Volunteers- a dying breed?

Alice Northropin Editorial

Rugby iStock
Volunteers make sport happen. Those of us who have been part of a sports club or team, or even those of us who form a motley crew to kick/throw/bat a ball around the local pitch on a Sunday, we all benefit from the help and hard work of volunteers. It's always been the same and, without these people, our sports sessions would not be able to run. We would not have our maintained pitches, means of transport, coaching, or even the lunches and teas that some saint puts on for thirty or so hungry bellies after two hours' running around.

So why, when we have always had more than enough volunteers to help out, has the number dropped in recent years? Club cricketer Nick Campion suggests that it is the fault of "the increasingly onerous responsibilities put on clubs." He is talking, of course, about the numerous checks, forms, courses and admin that volunteers and clubs have to go through nowadays: The coaching courses, the DBS forms, the accreditation, they all cost money, and they all require time. A lot of time. The parents that have helped coach the local rugby team, or the life-long cricket club member who has helped out every Saturday for thirty years, they are suddenly required to have a coaching qualification, which involves time and money that put many off.

I am not suggesting that the welfare of the children and adults that require the help of the volunteers should be compromised in any way, and the DBS checks are very important. Also, a positive approach to club growth and advancement is extremely beneficial. But, surely there could be a slightly more efficient way of doing things, without stacking up the obstacles for the clubs and their volunteers.

Cricket iStock
In cricket, for example, clubs are encouraged to work towards ECB Clubmark, "a growing group of cricket clubs across England and Wales that are prioritising junior development, creating a benchmark for high quality cricket." It sounds fantastic doesn't it? But take a look at the steps involved in the process, and it looks a lot less appealing. Months and months of paperwork, setting up systems, planning, site visits, meetings and assessments follow the registration. This is all very positive, as the club becomes accredited at the end of it all, but what about the criteria that they now have to meet? Campion says, "No longer could experienced, older cricketers - parents themselves - run net sessions; we had to do a Level 2 coach (minimum) to run them. That meant either cancelling sessions or finding a £25 per hour coach." As well as this, "If it was a net session, the qualified coach-to-player ratio had to be 1:8. And this was only if it was one net in use - you needed another coach if another was being used!"

For rugby coaching, there are training courses in abundance. To get started, there are the Foundation courses, the Safeguarding courses, and the Player Safety and Wellbeing courses. Then there are the Awards courses, for Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 coaches, as well as the pages of extras.

Training for coaches makes a lot of sense in rugby, considering the high impact nature of the sport. However, having taken a look at the list of courses on the RFU website (after searching through endless pages to find them), it is unclear which ones must be done, and which ones are worth doing. I can see how this would put people off, especially considering the time and money that they would have to put in. I have personally witnessed a few long-standing children's rugby coaches opt out of the extra courses that they have to take, and all that that involves. Taking three days off for just one of the courses, as well as forking out anything between £105 and £1000, can be quite a task for some.

So, is all this time-consuming bureaucracy causing more problems than it is solving? Not only are the volunteers drifting away, but it seems that the players are doing the same. Not a huge surprise considering the inevitable increases in membership fees as a result of the increases in the club's outgoings to pay for qualified coaches, courses and accreditation. Not only this, but if the parents aren't so inclined to pay for their courses in order to help out, a lot of children could lose their lifts to the grounds and parents may wish to spend the day with their children elsewhere. The systems that have been put in place by these governing bodies to safeguard the vulnerable, are actually having the adverse effect.

DBS
So to the DBS checks, as I find it very hard to understand how one, single-page document, with information accurate only to the day that the check was done, and with information only on police records, qualifies somebody as safe to look after children and vulnerable adults.

I agree completely that a DBS check is a very important check to do, but I think that those all-knowing governing bodies are missing the point entirely with their safeguarding laws. Surely, the best thing for children is to have experienced members, with a connection to them and the club, who are known by the locals and respected by those around them, coaching and mentoring them? Surely, if the clubs themselves were allowed to implement their own procedures for safety and child welfare, with the help of those volunteers who are so invaluable, this would be a more thorough and effective way of doing things?

This would be a case for the club committee members; another dying breed. It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract new people to administrative roles in club sport and, more often than not, the poor souls that have sat in the same chair for many a year, are having to keep sitting there.

Could this be because of all the extra work that is required now? The newly arduous roles require a lot more paperwork, and a lot more red tape to negotiate. The full time job of organising a training session without being allowed to text the players to find out if they can play, and without being able to arrange lifts for those without them, whilst also finding the least expensive coach/two coaches, does seem a bit much to fit in with a day job.

I just want to touch on another vital volunteer job role here. It is common knowledge amongst Pitchcare readers that the grounds maintenance staff of this country are criminally overlooked. Volunteers who work tirelessly seven days a week; these are the people who keep the pitch/court/green in tip top condition for us all to play on when we please. The love for their work and their club is what keeps them enjoying their role, but now, with the added pressure of the clubs to make more money, they are having to do more than just their own jobs. As well as this, they are having to stay in the role until, as one cricket groundsman recently told me, "they take me out of here in my coffin".

Encouraging the next generation of volunteer grounds staff is something that has to be addressed in the not too distant future. The appeal of doing what is essentially a nine to five job for no pay is something that the younger generations would scoff at, especially when confronted with the lack of respect that grounds staff suffer on a regular basis.

CoachingChildren iStock
So, whose job is it to rectify the problem? I doubt that parents and club members fully understand the amount of work that goes into their sports facilities. I know I didn't before becoming a part of the industry.

So to the county institutes and councils, will they come up with a scheme? Perhaps one which involves a salary for the main grounds person of a bigger club, with volunteer grounds people to assist. This, I know, would put more financial strain on our clubs, but then surely this is better than having no grounds person at all.

I am aware that the problems with sports club participation are not solely to do with the bureaucracy I have been talking about in this article. Community spirit is not what it used to be (I hear), and with technology forming such a huge part of our children's lives, leading to shorter concentration spans, these things also have an impact on community sport.

What I think clubs need back is some autonomy. Certainly, coaching qualifications are a good idea, but let's not make them so expensive and time consuming. Let's make it easier for somebody with experience, who wants to help out at their local club, do so.

With regards to DBS checks, I am not sure what to suggest. The system is flawed, that much is certain, but the checks need to be done. A more thorough and free original check, followed by the club's own systems that enable them to have people around who will nurture their children and club members, would be a good place to start.


AliceNorthrop
About the author: Before joining Pitchcare earlier this year, Alice Northrop had previously been living a very different life in London, working for the Telegraph and Vogue amongst other publications. She has always enjoyed writing, but it was only a couple of years ago, when she was shortlisted for the Vogue Talent Contest for writers that she realised she could make a go of it in the journalism industry.

After completing her schooling in Spain, she headed back to England to study Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Exeter.

A keen team player, but perhaps not always as skilled at sport as she would like to be, she was once told she "had the perfect attitude to be on the volleyball team, but not the skill."

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