Supporters Direct votes to merge with the Football Supporters Federation

[OliverH]

Just as an update to supporters, last Saturday the members of Supporters Direct, the national association of supporter trusts (including our own Supporters Society), voted at our AGM to merge with the Football Supporters Federation:

https://supporters-direct.org/articles/sd-agm-indicative-resolution-result

The SD board opposed the merger as we were worried that it might eventually lead to less support and representation for community-owned clubs and supporters trusts within football. The FSF is a larger organisation and tends to campaign (very well, it should be said) on wider fan issues such as ticket pricing, away travel, kick-off times, policing.

That said, I don't expect there to be any serious impact on the help and resources available to Bath City FC and the Society over the next 3-4 years. Community-owned clubs will be guaranteed representation within the new merged organisation, and there is a commitment to keeping the objectives of both organisations properly resourced, that is likely to be locked into the next three-year funding cycle.

In the future, it will be down to people who care about the supporters trust and fan ownership movement to continue to seek election and push for that commitment to be honoured.

Cheers
OliverH (soon to be ex-SD board member!)

[Mods, I've posted this in Bath City stuff as it's relevant to our club, but I don't mind if you want to move it to "other football"]

[tovid]

Seems very relevant to BCFC to me.

The two organisations dovetail nicely so the combined association should be stronger.

[OliverH]

I hope you're right! Just need to make sure that community-owned clubs don't slip off the agenda.

FYI, it's possible to become an individual member of the FSF, so it may well be worth Bath City supporters signing up if you are interested in wider football issues that affect our club.

[Marc Monitor]

Thanks for keeping us updated, Oliver.

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