What is stopping people volunteering?

[Kate Deller]

I would be very interested to know why people dont step forward to volunteer. If anyone has an opinion or can shed light on this I would happy hear it.

Thank you.

You can answer below or message me privately.

[Kate Deller]

Thank you for your response and input Jaqueline.

Totally take on board your response and can totally understand people struggles. We are all in the same boat with that struggle. Rising costs are becoming desperate:(

On the flip side of the coin, during lockdown and since, I know of many of our volunteers who cherished the time spent at Top Field and welcomed the good effect it had on their mental health. I would say it saved a couple of people from getting very depressed.

It was not a question for dramatic purposes. I genuinely would like to hear peoples opinions.

[DarrenW]

I can only speak for myself. I am tied to a shift cycle that covers 7 days. It's beyond what I can do with my work commitments. The days when I used to work Mon-Fri are long gone but put my time in then with the tannoy among other things.

I have always stayed true to what Shay once told me when I was a schoolkid "If you get a week off school you give a day to the club" and I still do that to this day. Help out when I can.

[RST]

Having been on the committee for 16 years of a local tennis league that has somewhere in the region of 1,000 players from around 30 clubs and a member at Hitchin Tennis Club for over 30 years where I have been on the committee in the past and had various volunteering roles within the club it is not a new phenomenon to struggle to get volunteers. Over such a long period of time it is clearly not just the state of the economy that affects people's willingness to volunteer.

AGMs where vacant posts are required to be filled sees the tumbleweed roll gently by as people have a sudden urge to check the paintwork on the ceiling or see if their shoes need polishing to make sure they don't accidentally catch the eye of the chairperson to be asked if they might consider helping out. Quite often it takes a behind the scenes chat after the meeting to persuade someone to at least try a role and see how it goes.

I wonder if it is simply the fear of the unknown that stops some people volunteering. At HTFC we have seen lots of new faces coming to games over recent seasons and with an average attendance of over 500 last season it's hard to believe that there isn't a handful who might be able to spare an extra hour when they come to the game to help out. Would some volunteer if they knew what roles were required to be filled rather than having the fear that if they say they will help they will be asked to do something with which they are not comfortable?

Maybe we could try a shadowing scheme where someone can purely observe a current volunteer on a matchday to see what they do without actually doing anything themselves so they can see whether it's something they would feel comfortable doing in future. Being asked to go and marshal in the car park might seem a scary prospect, but just observing someone else do it might make someone see it's something they could manage.

[Rick]

I like what RST has said. Maybe send out a list of every area where you need a volunteers and a job description. I know it has been done for the turnstiles etc but might help with a list so people can look through and see where their skill sit best.

[Brian]

Good posting RST.

Perhaps were should run a feature on one of the volunteers in the programme and website each month detailing what they do and using it to try to get some more interest from supporters.

Is there a way that some of the roles could be done by other local groups or clubs, some sort of twinning with other groups in Hitchin. Maybe we could get groups to help each other out. Could some of the duties be done by the academy players - part of their footballing education.

During the 150 years celebrations we built a good relationship with RAF Henlow. It started off with a phone call from an Army Captain stationed at the base. He was interested in buying a block of tickets for the Norwich game so he could bring a group from the base. We were desperate to find people to do stewarding duties at the game.
We offered the Captain free admission for him and his group if they were prepared to do low key stewarding at the game for us.
We were told they had to get permission from the base commander but this was very unlikely however we then found out the commander and his son were Norwich City season ticket holders and massive fans of the club so we offered the commander VIP entry and made his son a mascot who lead the Norwich team out. We got all our required stewards in full military uniform.
We also built a relationship with the base which resulted in their military band playing at one of the games.

[DarrenW]

Good posting RST.

Perhaps were should run a feature on one of the volunteers in the programme and website each month detailing what they do and using it to try to get some more interest from supporters.

Is there a way that some of the roles could be done by other local groups or clubs, some sort of twinning with other groups in Hitchin. Maybe we could get groups to help each other out. Could some of the duties be done by the academy players - part of their footballing education.

During the 150 years celebrations we built a good relationship with RAF Henlow. It started off with a phone call from an Army Captain stationed at the base. He was interested in buying a block of tickets for the Norwich game so he could bring a group from the base. We were desperate to find people to do stewarding duties at the game.
We offered the Captain free admission for him and his group if they were prepared to do low key stewarding at the game for us.
We were told they had to get permission from the base commander but this was very unlikely however we then found out the commander and his son were Norwich City season ticket holders and massive fans of the club so we offered the commander VIP entry and made his son a mascot who lead the Norwich team out. We got all our required stewards in full military uniform.
We also built a relationship with the base which resulted in their military band playing at one of the games.

I suspect I remember the commander you mention from my time working on the Camp Brian. Used to fly back using his own light aircraft to Norwich each weekend from the runway at Henlow.

Missed a trick there as noticed when I worked on the camp between 2008-2011 there was alot of interest in how the club was doing from both military staff and civvy workers. Invited some to games on at least 3 occasions. Should have took it further with the SWO (Station Warrant Officer) at the time also being a football fan.

Maybe the Scouts/Cubs might be one to look into? There etho's was always about volunteering and doing good within the community.

[Brian]

I would love to see ball boys and girls on the touchline although I don't know if health and safety allows this now.

Another good way of getting the youth sections involved in the club.

[Kate Deller]

Some fabulous ideas coming through here thank you all for posting. Also thanks to the couple of private messages received. We will endeavour to put some of these into action.

Keep them coming

[Freddie Cardy]

I would love to see ball boys and girls on the touchline although I don't know if health and safety allows this now.

Another good way of getting the youth sections involved in the club.

Brilliant idea Brian.