Thanks for your responses guys! I’m really glad to see that I’m not the only one interested in where this kind of thinking could take us.
It seems to me that we’ve kind of diverged in to two ideas at the moment- one about a possible supporter led purchase of the Football Club, and another about setting up some sort of fund that would directly aid the Club in its endeavours.
So, with that in mind:
----------------------------
Sharks Fans as potential sponsors
Though it wasn't really what I was expected, I think it’s a great idea and one that gets to the heart of what we are talking about- that is, a greater degree of formal, financial contribution and control by the supporters of the Sharks over the CSDRLFC. A third party sponsorship certainly would be a massive step in that direction. Also such a fund may be the starting point for something much larger, such as a move to purchase the Club.
In terms of benefits, I can see them being almost limitless… along with the benefit of keeping a player at the Club or getting one here you would be able to ask that player (who would probably have quite a high profile) to do extra charity events in the Shire such as becoming the Shire ‘Sports Ambassador’ and rocking up to junior sports events and the like, especially those of the junior RL.
However I think the first question that would have to be asked is whether such an entity would be able to get involved. As far as I understand it (
from this source here) there are two 'types' of third party sponsorship. One is sponsorship that is covered by the 'marquee player allowance' which allows up to $300k per year of non-Club money to be paid to any one player or $300k per year to be divided amongst any number of players in order for that player or players to play for a certain Club.
The second type of third party payments are those which are not dependent on what club the player plays for and do not involve the Club in any negotiations. For instance, a player may be used in advertising for ANZ Stadium, may do endorsements or appear at various corporate events and be paid for that. These are the ones where the player's manager is the one that does all the work. (Just as an aside, I'm guessing that this is where most of the player managers actually earn their big biscuits.)
So its likely that any potential 'Sharks Forever' third party payment would have to fall under the 'marquee allowance'. The question is- has the Club already got enough sponsors to fill that initial $300k? Or is it an area where we lag behind the big Clubs? Ho can we find out?
That is my (limited) understanding, but I'm sure there are other ways in which the Thoroughbreds and so on go about their business and get money to players. Also, there may be some way that we could have our potential payment included under the non-marquee allowance, but we certainly would need some advice from someone who really knows what’s going on.
So that’s the first issue. The second is the business structure we could use to make that sort of idea a reality.
Another thing that piqued my interest when I was doing a little research was the advent of ‘Supporters Trusts’ in the UK. These Trusts developed originally in an effort to save financially struggling Football (soccer) Clubs but have now developed (with government assistance) in to ways of counteracting the growing influence of soccer magnates and protecting fans’ rights. They are run as non-profit, fan owned, democratic trust funds which aim to give fans of clubs more of a say in the future of their teams and the UK government now supports them with investment expertise through this organisation
here which also has some great details on what they are and how they do what they do. The
Wikipedia entry is also helpful!
And interestingly, recently funds have arisen to help Rugby League and Rugby Union clubs.
Legally, such trusts take the form of 'Industrial and Provident Societies' in the UK. Unfortunately, these don't exist under Australian law as far as I know. I suspect the closest thing in Australian terms is a ‘private company limited by guarantee’ such as the Football Club is now.
Thus far I know very little about Trust funds, but they may be an option too.
There is already a business entity in place that runs this website and the various BELIEVE initiatives.
It is a Not For Profit Incorporated Association registered with the NSW Department of Fair Trading.
I kind of suspected as much fitz! So far from what I’ve read, this would be the other obvious path for us to go down. Though would that arrangement be suitable for what we’re talking about here? Especially given the kind of sums that are being thrown around and the definite need for total transparency and accountability?
Regardless, any such entity would have to ensure that it is considered a ‘not-for-profit’ by the government and hence was tax free.
---------------------
Ownership of the Club
Moved here
------------------------------
Apart from the interesting business modelling, something that immediately sprung to my mind is the opportunity to set up sister-club arrangements with professional sports organisations across the world. Obviously, there is a lot that we can learn from how others do things.
Don't get me started mate... Tinkler's best idea is to get all of the Newcastle region's sporting entities working together. I would love to see the Sutherland Shire Netball Association, Sutherland CC, the Sutherland Shire Football Association, Shire Baseball, the various surf-clubs and so on all as part owners of our Football Club. The Sharks ought to be seen and used as the flagship for the Shire and Shire sport, nationally and internationally.
I really like the debt demolition idea adopted by the melb demons. is that something that could be organised through the club im sure that the club could wipe off thousands through this. reminds me of that la-0dy at the vote who was almost crying
That is a very good point mate, I hadn't thought of that. We should look in to what they did and how.
:good:
