The club recently completed a broad review of spending and revenues to ensure it can continue to grow sustainably, and further build and improve facilities and services for our members into the years ahead. The review also included the Volunteer Levy system and Volunteer Reward scheme and whether these were achieving their goals.
The last time this was done to this level of detail was a few years ago. There has been no change to registration fees since 2018, despite increased costs of running the club in that time. The outcome of this review is that for 2021 some registration fees have increased, whereas others have decreased - all 2021 fees are on the Fees section of the club website. Other structural changes include the removal of the Volunteer Levy system, retention of the Volunteer Reward Scheme, and introduction of a Family/Multiple Player Discount system.
The general principles of how the registration fees are set are:
1) The ‘user pays’ principle. i.e. we should try and allocate the costs incurred to run the club in as fair a way as we can across the membership based on their usage of resources & facilities etc.
2) SRFC Registration fees are ‘all inclusive’ fees that covers all costs for the season, rather than an initial registration fee plus weekly ‘game-day’ fees (Note: some pre-season fees such as referee fees for pre-season games are not included).
3) Fees should be competitive, and if possible lower, when compared with other local football and sporting clubs.
4) The Committee has an obligation to run the club in a financially sound manner and ensure income is sufficient to ensure the long-term viability and growth of the club.
Some of the key areas noted during the review:
- Miniroos teams who train 2 nights a week were paying the same as teams who only train one night a week
- Under 12’s have been costed as Miniroos when they actually fall under the Junior competition, with the higher costs associated with that competition e.g. Ref fees and Governing body fees.
- There is a base ‘operational cost’ of running the club each year before a ball is kicked. This includes costs such as insurance, administration, facilities maintenance, clubhouse electricity etc. Many operational costs have increased over recent years without an equivalent increase in fees.
- Referee fees have increased in recent years
- Total Governing Body fees (FB/FQ/FFA) increased last year & this increase was absorbed into last year’s unchanged fees.
- Significant additional resources have been and will continue to be applied to raise the standard of Coaching for all Miniroos and Juniors teams. This includes the services of a Director of Coaching, as well as a big uplift in the number of accredited coaches at Samford Rangers.
- Team photos for Miniroos & Juniors have previously been extra cost item but since 2020 are now included in the Registration fees.
Volunteer Levy
The Volunteer Levy system was also reviewed to determine if it was achieving its purpose of promoting casual volunteering within the club and was simple to apply for and administer. Despite the best intentions when the program was introduced a few years ago, the review determined it was not achieving its goal, was confusing for new members, and was difficult to administer effectively. Only a handful of members competed the volunteer hours needed to qualify for the levy to be refunded to them.
The Committee has decided to discontinue the Volunteer Levy system and it makes sense to do this as part of the broader changes to registration fees for 2021.
Volunteer Reward Scheme
The Volunteer Reward Scheme has always sat alongside the Volunteer Levy system, as a system to encourage members to take up certain specified operational roles within the club, such as Miniroos & Juniors Coordinator roles. This system will continue and from 2021 all team Coaches and Managers will be included in the Volunteer Reward Scheme system.
In previous years, a standard $100 Volunteer Levy refund was applied for both Coaches and Managers (& also Assistant Coaches for Juniors teams). In 2021, Coaches will be eligible for a Volunteer Reward of $200, whilst Managers and Juniors Assistant Coaches will be eligible for $100. This change and extra reward for Coaches reflects the higher level of commitment, effort and responsibility that is typically required by Coaches.
Family/Multiple Player Registration Discount
Many families & registrations at Samford Rangers have more than one player. For families with 2, 3 or 4 players at the Club the annual registration fees are a significant expense in the family budget. We want to encourage as many players to play the game as possible. For the 2021 season the club is introducing a Multiple Player Registration Discount where every additional player after the first has their registration fee reduced by $100 per player. i.e. For a 3-player family registration, the discount would be $200. Note: Squirts players (Under 5) are not included in this Discount system.
Discounts will be automatically applied in the Majestri registration system for multiple player registrations. Note that this discount will only apply within a single registration in Majestri at the time the initial registration is done. Players can be added to registrations later but the multiple player discount will need to be applied manually by the Club Administration team.
Payment Plans
The Club will continue to offer Payment Plans to spread the cost of registrations across the season for members that prefer this. Details are on the club website.
Samford Rangers Shop Credit
All memberships (except FQPL and Squirts) will include a $30 credit that can be used at the Club shop. This can be used for a training shirt, or a ‘shorts and socks’ combo pack, or anything else for sale in the shop. The key principle of this is that not everyone needs a new training shirt every year, so the club is not going to include a training shirt with every registration. This would be a massive waste of resources and is not environmentally responsible. As we can’t guess what you need, we provide the credit so you can choose what you do need from our stock (or we can order it from our supplier). Note that only fully paid registrations, or registrations with approved payment plans, are eligible to use the sport shop credit.
Fair Play Vouchers
Rangers has accepted Queensland Government Fairplay Vouchers for many years. Parents, carers or guardians can apply for a voucher valued up to $150 for their child, which can be used towards registration fees at Samford Rangers. The next Round of applications opens on 20 January 2021. Voucher numbers are limited so get in quick. To check eligibility or apply, go to this link:
https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/sports/funding/fairplay/apply
Note that for the purposes of this scheme, the Club’s name is ‘Samford Sporting Association’ (per the decision at the AGM in November the club name will be formally changing to Samford Rangers Football Club in 2021 but it has not changed yet).
Summary
Overall, this is a fairly major change to the structure and calculation of registration fees at Samford Rangers, but it should ultimately result in a fairer and simpler registration fee and reward system. The club is actively taking steps to increase the proportion of our income from sources other than registration fees (fundraising, grants etc.) so we can ensure our fees continue to be reasonable and competitive, whilst at the same time ensuring the future success of Samford Rangers Football Club.
The club will conduct another review at the end of the 2021 system. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please send them to pres@samfordrangers.org.au