Buddle has arrived to give grassroots clubs free support, which is excellent news for the volunteer who coaches three age groups, repairs the changing room tap and remembers where the insurance documents went in 2019.
Launched by Sport England in December 2023, the National Lottery funded programme replaced Club Matters with a new home for learning, advice and resources. At last, a club secretary can ask one sensible question without waiting for Kev to forward a PDF called FINAL FINAL v6.
The name combines “buddy” and “huddle”, suggesting friendly collaboration. It also suggests a committee gathering around a laptop while one person whispers that the password may be written underneath the biscuit tin. This is how digital transformation reaches the pavilion, after passing through several layers of tea.
Buddle is intended to help sports clubs, activity groups and the professionals who support them. Its resources cover the complicated business of running an organisation, including becoming more inclusive, resilient and safe. In other words, it may help a village club discover that governance is not simply agreeing with Gary because he has brought the gazebo.
“Grassroots sport runs on goodwill and a spreadsheet called FINAL FINAL v6,” said Clement Hobbler, Assistant Director of Forms That Nearly Balance. “Buddle lets a club ask one sensible question before the answer becomes a WhatsApp poll with 46 thumbs up.”
The service offers training, guidance, news and signposting to further support. This should reduce the time volunteers spend searching for information, unless the information is about the Wi Fi password, which remains protected by an informal hereditary system. The person who knows it is usually away for the weekend.
One cricket club is expected to consult the equipment section before admitting that three pairs of pads are damp. A football committee may use the inclusion guidance to settle whether the person who arrives five minutes late can still vote on the Christmas raffle. Nobody wants to exclude anyone, especially not the person holding the key to the shed.
That is the useful promise behind Buddle. It cannot run the club, find the missing cones or explain why the treasurer has described a jam jar as “cloud storage”. It can put practical help where volunteers might actually find it, which is progress for an institution that has previously hidden its most important documents inside a carrier bag.
Grassroots sport may now spend less time hunting for forms and more time playing sport. This is a bold administrative innovation. The only remaining question is whether the biscuit tin will accept the new system, or appoint itself treasurer and charge Buddle a handling fee.
Source: Sport England.
