Over the last decade or so the RFU have been pushing clubs into CASCs and other charitable set ups, as well as getting clubs to put their lands in to trust. Whilst the principle of the idea is honorable and a good idea, what has become apparent is that the practicalities of applying it have had almost catastrophic implications.
The principle behind getting clubs to become CASCs and Sports Associations was that it helped improve tax liabilities and also enabled the venues to generate viable alternative sources of revenue to enable them to improve and development the facilities. To become a viable CASC you have to own your land and have multiple sports playing and training onsite.
And in here lies the start of the problem. In the CASC format Rugby clubs have started to discover that their agenda is no longer the only agenda on the table and that to get their needs met there needs to be an awful lot of political maneuvering just to get a decision in their favour.
In the CASC format what generally happens is that a board is formed from the various sports clubs and a Sports Association formed who will take over the running of the ground and manage its development. Whilst this might not sound to complicated, more often than not cricket in particular tends to do quite well in having members elected.
What then happens in the rugby clubs get in to conflicts with the Association over ground use whilst the cricket club tend to want to finish their season later and later. The rugby clubs lose control of the grounds that they once owned.
The second implication which is often harder to see, and there are some that really make this work, but I’ll come back to why later. The biggest impact on the clubs is the financial loss from being part of a CASC. Once grounds are in a CASC the revenue generated by the grounds then gets shared. Where once rugby was the dominant beneficiary, now they are lucky to get any return at all from the grounds.
Clubs like Old Albanians earn no revenue directly from the grounds but benefit from the ongoing development of their facilities and having free access to those facilities. Whereas a club like Old Mid Whitgiftians are actually paying almost 50% of their annual earnings just to pay for the right to use those grounds, and the club finds itself going slowly into bankruptcy, because they actually earn nothing back in return. For the privilege.
And the sad reality is that there are quite a few clubs across the country that if the current trends continue will find themselves out of existence inside the next five years.
The ones that make CASCs work are the ones who treat the grounds as a separate business and therefore accountable for ensuring that it generates a proper profit year on year so that the can meet their goals. Generally they treat the venue as something that should see paid for activity every single day and they actively promote themselves as an events venue, nursery, crèche, fitness, wedding or other facility to ensure that they are generating the revenue they need, so that they can provide their member clubs with a positive impact and sometimes revenue.
At Old Mids, the Association Chairman is undeniably cricket, and he has even managed to get a free house out of the deal. He treats the bar as his own personal bar and generally shows no interest in putting on events and keeping the place busy. Weddings and event ideas are turned away in disgust and as such the clubhouse can often be found with one man and his dog in the bar. If the rugby club does go bust the venue will lose 8 months of revenue from the year and will start heading the same way too.
And here in lies the problem with Associations. They are run entirely by ego and the desires and agendas of the individuals involved. And as soon as those are not entirely rugby, rugby starts to lose ground.
Whilst putting fields in to trust also has the valid intention of trying to ensure that more playing fields are not sold off, what often happens is a mismanagement of the trust and the same impacts that CASCs face is also almost exactly identical to that of fields in trusts. Because the trust then becomes accountable for the development and maintenance of the grounds and these costs suddenly become greater for a variety of different reasons. Normally the clubs want the grounds to be in the best condition (normally better than when the were responsible for it) and the cost to deliver this is far greater than anybody anticipated.
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