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

Pickleball in such a short period of time has become a totally relevant global system all the way to professionals and its governance. How could futsal be so far behind since 1930? How can Sport England recognise it as its own individual sport, yet succumbs to the FAs bullying tactics over futsal, given futsal dates back to 1930? That's 95yrs of history. Pickleball has been around for 5 minutes. Yet more questions with no answers forthcoming from either the FA or Sport England. Futsal was outsourced to a delivery partner, England Futsal Ltd that promised the FA that it had the funds to deliver grassroots futsal development and education. At no time was national teams mentioned. Now we see England Futsal Ltd responsible for national teams with no money. We still await a breakdown of the finances for the recent Women's team in Moldova and the first 2 games of the returning men's team. Just how much of the required funding were donations in kind? Just how much did the go fund me campaigns by the players make up the total cost? England Futsal privately inviting players to training camps but the players have to pay for this!! I also hear some current players have left because they can't afford the fees. Lest I remind you, this is about playing for England. Our NGB should be funding this. England Futsal operating in complete secrecy. It's owner, Michael Skubala remains conspicuous by his silence. Maybe we should rename futsal as Fickleball as it would put an end to this utter mess and charade. #truth #facts #TheTelegraph #SkyNews #Shame #transparency #accountability #democracy #TheFA #sportengland

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

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

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

Its obvious to everyone involved in community rugby that the RFU focusses the majority of it's time and resources on the professional game. Is it time to make a clear and obvious split between Amateur and Professional rugby? Sell Twickenham and divide any profit after the sale equally between all member clubs, leaving aside money that will be used to promote the game in grammar and state schools (recurring income). The 2000+ league clubs from National 1 and below (and any champ clubs that don't want to be fully-pro) remain in their leagues and continue as normal. The game is run by county bodies and the council. The 10 Prem clubs and the England team are left to be managed by the Exec committee. Edit * On reflection, instead of the sale proceeds being given to clubs perhaps they are invested to receive an annual income that is spent on increasing community coaches, developing infrastructure and heavily investing in schools rugby. Edit * Follow the money to see where the RFU wants the game to go: Rugby investment from RFU. 2015 - Professional rugby - £44.3m - Community Investment - £32.5m 2020 - Professional rugby - £66.4m - Community - £28.3m 2024 - Professional rugby £65.6m - Community - £30.5m

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

Released today by England Futsal Ltd (EF). Ironic isn't it following my post about very little news. So my mind veers towards the following: Where is all the money coming from? Is it really ethical to collect money from players and to then ENCOURAGE go fund me campaigns without actually disclosing where EF is sourcing its own money from other than occasional threats to withdraw teams if funding targets are not met? I remind you all that EF is a start-up company and is running national futsal as a private club. It offers minimal disclosure whilst expecting players, parents and fans to send them cash on a regular basis WITHOUT any plan or accountability. Are the players funding the entire board to attend the events? In Moldova, practically the whole of the EF board and management were sat on the bench!!!! Does Pep or Mikel Arteta have there director of football and other directors/management sat on the bench? Absolute nonsense. And in the background is the good old the FA simply ignoring all futsal activity whilst retaining 100% control as the NGB. Is it me, or does all this reek? The article offers a lot of waffle with very little substance. As usual, the FA will have had to approve this article because they control EF. #truth #transparency #accountability #democracy #Shame #TheFA #facts #TheTelegraph #SkyNews #MisleadingInformation #misleading https://lnkd.in/gbV_KpyP

🌍 Three months of transformation through wheelchair tennis in South Africa, together with Kopano and Patrick Selepe. In just three months, we have witnessed how sports not only uplift players but also inspire entire communities. We are proving that wheelchair tennis is much more than just a game—it's a tool for change. 💪 The effort and dedication of every player and coach have been extraordinary. We’ve seen how commitment on the court translates into significant improvements, not only in sports performance but also in the physical and emotional well-being of the players. 🏆 Our achievements so far fill us with energy and motivation to continue. We know this is just the beginning. We are working to increase resources for our schools, with a clear focus on enhancing the health and performance of our players. 🔜 What’s next? Our commitment is strong: we will continue creating new opportunities, tournaments, and events to further empower this project, which has a profound and lasting impact on everyone involved. Would you like to be part of this transformation? Your support can make a difference, helping us continue changing lives through wheelchair tennis in South Africa. 🌟 Together, we are changing the game. #wheelchairtennis #inclusivesports #socialimpact #donate