To be furious with the committee

[SportsRus]

My child belongs to a large amateur sport club, which has recently secured ‘sponsorship’ from a well known brand. Great! Trouble is, this ‘sponsorship’ is going to cost parents a lot of money (£60-£100 per child). The reason is in a couple of months time, all perfectly fine current kit (T-shirts, shorts, tracksuits etc) MUST be replaced with new ‘sponsor-brand’ kit - all purchased from the ‘sponsor’ at parents’ expense. Parents weren’t consulted by the club committee before a contract with ‘sponsor-brand’ was signed. Parents who aren’t on the committee haven’t seen the contract.

We will be paying hard earned cash for our children to be adverts for ‘sponsor brand’, who are no doubt laughing all the way to the bank. Attempts to reason with the committee are met with threats of non-compliant kids no longer being allowed to be members of the club, or having their old kit confiscated.

How can families, who simply want their kids to enjoy sport, be expected to fund this madness?

I’d put it in the hands of actual real live local reporters, rather than (just) social media.

There is a risk you’ll be treated like a bad smell by the club.

Embarrass them into more transparency.

A tax dodge/write off?

I agree with Skittles. This is a perfect sad face local news story. The Sponsor needs to be shamed into doing the right thing.

Wtf, have never heard of this. Sponsorship deals for kids clubs have always ime meant that the kids get new kit for free, never that they have to pay for it.
Sensible suggestion from a pp to get the local newspapers etc involved.

At ds1's club there are sponsors on the kit but they're not expected to buy new kit every time the sponsors change or even every season or two...

Which is just as well as the sizing of the tops is dreadful - I bought ds an age 7-8 top when he started playing at the club, when he was 7. I thought it would be a bit big as ds is on the small side... It was vast - down to his knees, well beyond his shorts.

5 years on, he is still able to wear the top, although I think this is probably the last year that he'll be able to do so - so although I baulked at the price initially it has worked out very cheap per wear over the years! But don't think I'll get away with any others lasting quite that long for a few years yet...

Think it's very poor show that they are expelling kids who can't afford to buy new kit just for a new sponsor. Would be like you - very curious as to how much they are sponsoring and who is benefiting as it sure as hell doesn't seem to be the kids wearing the kit!

YANBU

I'd be looking at gathering other parents and looking to overthrow the current committee to put a stop to this nonsense.

Many parents are livid, others (wealthy) pretty happy, and others uninterested as yet - the deadline for kit replacement hasn't been reached.

You need to get all the unhappy parents to act together - to refuse to buy new kit on the basis it is unnecessary and an excessive financial expenditure only for the purpose of advertising which they did not agree to and then formally raise it with the management/board of the club.

My local rugby club provides playing shirts with the most up to date sponsors names. Any additional up to date kit is available to buy in the shop but certainly not compulsory! Thats shocking that you have been told you HAVE to buy the new kit.

It's not necessarily the sign of anything corrupt, just not necessarily a wise business decision that's been made by the committee. It's perfectly feasible that the sponsorship deal might have been a straightforward monetary transaction - so for instance, the terms of the deal could have been, 'If you give us a cheque for £1000 to spend within the club, we'll print your logo on our new batch of u11s shirts, and ask the parents to replace them.' Not corrupt - just not very aware or considerate of the potential objections of those parents that have to bear the financial brunt of the deal. Absolutely agree with pps who advise you to find out the terms of the deal - presumably you could attend your club's AGM and ask the question of the committee? This would be a good forum to express the impact it has on you as a parent, and to discuss potential new ways to secure funds for the club.
As with most youth sports clubs, suspect it is run by volunteers, who may or may not have business experience. That doesn't excuse the position the parents have been put in, but I'd caution a sensible approach. Before you start overthrowing committees, you might want to consider what happens when they're gone, and who replaces them! I spend a considerable chunk of my spare time undoing muddles caused by well meaning volunteers who have found themselves out of their depth, but I have a certain amount of sympathy with them when they have stepped forward for roles when no-one else would.

Why do you have to pay for kit with the sponsor logo on it?! Surely the point of sponsorship is that the company pays for the kit in return for advertising / CSR fulfilment?

I'd want to see the contract, all minutes referring to the sponsorship, and also the accounts/ information on monies paid to the club. This really doesn't seem right, but as most clubs for kids are run by volunteers, I'd be more inclined to believe in incompetence over collusion.

Just as a follow up to my comment - personally, I don't agree with their approach at all, I think as parents you are being treated badly. Any kids sports club that puts up barriers to kids getting active, whether financial or cultural or any other, should take a good look at why it exists in the first place!