5 March 2018
Dear All,
BELLVILLE CITY FC 2018 SEASON
As each of you are by now no doubt aware, the 2018 football season is currently a go for all clubs, restricted to playing a reduced format of the game, currently communicated as follows:
- The Mini football season will commence on 14th April 2018
- The Junior and Senior football season will commence in June 2018
- Juniors and Seniors will play one round of fixtures with NO promotion or relegation involved
- Fixture lists and final communications with regards to the season and the approach to be followed will be confirmed in due course as communicated to us by The City, CTTFA and (where applicable) SAFA
Considering the continued drought situation in the Western Cape, the impact of a now greatly reduced season, as well as the state of our own playing conditions on offer at Bellville City FC, your committee has been hard at work trying to ensure that, while under some very trying and challenging conditions, we can continue to function as both as a club, as well as a community club destination of choice.
I can assure you that this is no simple task.
As a committee we have chosen to inform you, as the coaches and managers at Bellville City, of our current thinking regarding the challenges that we as a club face, and the approach that we should follow.
As a baseline we must take into consideration that the club needs to remain viable, while at the same time we need to consider the value-proposition put to players, parents and members.
At the same time, we also need to appreciate that within our own LFA, the CTTFA employs 3 x full-time staff members who assist clubs with their overall administrative requirements, including registrations other day-to-day dealings and regulatory functions. Unfortunately, at this stage, the future of these employees can also no longer be guaranteed given the precarious state of the season and the inevitable impact that this has had and will continue to have on the greater collective.
This, and our own standing as a community club, proffers that we strongly consider our own situation, placing emphasis on doing all that we can to offer a viable product that remains attractive under exceptionally trying circumstances.
It is important to remember that although the season is impacted, and our facility is hamstrung to a large extent, we do still have creditors to pay and a facility to maintain. Much is currently being said regarding the 2018 season, but we must strive to ensure that we look further ahead than that, ensuring that once the current crisis is averted (and it will be) we are in a sound position, being able to take full advantage of tough decisions made now.
Together with The City of Cape Town and our colleagues at baseball, we need to fund the finalisation of our borehole project and provide additional infrastructure to ensure that the sanitation requirements at the club are well met. As a club, our source of funding is quite simply the subs we charge to our members. This is a reality that we cannot shy away from, as doing so would be irresponsible and a recipe for financial disaster.
Having also met with clubs in our district, we can equally assure you that the situation at Bellville City is by no means unique, and this is a challenge that each club is having to tackle head on.
To this end, we wish to draw your attention to the following items for consideration for the 2018 season:
| Mini Members | ZAR 900.00 |
| Junior Members | ZAR 750.00 |
| Senior Members | ZAR 750.00 |
| Social Members | ZAR 150.00 |
As an early bird special, we recommended that the following should be considered:
**EARLY BIRD SPECIAL for Juniors & Seniors | Pay by 31st May in FULL and PAY R600.00
**EARLY BIRD SPECIAL for Mini’s | Pay by 31st March in FULL and PAY R800.00
Our rate calculation needs to take into consideration the registration fees and payment to SAFA as well, so the above reflects the committee’s having taken this fee into account, which is of course payable by the club to SAFA.
Mini members will be offered training facilities at the club, the extent of which will be communicated during the pre-season, where training will commence on the 10th of April and matches are anticipated to commence from the 14th of April.
Minis remain the life-blood flowing into the club and it is important that we ensure that our young footballers are offered as much opportunity as possible to interact with and experience the club. The higher fee considers the convenience of providing training facilities at PP Smit to our young up-and-comers.
For both Junior and Senior members, the club is unfortunately not able to offer any training facilities at PP Smit. Efforts continue to secure alternative training facilities and we appreciate your continued support and assistance in this regard.
It remains a difficult challenge to each of us, and the impact of this is well understood.
As a committee, we are hoping to be able to announce some exciting progress in relation to training facilities soon, however we must emphasise that your continued support in trying to secure additional training facilities/venues for your own teams (where possible) must continue unabated.
As coaches at Bellville City FC, we require your support of our efforts and require a collective selling effort to emphasise to parents and members alike, the challenges that we are all faced with – and it is in no way only football alone that is being impacted to such a great extent. Of course, to have the same purpose requires that you understand the approach taken and it is for this reason that we are reaching out to each of you, relying on your valued support and contribution.
As a committee we are also committed to making as much use of our Club House facility as possible, by continuing to make the club available for social events, fund-raising activities and where possible, private functions.
We will seek to provide additional communication and further updates as more becomes clear to us, but it is important that we not keep parents and prospective members in the dark insofar as the new season is concerned.
This, while of course being far from ideal, reflects our current thinking and we most certainly value any constructive inputs to the suggestions as set out before you.
Sean Smit
Chairman