Volunteer Management
Why New Zealand's Sports Volunteers Are Walking Away
New Zealand's 7,500 community sport clubs run on volunteer labour worth over $1 billion a year. The volunteer pool has shrunk by 45% since 2019. Something has to give.
Governance
What Good Governance Actually Means in Grassroots Sport
Governance in grassroots sport is not about bureaucracy. It is about whether anyone can see what is happening, question it, and trust the answer.
Governance
Tone from the Top: Why Sport Governance Starts with Your Chair
A chair who ignores the conflict of interest policy teaches the whole board that the policy is optional. Governance culture flows downhill.
Thought Leadership
Sport Bodies as Strategic Partners, Not Grant Recipients
A Harvard Business Review article asked companies to rethink nonprofits. We asked sport administrators in Australia and the UK: does this apply to us?
Governance
Zero Tolerance Is Easy to Say. Here's What It Takes to Mean It.
Every sport organisation says zero tolerance. Few have built the infrastructure to enforce it. The gap between the statement and the system is where harm happens.
Governance
What Governing Bodies Get Wrong About Technology
Governing bodies buy technology for themselves, not for their clubs. That is the first mistake. Here are four more.
Governance
National Rollout: State-by-State vs Top-Down Adoption
Two models for rolling out technology nationally. Each has trade-offs. Here is how to choose.
Governance
Undue Advantages in Sport: It's Not Just About Bribery
A VIP box invitation before a contract decision. An honorary membership for the councillor who controls your facility bookings. Corruption in grassroots sport is quiet.
Thought Leadership
Signal-to-Noise in 2026: How Sports Organisations Fight Information Overload
Volunteers are drowning in communication. Here's why 'send more reminders' makes it worse and what actually works instead.
AI
Why Middle Management Will Lead the AI Revolution in Australian Sport
State bodies have budget and ambition. National bodies move slowly. Clubs lack capacity. The AI transformation in sport will come from the middle.
Governance
Funding Governance Technology Through Grants and Sponsorship
Governance technology is a fundable proposition. Here is how to frame it for corporate sponsors and grant bodies.
Thought Leadership
The McDonald's Model: Why Sporting Clubs Are Franchises (And Should Be Treated Like It)
Local governments don't fund every club directly. They use volunteers. That's a franchise model. Here's what changes when you recognise it.
Volunteer Management
The President's Guide to Not Burning Out
Club presidents receive every email, make every decision, and carry every burden. It does not have to be this way.
Thought Leadership
What We're Hearing: The Cross-Pollination Crisis in Australian Sport
Hockey and basketball face identical challenges. They never talk. Here's why Australian sport is reinventing the wheel, over and over.
Governance
Spray and Pray: Why More Emails Won't Fix Club Engagement
One governing body ran a compliance workshop. One person attended. The problem isn't effort. It's architecture.
Thought Leadership
What We're Hearing: 'Everyone's Just Doing Their Best'
Across hundreds of conversations with peak bodies and local governments, one insight keeps surfacing: volunteers aren't the problem.
Governance
The Governance Visibility Gap
You've written the policy and sent the email. But you have no idea if anyone saw it, read it, or acted on it. That gap is your biggest risk.
Thought Leadership
Why Competition Management Software Won't Save Your Clubs
You've digitised registrations and fixtures. The off-field side - governance, compliance, committee operations - is still spreadsheets and hope.
Governance
Two Staff, 170 Clubs: The Maths That Does Not Work
Most state bodies have a handful of staff supporting hundreds of clubs. You cannot hire your way out of this. You need to make clubs self-sufficient.
Club Operations
Yes, Your Knitting Circle Needs Governance Too
From remote control helicopter clubs to book clubs to nudist colonies - every group that handles money needs some governance. Seriously.
Thought Leadership
The Club Website Question: Do You Even Need One?
Most clubs waste hundreds of hours maintaining websites nobody visits. Members are on their phones. Think about where people actually look.
Governance
The Big Brother Problem in Federated Organisations
Chapters want autonomy. The national body needs oversight. The answer isn't top-down control. It's systems that give both.
Thought Leadership
The Death of the Intranet
Every governing body builds a club portal. Every portal eventually dies. Push beats pull for governance communication. Here's why.
Thought Leadership
Sport Administration Is Broken: Here's How to Fix It
The admin burden on community sport is unsustainable. Technology is fragmented. And we keep solving communication problems by sending more emails.
![Drawing [D88] by Morris Louis, illustrating Your Volunteers Are Competent](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fbp0k7h82%2Fproduction%2F6d22d48bfe9e855da88a7a514933a98fd35b033e-768x623.jpg%3Frect%3D0%2C120%2C768%2C384%26w%3D600%26h%3D300%26fm%3Dwebp&w=1200&q=75)
Thought Leadership
Your Volunteers Are Competent
The stereotype of the bumbling volunteer is wrong. These people run businesses and use enterprise tools at work. They don't need training. They need time.
Volunteer Management
The 14-Hour Volunteer
The average club committee member spends 14 hours a week on admin. On top of a full-time job. On top of a family. This is not sustainable.
Governance
The Lynchpin Problem: When One Person Controls Everything
Every club has someone who receives all the information and decides what gets passed on. They're usually overworked but hard to replace.
Club Operations
Building a Thriving Community Organisation
Thriving organisations share common traits: clear purpose, engaged members, reliable governance, and volunteers who stay. Here is how to build that.
Club Operations
Your Club's Email Inbox Is the Last One They Check
Your members have a work inbox, a personal inbox, and then maybe your club email. You're competing with everything. More emails won't fix this.