Behind the scenes at a successful football club
Introducing Berkhamsted Raiders CFC , a 96-team strong England Football Accredited Community Club with a rich history reaching back to 1996. The club’s journey through the years has been peppered with awards that highlight their commitment to excellence and grassroots football development. Due to their success, the club has been able to grow sustainably, roughly increasing four times in size since 2008.
Behind every successful grassroots football club, there is an army of dedicated volunteers. From trustees and coaches to committee members and parent representatives, each person at Berkhamsted Raiders CFC plays a vital role in shaping the club’s identity and fostering a culture of “excellence in the community and excellence on the pitch”.
Aside from usual football games, Berkhamsted Raiders CFC efficiently manages a range of activities for their community, including goalkeeper training, Watford FC Matchday experiences, the raiders tour, holiday camps, and futsal. All of which is made easier with the help of LoveAdmin.
“It’s great to be involved with Raiders as the ethos and support is great for the kids, parents and volunteers alike.” Chris Armond, Chair of Trustees
More than just a football club
With LoveAdmin’s help, Berkhamsted Raiders CFC has been able to better manage the running of community events. With their events bringing together hundreds of people, it’s important that they run smoothly.
Take, for instance, their popular summer football tournament, which in previous years has boasted an impressive turnout of 5,000 attendees and 250 teams. For Berkhamsted Raiders CFC, it’s all about creating a fun, competitive experience for players, while bringing the community closer together. For this event and others to be a success, the Berkhamsted Raiders CFC rely on their pool of 200+ dedicated volunteers who help to make the events happen, without their support there is no club.
Giving back to the community
When it comes to giving back to the community, they’re all heart. Berkhamsted Raiders CFC are more than just a football club, providing community projects such as bi-annual CRY Heart Screening Day – a deeply meaningful event for the club.
This day holds a special place in their hearts, as two Berkhamsted Raiders CFC players, Harry Faulkner and Alex Hubbard sadly lost their lives too early to undiagnosed heart conditions. It’s a testament to the club’s commitment to raising awareness and potentially saving lives.
During this event, team members and their siblings have the opportunity to undergo a non-invasive, safe, and straightforward ECG test, administered by a trained medical professional. They’ll also get top-notch advice if more tests are needed. The event costs £6K to put on and there are 100 spaces available. All fundraising efforts go to making the event free for the community.
Berkhamsted Raiders CFC also organise and run holiday activities that include training and matches to boost revenue. The current most popular streams of revenue are goalkeeper training, holiday camps, and futsal.
A recent revenue boosting roster, futsal, is FIFA-recognised, small-sided indoor football. Developed in 1930’s Uruguay, and now popular in much of Europe, it’s been credited by top players like Ronaldo, Neymar and Philippe Coutinho as being what contributed to their success.
LoveAdmin supports us with ensuring we have enough volunteers. It can sometimes feel like playing whack a mole, are they insured? Trained? So, having a system that can help with that’s really helpful.
– Chris Armond, Chair of Trustees
Berkhamsted Raiders CFC offer training for U6s to U18s and have 9 teams in the youth futsal league. The club uses LoveAdmin’s football club management software to help them manage team registers, collect players’ subs, and communicate across the club.
As the club continues to grow, our software stands as a partner, helping the club to overcome any admin challenges they may be facing.
A recent challenge that the club overcame was a lack of referees. They tackled this in two ways, first was by offering bespoke ref training to players who were old enough to referee. Helping their club to feed their referee shortage directly.
Second, was by a campaign that offers fully funded referee training to those in their community who are on income support. Both initiatives are helping not only their club, but also their local community.
By using our technology for volunteer support and communication, balancing the books and internal events, Berkhamsted Raiders CFC can focus on fostering a vibrant football community while LoveAdmin takes care of the administrative headaches.
Learn how Berkhamsted Raiders CFC transformed their football club with LoveAdmin
