With over 12,000 sports clubs throughout Ireland consisting of 1.7 million members and more than 400,000 volunteers, sport is certainly a cornerstone of Irish society.
However, not all of these clubs are run to the highest possible standard, or any standard in some cases.
As the former president of Clonmel Rugby Club, JJ Killian knows what it takes for a club to function. He believes that some clubs are not being run as well as they should be.
“There are people at the top of clubs who don’t know what they are doing because they have never been in a management position before. It’s very worrying,” said Killian.
Killian has also served in the Irish military and has been involved in numerous other sports such as squash and hockey. He revealed that he wrote the book with the intention of it being applicable across any sport.
He said: “The code is irrelevant for this book, it’s there to help club members run a club because there is a huge deficit in knowledge at clubs.”
Killian gave high-profile examples of how to not run a club.
“The OCI and the FAI will be treated as the blueprint as to how not to run a club and their organisations had very poor governance structures in place.”
The author feels that clubs need to take on a different mindset if they are to be sustainable for an extended period of time.
“Sports clubs are like small businesses and they require a lot of discipline.
“They have a very high turnover, and they should be run on business principles and make sure that there is due diligence in place. It can’t just be run on sporting enthusiasm.”
You can purchase the book online by clicking here.
Listen to the interview below.
