The Clubhouse.
Notes from the touchline on running a club: selection, volunteers, retention, and what we're building next.
Name the team on Wednesday and watch what happens on Thursday.
Most clubs name the side on Friday night. Not because it's better. It's because that's when the availability finally stops moving. Move that deadline two days and the whole week changes shape.
The volunteer cliff
Every club is one resignation away from losing a decade of player history. Here's how to make sure the record belongs to the club, not to a phone.
Selection is a retention tool
Players don't leave over game time. They leave over not knowing where they stand. Telling them earlier is cheaper than recruiting.
What 23 messages actually cost
We counted a season of one manager's Wednesday nights. The number isn't the hours. It's what those hours were instead of.
Why we won't make players download an app
Every download is a place a player drops out. One link, three buttons, no account. And the argument we keep having about it.
Rebuilding the selection board
Shirt numbers come from slot order, the bench sits under the XV, and availability never leaves your eyeline. What we changed and why.
The questions a committee should ask every month
Six numbers per squad that tell you whether the season is healthy, plus how to get them without ringing five coaches.
Nothing filed under that yet. Try another category.
The whole case,
in six printable pages.
You're sold. Your committee hasn't seen it. Take the pack to the Tuesday meeting: what the season is costing in volunteer hours, what changes, what it costs, and how quickly you'd be live.
One email a month. Nothing else.
What we shipped, what clubs taught us, and the odd thing worth stealing for your own Wednesday night.