SPSS Alumni Fundraiser’s Post

Last week showed the broken side of cricket, but you had to look beneath the surface to see it. In the space of a few days, across a few miles in the capital, two events happened which showcased the tricky situation sport (and in particular cricket) has got itself into. On a gloomy morning at the Oval, Surrey Cricket Club found out they were champions. We should congratulate Surrey for the third county championship win in a row. Three seasons, three wins. They are by far the most well funded, well supported club with an ever growing membership base. On a similar gloomy afternoon a few days earlier, Foxton Granta won the Voneus Village Cup. They chased down 240. A great victory, but it could be their last. They have no funding, and have a declining playing base. Cast your eye around the county structure and in most counties the story is the same. Small clubs are struggling to generate enough players, at a junior and senior level. Less players means less funding. Less funding means less opportunity. Less opportunity means less competition. Less competition means less sponsors. Less sponsors means… Surrey distribute some of their income through Surrey Cricket Foundation, which does create more opportunities, but that’s in some of the wealthier parts of the capital and beyond. The grant fund that we’ve started at Next Bigger Better aims to bridge some of the gap and provide a kick start to small projects at ambitious clubs. As the skipper of Foxton Granta said “There are always teams dropping out of the junior leagues in Cambridgeshire cricket. There do seem to be less and less teams every year." Hopefully we can do our bit to stop the rot. If you’re a club that’s interested in accessing funding, than get in contact. #cricket #funding Surrey Cricket Foundation Kent Cricket Community Trust KCCT Lancashire Cricket Foundation

Crawley* Duckett* Pope* Root* Bairstow* Stokes Foakes Hartley* Wood Bashir Anderson This was England's cricket team in the last Test match against India in March. What do all those with an asterisk next to their name have in common? That they all went to private school. Cricket is relatively resource-heavy when compared to other ball sports popular in the UK. You need a decent pitch (not a soggy astroturf pitch with mould on it) and outfield (not one with rabbit holes everywhere), indoor facilities for the winter, bats, pads, helmets, gloves, balls and boxes. And that does not even mention the coaches or the umpires needed to navigate our complex game. I am speaking from experience when I say that poor cricket facilities are commonplace around state schools in the UK. That's why I am very pleased to see the Prime Minister announce a series of investments in grassroots and state school cricket facilities. The funding will be delivered, at least in part, by the ECB with three charities - Chance to Shine, Lord's Taverners and ACE - once again demonstrating the powerful impact that can be created when sport and charity combine. Helping to get investment, whether public or private, from the "top" to the grassroots is a core part of the work I do at Bates Wells. It involves the preparation of complex grant agreements which navigate the sometimes tricky approach that charity law takes to sport. If you or anyone you know is looking for assistance on a sports grant arrangement, please do get in touch. https://lnkd.in/eikkj5kx

Softball Australia is proud to announce a new partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) CMY is a non-profit organisation based in Victoria, that has been shaping culture and empowering multicultural young people for more than 35 years. Together, Softball Australia and CMSport aim to drive significant change in the sporting landscape, focusing on enhancing inclusivity and participation in softball across Australia. Click below to read more Softball Australia is proud to announce a new partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) CMY is a non-profit organisation based in Victoria, that has been shaping culture and empowering multicultural young people for more than 35 years. Together, Softball Australia and CMSport aim to drive significant change in the sporting landscape, focusing on enhancing inclusivity and participation in softball across Australia. Click below to read more https://lnkd.in/gNwHqVXm #CMY #CMSports #playwell #ASC #Softball #SoftballAustralia #everyonehasaplaceinsport Australian Sports Commission

Sharing our new partnership with Softball Australia! With a shared commitment to creating a society where young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds are connected, empowered, and influential, we will be providing Softball Australia with on-the-ground workshops, training, and seminars tailored to both paid and volunteer workforce members, softball associations and clubs, and other key stakeholders in the softball sporting community. We can't wait to kick off the first workshop next week in Adelaide! Read more: https://lnkd.in/gNwHqVXm #cmsport #multiculturalyouth #sports #softball #inclusivityinsports

Centre for Multicultural Sport (CMSport) is excited to begin this partnership with Softball Australia and deliver the first workshop next week in Adelaide. CMSport is dedicated to driving social change through sport and is strongly committed to creating a society where young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds feel connected, empowered, and supported. This partnership will focus on building more accessible and inclusive environments while strengthening Softball Australia’s connections with Australia’s multicultural communities. Australian Sports Commission #PlayWell Strategy. Centre for Multicultural Youth

I've been thinking about the line of questions that should encourage people to think and care about the way things are going with regards to futsal in England. Football is riddled with corruption and funny money and it just lives with that. So may be difficult for the anti corruption line alone to score big hits. We know The FA needs a revamp! Players want to play. Teams want to feel successful and to play in an environment with integrity. Administrators want a clear framework to work in. Coaches want good professional development and committed players etc. All this needs stable, honest funding, open & functional Governance and passion for the sport at all levels. With all that kind of good stuff in mind, look at England Futsal. Where is the evidence of financial systems and stability to handle £1M+ ? Where is the openness to give the community confidence in its future? The evidence shows that England Futsal is at best trying to accommodate The FA's ridiculous parameters that The FA sees as suiting it's own objectives. Stability is not just about money, it's about passion, integrity and purpose behind it. We continue to see The FA treat futsal with contempt. We see double and contradictory standards at play all the time. (rejecting certain offers of financial support while allowing others..... even openly allowing / encouraging players to turn to platforms like gofundme. How can a Limited Liability Company with only modest public filing obligations and very few assets serve the needs of futsal in England? Who oversees public money flowing through a regular privately owned business? Or may be it is impossible for public money to flow through such a business into futsal in which case public funding of futsal could be severely limited. To get income, England Futsal needs something to generate it. Delivering services, selling rights, sponsorship etc. Most if not all of the 'saleable' assets with any value are largely controlled by entities outside of England Futsal ie The FA. With no evidence of value-earning assets in England Futsal, it's hard to see how it can maintain control and therefore stability of funding. Happy Halloween. #truth #futsal #accountability #integrity #misleading #TheFa #englandfutsal #AbuseOfPower #betrayed #UEFA #FIFA

Be a mental health hero T10 Cricket Championships, Saturday May 25th, 9 pm – 4 pm, Conover Cricket Grounds No matter which team wins or loses, which player scores highest runs or gets most wickets, the winner of this Cricket charity tournament will be the most vulnerable folks of our community. This year’s annual township T10 championship is to raise funds for mental health and suicide prevention. The beneficiary organization is Attitudes-In-Reverse, who are there literally day and night to answer the call for help from people who are at the verge of giving up their last ray of hope. Like the past few years of championships, there are two groups of three local teams. Let me introduce the Group A teams. Coincidentally, Group A has the tournament champions of the year 2023 (PJCC lead by Murali Duvapu) and 2022 champions (Penns Neck Farmers lead by Amit Murumkar and Irfan Ali) 1. Princeton Junction Cricket Club. Captain: Murali Duvapu (2023 Champions) 2. Dutch Neck Firebrands. Captain: Vineet Anand 3. Penns Neck Farmers. Captain: Irfan Ali (2022 Champions) As a reminder, these six teams represent the six historic settlements that form West Windsor township in its current form (map attached). Please donate generously for this noble cause of suicide prevention and mental health. Use the following link to donate and mention “Cricket” in the comments box. https://lnkd.in/e2agn9RU Prabhat Tomar Satish Acharya Irfan Ali Amit Murumkar

So yesterday was the first England Futsal u19s men and women's training camp of the season. There are approximately 30 players in each group. If you add this to the senior teams, we now have approximately 120 players. This is great. Unfortunately, and very sadly, all these players are having to pay for this privilege. Each player is PAYING England Futsal Ltd £450 for the season to attend six training camps. This works out at £54k that England Futsal Ltd are receiving in income. We know from the FAs public statement that they are offering ZERO funding, support and resources. Despite me asking publicly, we are also unaware of any other cash raised from sponsors or third parties. I also need to remind you that the £450 offers NO GUARANTEES in representing your country. It merely confirms you'll attend the six training camps. Now, if you get selected to represent your country, like the recent Women's senior team who competed in Moldova, you are expected to pay ANOTHER £400 for pre-tournament training and extras. So in a nutshell, all the players collectively, are paying England Futsal, a private limited company, c£100k for the chance to play for their Country. To remind you again that the FA offer ZERO funding. This is abhorrent and brazen behaviour. Further questions need asking of England Futsal Directors, in particular the sole shareholder, Michael Skubala, because they aren't issuing financial breakdown statements to the players, as England Futsal Ltd are notorious for misleading statements. #futsal #truth #misleading #shameful #accountability #integrity #TheFa #englandfutsal #UEFA #FIFA #sportengland #transparency

I've had 24 hrs to reflect on the announcements yesterday from England Futsal. The first post was the England Men's training squad announcement which I was very pleased to see, and congratulated those that made the squad. Then not 2 hrs later, England Futsal posted (please see below) news that they are still £95k short of their fundraising target. This figure was the same 2 months ago. So in this time they have not managed to raise a single penny. This situation in English futsal is no longer acceptable. I find the announcements very unprofessional, unacceptable and very disturbing. I'll post more on this tomorrow but for now there needs to be solutions and I suggest the following: 1. The contract that the FA have with England Futsal Ltd needs to be terminated immediately. 2. Those responsible for this fiasco, Graeme Dell, Steve Mitchell and Michael Skubala need to sacked immediately from the FA. 3. The FA need to intervene and embrace all the players and coaching staff because they have all put so much effort in, believing they were going to play in the qualifiers. 4. The FA need to take the National teams back in house and provide the funding necessary for the Men, Women and u19s teams and also confirm this will be forever just like they do for the National football teams. The FA are the NGB and it should never have been handed to an outside private company in which Michael Skubala is the 100% shareholder. 5. Ex NGB Chairman Bob Cotter needs to brought back, in an interim position, to oversee the national teams until new personnel can be found to lead futsal forward. I'm sure the FA would welcome some steady hands on board who can be trusted to lead futsal forward. If EF couldn't raise the money this time, the chances are it will never happen. Would you trust £95k in the hands of EF? Finally, and I may sound like a broken record but, no company or organisation will sponsor or subsidise the world's richest FA. I would urge everyone to email FA CEO Mark Bullingham Mark.Bullingham@thefa.com and lobby him to take futsal back in house. You all have a voice and no doubt are very angry with the situation. #futsal #truth #accountability #leadership #TheFa #UEFA #FIFA

The Italian American Baseball Foundation has awarded nearly $250,000 in scholarships to Italians and Italian Americans over the last four years. These scholarships help college baseball and softball players reach their dreams of playing at the next level in the United States. Several scholarship recipients have been members of the Italian National Team and have taken advantage of our relationships with American colleges and universities through the IABF College Pipeline. This is real money with real connections and holds tremendous value for the student-athletes who believe in IABF and all we offer as one of the world's leading baseball non-profits. Our mission has never been clearer: grow baseball in Italy, build opportunities for student-athletes, and rejuvenate a depleted youth system with baseball development and financial support. This movement is real. IABF is focused on building a brighter, better, and bigger future than ever before. 🇮🇹 ⚾️ 🇺🇸 #Italy #Italia #Baseball #College #Scholarships #HigherEducation