By Mike Regan
STUDENTS ARE BEING asked to shell out more and more just to participate in university Sport. With York Sport’s total budget allocation having been cut by nearly a third , club’s are being left drastically short of funds and in many cases students are being asked to make up the deficit.
Under the previous York Sport President, Alex Lacy, new proposals were introduced for calculating the amount of financial support needed by clubs. Under the new system it was supposed that clubs with more expensive overlays would receive larger budgets, with the understanding that members would need to cover certain costs.
However competing at University level in some sports has left students severely out of pocket, with grants unable to cover essential costs.
The Boat Club receives one of the largest grants from YUSU, however its members are still expected to shell out a whopping £319.00 each to represent the University. This total is derived from the £75 a year membership fee, £40 York Sport membership on top of the expense needed to secure university gym membership (recommended by the club), kit, transport and race entry fees- equating to over a tenth of student’s yearly maintenance loan.
In most cases grants are unable to cover the cost of transporting students to and from events and away fixtures. The Table Tennis club particularly has been left in dire financial straits, having received a paltry £21.90 to cover the year’s expenses. Club President Reza Mafi commented, “ (Our budget) does not cover our travels to different universities from the BUCS games”, whilst they have also been unable to purchase basic equipment – “we are not even able to buy balls for formal matches”. The result being that members are almost invariably required to finance their own transportation . Of the 13 clubs who responded to Vision’s ‘Funding Survey’, only Cheerleading subsidised transportation to and from events, paying half of all costs acquired for competitors.
Despite this Scott warns that there are no plans to allow clubs who are late with their budget allocations to have a second chance to secure much needed funds. The York Sport President told Vision “Clubs have already been told that they will need to submit their grant applications by Week 4 of Summer Term”, she then advised Club Committees that “there is no reason why a club should miss the deadline”.
There are also questions over the fairness of charging all university sports players the full £40 York Sport membership fee. Surf Club President Yan-Yee Lau told Vision “I am annoyed at the fact that we have to pay the full York Sport membership when the club does not use any of the sports’ centre facilities”. There are a number of clubs who do not use university facilities, but their members are still required to pay the full amount in order to participate in club activities. For this price sports players receive discounted use of the Sport’s facilities and an insurance package, despite many York Sport members not requiring use of the facilities. York Sport President Emily Scott has branded the current system “less than ideal” in this regard – she went on to add that the pricing structure “causes inequality between the clubs that use the facilities and those that don’t”.
A number of clubs expressed concern that more could be done to take the financial burden away from York Sport clubs, particularly considering the decrease in funding experienced this year. The discounts included in York Sport membership are only available for eight weeks of each term, and are not applicable in weeks one and ten. This has resulted in clubs being forced to pay well over the odds to organise essential pre-season training. One Judo club member told Vision, “Having our usual sessions in week 1 this year has cost the club £60. This is over 20% of our grant from YUSU.” Whilst Squash Club President Matthew Brennan argued that prices for court hire were “too high”.
The formula used for calculating club budgets, dubbed ‘lacymatics’ attempted to balance a club’s expected income and expenditure, thus placing a large premium on a club’s expected overlays rather than their membership. Such a policy has left a host of clubs woefully underfunded. For their 175 members, Badminton club receive a grant of £614, leaving £3.50 to be spent on every member. In contrast Inline Hockey club receive £1428 to be spent on its 21 members, averaging out at £68 per member. Whilst the dangerous nature of Inline Hockey mean more money is naturally needed to cover its members, these huge discrepancies still call into question the ‘Lacymatics’ formula used for calculating budget allocations.
Scott has vowed to try and reach a “more equitable solution” for calculating Sport’s clubs budgets, by beginning “ discussions with the people who need to agree before any change of pricing structure can occur.