Club Constitution

1. NAME

The club shall be known as Blackpool Rangers Junior Football Club and shall be made up of teams from the ages of under 7 years old to under 18 years old. Blackpool Rangers Junior Football Club shall be affiliated to the Lancashire County Football Association or any other Football Association should it be deemed necessary.

2. OBJECTIVES

The clubs objectives shall be to provide Association Football for all of its members regardless of sex, race or ability, and other social and recreational pursuits as may be deemed necessary by the committee.

The club should not issue any measures that would prove restrictive on grounds of sex, race, religion or ability.

The club shall be run as a non-profit voluntary organization.

 3. OFFICERS

The officers shall consist of Chair Person, Child Protection Officer, Secretary and Treasurer. These four offices will form the Executive Management Committee for the Club and shall, by nature of the club, stand for re-election at the end of their third season in office.

The above positions shall be elected at the appropriate Annual General Meeting. Nominations for such posts must be made in writing and sent to the Secretary 14 days prior to the AGM.

To ensure continuity it is desirable that members of the Executive Management Committee should have been linked to the club either as players, parents or committee members for two full playing seasons.

Nominations for Press Secretary and Chair Person of the Social/Fundraising committee must also be received in writing and sent to the secretary at least 14 days prior to the AGM, and will be made available for re-election at the end of every third season. These positions shall also be elected at the appropriate AGM.

Candidates for election into the position of the Executive Management Committee member shall be proposed and seconded by General Management Committee members. Any committee member wishing to resign their position must do so in writing to the club secretary, no less than 30 days before the AGM.

 4. COMMITTEE

a) The club shall be managed by a General Management Committee, consisting of the officers named in section 3, plus Managers/Assistant Managers from all functioning teams.

b) Team Managers will be appointed at the discretion of the General Management Committee.

c) Assistant Managers will be appointed by Team Managers.

d) Team Managers wishing to resign their position must do so in writing to the club secretary no later than two calendar months before vacating their position. One full month before the resignation takes effect all club equipment must be either passed to the assistant manager or returned to the club secretary and any monies, team accounts or bank accounts to the treasurer.

e) The General Management Committee will meet to a prescribed schedule determined at the beginning of every season and at other times as deemed necessary.

f) The proceeding of each meeting shall be recorded and copies issued to each member of the General Management Committee.

g) At meetings of the General Management Committee one Executive Management Committee member and four managers/assistant managers shall form a quorum for the passing of resolutions.

h) In exceptional circumstances the Executive Management Committee may appoint or dismiss a General Management Committee member at any committee meeting.

i) Any post coming vacant during a season may be filled after the appropriate candidate is proposed and seconded by members of the General Management Committee. In the event of there being more than one candidate for a post a closed ballot will be taken.

j) Voting at a General Management Committee meeting will be restricted to Executive and General Management Committee members.

 5. POWERS OF THE COMMITTEE

a) The property and/or assets of the club, including any debts in the clubs name shall be invested in the General Management Committee.

b) The General Management Committee shall have the power to appoint such sub- committees as may from time to time be deemed necessary and shall receive reports of such sub-committees at it's meetings.

c) The Executive Management Committee shall have the power to suspend or expel any member deemed guilty of conduct prejudicial to the good name of the club, or the rules thereof.

6. MEMBERSHIP

a) Membership shall consist of club and league registered, fully paid up, players.

b) A register of playing members shall be kept by the Club Secretary/Treasurer.

c) At the Annual General Meeting voting is restricted to one vote per fully paid up member/members representative as at 31st of August of the previous year.

d) Playing membership is bound by the acceptance of the club and team rules and the signing and acceptance of the Clubs Code of Conduct.

e) The Executive Management Committee reserves the right to cancel a player’s registration with the club if the terms of the clubs code of conduct are not upheld.

7. SUBSCRIPTION

The annual subscriptions shall be advised by the General Management Committee after the AGM.

a) Subscriptions shall be payable no later than the second full week of July so as to comply with the player registration requirements of the league. Upon a fully paid subscription being received and accepted a copy of the club constitution and club & team rules, where applicable, will be made available, if so requested.

b) Cases for hardship will be presented to the Executive Management Committee on Form BR001 The qualifying requirements for hardship cases will be families on low income. The degree of assistance will be determined on an individual basis.

All requests will be dealt with in a discrete manner and any information provided in support of the application for hardship funding will be treated in confidence.

c) Families with more than one subscribing player will be entitled to a discounted subscription, per player. The discount will be determined by the General Management Committee at the AGM for the following season.

d) Application for monthly subscription payments may be submitted on Form BR002 for consideration by the Executive Management Committee. Any player granted this facility must commit to completing his subscription payment by the end of December or risk possible de-registration from the Team and Club.

e) Any player not having fully paid his subscription or not having been awarded a deferment of payment through hardship, from the executive committee, by the last day in August, will be de-registered by the club.   The player will not be eligible to re-register with the club until his subscription is either paid or agreed by the executive committee.  Any cost of re-registering will be met by the player.

8. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

a) The Annual General Meeting shall be held no later than the end of June in each year. The Secretary shall give 20 days clear notice of such meetings to all members via the Team Managers and Club notice boards.

b) The agenda for the AGM shall consist, as a minimum, of the following items:-

i) Chair Persons Opening Address

ii) Secretary’s Report

iii) Treasurers Report

iv) Subscriptions

v) Changes to Rules

vi) Election of New Officers (Tri-annually)

vii) A.O.B.

c) Any proposal at the AGM shall come into effect if it receives a majority vote and will be recorded as such.

d) An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened by the Executive Management Committee when deemed necessary or on written request of two General Management Committee members, or at the discretion of the Chairman. The Secretary shall give 10 days notice of such a meeting and 50% of the General Management Committee shall form a quorum.

9. FINANCE

a) The club shall be run as a non-profit organization, with all excess monies being re-invested into the club and its activities for the benefit of its members.

b) Each team shall keep records of its financial position and issue reports on a half yearly and yearly basis, the yearly report being made available for inclusion in the minutes of the AGM.

c) A bank account shall be maintained in the name of Blackpool Rangers.  Designated signatories to the club account shall be appointed by the General Management Committee.  All withdrawals from the club account shall be transacted with two signatures.

d) All monies payable to the club shall be received by the Treasurer and deposited in the club account.

e) The General Management Committee shall require proper books of accounts to be kept by the Treasurer.

f) The books of accounts as maintained by the Treasurer shall be independently audited and signed for at the end of each year.

g) The financial year of the club shall run from June 1st until May 31st the following year.

h) The Treasurer is authorized to pay all regular bills associated with the day to day running of the club and sundry spend to a maximum of £50.00 without prior authorization from the General Management Committee  

10. ALTERATION TO RULES

No alterations to club & team rules shall be made except at the AGM or at an Extraordinary General Meeting convened for that purpose and only if supported by a majority of those present and voting at such meeting.

Notice of proposed alterations to any rules must be received in writing by the Club Secretary no later than the 1st of May each year, and notified to members on notification of meeting. 

The Club will observe the rules and regulations of the Lancashire County Football Association and English Football Association, or any rules of a League that the Club wishes to enter. If it is found that any team or individual within the Club has breached any of the said rules and regulations, and providing a satisfactory explanation is forthcoming, the Club will support the team or individual in any action forthcoming. If it is found that a team or individual has failed to abide by or implement team or club rules and as a consequence abused League or Lancashire County FA rules, the Club and/or individual will abide by any disciplinary measures forthcoming and observe appropriate internal disciplinary measures.

11. ASSETS OF THE CLUB

Whilst each section manages its own financial affairs and controls the purchase of equipment required for the purposes of football, the assets of each section, which include cash, equipment, kit or any item purchased or donated for the good of the team shall remain the property of Blackpool Rangers Junior Football Club. 

At the start of each season each team manager is required to submit to the Executive Committee a list of equipment held by the team, in the clubs name.

In the following circumstances the Executive Management Committee, on behalf of the General Management Committee, may take ownership of a sections assets;

a)      Resignation of a Section Manager

b)      A Section Manager being asked to step down by the Executive Management Committee

c)      The section being unable to continue within the league

d)      Non-payment of fines

e)      Suspicion of misappropriation

f)       Failing to submit accounts without reasonable cause.

In the event that the club no longer exists as an entity to provide junior football any equipment held by the club will be offered to the Blackpool & DistrictLeague, Poulton Primary League or local teams who play within these leagues.

The General Management Committee will determine the disposal of any funds held by the club, including those funds held by teams.  Disposal will be, either in part or whole,  through the Blackpool & District League, Poulton Primary League or to recognized charitable organizations for the benefit of children or those less privileged in life.

12. CODE OF CONDUCT

The club has a code of conduct that details the performance criteria expected from players, parents and managers. The form will be issued with the registration documents and its completion is mandatory for a player to be registered with, and play football for, Blackpool Rangers Junior Football Club.

The Executive Committee shall deal with misconduct.

Any failure by player, parent or manager to act and abide by the code of conduct will result in the Executive Management Committee dealing with the failure.  The decision of the Executive Management Committee will be final and binding.    

13. YOUTH POLICY

The club has a youth policy which details how new players are introduced to the club through to the transition from seven a side to eleven a side leagues.

14. OTHER BUSINESS

The decision of the Executive Management Committee shall be final and binding on any matters not governed by the foregoing rules

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