The Annual General Meeting of Hallam FC takes place on 26th August, for the first time the meeting will be open to all 26/27 Season Ticket Holders who are 18 and over, ST holders will all have the right to vote on key issues such as the financial accounts for 25/26, the election of the Committee that leads the club, and on any motions that are submitted for consideration. To access the papers for the meeting 26/27 Season Ticket holders must email secretary@hallamfc.co.uk to receive them.
If you can’t attend the meeting you are entitled to nominate a ST holder who is attending to be a proxy voter on your behalf. Again, email secretary@hallamfc.co.uk to say this, copy the e-mail to the proxy so they have the confirmation.
Ten Season Ticket holders raised some issues with the Committee regarding the arrangements for the AGM, this resulted in more opportunities for Season Ticket holders to exercise democratic rights at the meeting. One of these was the right to present a motion for consideration by the meeting. The motion below has now been formally submitted to the Club Secretary for inclusion on the agenda. The motion has been signed by 12 Season Ticket holders.
Motion for Hallam FC AGM 2026
A Better Plan for Hallam FC
The 2026 AGM of Hallam FC believes that there should be certain values and approaches which should be alive and well at the club. These are:
Shared Ownership
The club belongs to fans and to the club’s community. This should not just be words on the website but should be evidenced in how the club is actually run.
Collaborative Leadership
This should be evidenced by:
Collective decision making at Committee/Board level
Effective structures and processes for fan engagement and to enable fans to influence how the club is run.
Effective structures and processes for club volunteer engagement and to enable volunteers to influence how the club is run.
Partnership Working
This should be evidenced by:
Actively reaching out to the community – the club is a resource for the community to use but the community can be a massive resource for the club too.
Being genuinely open to positive engagement with the business community, academic institutions and other partners, eg Sheffield Home of Football. This means actively seeking partners, not waiting for them to knock on the door.
The club welcoming constructive challenge and feedback from all sources, seeing it as a chance to improve how the club works, and then positively acting on it.
Sound Management
The club having a clear vision for the club – both on the field of play and off it, a strategy to achieve the vision, and plans for delivery.
Good governance being implemented in practice, with the club abiding by its own rules, policies and constitution, with transparency & accountability being active.
Next Steps
Consistent with the above this AGM therefore resolves to require the Club Committee to:
- Complete the establishment of the Community Benefit Society and the transfer to the CBS as soon as is possible, subject to this being done in a legally appropriate manner. This is the ‘red line’ top priority for the club.
- Commence and complete a refresh of the club Committee membership with an active promotion and recruitment campaign for new members. If there are obstacles to new members joining, eg lack of liability protections whilst the club still has unincorporated association status, put appropriate protections in place and/or seek new volunteers to play a role in helping the club to deliver its objectives.
- Establish consultation/engagement forums with fans and with club volunteers as a matter of urgency. The purpose of the forums being to enable fans and volunteers to influence club decision making. These to operate at least until the CBS is in place.
- Implement an urgent review of the 26/27 budget to produce a budget strategy that delivers a balanced budget, maximises income from sponsorship, marketing and promotion of the club, and reduces costs where it is cost-effective to do so.
- Establish a process of regular review of progress on points 1-4 above, updating club members, fans and the community on a monthly basis, and a 3 monthly progress update and Q&A forum open to all.
The key objective here is to see in practice a different, engaging and more professional approach to the style in which the club is run.
The above motion is a positive attempt to change the way the club is run in the period leading up to the establishment of the Community Benefit Society – I hope that is supported by Season Ticket holders at the AGM.
The AGM also creates the opportunity to elect people on to the Committee who want to drive forward the delivery of the CBS and who want to run the club in a way that is consistent with the above ‘Better Plan for Hallam FC’. If you think you fit the bill and could play a role please give it some thought – the club needs people to get involved.
The club has faced a number of challenges in recent months which the leadership of the club have not tackled as effectively as they could have. It is hoped that the AGM this month will lead to some positive change in the way in which the club is run.
The club has a strong fanbase and terrific set of volunteers who are the heart and soul of the club. Hallam FC is a historic Sheffield institution that is going through a process of change -the establishment of the CBS will bring a new democracy to the club and create fresh opportunities for Sheffield businesses, business people and community organisations to get involved to help the club grow and prosper. I hope that the AGM on 26 August, and the establishment of the CBS, creates the opportunity for the refresh that the club needs.
Steve Walmsley
Season Ticket Holder and Player Sponsor
Constructive feedback is welcomed to hallamblog1860@gmail.com
