Reorganising for the future
Posted on 2nd March 2023 at 19:49
Following a very successful season for the Wales Walking Football Federation (WWFF) National teams and leagues, we are pleased to announce that WWFF is on the brink of being accepted as an Associate member of the FA of Wales (a specific category of membership). This is a very positive endorsement of the work done in developing walking football in Wales over the past several years.
In particular, there is recognition of the work done in developing the successful national leagues and also the national teams. But in order to become Associate members, we needed to review where we are and how we should move forward. Currently WWFF operates National Leagues and has meetings (including the AGM) to which all affiliated club managers are invited to attend. WWFF has a committee which has various responsibilities, including treasurer, minutes secretary, chair and two vice chairs. The majority of the regular work (making arrangements for the league, liaising with other organisations, dealing with disciplinary matters, preparing and printing documentation, etc) is currently dealt with by the chair and vice chairs.
The WWFF national teams are of course primarily selected from players in the WWFF National leagues; the national teams have fixtures arranged by age group and gender – currently over 50s, 60s, 65s, 70s and 75s for the men, and 40s, 50s and 60s for the women. Each national team has its own coach or manager, currently Martin Ransom for the 50s and 60s, Hedley Austin for the 65s, Graham Perry for the 70s and 75s, and Lee Rogers for the women’s teams. Martin and I have in addition many responsibilities beyond the age group team management. It has become obvious that myself and Martin are taking on too much and this has become very stressful.
I have consulted widely in the walking football community in Wales and the consensus has always been that we need to improve the organisational structure and governance of the National teams. This has been supported by what we learned from discussions with the FA of Wales. We have therefore set up a separate National Committee to oversee all the national teams. This committee will initially be chaired by Kevin McNab with Rob Power as Treasurer and Katie Davis as Secretary and women’s representative, with Kevin Smith and Nick Beckett as men’s representatives. Other roles to be filled include Player Registration Officer, Compliance Officer, Fundraising Officer, Social Media Officer, Welfare Officer etc…... . Key areas the committee will look at are finance, marketing, sponsorship, roles and responsibilities for team managers, affiliation with other bodies , marketing and fixtures etc. If anyone in the walking football community wishes to help and has expertise to offer we would love to hear from you.
All communication regarding national team fixtures and other matters will be dealt with by the National Committee, leaving the team managers free to deal with the development of their respective teams. Of course, the national managers may bring proposed fixtures to the National Committee for approval, but there must be a central organisation.
An AGM will be called within 6 months to report on developments, and at that AGM registered players and coaches will be able to vote on the path forward
The WWFF League Committee will continue the good work of running the Welsh Leagues and developing walking football in Wales. Having founded and chaired this league I have announced my intention to retire from the post of chair in 2023, so that an election for my successor will follow at the next AGM. I will do my best to ensure that there is a smooth transition at that time and of course I aim to still be very much involved in walking football, but with fewer of the day to day responsibilities of running the Leagues (more specifically, the South Wales 50s and 60s Leagues, because the North Wales Leagues are already under the wing of vice chair Steve Bailey, and the South Wales 70s League and the Women’s League are already under the wing of Nathan Thomas)
It is imperative that the two committees work in tandem and at least one representative of the League Committee will sit on the national teams Committee, and vice versa.
We have a solid foundation; now we have exciting opportunities going forward.
Any feedback on these developments would be welcome.
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