Court Barrier Solutions

The problem with getting permanent sponsorship on the boards is that it will make it much harder to get sponsorship for tournaments, as companies won't be too enthusiastic if they have to share board space with red bull (this was touched on at the meeting). Also, red bull tend to completely take over a sport and milk it till it's dry, then toss it out and move on the to the next.

This still leaves the problem of finding funding to get the boards in the first place. Ideally, getting the money from council funding or fundraising from events would be best, as we would have greater control over the boards and where we use them (possibly council funding would put restrictions on this). ~£20k is a hell of a lot of money though, for one court, though that seems to be at the cheaper end of the scale for such versatile barriers. They do look awesome too, and 30 minutes to set up is pretty cool.

20k isn't that much for Southwark...

Depends on which budget you're talking about, really.

20k is A LOT of money (public or private). I'm not saying it's not possible, but it will take some hard grafting.

Personally I don't see 20k visibility coming in from court signage/sponsorship (I guess someone needs to work out the numbers and pull together a sponsorship pack).

Fundraising and public money could work (pound for pound?), in my opinion all the numbers need nailing down.

Exciting times all the same.

Depends on which budget you're talking about, really.

Has anyone picked Oliver's brain for advice yet?

I take it London has a proper association with a constitution, membership fees, bank account etc? Have you guys applied for things like sportsmatch? http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/funding/sportsmatch ( I guess there's an English equivalent), basically there's a lot of funding out there beyond private that would help with things like this, don't write it off because you can't afford it on your own!

Can't Adidas pay?

^ One sugestion from Peter Cattermole at HH was to approach Adidas and get them to set up an Adizone, apparently they set these temporary structures up all over the place... Could be a smart move as Adidas are already in partnership with British Cycling as kit suppliers/sponsors...

Another avenue to look into anyway... Here's a picture of one in Chelmsford...

Apart from being smaller, that looks exactly like the new court near me.

Also, red bull tend to completely take over a sport and milk it till it's dry, then toss it out and move on the to the next.

This.

I sent emails to Adidas, all the cycling team managers I know and about to send one off to Oliver too. Fingers crossed.

We'd need to make enquiries about sports budgets, but as with anything else at the moment, they will be squeezed. I don't know much about sports funding, but you never know, there might be a fund somewhere for equipment of this kind. It's unlikely that Hackney or any other council would be able to spend money on this (as you've seen, they favour multi-purpose equipment), but a less location-limited fund would be better, anyway. I know someone who knows someone active in sports promotion in Hackney, so I'll start there.

Do you know anything about the LCC community cycling funds Oliver?

It's unlikely that Hackney or any other council would be able to spend money on this (as you've seen, they favour multi-purpose equipment)...
Worth bearing in mind that such a court wouldn't necessarily be limited to use for polo. I'm sure there are lots of other events at which such barriers would be useful and could be hired out to.

Do you know anything about the LCC community cycling funds Oliver?

Yes, but they would be too small to fund court barriers (if the prices in this thread are anything to go by. They are limited to a maximum of £5k.

Worth bearing in mind that such a court wouldn't necessarily be limited to use for polo. I'm sure there are lots of other events at which such barriers would be useful and could be hired out to.

Good point.

Ah yes, I know Oliver but we need more than just boards... goals, scoreboards, etc.

I noticed there was a small chunk of the surface missing at Downs today too. How on earth someone did that I don't know :(

Yes, but they would be too small to fund court barriers (if the prices in this thread are anything to go by. They are limited to a maximum of £5k.

If we could fundraise/get sponsorship to the tune of £5k, LCC match it and the council match the total, we'd be there!

#fantasist

However unlikely this claim seems: that clump of court (south end near the top of the D) has been missing since we started using the court... it's small and easily repairable. We should probably flag it with the borough (and offer to cover some of the costs)?

I noticed there was a small chunk of the surface missing at Downs today too. How on earth someone did that I don't know :(

I have never seen it before or it has got worse. Or maybe I only noticed it because I was walking round the MUGA? Who knows. It would just be sad to see Downs deteriorate like our other courts so I want to keep on top of it. Not sure getting into the habit of paying for repairs when we don't have much money is ideal though?

If you're a Hackney council tax payer, ring them up and ask them to fix it.

There was a piece of wood under the tarmac which I first notice back in 2011 when the LO was held.

Ah yes, I know Oliver but we need more than just boards... goals, scoreboards, etc.

I noticed there was a small chunk of the surface missing at Downs today too. How on earth someone did that I don't know :(

Yeah, that was there when it first opened, somehow they hadn't removed that bit of wood.

Ah yes, I know Oliver but we need more than just boards... goals, scoreboards, etc.

You should have a discussion with one of the LCC's community team, then--ring the office (7234 9310) and ask for Mags Reinig. They'll probably be able to give you some guidance on how to apply/what to apply for. I'm not sure the grants would cover this sort of thing. They certainly didn't in the past, but the funding criteria have been changed in recent years, and I'm not up to speed with them.

If we could fundraise/get sponsorship to the tune of £5k, LCC match it and the council match the total, we'd be there!

#fantasist

I don't think this works on the basis of match funding. That's required by many grant-giving bodies but not an option in the Community Cycling Fund. But again, we could ask.

Sorry, not been following this thread that closely but came across this during a work search -

http://www.funtec.co.uk/frames/portable-courts-frameset.html

Looks like they do custom systems, not sure how robust the boards are but might be of interest?

Yeah, they've been used at a couple of tournaments, they are great.