As a sports administrator, you’ll need to draft a constitution for the sports club that you administer. In basic terminology, a constitution is simply a set of written rules or an agreement which governs the aims of your organisation, how it will be run as well as how the members will work together.
Many sporting groups adopt a written constitution as an agreement, where people are working towards mutually agreed aims. When a sports club or sporting league first forms, it is usually not a legal entity but merely a gathering of individuals who are brought together to share an activity or interest in a particular sport.
The moment your sports group starts to deal with finances or property, or attempts to raise funds in the format of grants or loans, a formal statement documenting decision-making processes, responsibility and rule for all taking part within the group’s activities is essential. This will also prevent individual members from exposure to possible risk if, for instance, your group incurs financial problems or packs up shop by dividing risk between members.
Find out how to put together the optimal constitution for your sports club in this article.
The sections of a constitution
Although every constitution is different, it should contain the following elements:
Name of your organisation
The name of your organisation needs to reflect what your sports organisation is all about. In addition, it is a very important factor. You remember that every member of your organisation should identify with the name of your group.
Aims or objectives of your organisation
Your objective should cover not only what you objective you aim to reach at this point in time but also what you may wish to do in the future. Keep your aims as wide as possible in order to enable you to change your activity without amending your constitution. This will give you flexibility as you develop.
Powers
The powers chapter of your constitution should discuss what the group is allowed to do in order to carry out its activities and meet its objectives.
Membership
All sporting groups are made up of members who want to work in association to achieve the stated aims. Members essentially own and control the group.
Management committee
A management committee is vital to managing not only your group’s work but to make decisions and direct policy-making.
Officers
It is not-unheard-of for committees to have named individuals, which are known as officers, to carry out different tasks on behalf of your group.
Meetings
Within your constitution, you must state where as well as how often you will meet to discuss the work of your group and make any decision surrounding it.
Finance
For the finance section of your constitution, you will need to address several factors. To begin with, you should consider where you will keep the group’s money. If it often a good idea to open a bank account in the name of your organisation.
Amendments to the constitution
It is essential that you acknowledge, from the beginning, that your group may change as it grows. As such you may find that you need to make amendments to your constitution. You will need to decide how changes will be implemented
Dissolution
If for whatever reason, you need to wind up your sporting group you must adopt rules which are similar to those which you have put in place to make changes to your constitution. This may occur if your group is simply lacking in support or resources or if your activities have been transferred to another organisation.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
Drafting a constitution for a sports club is just one of the many duties that a sports administrator has. If you want to learn more about being a sports administrator yourself, please follow this link.
