Nothing surprise’s you in football anymore? This just might, but in a good way…. Does injury for your players cost them more than the time in not being able to play football? Membership of “Our Game” starts at £5 a month and entitles players to benefits which include: • Up to £200 of private physiotherapy a year. • Access to buy the exclusive “Our Game” player insurance policy providing benefits which include up to £300 a week if the player can’t go to work. • Up to 35% off the RRP on football boots. For more information on the ways we can help YOUR players as well as your club, call or email us TODAY. Help is here for those who want it…
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Contents 2 Our Game Lets your players protect themselves from injury 4 MD’s Letter 5 Club Classifieds See who is selling what at our clubs 6 Cricket Club Corner Q&A with this month’s club of the month 7 RAM Cricket Discounted cricket team training equipment 8-9 easyfundraising.org Easy & cost-free way to raise club funds 10 Football Club Corner Q&A with this month’s club of the month 11 RAM Balls Discounted cricket team training equipment 12 -13 KB Cricket Check out the Stinger Bowling Machine for under £350! 14 The Mug Shop Make money for your club by selling club mugs to your players, members & fans 15-19 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...
19 Club Top Tips Your Top Tips on how to raise club funds 20-21 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 22-23 Meadons Insurance Cricket club insurance from Meadons Insurance - piece of mind guaranteed! 24 Grassroot Media Guide to... Poker Nights Might give you some ideas on putting on a popular and fun fundraising night 25 Competition Time!! Win a days worth of Grassroot Media work just for your club - put Mat to work generating funds for your club. Or whatever else you want him to do. 26 Twitter Directory See which clubs are where on Twitter 27 Michael’s Trophies If your club has a trophy giving event coming up, take advantage of their exclusive offer to member clubs 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’ll agree when I say I think the magazine is taking shape nicely in to something that you guys can find useful in running your clubs. I say that I hope you agree as if you don’t there’s not much point in doing it as that’s why this magazine exists. So, if you’ve got any feedback, good or bad, or any suggestions at all on what we should be doing with it then please drop me a note at mcourt@grassrootmedia.com or pick up the phone 07795 49 59 69. Also if you’ve got any friends or relatives that might want to get a bit of experience writing for us then ask them to get in touch with me directly. If you think the magazine it is worthwhile us printing more copies of this magazine for your club then drop me a line and we’ll get some more sent out to you.
You’ll also see that I’m trying to develop a Twitter directory for you guys to share your account addresses, I’ll look to get out a Grassroot Media Guide To Twitter in the next couple of issues for those of you not convinced of it’s use. If nothing else it’s a quick and easy way to keep in touch with your players, members and fans no matter how big or small your club is. At best it can help sell your club to local firms and potential advertisers. There is also a club classified section now which is designed to give you clubs the chance to (for free) sell old equipment, advertise for friendlies, and list anything else you’d want other clubs to know about. Again, it’s free and we just think it’s a good idea to have in. Of course, if no one uses it then we’ll revisit this. Lastly, and definitely not least is that we now have a column from Marcus Law, the man who took non-league Tamworth to Goodison Park a couple of years ago and Marcus is talking to you about what your football club’s managers should or could be doing now at this time of year. And the big thing this month is that Grassroot Media is two years old. And I’d like to say thank you to each of you for making my dream a reality. The best way to say thanks to each of you is to continue making your clubs money I guess, but the fact that a lot of you put faith in me before I’d secured any advertiser deals, has made it possible for those clubs only just joining. I do plan to reward you as and when the business is able to, but for now, it’s just a thanks and the chance to enter a competition to win me for a day (not sure that’s the best prize in the world but hey, it’s a prize). We’ve also been awarded a place in the final of the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce’s Inspiring Hertfordshire Awards under the ‘most promising new business’ category which I’d like to think shows we have done something right in the last couple of years. If you had football during the 13/14 season and our frames up then I’ll be contacting you in the next month or so to get bank details so that we can pay you what we owe for the season that’s now come to an end. I hope you had a successful campaign and met your targets! And on that note you might want to have a read of our first columnist, Marcus Law, who talks about goal setting in his piece in here. For those of you who don’t know Marcus is one of the more forward thinking managers around and I think has a great approach to the game. I’d certainly have loved to have played for him during my time and though he works in football a lot of what he says is actually quite valid on the cricket side of things too. Worth a read.
And cricket clubs, I hope your sides have got off to a good start, if not then perhaps you should check our RAM Cricket’s ad in these pages ! As ever, any questions/comments/concerns get in touch.
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Mat Court - MD
The new Grassroot Media scarves, samples from clubscarves.com, see back cover for details on how you can get them made cheaply for your club (we can send these out to you for inspection if you like)
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 ÂŁ600 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). ÂŁ2,500 ono. For more information please contact Andy Watts on 07890 843667. 5
Cricket Club Corner Tim Dunn, Chairman of Worthing Cricket Club in Worthing, West Sussex Tell us a bit about your club... what do you do, where are you, which leagues, how many members etc... We have 80 seniors and 80 juniors. 4 sides, 1st & 2nd XI’s play in the Sussex Premier League, 3s & 4s in the West Sussex Invitation League. Our home is a council owned ground with 2 pitches, and we were promoted to the Premier League in 2011 after being relegated in 2003. We have a thriving junior section that won back to back Sussex Junior Cricket Festivals at u16 in 2011 & 2012. We try to encourage juniors to play senior cricket as soon as they are able. Our aim is not to cater for the masses but provide the best standard of cricket and coaching in the Worthing area for players who want to play the best possible cricket. Have you had any famous players pull on the shirt? Ken McEwan and Imran Khan in the ‘70s. Martin Speight, Paul Jarvis & Danny Law all played for us in the ‘90s. Michael Gould, son of current International umpire Ian Gould, led us to promotion in 2011. Tell us something interesting about your club... Worthing Cricket Club was formed in 1855. The ground (The Manor Sports Ground), situated close to the centre of town was a County out ground For Sussex CCC until the 1960s and boasts an impressive art deco style pavilion. The club was a founder member of the Sussex League and has been a member since its inception in 1969. Worthing CC play in the highest standard of cricket in Sussex. Who does what at the club to do with revenue generation/sponsorship? Tim Dunn (Chairman) and Andy Lutwyche (Asst. Treasurer), are the main people constantly searching for revenue/sponsorship. We raised £25k in 2008 to redevelop our nets and £10k for an artificial pitch, plus £2k for bowling machine. In 2010, Tim Dunn, Andy Lutwyche, John Kaye, Paul Westlake & Justin Watts (all Worthing CC committee members) walked the South Downs Way to raise £7k to build a decking area in front of our pavilion which was completed in 2012. Have you got any advice for other clubs in our network looking to generate funds? Use your local Cricket Development Manager to support all your applications, it really helps add weight. What do you find is the best approach to getting advertisers and sponsors in and around the club? Make them feel part of the club. A majority of our sponsors come through contacts within the club itself. Have you had particular success in selling to particular markets? Not particularly; we haven’t scrutinised it in that way, we just try to get as many businesses involved as possible and understand the level of sponsorship they’d like to take up. Which brand would be your perfect sponsor and why? Probably a large town employer or big known brand name which is highly recognisable by people in the town and genuinely wants to support local cricket. Have you got a Twitter page our other clubs can make contact with you on? Twitter - @worthingcc, Facebook – Worthing Cricket Club, website – www.worthingcc.com Is there anything you'd like us at Grassroot Media to be doing that it isn't at the moment? Probably our biggest challenge is finding a major sponsor who will invest £3k per season over say 3 years. We have shirt and web site opportunities available.
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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
QUOTE GRASS AT CHECKOUT TO GET YOUR 5% OFF
“Ram Cricket are here to support cricket clubs, cricket playing schools and universities with an extremely wide range of products at very competitive prices. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any needs.” Nasser Hussain, ex-England Captain and Director of Ram Cricket
www.ramcricket.co.uk Tel: 01372 722999 Email: sales@ramhouse.co.uk
Football Club Corner Paul Melloy, Managing Director at Letham FC in Perthshire Tell us a bit about your club... what do you do, where are you, which leagues, how many members etc... Letham FC was founded in 1960 and has been at the heart of youth football in Perthshire for 53 years. We now have 18 teams, both male and female, ranging from Amateurs to Under 9’s, and a thriving soccer school that has 40-50 kids participating. We have in the region of 400 kids playing for one of our teams and soccer school over a weekend. Have you had any famous players pull on the shirt? Jake Findlay – Aston Villa, Derek Rylands – Arbroath, Sandy Crockart – Ross County Tell us something interesting about your club... We are currently finalising the funding to start construction on a new FIFA 1* Standard 3G pitch which will also be IRB22 compliant for contact Rugby Training, the only artificial pitch in Perthshire to have IRB22 compliance. Have you got any advice for other clubs in our network looking to be more successful when it comes to generating funds? As a registered charity, you can generate an additional 20% income by utilising gift aid on fund raising, and, if structured correctly, membership fees. What do you find is the best approach to getting advertisers and sponsors in and around the club? Engaging with the sponsors and making them feel important. We give all our strip sponsors a framed strip with their logo on it and have their logos on our website. We also invite them along to any events relating to the team, such as prize giving’s etc. Have you had particular success in selling to particular markets? No, we try to engage with all local businesses as they tend to be more open to a local community club. Which brand would be your perfect sponsor and why? Stagecoach – local company on a national scale. Are you involved in any other sports? Is there anything our clubs can learn from clubs outside of cricket and football? We are currently in discussions with the local bowling club to bring them under the banner of Letham Community Sports Club and begin the process of being a true local sports hub. Have you got a Twitter page our other clubs can make contact with you on? @letham_fc 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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www.ramballs.co.uk Tel: 01372 722999 Email: sales@ramhouse.co.uk
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
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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SPECIAL OFFER FOR GRASSROOT MEDIA CLUBS: Buy A Stinger5000 and receive
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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
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
It’s the Law...
Marcus Law who has managed Conference sides Kettring Town & Tamworth (including their famous FA Cup run to Everton) talks to you about what your managers could be doing at this time of year...
The manager of a football club, at whatever level, never switches off. Towards the end of the season you’re already planning for pre-season. You’re already thinking about players you want to bring in and even starting the process of finding out the status of the player and thinking about how you’re going to talk to him. The higher up the pyramid the more contracted players you’ll come across so you need to find out where they stand contractually. Those players who aren’t contracted you know you have to wait until the end of May before initiating an approach with a view to them signing for you in July. In the intervening period you may end up with an agreement in principle between the club and the player. There’s a lot of communicating, or reinforcement work, as the summer progresses with the player to ensure the agreement in principle stays in place as strictly it doesn’t really stand up to anything legally, it’s more of a promise between parties. With contracts, clubs will either work one way or the other; they either like to get everything done early and know exactly where they stand and know what they are going to be working with to achieve their level of expectations. These clubs will want or try to get everything sorted in advance of the first preseason session. Other clubs will prefer simply getting through, or surviving, the summer in order to slowly build the squad during July. While this isn’t for everyone or every club is does bring advantages financially, mainly through the fact you’re trialling new players when you might have been paying them following a more ‘planned’ approach, but it carries obvious risks. Each approach carries risk and reward and it’s really down to the individuals running the club to work how they want to work. In life we generally see that the people who are not chasing work are not chasing work for a reason, they are generally better at what they do. And that rings true in football. The trick as a manager is to sift through all the players that become available, that are ‘between clubs’ and the constant supply of players that come on to the scene via the academies and try to unearth the gems. Generally every time you find a good one you’ll find a not so good one and that’s the
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risk you take when you are looking for new players, but that’s probably the same in most industries isn’t it. Coming back to planning for next season though by now as a manager you’ve probably already sat down and started talking with the Chairman or the board of Directors about next term. Of course it’s a bit more difficult if you don’t know which league you’re going to be playing in, but you’ve probably set out what you think you need to do the job for the next twelve months, and then the Chairman will inevitably hold off giving you what you need for as long as they can! Regardless you should try to include as part of this plan ideas on raising funds throughout the year. The directors will do this, or have people who will do this but I feel that as a manager you need to help as after all a club really is one big team both on and off the pitch. Everyone knows different people and a lot of deals are done due to relationships and contacts as much as anything; if you or your players have contacts with business people who might be right for supporting the club via sponsorship or advertising then by getting everyone involved is the way to find out about them. Widening the net through getting everybody involved usually delivers deals that commercial managers may not be able to source. There also has to be a plan for throughout the year with target dates for certain fundraising events and of course the commercial manager or team need to come up with new ideas to generate ticket sales. But as a manager you have to help them by delivering the results on the pitch as it’s generally easier for commercial teams to sell when results are going the right way on the pitch. The two go hand in hand and come back to my point about clubs being one big team, both on and off the pitch. The teamwork the club delivers off the pitch is sometimes underestimated and undervalued by clubs, players and fans. Targets & bonuses, when done right, can be a good way to finance performance but don’t get sucked in to the standard goal or clean sheet bonus. Many strikers will expect a goal bonus as standard. Yes, they expect a bonus for doing their job. And it’s the same across the board regardless of position, with bonuses being paid for players doing their job. At Tamworth I restructured the bonus system to make them more target based across the team, for example by achieving a certain amount of points by a particular time which would release a certain amount of money. They had to earn the bonus payment, not do what is expected of them. Stretching but achievable is the way forward. It is a balancing act but that’s what managers are there to do. Again, it’s just like in other industries. I think the spread of bonuses have bred a bit of an “I’ll look after myself attitude” where a player may choose to go with a club where he knows he’ll get paid a bonus even if the team loses. It’s a game of poker between the clubs and the players. These challenges that managers face are the same whichever level you are working in where players are receiving money for playing.
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This time of year you’ll be saying goodbye to your players as the season comes to a close. Different managers do different things but I give each of mine a close season programme. I do find the younger they are the more likely they are to look after themselves between seasons, they generally prefer to keep themselves in shape. The older the player gets the bigger the challenge is to keep his motivation up during close season because they will need a rest, physically and mentally, and he may be reaching a stage in life where the chance to spend some time with the family is looking more appealing than it may have done a few years ago! Managers should remember this is a month off for the players and that they won’t be able to control everything they do. The players do work hard and don’t get too much time to spend with the kids and other family members during the season and you have to find a way to manage each of them to get them back how you want them. During the last five years or so the advent of sports scientists I believe has led to more effective end of season breaks for the players. Before, when I was playing, it was very much a case of “right then lads, have the summer off and we’ll see you in pre-season to get you fit again”. I don’t think that boom and bust, or binging, attitude is very good for the body and leaves it open to more injury and potentially a shorter playing career. The body is a machine and needs to be treated that way, it’s delicately balanced and formulated and needs to be kept in top condition, or as good as, to keep it running how you want it to. It’s very important to me that my players do not lose any muscle throughout the close season and most definitely any aerobic capacity. If at whatever level you manage at you’ve got players that you feel could benefit from this approach then think about sitting them down and talking them through why it will work for them and make them a better player. I’ve had several discussions with players & teams about what pre-season is all about, what is the point of it, potential hazards if we don’t do it right and how we prepare for the pre-season itself. Yes, prepare for the preseason which is the prep for the season proper. It’s quite easy for a player to pick up a six week hamstring easy by doing the light switch approach of “off” at the end of the season and then “on” at the start of pre-season. If you don’t do this already, the players are more likely to take all of this on board than you might think. That said there’s a reason a player is playing where they are; it’s either ability, or family/work commitments, or attitude or mindset. It’s down to us as managers to get the best out of the player in his or her situation. When you get your players back in for pre-season (and you’ll all have different ideas on when this should start, I usually go for the last week in June) you’ll have a good insight in to what your players attitude is like. I tend to start with a lot of testing, slowly building up the programme but I know some managers like to bring them in for the 1st July – but in some cases it may not be the managers call, it could be a financial decision: if you start a week early in June, you’re paying a week earlier in June. Sometimes you find players like to have a little moan about coming back a week early but it soon all fades away once they realise they’re back doing what they love doing with their mates. If you only pay for games, as most of you will, then you haven’t got to worry about that, all you
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have to work out is what you think the level of commitment is from the group of players, where they are as people individually and how many sessions you think they can do or take before the start of the season. During the season your individual man management skills will come in when you look at how you keep in contact with your players (or not). You may have an open dialogue with players always touching base about plans for the coming season as I like to do or you may not. I feel communicating with my players is a big thing as it gives them a chance to talk to me about whether other clubs have approached them. For those players who are contracted to the club you might feel you need less contact with, you might just get or send a text every now and then. When it comes to sourcing new players this time of year can be busy. If you’re left in the lurch by an unplanned injury or departure then this is where your knowledge of the game comes in to its own, along with your little black book and the PFA’s list of unemployed footballers. That said you should always have plans for all eventualities and a squad that can cover itself to a useful level should the worst happen in a particular playing position. Injury prevention is really important to me during pre-season and in my opinion should be for all managers at all levels. If you give your players the right advice and education on food & fuel alongside the right plan to push them as hard as you can but while staying the right side of injury then you’ll be doing the right job. Incorporating recovery strategies into your pre-season plans is very important during this strenuous time for the body. Technical work as part of these recovery plans is just as important as fitness. And don’t be afraid to look around at local sports science resources; usually they’ll be available from local colleges or universities and might help you put your plans together. As for equipment I look at it in the same capacity as a stationery shop; when you walk in to one of those shops you think you need everything but the reality is that you could have done the job without spending a load of money on a new stapler or binder. You could have done without it if you have sat down and thought about it and used what you had in a creative manner. For example, if you haven’t got a ladder then arrange cones to do the same job without having to pay anything. Instead of going out and spending loads of money on items of equipment that you don’t necessarily need, because you can adapt something else you already had, think about saving that money and putting it towards the playing budget – the Chairman will be more likely to let you spend more if you’re saving more. Think creatively and it will save you money but deliver as good a result. Fundraising, now’s a good time to start planning with the club commercial manager on what the club is going to do to generate some extra funding during the coming season. Your end of season do will be planned by now but if you haven’t done it already, make sure potential new sponsors or advertisers are invited along to help you start the process of relationship building. Christmas is really important to make sure money is coming in around then, and also the end of February is always a good time for a fundraising function or event.
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And then we’re at the point where you, as clubs, need to set your goals and objectives for the coming season (and beyond). I think the biggest learning that grassroots clubs can take from clubs higher up the pyramid is to (much like the bonuses I wrote about earlier) make them achievable. The worst thing is to set yourself a target where the expectancy is comparable to the budget, set up and ability you have available to you. You shouldn’t need to use budgets as a reason for not reaching your goals; the goal should have taken the budget in to account in the first place. The expectancy has to be real in the aspect of the budget, environment and league you are working in. That’s it for this month. I hope you achieved the goals you set this time last year and if you didn’t have any such goals, now’s the perfect time to start looking at what you want to achieve, realistically, as a club so you’re where you want to be this time next year. All the best, Marcus
Your top tips In this section we’d like to give you, our member clubs, the chance to offer out your top tips for fundraising to each other. If you have any at all then please drop Mat a line and he’ll make sure it gets put in for the next run of magazines 21
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
Guide to... Putting on a poker night Contributors:
Daniel Bingham from Wembdon Cricket Club, About.com, Mat Court, Steve Clark at Worcester Park Cricket Club
Here’s a selection of some do’s and don’ts from some of you regarding putting on a great club poker night fundraiser: Be careful how you advertise it if you do not have a gaming licence. Perhaps only advertise it your members. Provide a member of the bar staff to deliver table service - people are reluctant to get up from their seats while playing. Have set times where people can buy back in, therefore increasing the pot to the winner(s) and the club. Settle on the rules of the game and Worcester Park CC’s actual publicise them on the night, perhaps Poker Night structure: get a game rules card made up from a BUY IN: £20 local printer who prints an ad on the TOURNAMENT TYPE: Knockout (no rebuys, reverse in exchange for free printing. no add-ons to limit time to about 4 hours) Sounds obvious but have plenty of FORMAT: Texas Holdem No-limit chips - better to have too many than too STARTING STACK: 7,000 chips few. If you can afford it, use brand new START TIME: 19:00 (first hand dealt at 19:30) decks of cards, they aren’t as PRIZES: 1st (30% total takings), 2nd (15% of expensive as you think and gets the total takings), 3rd ( 5% of total takings) BLIND LEVELS: 20 minute blind levels, as night off to a professional start. Buy plastic cards as they’ll last better follows (elapsed time in brackets): 1. [+0:00] -- 25 / 50 and are easier to shuffle. 2. [+0:20] -- 50 / 100 Use two card decks per table to speed 3. [+0:40] -- 75 / 150 things up. 4. [+1:00] -- 100 / 200 Be flexible, if lots of players go out 5. [+1:20] -- 150 / 300 early think about setting up an 6. [+1:40] -- 200 / 400 7. [+2:00] -- 400 / 800 impromptu lower stake table on the 8. [+2:20] -- 600 / 1200 hoof. 9. [+2:40] -- 1000 / 2000 Try not to let the organiser drink too 10. [+3:00] -- 1500 / 3000 much 11. [+3:20] -- 2000 / 4000 Have fun and make sure everyone has a 12. [+3:40] -- 4000 / 8000 good enough time to want to come 13. [+4:00] -- 6000 / 12000 back again! 14. [+4:20] -- 10000 / 20000
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Competition time!!! Win Mat Court for your club for a day It’s two tears since Grassroot Media was conceived and during that time I’d like to think we’ve done a lot to help the clubs that have been a part of the network. I think we’ve done some things very well, some not so well, we’re further ahead in some respects of the business to where I thought we would be, and behind in others. This isn’t a problem for us as a business and when you take a long term view at everything, and overall we’re ahead of where I wanted us to be, but one area that I think we haven’t done what I thought we would by now is in the explicit helping of your clubs in the task of making money yourselves. Yes we’ve come up with a few ‘Grassroot Media Guides To...’ and I like the way we’ve developed the Welcome Packs, and this magazine for that matter, but I feel as though we should have been able to do more (although I’ve no idea how we could have done more!). So to that effect I’m going to dedicate a whole day of my time to see if we can help a club make money. I will be closing down Grassroot Media for one whole working weekday and will instead work for your club to see if I can make you some money, or help put you in a position to make some money (i.e. you might want me to make sales calls for you, or instead look at the back-end stuff to do with the sales such as designing a sponsorship package, or something else). You will get to choose what I do, and we will agree a date for me to do it between us (mid-May seems like a good time to me). We’ll get together on the phone before the day so we can agree targets/desired results etc. All you have to do to enter is drop me an email to mcourt@grassrootmedia.com saying you’d like to enter your club (and the club name). I’m limiting the entries for now to our member football and cricket clubs - councils and commercial facilities can enter if we do it again in the future. If it works and the winners are happy with how it went then this is something I might run once a quarter. So, drop me an email to enter, and if you have any questions/comments/concerns then drop me a line too.
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Twitter Directory Clifton CC: @cliftoncricket Clifton CC ground: @cliftonccdevt Crawley Down Gatwick Cricket 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
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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
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