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Info about Committee Roles
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Millwall Rugby Club

Role Overviews

(taken and adapted from the RFU’s best practice)

Chairman

Secretary

Treasurer

Men’s Chair / Ladies’ Chair / Youth Chair

Communications Officer

Development Officer

General Committee Member (x 2)

Clubhouse Officer

For other roles that we haven’t had chance to produce specific Millwall job descriptions for, the club will use these RFU role descriptions as a base guide.

Please click the hyperlinks above or scroll down.

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Chairman

As Chairperson you’ll provide the vision, leadership and business plan to

develop the club for the benefit of all.  You’ll chair the Management Committee efficiently and will be responsible for liaison and cooperation between club, officers and subcommittees.  

Ultimately the main decisions are made collectively by the management committee, but without your management skills, the club would not fulfil its potential.

The Chairman is accountable to the members via the Management Committee (CMC) and periodic General Meetings.  

Ideally, you’ll need to be:

–  An experienced and effective manager

–  Confident and good at communicating

–  Familiar with business administration and practices

–  Diplomatic and discreet

–  Well-acquainted with the running of the club

–  Well-organised

What you’ll do:

–  Form a team around you so that as many of the Officer/Committee positions are filled as possible.

–  Provide leadership to your team on all aspects of the club from playing to fundraising and social activities, helping your team delegate to other volunteers as needed.

–  Spot if things aren’t working with a particular position or subcommittee and bring this to the attention of the management committee so that it can be put right promptly.

–  Arrange and chair Management Committee meetings, Emergency Committee

Meetings and Special/Annual General Meetings

–  Lead the creation of your club development/business plan

–  Make sure the club is represented at the RFU AGM and local Constituent Body

meetings

–  Attend Sub-Committee meetings if they concern club policy

How much time it will take up: 

About 6 hours a week, mainly in the evenings and at weekends.

What you’ll get out of it:

This is the most prestigious position within the club, so it’s highly respected within the

community and the world of work.  As the club’s leader you’ll have a direct hand in

results on and off the pitch – it’s a demanding role, but incredibly rewarding.

Secretary

The Secretary is the head administrator for the club. Your remit is broad; as

well as looking after the general running of the club, you’ll act as the lynchpin between

internal and external stakeholders. The club cannot function effectively without a secretary.

The Secretary is accountable to the members via the Management Committee (CMC) and periodic General Meetings.

Ideally, you’ll need to be:

–  A capable manager who can delegate effectively

–  Confident and good at communicating

–  Skilled at administration and meeting procedures

–  Well-organised and conscientious

–  IT literate

What you’ll do:

–  Act as the main communication link between the Committee, sub-committees,

club members. You are the guardian of all things constitutional and on behalf of the members it’s your job to escalate things to CMC if things aren’t working properly, or committees are not meeting or functioning as and when they should.

–  Ensure legal and insurance matters are dealt with by the management committee

–  Provide necessary details to the RFU and Constituent Bodies (CB) and ensure that the playing subcommittees deal with Registration properly.

–  Maintain the records of club members and former members, process new memberships and ensure memberships are renewed on time.

–  Be ultimately responsible for player registration (although you might decide to delegate this to the playing chairs or registration secretary)

–  Distribute the right paperwork to the right people in the club

–  Communicate club events, dates and activities and policy changes, if not already done by the respective officer (social secretary, playing chair etc)

–  Organise the AGM, Management Committee and other club meetings, preparing

agendas and paperwork, and taking minutes (although you might share this responsibility with a Minutes Secretary).

–  Oversee the effective operation of subcommittees

–  Ensure AGMs are conducted properly and that general meeting voting is done correctly, discretely and fairly.

How much time it will take up:

About 6 hours a week, mainly in the evenings and at weekends.

What you’ll get out of it:

Running this office well shows considerable command of high-level organisational

skills. It’s a highly respected post from any perspective, within the community and the

world of work. You’ll be able to see the results of your efforts very clearly, as there’s

a high correlation between a well-run club and success on the field.

Treasurer

The Treasurer looks after the club’s accounts and financial dealings, and regularly delivers reports to the Management Committee.  

A club cannot function without handling money, so it goes without saying this is a crucial role.

The Treasurer is accountable to the members via the Management Committee (CMC) and periodic General Meetings.

Ideally you’ll need to be:

–  Financially knowledgeable, with skills covering bookkeeping, accounting, VAT

returns and rules, and investment (but you can be assisted by a book keeper)

–  Careful and confident with figures, cash and cheques

–  A good record-keeper, good with a computer and the relevant programs

–  Aware and decisive

What you’ll do:

–  Look after the club’s finances to make money work for the club

–  Know exactly where the club stands financially at any time, and keep the

committee informed of any trends and issues, maintaining records accurately and in a timely manner.

–  Recommend the financial policies to CMC (eg payment of expenses)

–  Although decisions on whether or not to spend money are made at CMC (or by delegated authority to subcommittees), you will usually provide guidance by making a recommendation on affordability.

–  Work with other officers to plan and monitor a budget each year to guide expenditure decisions and revenue tracking.

–  Prepare and present the accounts for the end of year financial report

–  Deposit money and issue receipts promptly

–  Keep adequate records of any transactions

–  Manage the club investment portfolio (if relevant)

–  Prepare and submit any statutory documents needed (e.g. VAT, tax, PAYE and

NI returns, grant aid reports)

–  Renew insurances annually

–  Make sure the club has paid relevant affiliation fees

How much time it will take up:

Around 2 hours a week, rising at financial year end.

What you’ll get out of it:

Although you’ll already need to be financially literate, this is a great way to keep

those skills sharp with a relatively minor time commitment.  You’ll be fulfilling a

respected role in the community and providing a vital service to the club.

Men’s Chair / Ladies’ Chair / Youth Chair

Representing and canvassing the views of players, and taking responsibility for their performance on and off the field, your advice and guidance should promote their interests in the development and direction of the club.

The Men's/Ladies'/Youth Chair is accountable to the members via the Men's/Ladies'/Youth Subcommittee.

Ideally you’ll need to be:

What you’ll do:

How much time it will take up:

About 9 hours a week, made up of 5 hours of training and playing, 2 hours of team

selection and 2 hours of development work.

What you’ll get out of it:

Above all this is an extremely enjoyable and respected post – the high point of any

playing career.  The administrative and people skills you’ll develop are transferable to

any walk of life, and as a representative of younger people’s views in the game, you’ll

get the satisfaction of doing something truly worthwhile.  

Communications Officer

As the Communications Officer, you spread the good news of rugby and the work that the club does. You make sure that the other club officers and subcommittees are telling people what’s going on and you encourage feedback from members. You help the secretary keep the members well informed at all times.  You assist with internal communication, making sure that there is good communication between core management committee members and other volunteers.

You promote the club and ours interests to members and the wider public which raises our profile and ultimately our success.  It also boosts the popularity of the game which will lead to more members.  

The Communications Officer is accountable to members via the Communications Subcommitee.

Ideally, you’ll need to be:

What you’ll do:

How much time it will take up:

Around 3-4 hours a week.

What you’ll get out of it:

You’ll be the voice/spokesperson of the club; its profile is under your watchful eye. As the person with the lowdown on club activity, you’ll make lots of new contacts

in the sports and journalism arenas, raising your own profile by association.  The

more you involve people in the club, the more you’ll get out of the role.

Development Officer

Passion for rugby alone won’t pay the bills.  That’s where you can help.  We need a

volunteer to manage advertising and sponsorship programmes for the club – from

pitch hoardings to shirt sponsors, and more!  You’ll encourage companies to get

involved in rugby in exchange for helping them promote their business at our club.  

The Development Officer is accountable to members via the Development Subcommittee.

Ideally, you’ll need to be:

–  Well-organised

–  A good communicator  

–  Passionate about rugby

–  A target driven sales person

–  Business minded

–  A good negotiator

–  Efficient and a quick thinker

–  Meticulous over the details

What you’ll do:

–  Work closely with everyone else on the committee, particularly the Communications Officer.

–  Manage existing sponsor/advertiser relations

–  Source and approach new potential sponsors

–  Build business cases for possible partners illustrating the potential returns on

investment in us

–  Manage the advertising at the club – from hoardings to programmes

–  Work closely with the fundraising team to maximise opportunities

–  Own and regularly review the development strategy on and off the pitch.

–  Encourage retention of existing members and acquisition of new members.

How much time it will take up:

Around 3-4 hours a week.

What you’ll get out of it:

In managing one of the most vital income streams for the club, you’ll take on a lot of

responsibility which will help progress your career.  You’ll meet a wide range of

people and get great satisfaction from seeing the sponsorship deals you negotiated

directly benefit the club.

General Committee Member (x 2)

You’re either one of those people who has a range of talents who is happy to get “stuck in” whenever it’s needed, or you might be someone with some very specific professional skills that has something to bring to the management committee.

These roles were created to give some extra support to the other committee roles and to enable people with good business experience to take a leadership role in the club, which is now a “sizable business” in its own right. These roles are intended to provide some extra capacity and skills for the committee, but are not intended to be the people who pick up all the bits that the other officers don't want to do.

Note: Since certain elected roles, are no longer obliged to sit on CMC in their own right (eg Social Secretary, Fixture Secretary, Team Managers), it was intended that someone elected to one of those roles, could ALSO stand for a General Committee Member role if they wanted to do so.  In this way, a Fixture Secretary, Team Manager or Social Secretary who wants to take a fuller role in managing the club is able to do so and still have a vote at CMC.  

Ideally, you’ll need to be:

–  Good at talking to members

–  Easy to get on with

–  Collaborative, a real team player

–  Focused on helping the Management Committee deliver results and drive initiatives forward.

What you’ll do:

–  It depends on what skills you bring!

How much time it will take up:

Around 2-3 hours a week.

What you’ll get out of it:

You’ll meet a wide range of people inside and outside of the club and get satisfaction from knowing you’re directly benefiting the club. The role is a chance for you to influence decision making in the club across the aspects that interest you.

Clubhouse Officer

In May 2012 we created the Clubhouse Officer role (as an additional responsibility, not as a formal CMC position in its own right).  The idea was for one of the elected officers (could be any CMC member) to have the authority to make day to day decisions on behalf of CMC concerning the clubhouse, while CMC retains collective responsibility for it. This was to relieve pressure on the Treasurer role.  The clubhouse officer chairs a Clubhouse Subcommittee which will meet to decide on matters such as opening hours, policy, pricing, staffing, access, utilities, cleaning. The Clubhouse Officer is an unpaid responsibility that would oversee/manage any future paid or outsourced Clubhouse Manager/Steward.  In this way the club ensures that effective communication happens between the clubhouse operation (a key club asset) and the management committee, but avoids a conflict of interest occurring which would be the case if a paid clubhouse manager/steward were a full CMC member and thus were able to vote directly at CMC.  The clubhouse officer is accountable to members via the Clubhouse Subcommittee.

If the role works out during 2013, the idea (as thought in May 2012) was for the Clubhouse Officer to become a dedicated role elected at the AGM, alongside other club officers, but this is yet to be formalised.

The clubhouse officer has the authority to take decisions that have financial impact to £150 per item, subject to a maximum of £500 in a rolling 90 day period.  In addition, the cliubhouse officer can approve routine stock orders (beverage, food, beergas, cleaning supplies) of any amount such that the stock levels stay within a predetermined limit as may be agreed by the CMC.  The clubhouse subcommittee determines individuals who are authorised to manage the bar and determines who is authorised to approve promotional pricing or special bar price changes.  Bar pricing is set by the clubhouse subcommittee.