Constitution 

A club can be legally defined as a group of people acting together for a common social purpose.

Although it is possible for a club to be formed without any rules or constitution, as soon as any property or assets are acquired, or any contract for goods or services is entered into, the law will imply a framework of rights and liabilities as between the members. As the activities of the club increase, and involve more dealings with outsiders, so the rights and duties of the individual club members become more relevant.

It therefore makes sense for the members of a new club to agree and adopt a constitution at an early stage, and a specimen set of club rules is provided in this section. Once the club has grown to such a size that it is being run to all intents and purposes as a business, the members may decide to reconstitute as a registered company limited by guarantee; the pros and cons of incorporation are looked at in this section.

The section also looks at the possibilities of charitable status for the club, or a section of it, affiliation to your national governing body or international federation, election processes, running committee meetings, and convening and managing Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings.

For clubs that choose to remain as unincorporated associations, and in practice this will probably be the majority of small to medium-sized clubs, one recurring issue is the need to find members who are ready willing and able to act as Trustees for the holding of club property, as an unincorporated body is not a legal entity capable of holding property.

This section deals with the appointment and replacement of trustees, and also describes the mechanism by which (provided the other contracting party agrees) they can avoid the potentially heavy personal liability which could arise if the club were to become insolvent.

If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the Legal Team Tel:  0844 5569519  Email: legal@rya.org.uk.