The governing body of Supporters Trusts’ – Supporters Direct, held it’s annual Members’ Day (sponsored by the Football Association) last Sunday at BVSC in the city of Birmingham. This was for board members and volunteers from Supporters Trusts and Supporter-Owned Clubs, with over 40 football clubs present from Birmingham City Trust to Walsall Trust in the Premier League/EFL and non-league representatives from Billericay Town Supporters Society to Wrexham Trust. Plus there were a sprinkling of trusts’ represented from other sports including rugby league & ice hockey.
Scott Goulding (membership officer) & Ian Wright (logistics officer) attended the event, on behalf of the Dale Trust board. The informative day was to find out more about the organisation. Speakers and workshops covered a range of topics from practical sessions to help trust board members run their organisations to sessions tackling the wider issues in football/sport.
There was also a members consultation on the future of Supporters Direct (SD) as Ashley Brown CEO of SD & representatives from the SD board was on hand to update & discuss with members the future of SD, either as an independent organisation or as a new combined organisation with the Football Supporters Trust Federation (FSF). The trusts’ will be on voting this monumental decision, at the SD AGM in London next month.
The closing plenary came from the brilliant Paul Watson. Former Football Italia journalist & author of Up Pohnpei – the story of his bid to get the first ever win for a tiny Micronesian island which led him to join CONIFA as Commercial Director in 2016, charged with bringing the World Football Cup to London.
For more information about Supporters Direct log onto www.supporters-direct.org