Guides

Practical guides for running a great club or society

Committees, volunteers, membership, money, reporting, match days and websites — written for the people who keep community clubs and student societies going.

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Compliance & safety · 14 min read · 23 Sept 2026

Youth sports coach background checks — a practical system for leagues and clubs

Every adult who coaches, manages or travels with kids should be screened before they're on the field — but the rules vary by state and by governing body, and the checks are only one layer. Here's a practical system for youth sports coach background checks: who needs one, when, how often to renew, abuse-prevention training, a safeguarding policy, and records that keep as little as possible.

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Compliance & safety · 15 min read · 12 Sept 2026

Parent and guardian consent for junior members

Consent at a junior club is rarely one signature — it is six separate permissions routinely collected as one tick, which is why a club cannot answer a parent who asks what they agreed to. General information on the six consents, who can actually give them, how a young person's own view fits, and how to record, withdraw and renew them.

Compliance & safety · 19 min read · 12 Sept 2026

Handling complaints at a governing body

The complaint a club could not finish lands on your desk, and the first question is not what happened — it is whether the matter is yours at all. Jurisdiction, intake, panels without conflicts, natural justice in plain words, timeframes, interim measures, outcomes, appeals and the register that protects the association two years later.

Compliance & safety · 10 min read · 11 Sept 2026

Removing a former member's details — what associations must do

When someone stops being a member, most clubs do nothing — the row sits in the roster with a phone number, an address and an emergency contact for years. In Victoria the rule is explicit and the clock is 14 days. Here is what that rule actually says, what it does not reach, and the leaving checklist that makes it routine.

Compliance & safety · 10 min read · 11 Sept 2026

Keeping a working with children register that actually protects children

Most club registers track one thing — the expiry date — and that is the one thing a cancelled clearance does not change. Here is why a date-only register misses a revocation, what the regulators actually run on your behalf once you link a worker to your organisation, and the record to keep so your club can prove what it checked.

Compliance & safety · 17 min read · 8 Sept 2026

Facility hire terms and conditions template for clubs

A court, arena, lane or room hired on a handshake works until the first dispute. Here's a reusable facility hire terms and conditions template for clubs — twelve numbered clauses you can copy, covering who may book, what a booking includes, numbers, payment at booking or at the venue, cancellations and refunds, conduct, damage, weather closures and privacy — with a plain-language note under each.

Compliance & safety · 8 min read · 8 Aug 2026

Emergency contact and medical forms for clubs — what to collect, and what not to

Clubs need to know who to call and what matters medically when a member goes down at training — but every extra question you ask is data you must protect. Here is what a club genuinely needs to collect, the questions to stop asking, who should see medical information, and how to keep it current without re-typing the roster every season.

Compliance & safety · 8 min read · 31 July 2026

The AI safety and privacy checklist for club committees

General information for committees adopting AI tools — the questions to ask any vendor about member data, the approval and audit rules that keep humans accountable, a simple club AI policy you can adapt, and the red flags that should stop a rollout.

Compliance & safety · 8 min read · 4 July 2026

Food safety for club canteens — the basics every volunteer roster needs

What community club canteens need to know about food safety — how the rules reach volunteer canteens, every state food authority linked, the hygiene and temperature basics for volunteers, and how a good roster keeps standards consistent.

Compliance & safety · 23 min read · 30 June 2026

Club first aid kit and emergency action plan

The laminated page that turns a panicking volunteer into a competent one for ninety seconds — a first aid kit checklist, a restock roster that actually runs, a one-page emergency action plan template, and the defibrillator check nobody remembers.

Compliance & safety · 22 min read · 29 June 2026

Concussion guidance for community clubs

How a volunteer club handles head knocks without asking anyone on the sideline to play doctor — a recognise-and-remove rule, a clean incident record, and return-to-play paperwork the committee can actually find. General information only.

Compliance & safety · 23 min read · 28 June 2026

Heat policy for community sports clubs

General information on writing a heat policy volunteers can actually apply — where your thresholds come from, who decides and by when, the modifications that save a fixture instead of cancelling it, and how the call reaches everyone in ten minutes.

Compliance & safety · 20 min read · 27 June 2026

Photography and image consent at clubs

General information on getting photo consent right at a club — capturing it at registration, recording a withdrawal so it actually takes effect, and practical rules for match photos, team photos and social posts.

Compliance & safety · 10 min read · 27 June 2026

Club privacy policy template — plus a photo consent form that actually works

A plain-English privacy policy outline for community clubs, a field-by-field photo and video consent form template, what the Privacy Act does and doesn't require of small clubs, and the everyday data habits that matter more than the documents.

Compliance & safety · 11 min read · 6 June 2026

Sports club risk management — a practical guide with a template you can use

A committee-sized approach to risk management — how to run a risk assessment without drowning in paperwork, a likelihood-and-consequence matrix, a register template with worked club examples, and how incident data feeds the loop.

Compliance & safety · 11 min read · 27 Mar 2026

Player code of conduct template — plus parent and spectator versions

Ready-to-adapt code of conduct templates for players, parents and spectators, general information on what a good behaviour framework covers, where to find your own sport-integrity resources, and how to make a code enforceable rather than a poster nobody reads.

Compliance & safety · 12 min read · 20 Mar 2026

Incident report form template for sports clubs (field-by-field guide)

A complete incident and injury report template for community clubs — every field explained, what good and bad reports look like, who should be able to see reports, and how to build the process volunteers will actually follow.

Compliance & safety · 8 min read · 19 Mar 2026

Does our club need insurance? A plain-English guide for committees

What insurance actually does for a community club — the main cover types explained in plain English, how affiliation cover works and where its edges are, certificates of currency, and the governance habits that keep the club protected.

Compliance & safety · 12 min read · 6 Mar 2026

Working with children check requirements for clubs — a state-by-state guide

What committees need to know about working with children checks — who typically needs one at a community club, how volunteer checks work, every state and territory scheme with official links, and how to track expiry dates so nobody slips through.

Compliance & safety · 9 min read · 25 Feb 2026

Child safe standards for sports clubs — the national principles, explained

What the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations mean for a community sports club — the ten principles in plain language, a member protection policy outline you can adapt, and the systems that turn policy into practice.