the helpless feeling you have when your club/ground/home/business is broken in to. Over £10,000 worth of stuff was taken including mowers, cutters and a strimmer and it seems the thieving scumbags that did it simply smashed their way through the locks used to secure the steel storage unit. It happened over night as you’d expect and comes off the back of the club securing over £40k of grant funding earlier in the year. What are the lessons for other clubs? In my opinion it’s terribly difficult to stop thieves who don’t care how much they hurt community clubs and the damage and destruction they cause plying their ‘trade’, and I’m not a
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security expert at all, but if they are smashing locks, perhaps talk to your local locksmith about replacing your locks with ones that will withstand a good bashing (perhaps you could offer free advertising space in exchange for a couple of good quality locks), perhaps put CCTV signs up in prominent places even if you haven’t got CCTV on-site (dummy camera’s might work). I know Micky & the guys at Bronze will bounce back, I only know Micky myself but know they’re a club going in the right direction and they go about things the right way. None of our clubs deserve this to happen to them so it would be great if we could help each other so if your clubs has got any spare equipment that you could loan or donate to Bronze to help them out please drop Micky Smith a line at threecard13@yahoo.co.uk. If there are any updates on the police investigation I’ll be sure to let you all know, but in the meanwhile I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing the club all the best of luck in getting everything sorted in what’s a busy time of the season.
Twitter Directory Bronze CC: @BronzeCC Clifton CC: @cliftoncricket Clifton CC ground: @cliftonccdevt Crawley Down Gatwick Football Club: @OfficialCDGFC Epping CC: @EppingCC Gateshead Fell CC: @gatesheadfellcc Hailsham Cricket Club: @hailshamcc1871 Marsden CC: @cuckooscricket Old Parkonians Association: @oldparks Old Parkonians FC: @oldparksfc Parkfield Amateur AFC: @parkfieldafc South Loughton CC: @southloughtoncc Southgate Compton CC: @sccricketclub Stapleton CC: @stapletoncc Steeple Langford CC: @steeplelangford Tynedale CC:@tynedalecc Westinghouse CC: @westinghousecc Whickham CC: @whickhamcc Winterbourne CC: @winterbournecc Worlington CC: @worlingtoncc
List your club’s Twitter account in here so everyone else can get following you. Only those clubs that are members of the network like yours are allowed on this list. To get listed just drop Mat a note at mcourt@grassrootmedia .com or on Twitter @grassrootmedia Grassroot Media recommends: @fvhtweets @michaelsengrave @sussexcountyfa @meadonscricket @4grants @chance2shine 27
A BOWLING MACHINE FOR ONLY £340? At KB Cricket we have developed The Stinger5000. We think it is a great alternative to other bigger brand machines costing over five times as much Safer for Juniors/Adults to face and operate 12-volt power supply, softer balls, Simple to adjust line and length and the height of the machine, fully adjustable speed control 0 to 70mph
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M Jarrod, Level 3 Coach ‘I am pleased to say that I have bought the Stinger 5000 that I consider to be the most valuable coaching tool I have ever used. It is fun for the children and is useful for all facets of cricket. A great tool
£30 WORTH OF BALLS Sidmar ,Western Australia More reviews available online ABSOLUTELY FREE www.kbcricket.co.uk kevin@kbcricket @kbcricket Tel. 07500 186767
Q&A with the Inventor of the Stinger5000, Kevin Bandy Q. Is the Stinger suitable for adult batting practice? A. Yes it is,; as a keen cricketer myself I know there is nothing like the feel of leather on willow but the stingers accuracy, pace & bounce is a great work out for the most experienced club cricketer Q. What balls will the Stinger5000 fire? A. The recommended balls are the GM-FB ball (more suited for the junior batsman) and a basic tennis ball (improved pace & bounce) and other balls include the Slaz Ball, swing king ball, diegest balls, DF junior ball, Incrediballs and all similar balls –no leather balls Q. What piece of mind will I receive after purchasing the stinger? A. The Stinger range of bowling machine is manufactured by an established UK company and comes with 18 months warranty as well as a full back up service. Q. How reliable is the Stinger? A. The machine comes with a manual and if the few basic instructions are followed you will have many years of maintenance free use Q. Why can’t it deliver at speeds 90mph+? A. Very few if any club bowlers bowl at 90mph+ and the stingers top speed will test the most experienced club batsman Q. How do I power the Stinger5000? A. A 12-volt power supply is required, any 12-volt battery or a mains transformer will do, and both are available from the KB Cricket Website Q. How safe is the Stinger5000? Stingers In Action A. It is perfectly safe. To ensure the well being of the machine and its users it comes with a manual, safety instructions and a completed risk assessment
Bowling Machine Accessories Auto feeders starting at Balls starting at Spring back stumps Sealed 12 volt Battery Mains Power Supply Plastic Stumps Stinger Bag
£79 £1 £35 £42 £60 £12 £26
Scan the QR code below or search for STINGER VIDEO CRICKET to see the Stinger in action
SCAN ME! www.kbcricket.co.uk kevin@kbcricket @kbcricket Tel. 07500 186767
Club Classifieds Network member club Apperley CC are looking to sell three 11 blade Ransome triplex mower units in excellent condition. Looking for offers around £600 mark. Contact Brian Leeke, Club Chairman on 01684 292092.
Woodpeckers CC have these covers for sale, three solid & complete covers (with the coverings, not pictured here). £2,500 ono. For more information please contact Andy Watts on 07890 843667. Spare Brother inkjet cartridges available We’ve got loads of Brother inkjet cartridges available in the office. We replaced our printer and the old cartridges don’t fit the new machine. They are for an MFC-J6510DW but will fit a few other Brother machines. Drop Mat Court a note on mcourt@grassrootmedia.com if you want them.
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Competition winners!!! So last month we had a few competitions, and I’d better tell you all who has won what... WIN MAT COURT FOR A DAY This was a free draw won by Derriaghy Cricket Club in Northern Ireland. We’ll be sitting down to work out what they want me to do and then I’ll set aside a whole working day to just work for them raising funds/advertisers/sponsors for the club. FOOTBALL PLAYER SURVEY We ran a competition for our football clubs where the only thing they needed to do was get their players to fill out a survey on how people interact with our changing rooms posters. Each respondent was put in a hat and the winner was... Paul Melloy who asked for his £50 to go to Letham Community Sports Club. There will be another out soon, probably before you read this, aimed at cricketers so keep your eyes peeled... CRICKET TEAM KIT Worlington Cricket Club won this first come first served competition to win a set of eleven of our new Grassroot Teamwear cricket shirts. Next month we’ll have some photo’s of the shirts in action so you can all see what they are like.
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Cricket Club Corner Gareth Ackroyd, Treasurer of Marsden Cricket Club in Marsden, Yorkshire Tell us a bit about your club... what do you do, where are you, which leagues, how many members etc... Marsden Cricket Club play in the Drakes Huddersfield League, the first team in the Premiership, the second team were relegated to the Championship last year. We also run 5 junior teams from u9 through to u17. We have around 50 junior members, and almost the majority are in the youngest age group (we are struggling for genuine u15s & u11s). We have a bowling club attached to us (Hemplow Bowling Club) and many of their members are ex-cricketers and with them, and relatively thriving 100 and 200 clubs, we have upwards of 300 members currently. As with most clubs there are a minority who are active but we do okay for volunteers. One thing we need to do more of is to harness the power of junior parents (any ideas from fellow clubs?) Have you had any famous players pull on the shirt? Atul Wassan went on to represent India in the 1990s, Dave Nosworthy is now Director of Cricket at Somerset and Abdur Rehman is getting plenty of wickets for Pakistan now. Further back we had Basil D'Oliveira as a guest pro. Tell us something interesting about your club... Marsden CC is the highest cricket club in the Huddersfield League, and therefore (although I have done absolutely no research) will be amongst the highest in the country. We were formed in 1865 by members of the village's Mechanics Institute, itself formed so local people could better themselves. The ground is owned by the Crowther Recreational Trust and granted to the Club in perpetuity for as long as sport is played there. The site also boasts a football field, bowling club, tennis club and golf club. Sat atop the Pennines we have some of the best views in cricket and on a sunny day there are few better places to be. On a cold April day some visiting clubs might argue there are few worse places to play!! We did play a pre-season friendly this year with snow shovelled off the outfield! Who does what at the club to do with revenue generation/sponsorship? Our sponsorship currently comes from companies and individuals who are either directly involved in the club or are only one step removed. We have tried, without success, to court bigger companies but struggle to find a way to the right people. This is perhaps because we have a fairly finite resource in trying to approach sponsors - myself and one other tend to do the bulk of the legwork and each of us has other commitments within the club (Treasurer and Junior Co-ordinator respectively as well as managing a junior side each) and busy worklives outside. Anything Grassroot Media could do to sell match or ball sponsorships of their member clubs to bigger sponsors would be gratefully received! What do you find is the best approach to getting advertisers and sponsors in and around the club? One of the most successful fundraisers we have is to run a 6-a-side competition for local pubs and clubs. While the direct income is low, the bar income makes it our busiest day of the year. We have also attracted caravan clubs during the close season which helps to generate funds during an otherwise quiet time. Have you got a Twitter page our other clubs can make contact with you on? @CuckoosCricket Is there anything you'd like us at Grassroot Media to be doing that it isn't at the moment? We are currently looking for ideas for our upcoming anniversary and if Grassroot could help us by creating a forum to share ideas that would be great. We would be interested in hearing what other clubs have done to both celebrate and to raise funds using an anniversary as a focus, We feel that we need to create an event which would raise more than the usual race night or similar but are wary of committing too much of the club funds to anything with too big a downside. Any ideas from fellow clubs would be more than welcome.
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Guide to... Putting on a race night Contributors:
Craig Edmondson from Parkfield Amateur FC, Mat Court and various online articles from websites that came up when I searched for “tips on race nights”
Here’s a selection of some do’s and don’ts from some of you regarding putting on a great club race night fundraiser: Craig from Parkfield Amateur FC made a great point about checking out the Gambling Commission’s FAQ on Race Nights, as, after all, there is gambling involved. I’ve copy and pasted the article below but you can see the page for yourself if you google search: gambling commission can I hold a race night... ‘Race nights’ are permitted for charitable purposes. However, in some circumstances, they can only be undertaken by a licensed betting operator and after the premises owner has notified the local authority. You should read all of the information below before organising an event, including the three types of race nights. A non-commercial race night is an event where participants stake money on the outcome of live, recorded or virtual races. The money raised from the event is called the proceeds. Apart from reasonable costs, proceeds must not be used for private gain, must all be given to a good cause (including any entrance fees, sponsorship, the difference between stakes placed and payout made). Reasonable costs would include costs reasonably incurred, for example by providing any prizes and for betting slips. If third parties are selling goods or services at your event, for example if someone is selling refreshments, this does not count as money raised for the charity or good cause and can be retained by that third party. Other tips: • As with all fundraising events, promoting the event is what will get your punters in. Posters, emails, social media updates are all useful in creating interest. • Have enough volunteers/staff on hand to fill all the roles: Master of Ceremonies, Tote Ticket Sellers, Tote Ticket Payout Cashiers, Tech Person in charge of the video, Support Staff to help where needed • Have a raffle on the side • Try to sell as many horses in advance and also offer up sponsorship of races, for a fee of course, to both members and local companies or existing club sponsors (in fact why not offer the sponsors a table as a team night out?) • Pre-sell food so you don’t have to worry about administering/selling on the night • Don’t let volunteers/staff bet on the races, will only lead to problems • Promote and advertise the event some more... How about offering tickets to the local sports reporter who might want to run a small mention about it in the sports pages to get more people in? • If using an external company, shop around; there are loads out there.
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Here’s a selection of some of the great training equipment available at www.ramcricket.co.uk or in our catalogue which you can order for free by calling the number below
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www.ramcricket.co.uk Tel: 01372 722999 Email: sales@ramhouse.co.uk