Partner
City of Playford
Outer-north Adelaide council with nearly 100 sporting clubs, the Playford Sports Network, and community grants that ask for your Treasurer’s report and AGM minutes.
About City of Playford
The City of Playford covers Adelaide’s outer northern suburbs, from Elizabeth and Davoren Park out to Angle Vale, Virginia and One Tree Hill. Its Sporting Clubs Administration Handbook says the city is home to nearly 100 sporting clubs, with 15 sports fields holding up to 88 pitches and ovals, and 51 council-provided sporting club buildings. The facilities include the 26-court Playford City Tennis Centre and the Playford Bowling Club, which the council describes as the largest undercover lawn bowls complex in the Southern Hemisphere. Its 2023 Sports Facility Strategy was written with clubs, players and associations, with a focus on female participation and a growing population.
Club support runs through the Playford Sports Network. Registered clubs get a quarterly newsletter on grants, events and council services, plus workshops through the Northern Sport and Recreation Network, which the handbook lists as Playford, Salisbury, Port Adelaide Enfield and Tea Tree Gully. The council’s Sport and Property team offers club development programs, strategic planning sessions, governance policies and templates, and will come to a committee meeting if asked. Each October school holidays, Growing for Gold invites clubs to open their doors free to young people aged 3 to 16. One sign of demand: the council is currently only taking expressions of interest from new clubs, because club capacity is full.
The handbook also explains how the grounds work. Seasonal and casual bookings go through the IMS Reserves Manager, where a club’s application lists its office bearers, its teams and their associations, membership numbers for each team, and compliance documents. Council asks clubs to update player numbers at the start of the season. To hire a council ground, the hirer needs public liability insurance of at least $20 million per claim. Clubs with a seasonal booking get one complimentary line-marking at the start of the season.
Grants sit under the council’s Community Support and Grant Program on its grants and funding page. Community Group Support Grants pay up to $1,000 for equipment or up to $2,000 for a members’ project (ex GST), open year-round until the money runs out, once every second year. Community Development Grants pay up to $5,000 (ex GST) for projects open to the wider community, across two rounds a year. Both ask for the club’s most recent audited or certified financial statements, or a Treasurer’s Report with AGM minutes. In Round 2 of 2024/25, $31,852 went to seven of 11 applicants, including $2,500 for Elizabeth Grove Soccer Club’s Breaking Barriers program, which sponsors players from low-income families and funds coach accreditation.
The partnership
Playford’s grant guidelines have a gate at the front: no recent audited or certified financial statements, or Treasurer’s Report with AGM minutes, and you need an auspice organisation to apply. Plenty of small clubs get stuck there, not because they are badly run, but because last year’s minutes are in a former secretary’s inbox and the treasurer’s report lives in a spreadsheet nobody can find. The same goes for the IMS Reserves Manager, which asks for office bearers and membership numbers for every team. TidyHQ is where a Playford club keeps those records — members by team, committee and AGM minutes, and finances by category — so the paperwork the council asks for is already done. The council runs the Playford Sports Network, the IMS bookings and the grant assessment; TidyHQ does not replace any of them. A club’s TidyHQ account belongs to the club, and the council sees only what the club sends it.
- TidyHQ is a Local Government Partner of the City of Playford, working alongside the Playford Sports Network on the admin side of club development: governance records that survive committee changes.
- Playford clubs use TidyHQ for what grant applications and ground bookings ask for: AGM and committee minutes, financial reports by category for the Treasurer’s Report, membership numbers by team or level, and insurance certificates and the constitution.
- Where a council wants a view across the clubs it supports, TidyConnect collects returns from clubs that opt in. Each club decides what it shares, and the council sees only what the club accepts into the project.
Playford clubs, from grant form to grand final
A $1,000 equipment grant that needs last year’s AGM minutes
A netball club wants new bibs, balls and a first-aid kit through a Community Group Support Grant. The application needs proof of incorporation, quotes, and the most recent Treasurer’s Report with AGM minutes — miss one and the application is incomplete. Because the club ran its AGM in TidyHQ meetings, the minutes are a download, and the treasurer’s report comes from the same finance records the members approved.
The seasonal ground application in IMS
When the winter season opens, Playford emails each club to apply through the IMS Reserves Manager. The form wants office bearers, every team and its association, and membership numbers per team, which the handbook asks clubs to update once the season starts. A football club with a membership level for each age group in TidyHQ reads the counts straight off its membership report, and its committee roles are already current.
Growing for Gold come-and-try days
During the October school holidays, Growing for Gold sends young people aged 3 to 16 to local clubs for free sessions. A cricket club sets up a free registration in TidyHQ events, so it knows how many kids are coming and has a parent contact for each. A week later, those families get a follow-up email with junior membership details. Some of them may qualify for the council’s Club Participation Grant of up to $200 towards the cost of joining.
Acquitting a Community Development Grant
A soccer club wins $5,000 for a multicultural tournament at its home ground, open to the whole community. When it is over, Playford wants an acquittal form and a financial statement with copies of receipts, and the club cannot apply for council funding again until the grant is acquitted. The treasurer has tagged every cost to the grant in TidyHQ finances since the first deposit, so the financial statement is a filtered report with the receipts attached.
Inviting council to the committee meeting
Playford’s Sport and Property team will attend a club committee meeting on request, and runs strategic planning sessions. A bowls club invites them to talk through its next five years. The agenda goes out from TidyHQ three days before, the actions agreed on the night become tasks with owners and due dates, and next year’s committee can see what was decided and why.
Common questions
The Playford Sports Network is the City of Playford’s network for sporting clubs based in the council area. Registered clubs receive a quarterly newsletter covering upcoming events, grants, benefits and council services, and can attend workshops through the Northern Sport and Recreation Network, which also includes the cities of Salisbury, Port Adelaide Enfield and Tea Tree Gully. Clubs register through the council’s website or by emailing sport@playford.sa.gov.au.
Sports clubs in the City of Playford can apply for Community Group Support Grants (up to $1,000 for equipment or $2,000 for a members’ project, ex GST) and Community Development Grants (up to $5,000, ex GST, for projects open to the wider community). Both are part of the council’s Community Support and Grant Program, and an organisation can be funded in each category once every second year. Individual residents can also apply for Club Participation Grants of up to $200 towards joining a new club.
A club applying for a City of Playford community grant needs evidence of not-for-profit, incorporated or charity status, the most recent audited or certified financial statements (or a Treasurer’s Report with AGM minutes), and quotes for the costs in its budget. Community Development Grants also ask for a current certificate of currency for public liability insurance. Groups that are not incorporated or cannot provide financial statements need an incorporated auspice organisation to apply on their behalf.
TidyHQ keeps the records a Playford grant application and acquittal depend on: AGM and committee minutes in the meetings module, and finances tracked by category so grant income and spending can be reported on their own. When the council asks for a Treasurer’s Report with AGM minutes, or an acquittal form and financial statement with receipts, the club exports them instead of rebuilding them. TidyHQ does not lodge applications or acquittals; the club submits those through the council’s grant portal.
Clubs book City of Playford sportsgrounds through the council’s IMS Reserves Manager, for both seasonal and casual bookings, and TidyHQ does not replace it. The seasonal application asks for office bearers, teams and their associations, membership numbers per team, and compliance documents such as a public liability certificate. TidyHQ is where a club keeps those membership numbers and committee details up to date, so the application is quick to fill in.
The City of Playford is currently only taking expressions of interest for new clubs, because club capacity is full. The council’s advice is to gauge community interest, define committee roles, and contact the sport’s governing body before approaching council for a venue. Contact sport@playford.sa.gov.au to register interest.
No. A TidyHQ account belongs to the club, not the council. The City of Playford sees the applications, acquittals and booking information your club submits, but it cannot see your members, finances, emails or documents in TidyHQ. If a council uses TidyConnect to collect returns from clubs, it sees only what each club explicitly accepts into that project.
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