Constitution

1. Name

The name of The Club shall be Cringleford Junior Football Club.

2. Affiliation

The Club is fully affiliated to Norfolk County Football Association.

3. Year

The Club year will run from 1st August until 31st July.

4. Aims

The aims of The Club shall be, to provide safe opportunities for children to take part in football activities as determined by demand from within the village of Cringleford and the surrounding area.

The Club aims for the most part to be run on a voluntary basis.

The Club is constituted as a junior football club and membership is open to children from between 5 years of age until 19 years of age.

The Club aims to offer to all year groups; coaching, access to structured league and cup competitions and from time-to-time ad hoc fixtures outside structured league and cup competitions as appropriate for the development of each squad.

The Club aims to retain a recognised England Football Association accreditation, such as the FA Charter Standard club accreditation. The Club aims to comply fully with the requirements of any accreditation scheme of which it is a part and will review its policies and procedures in line with the requirements of any accreditation scheme should the scheme require it.

The Club aims to grow its membership year on year and will aim to have a minimum of one playing squad in all age groups from under 6’s to under 18’s, providing that there is sufficient demand and resource available to operate in all year groups.

The Club aims to carry out as much as possible of its training activity, as well as league and cup fixtures, using facilities located within the parish of Cringleford and Keswick. Training, as well as league and cup fixtures may take place using facilities located outside of the parish of Cringleford and Keswick when there is insufficient capacity within the parish, when parish facilities are closed or when specialist facilities, (not available within the parish), are required.

The Club aims to compete at the highest possible level and will endeavour to facilitate the provision of the highest quality playing amenities and equipment available to it.

The Club aims to use its best endeavours to help its Members in the under 18’s age group to find suitable opportunities to transition into open age football should they wish to do so. In line with this aim, The Club may from time to time enter into informal or formal partnerships with suitable open age football clubs in the local area for the benefit of those wishing to transition from junior to open age adult football.

5. Membership

Members of The Club may be from any of three groups, consisting of the following:

• Participating children between the ages of 5 and 19.
• Parents and guardians.
• Club Committee members and coaches.

Once granted membership, a Member will be able to continue their membership, other than in the case of group 1 ‘Participating children’ where there has been a failure to re-register to The Club, an FA registration has been transferred to another club, or for non-payment of membership fees during the course of The Club year or for disciplinary reasons.

Memberships for the aforementioned group will end by default on the last day of The Club year if the conditions of membership have not been met.

Parents or guardians will automatically become Members upon their child(ren) becoming a Member, and will cease to be Members when their child(ren) cease to be Members.  

All Club Committee Members, and all coaches, will be deemed Members of The Club. Committee members and coaches will cease to be Members when they resign from The Committee, cease to be coaches or for disciplinary reasons.

6. Voting

Each club Member over the age of 16 will be entitled to one vote at any General Meeting of the Club.

Parents and guardians of any Member under the age of 16 at the time of the Annual General Meeting or any Extraordinary General Meetings will be entitled to one vote per Member under the age of 16.

At closed meetings of The Club committee each Officer elected at the Annual General Meeting is entitled to one vote, with the Chairman having an additional casting vote in the event of a tie.

7. Officers

As a minimum the following Officers shall be elected by majority vote at the Annual General Meeting and shall form the management Committee of the Club:- Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Child Welfare Officer.

Other Officer posts may be created by a majority vote at an Annual General Meeting or an Extraordinary General Meeting. Additional Officers may be co-opted onto the Club committee in order to fill Officer posts by means of a majority vote at a Club committee meeting.

The Club can form ad hoc working groups or sub committees, made up of elected committee Officers as well as Members and non members, in order to consider specific subjects which may from time to time arise and which are deemed worthy of special consideration.

Working groups and sub committees have no powers to adopt any proposals which they might formulate as a result of their deliberations. All proposals arising from a working group or sub committee must be brought to a full Committee meeting for consideration and possible adoption, if necessary by means of a vote.

A disciplinary committee may be formed to include the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and one co-opted Member, to discuss disciplinary matters as outlined in The Club development plan. The Club will vote annually awarding The Paul Curtis Trophy. This honour will be bestowed on somebody who has made an outstanding contribution to Cringleford Junior Football Club, to football in the village, to sport in the village or to village life. Any Committee Member can nominate a person for the Paul Curtis Trophy and the winning nominee will be presented with the trophy at The Club annual presentation. In addition, The Club committee has the right to appoint appropriate people from either within or outside the village as Honorary Vice-Presidents.

8. Club Committee

The Club Committee shall consist of the elected officers, individuals who have been co-opted onto The Committee by a majority vote of The Committee and individuals who have been elected to hold a position created by The Committee at an Annual General Meeting.

9. Team Officials

These are the Team Managers/Coaches for each age group, and any other team officials as required. Team Officials will be DBS checked and Team Managers/Coaches will be encouraged to take an FA Level 1 coaching qualification.

10. Meetings

The Club shall hold an Annual General Meeting between May and July each year. All Members shall receive 14 days notice of the annual general meeting. Other meetings shall be on an “as required” basis. Club Members may call a general meeting subject to a minimum of six such members notifying The Secretary. Committee meetings will be held at regular intervals, throughout the year.

11. Duties

Chairman

The Chairman shall carry out the following responsibilities:-

• Be a figure-head for the Club
• Attend official functions as required
• Call and chair meetings in line with the constitution
• Support other officers as appropriate

Vice-Chairman

The Vice Chairman shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Deputise for the Chairman
• Consider and review the suitability of Club policies and Club constitution
• Liaise with organisations which supply The Club in conjunction with the Procurement Officer.
• Advise on the style and content of internal and external Club communications
• Consider and bring forward proposals for long term Club development

Club Secretary

The Secretary shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Publish agendas for and take minutes of Committee meetings.
• Deal with all correspondence from football authorities and leagues.
• Confirm venues and participation of squads to The FA and leagues.
• Arrange for insurance.
• Maintain club records and statistics.

Treasurer

The Treasurer shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Maintain records of all Club payments and receipts.
• Authorise payments made by The Club.
• Settle invoices received by the Club.
• Prepare end of year accounts for review at the Annual General Meeting.
• Produce a forward 12 month budget.

Child Welfare Officer

The Child Welfare Officer will carry out the following responsibilities:

• Ensure that all the adults involved with The Club have the relevant DBS checks
• Ensure that all coaches and committee members have completed relevant safeguarding training.
• Be the point of contact for anyone who has a concern about the welfare and wellbeing of a child
• Liaise with the FA and feedback to coaches.

Media Officer

The Media Officer shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Manage the Club website and admin.
• Conduct administration of The Club social media accounts.
• Liaise with all Members of The Club.
• Consider effective media for communicating information between parents, coaches, players and The Committee.

Procurement Officer

The Procurement Officer shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Control all purchasing of playing kit and playing equipment.
• Liaise with The Treasurer.
• Liaise with The Committee.
• Negotiate Hire Agreements with suppliers of football pitches and training facilities.

Team Managers

Team Managers shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Carry out coaching sessions.
• Manage Club kit and equipment.
• Familiarise themselves with the contents of the Coaches Handbook.
• Honour fixtures as required by competition organisers.
• Ensure that their DBS, first aid, safeguarding and coaching qualifications are up to date.
• Select players and inform them of arrangements for training and fixtures.
• Collect fees as appropriate, maintain records and pass moneys to The Club Treasurer on a regular basis.
• Ensure personal membership information for their squad, including, signed Codes of Conduct, medical information and contact details is accurate and up to date.
• Operate fixtures according to the rules set out by the relevant leagues and competition organisers.
• Ensure all match cards/results are reported correctly to their respective leagues.

12. Finance

All funds relating to The Club shall be maintained by the Club Treasurer and bank accounts opened as appropriate. Bank mandates shall be maintained to allow cheques and payments to be signed by the Treasurer and one other authorised signatory from the Committee. All monies collected by The Club or team officers must be passed to the Treasurer, with supporting details, within 7 days of collection.

The Club may from time to time choose to subject itself to an annual financial audit.

The Club may choose to require additional security mechanisms for payments made on behalf of The Club.

The Club may choose to impose Authority Limits on purchases and payments made on behalf of The Club.

The Club may choose to request additional information about the source of funds for any payments or donations which may be offered to The Club prior to acceptance.

The Club Committee may choose to create a Finance Sub Committee for the purposes of financial planning.

In the event of The Club being wound-up, the Officers shall ensure that, after payment of all debts of The Club, any surplus assets are transferred only to the Norfolk FA.

13. Discipline/Codes of Conduct

Club Members, Officials and parents/supporters must conduct themselves at all times both on and off the field in a manner which does not bring The Club into disrepute. Anyone failing to do so may be subject to disciplinary action, including suspension or exclusion, by The Club committee.

The Club has codes of conduct for players, supporters, officials, managers and coaches and these must be re-affirmed on an annual basis and adhered to at all times.

Any club Member incurring a fine from the league or Norfolk FA will be asked to pay the fine.

A Disciplinary Committee may be formed to include the senior Officers of The Club, Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and one other co-opted member to deal with matters of a disciplinary nature.

The Disciplinary Committee will have the power to call players, spectators and coaches before it, and also to impose additional fines and suspensions over and above those imposed by Norfolk County FA. Players, spectators or coaches who are adjudged to have a particularly bad disciplinary record will also be asked to appear before the Disciplinary Committee. The Disciplinary Committee also reserves the right to cancel the registration of persistent offenders. To do this the Disciplinary Committee will make a recommendation to the full Club Committee.

14. Child Protection Policy

The Club has appointed a Child Welfare Officer and adopted the Norfolk County FA child protection policy - copies are available.

All procedures are documented for ease of understanding. All adult club Members, who are likely to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18, will be DBS checked.

15. Amendments To The Constitution

Any amendments to this constitution shall require the consent of two-thirds of the Members at an Annual General Meeting or an Extraordinary General Meeting.