AGB Membership Fees 20/21

dvd8n

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Does anyone have a feeling for how many clubs are up and running yet? This makes a vague statement of about 50% won't open soon.
 

dvd8n

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And it talks about a 15% drop in renewals. I think that's optomistic. I wouldn't like to be the club secretary of one of the 50% asking for fees to not shoot.
 
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ArcheryFox

Active member
My personal take on this is that yes, it sucks to pay membership whilst (still!!) not being able to shoot, and yes, it would suck if fees were to go up, but at the end of the day a national governing body is useful for me to do my sport to the levels I desire. Therefore if I need to buy 3 fewer coffees/beers over the course of the next year to help AGB survive, that's preferable to them collapsing. The same is true at a club level as well - whilst I hate not being able to shoot, the long-term survival of my club is worth far more than any short-term compensation for lost personal shooting time.

Perhaps we can look at a reduction in fees once everything has stabilised, but for now supporting (within reason) our clubs, and AGB and their employees through this is the way forward I think.

That said, some closer scrutiny into where various parts of the membership fee goes might not be an entirely bad thing in itself - this is covered in the AGB annual report for those interested.
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
I am not sure hat is mean by 'essential services' . They may be essential if archers were shooting, but if I am not shooting then those services cannot be essential
I am a pensioner I do not have money to waste paying for not being able to shoot.
 

KidCurry

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Does anyone have a feeling for how many clubs are up and running yet? This makes a vague statement of about 50% won't open soon.
I'm a member of two clubs, one closed, one open at about 30% capacity due to distancing limitations.
 
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Whitehart

Well-known member
I think that AGB needs to spend time justifying to the rank and file their relevance to them, the majority that just enjoy archery at their club. This is an old and long running discussion that has never been addressed to the satisfaction of a majority of members or clubs. Also a re evaluation of the role of Counties and Regional organisations who seem to be sitting on a pile of cash.

AGB would appear to be far too big for the size of membership.

Membership loss: if we lose part or most of the indoor season then 15% seems very optimistic. A loss of members is an ever decreasing circle and leads to poorer facilities purely down to a loss of finance and subsequently less new members are attracted to the sport - gone are the days of just needing a container field and a hedge.

Also clubs rely on Beginners Courses, Fetes and running Tournaments for financial income to subsidise club fees most of which is lost this year. So grants and help will be essential for some clubs survival.

As the National Governing Body most of it's time and resources appears to be spent on keeping Sport UK and England happy so the funding of elite sport can continue.

Without the grass roots there is no elite sport, infrastructure, tournaments or even retail outlets.
 

ArcheryFox

Active member
I am not sure hat is mean by 'essential services' . They may be essential if archers were shooting, but if I am not shooting then those services cannot be essential
I am a pensioner I do not have money to waste paying for not being able to shoot.
Yes, these are all valid points. As a contractor myself I completely understand that I could be in a very different financial position at the moment if timings were different, and many AGB members will, themselves, have been furloughed. This is why I say 'support within reason'.

My main point was that at recent club and county meetings there were lots of people hollering about 'well I'm missing out so I should be compensated' without looking at the bigger picture of what this means for their clubs, especially with the lack of tournament/beginner income on the horizon. Of course, as a member of both committees I am biased to think that way perhaps.

And yes, as I say, a look at where people's money is being used is never a bad thing. I raised a slight eyebrow at the fact that more of my fee is spent on compound coaching than insurance for instance.

Does anyone have a feeling for how many clubs are up and running yet?
In my county of the 12 clubs that shoot regularly I know 3 re-opened (own fields or golf course), 1 has re-opened after finding a new field, and 4 are still closed as a result of using school/university premises. My club is one of the latter, and if we hear nothing again this week we are looking into finding an alternative venue (rugby club pitch).
 
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jerryRTD

Well-known member
The unvarnished truth is that AGB can't be bigger than the size that the grass roots can support There are market forces at work here and the results are not going to be pretty.
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
It is a difficult one, but I do wonder if they would actually take a much bigger hit if they offered half price renewals this year? Maybe offering a discount on renewal would keep enough people in the sport to pay for the losses. How many people will not bother to renew because they haven't shot for 3 months and then have to pay their membership fees before being able to shoot again, compared to would renew as AGB are making it cheaper? If you take into account that those who don't renew this year aren't likely to rejoin in future I think that taking the hit may be better for the society long term.
Our club is tied closely into an activities charity, and the charity has made a huge loss over the lockdown as they have 2 Victorian Forts to maintain. The charity has decided that they would extend the membership year by 3 months to compensate for the time that they have been closed. This has actually encouraged some people who were casual archers paying per session to become full members because they've seen that the charity looked after the membership.
 

Nictrix

Member
I have said before that I only joined AGB to shoot at other clubs and at competitions. If most clubs are closed and there are no competitions I dont see the point in paying for AGBs membership.
Would you pay for AA or RAC cover if you didnt have a car?
At the end of the day all I actually need from them is their insurance which I dont need if I only shoot at my own club. I only need to contribute towards the clubs own insurance which is around £10.
 

malbro

Instinctive Archer
Supporter
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I will not be renewing my membership, the costs is simply not worth it for me, NFAS is much cheaper and provides what I need.
 

AJBrady

Active member
My club is shoooting, but with social distancing required by Archery GB, and a limited number of targets, we can only cope with 10 archers at a time. We share our ground with other sports, and therefore are time limited. Only just over a third of members are shooting at the moment, so I think renewals are highly likely to be down in September.
 

dvd8n

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The reason that I asked if the 50% figure felt accurate is that I can't help thinking that, if true, a 15% drop in renewals seems highly optomistic. It suggests that 70% of the members of closed clubs will altruistically pay their fees to AGB. With the best will in the world I can't see that happening.
 

Timid Toad

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What's the word from NFAS for the coming renewal? A lot of AGB members are showing concern; some non members do like to put a regular boot in too *sigh* but how are the other organisations working things out? Obviously they don't have the sword of Damocles of the Olympics and the World Cup commitments, but what else?
 

dvd8n

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Well the NFF is carrying on much as before, just that we need to distance and practice hygene whilst on the course. There are no shoots, but if you're happy to go out and shoot the course on your own or with the same partner all the time, you're fine.

The NFF doesn't have the commitments of AGB, so the fees pretty transparently only go to insurance and course maintenance.

So there is no angst about asking for renewals.

The only issue that I see is that this may just be the nudge that older members need to help them accept that their shooting days are pretty much over.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
We’ve been up and running at 100% since week 1 after the all clear. We have fluctuating numbers shooting from 7 (high winds and rain forecast) to 22 whilst averaging about 15.

I know many local clubs aren’t shooting yet and last Saturday we gained a new member who is desperate to shoot but his club is closed.

Would I like to see a reduction in fees due to the C-19 stopage? Yes I would.

I could be bloody minded and forego my club, not pay AGB, keep up my BLBS membership (£15 p.a.) and solely shoot my longbow at a local longbow only venue which is open 365 days a year with permanent targets set up - I would miss all the friends I’ve made at my club immensely but I’d probably get a lot more archery and immensely more value for money.

Am I going to not renew? No - because the rules say I’ve got to be an AGB member to shoot at my club and compete so I will pay up.


We are archers, AGB is our governing body love them or loathe them so if we want to play the game we have to pay up.


Karl
 

dvd8n

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I read the statement again and I'm not sure if AGB is expecting all members to renew in September, or whether members will renew when their club reopens.
 
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