Memorandum from Peter Wiffen (DCH 35)
SPORTS CLUBS
AND CHARITY
STATUS
I wrote to you on this subject some four years
ago when I was the Chairman of the Darlington Railway Athletic
Sports Club in Brinkburn Road. The Club has a mixture of sports,
including football, cricket, a bowling green and a smallbore rifle
range. You may recall that the origins of the club were as a recreational
facility for railway men in the town. After a considerable battle
with the Railways Property Board an agreement was reached to support
the development of housing on about six acres and the remaining
12 acres were transferred to the members in trust and that the
profits of any disposal within 25 years would pass back to the
Railways Property Board.
Following an announcement by the Chancellor
that Sports Clubs would be allowed to seek Charity status The
RA Club decided that the best way to secure the ground for future
generations was to make application to register as a Charity.
As chairman I undertook to set this in motion and on behalf of
the club I prepared the application form and a large number of
supporting documents. For anyone to suggest that this would be
a simple matter is talking nonsense, the initial reply from the
charities board raised more fences to get over than in the Grand
National.
The most serious obstacles were quite definitely
the existence of a members' bar and also having a rifle range.
It might have been easy to close down the range but some of these
members have 30 or more years' service and have shot for Great
Britain and brought distinction to the club. The sport is an accepted
Olympic competition.
The problems with the existence of a bar are
that this appears incompatible with charity status notwithstanding
that were it not for the reinvestment of the bar profits in the
ground it would be impossible to continue. Charity law as it stands
makes an assumption that a bar is for everyone to get drunk then
go and play a bit of sport. Clearly a sports club bar is for people
to meet and socialise after games and to be a meeting place for
those former sports men and women and to pass on their experience.
The bottom line for the RA was that we decided
to seek professional advice. We asked Wrigley's of Leeds to take
on our case they are "Charity Specialists". This has
so far cost the club £3,000 which we could ill afford although
it has also been money well spent. The announcement of the review
of charity law and the introduction of improvements in Community
Amateur Sports Club status to almost match that available as a
charity has decided the club to put the Charity application on
hold and register as a Community Amateur Sports Club instead.
This particularly improves the position of our bar and rifle range.
I hope that you have taken the trouble to read
this far and that as Chairman of the Charities review committee
you will help to create a definition of Charity law which will
make it easier for sports clubs to protect their grounds for future
generations. Perhaps at the same time ensure that Eton College
and Harrow etc really have some proper charitable purpose since
the position currently is a total nonsense.
If the RA club experience can offer you any
more insight into the problems of sports clubs and Charity Status
please feel welcome to contact either myself or the current Chairman
Mike Parkinson care of the club.
Peter Wiffen
Ex chair RA club
May 2004
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