Friends sorted, now Romans and countrymen (and women)

Over the last week, I have managed to convince over 30 of my English friends to become founding members of the English Sport’ers Club , though not without the usual question, ‘where’s the catch?’ I suppose the reply, ‘it is usually off an English bat ‘did not help matters, especially as we are all supposed to be about positivity in this club.

Our first regional partner and two national NGBs have signed up as well. On the national basis, we have received the support of English Lacrosse and Baseball Softball UK, who will be emulating the example of Welsh NGBs in offering the opportunity to their members. Since last September, 43 other NGB contacts have been informed, since last September, only five of them actually bothered to register and have a look at the scheme.

On a regional basis, the West of England Sports Trust has signed up and we are doing a launch at The Thistle Hotel, Bristol on the 30th January. If you are in the Bristol area and want to come along please e-mail me.

So with the friends bit done, now to the Romans and Countrymen (women) part.

Well, I have sent a letter to the only Roman I know involved in British sport. A note to Mr Abramovitch inviting him to take advantage of the free membership and discounts on DVDs etc, which I am sure he will find useful, was dispatched today. Information on anymore Roman’s in British sport, gratefully received.

So now down to the countrymen (and women) bit.

I guess it is all a matter of trying to fight through the cynicism and apathy to persuade people to spend less than a minute to pledge their support for English sport. Even with an avowed ‘no spam’ policy (apart from the welcome e-mail) and that the scheme is supported by UK Sport through its funding of the Welsh Sports Association, suspicion persists about signing up.

My attempts so far to widen the publicity have been limited to an appearance on the BBC 606 Message Boards and an e-mail to the Simon Mayo programme, the two citadels of whingeing and negativity that prompted my actions in the first place. This prompted negligible response so far. Luckily an appearance on the Brighton fans website, prompted a greater respeonse.

Undeterred this next week will see a shift in gears and a bit of an onslaught with the media, which turns into a really unwanted ‘look at me’, look at me’ type journey, which I really detest but am having to contemplate.

As I finish this entry, I notice that England are getting another thrashing in the cricket, prompting another outburst of whingeing and comments. If it makes people feel better fine, but, so does a vibrant sporting scene, and honestly is less than one minute of your time too much to ask?

Cheers
Billy

CAN YOU SPARE ONE MINUTE FOR ENGLISH SPORT?

How good did you feel in November 2003, when Jonny Wilkinson dropped England to Rugby World Cup glory? How did you feel when England completed the recent autumn series with defeat to South Africa? The elation felt by the nation in September 2005 found its mirror image in the despair of December 2006 as the Aussie summer came and the Ashes went.

This is not a recent pattern. I was born in 1966 and
throughout my life; the nation has died a little every subsequent four years along with the dreams held by the latest wearers of the three lions.

The rational amongst us reason that its all about suffering the bad times to appreciate the good times, why do you think Australia enjoyed the regaining a hell of a lot more than the ritual retaining.

In England, however, we do not live in rational times for if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those twin impostors just the same with a massive injection of over-reaction then you to can contribute to the tabloid, phone-in, and message boards of debate.

If we do want a successful sporting nation, the nation of sportsmen, sportswomen, and spectators have to be in this together or not at all. We are legion, so why not make it count for throughout England there are over seventeen million players and spectators of professional and amateur sporting clubs. That is a powerful constituency for change.

So please get off those message boards, texts, and phone calls and spend one minute of your time to do something about it.

That minute is spent joining the English Sport’ers Club. For individuals, the Sport’ers Club is a free online supporters club to help back grass roots sport. For business, it is the perfect vehicle to demonstrate corporate social responsibility without spending any extra money.

The English Sport’ers Club is not a vehicle for cynicism or apathy it is a vehicle for backing English sport. It is a club with four guiding principles.

Attain a wider perspective.
It helps if the nation embraces all sporting success, yes, even from posh horsey types, for if they have won something it means Australia have not. Above all else remember that whatever team you support; you are all supporting the same thing, English sport.

Attain a sense of belief.
We need to get behind the systems in place not on their backs. In most instances the systems are in place to develop the talent that is there. We as a nation, however, do have to find a way of providing the financial backing to develop the tennage talent that exists beyond the professional sports. The Sport’ers Club has the potential to ensure that grass roots sport is ready to benefit from London 2012 not financially crippled by it.

Can the apathy.
The Sport’ers Club enables all, not just a few, members of local sports clubs to make a difference to their club and sport and it takes the exact time that forwarding one e-mail entails.

Get behind the nation at no extra cost
Sport’ers Club can help individuals and business invest into the nation’s sporting infrastructure. It takes one minute for an individual to help support the development of sporting heroes, for business it may take ten minutes to a day. For both it does not cost any additional money.

Even the message board cynics amongst you have to admit, even if the Sport’ers Club does not achieve all of its aims, surely it was worth a minute of your time? For it takes a lifetime of intense effort to become a sporting champion, it now takes one minute of your time to help make it happen.

To join the English Sport’ers Club sign up at www.yourbenefit.co.uk/england. For further information on the Sport’ers Club initiative please visit www.englishsporters.com .

5-0 ASHES DEFEAT FINAL STRAW: I HAVE A PLAN

I AM EXTREMELY HACKED OFF...SO I AM DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

With Friday’s 5-0 Ashes whitewash capping a terrible 12 months for English sport, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, not with the defeats as such, but with the amount of time and energy spent on message boards and phone ins moaning, when that time could be put to doing something positive.

As an Englishman working within Welsh sport, I am going to nick a great concept being done there and set up a free of charge non-for profit membership scheme to help increase funds for local sport and the development of our next generation of sports stars.

The challenge is for the nation of sports fans and spectators to spend just ONE MINUTE to register their support for regional and national sport. A challenge particularly aimed at the whiners’ who clog up the message boards and phone-ins.

The scheme does not solve all the problems, it just aims to make a significant difference to the overall aim of helping the finance of grass roots sport and local athletes to give the nation the best possible chance of future sporting success.

If you are interested...read on!