Around 18 months ago, we as a league ran a session for our Club Secretaries, Team Managers & Referees to create the ‘Values’ of our league. This involved everyone having a say in the key values they wanted to take forward and following a discussion in groups, followed by a vote, we selected the top 5 (ended up being those attached)

We made clear at that point that the expectation was for clubs and referees to adhere to and live by these values in being a member of the league; failure to do so would be going against those that were agreed and could result in expulsion from the league.

Overall since then, the last 18 months has seen behaviour remain consistent and positive; with the odd misdemeanour which would be expected - however, because of the values we have created, the clubs themselves have sought to deal with the individual perpetrators rather than end up being punished as a club as a whole. 

We had one severe incident that resulted in an abandoned match; we didn’t give any fixtures to the team involved until the outcome had been investigated by our County FA. Following the outcome, and as it was way outside of the values of the league, the club didn’t take the opportunity to deal with individual perpetrators and so we called an SGM with the proposal to remove the club from the league. Having heard both sides of the story, clubs voted and the club were removed. This has since had a positive effect on subsequent incidents as clubs are keen to resolve them by removing players / coaches from their club - the respect for the values of the league is clear.

We have made our meetings fun, interactive and engaging rather than the usual ‘meeting’; these have contributed to more engagement, enjoyment and people feeling valued.

Gray that sounds really good. We have manager briefings and club meetings and all have signed up to league codes of conduct. It sounds like removal of club / team and clubs taking actions are consistent with what you are doing. Thank you that is very helpful. I like the values part of what you have done and might steal that idea if that is ok. 

Gray that sounds really good. We have manager briefings and club meetings and all have signed up to league codes of conduct. It sounds like removal of club / team and clubs taking actions are consistent with what you are doing. Thank you that is very helpful. I like the values part of what you have done and might steal that idea if that is ok.