Sports Bodies

Experience in your sector

The principles of governance for sports bodies are defined by the EU Expert Group on Good Governance as:

“The framework and culture within which a sports body sets policy, delivers its strategic objectives, engages with stakeholders, monitors performance, evaluates and manages risk and reports to its constituents on its activities and progress including the delivery of effective, sustainable and proportionate sports policy and regulation.”

Governance requirements

At its simplest, governance refers to the actions of the board of an organisation, how it sets the strategic direction and values of the entity, how it monitors performance and how it communicates with members and other stakeholders.

Requirement 1.1 (C) of A Code for Sports Governance calls for boards to “maintain and demonstrate a clear division between the board’s management and oversight role and the executive’s operational role”.

In practice, in small organisations, regardless of sector, this distinction may be less clear as board members take on more of the day-to-day running of its business, because there are no or fewer staff to delegate to. Nonetheless, it is important that this duality is recognised and board members know which hat they are wearing at any given time. Additionally, that when functioning as a board they ensure that their governance responsibilities take precedence over their management duties.

Bridgehouse Company Secretaries recognises this can be a fine distinction to make and can advise the board on this and other governance dilemmas.

If you’d like to discuss the board support we can provide for sports bodies, please get in touch.