I was made aware that there has been some discussion about the clubs new subscription levels for the forthcoming season, so I will try to set out the background to the decision process and reasons for the subscription levels.

As club treasurer, I am responsible for analysing the last year’s finances, proposing club sections budgets, forecasting revenues and outgoings for the forthcoming year. I completed this work early in the summer and set out proposals for our budgets, income and outgoings to the whole club executive committee members at our meeting in June 2014. I included recommendations on next year’s annual subscriptions and gave examples of other clubs in the area/region as comparisons; we discussed finances in great detail and revisited the issue in our July meeting before reaching our decision.

Anyone who runs a household or business will know that services such as utilities, council tax have risen, as have additional services we use such as waste disposal, general maintenance items/ commercial insurance and supplies such as first aid equipment. This coupled with spending in excess of £6,000 in the summer on essential pitch and training ground work due the wet and severe winter we experienced, has led to a substantial increase in our outgoings. We did seek funding for this item, but we were not considered a “hardship” case when compared to other clubs.

Our club has stringent cash outgoing systems in place, we have set budgets for each section of the club, we monitor those monthly and have reviewed external supplier contracts this summer to ensure we have a firm grasp on cash flow whilst not impacting players/ coaches experience on or off the pitch throughout the coming season. We have also refreshed the look of the clubhouse to attract external bookings for parties; we are negotiating with an external caterer to upscale the food offering in the clubhouse and will have an extensive programme of sports events being shown in the clubhouse throughout the season so members get the most out of belonging to TringRugby on and off the pitch.

However we had to make the difficult decision to raise subscriptions at TringRugby, we were mindful of what other sports clubs charge in the area and what our competitor rugby clubs are charging, we have increased the basic M&J subscription from £90 to £110 per annum, which is still less than £3.50 a week over the season, that pays for all training, matches, match food, entry into tournaments (entry costs can be in excess of £100 a team!), coaching qualifications, equipment for each age group and a contribution to the running and upkeep of clubhouse and grounds at Cow Lane.

Our club has always had an “all should play” policy and we are rightly proud of this, in cases of severe financial hardship; we can discuss a way forward so the player doesn’t miss out on playing at TringRugby. Parents need to first talk confidentially to the age group head coach in these instances.

The subscriptions were set after much debate and analysis of our finances for the next year , our hope is that we can maintain this subscription level for the next two seasons; however I am not going to make a guaranteed promise on that point but can confirm it’s our intention, your clubs executive is tasked with ensuring the club is run efficiently and is economically viable for all its members to enjoy, sometimes we have to make tough decisions but this is always done in the best interests of the club and all its members.

Kind regards

Mark Firth