It is potentially an exciting time for Rotherham Hockey Club, but the excitement generated at the moment should not make us blind to some underlying problems within the club.
I have to say again that too many jobs are being done by too few people. The excitement generated by the thought of a new pitch hides this fact. The bid team is predominantly made up of people who already give much to the club. Just to cite one, David Woodward he is on the committee, on the management committee of Aurora, Youth Co-ordinator, fund chaser, coach, umpire, equipment manager, order co-ordinator between RHC and Bodyline, Team Captain and player I am quite sure that David does even more than this.
There is a plethora of jobs that need doing within the club, there were a lot of complaints when the website was down for a few days, but no one came forward to help us run it. Players do not let the club know when they are unable to play, but then some of the same players complain when we field weakened teams due to other players making themselves unavailable at the last moment.
We need umpires to control games but we need an organiser to ensure we have umpires for each game.
We need people to help fund raise, organise events, promoter, write match reports (one in each team), run an electronic magazine, help create handouts and other material, promote indoor hockey, facilities manager, liaison officers  (council, youth services, community centres) control and maintain a database, this is not a complete list. Some of the jobs are small and simple but when added to other duties are the final straw.
The very least any of us can do is help our team captains by giving our availability to play in prompt and timely fashion. In order to plan to get full sides out from now until the end of the season every club member needs to look at the fixtures and let their captain know when they can play. If everyone did this week we would be able to get balanced sides out for the remainder of the season.  This is your club but it will only run with your help and co-operation. You may be thinking this is deja vu, did we not ask for this a couple of weeks ago?? That`s right, but only 7 people got back to their captains! Please, everyone do this ASAP.
If anyone has any questions about anything mentioned here feel free to talk to any member of the committee.