Perthshire Hockey Club Bursary Scheme

As a club we are committed to making hockey as available as possible to all and for reasons of
fairness and transparency have set up a more formal bursary scheme to help those struggling to
afford to access the sport. Whilst we would prefer you to apply in writing for the bursary, to
maintain flexibility we will accept verbal requests either directly from the individual or through an
advocate, such as a captain or coach.
How The Scheme Works
Each year the Management Committee can award bursaries to one or more members totalling up
to 500. This can incorporate a reduction in annual membership, support with buying goalkeeping
equipment1 or a reduction in match fees (or a combination of the above). Decisions on bursary
awards will be made on a majority vote basis of those present at the Management Committee
meeting2 when the case is discussed and will be based on the following criteria listed in
ascending order of priority:
1. Financial need
2. Commitment of the individual to the club & the sport, (this can be demonstrated through
general enthusiasm, regular attendance at the likes of training, effort to make themselves
available for games/training & supporting the club through helping out with training, etc.).
3. The ability level and potential future ability of the player in question.
Where possible we would ask that any requests for bursaries are made by 1st of Nov each
season3. Bursaries will be usually awarded on a yearly basis. If applying for the bursary, we want
to be sensitive to your situation and only ask you to provide a broad overview of your financial
situation, including whether you expect this to be temporary or not. Proof (i.e. bank statements,
pay slips, etc.) is not required. If applying after 1 st of November we would also expect you to
explain why you are making a late application. Written requests to apply for the bursary should be
sent to the clubs president and treasurer.
Records of bursary awards will be recorded in the minutes of the committee meeting and the club
will also endeavour to report each year on the total amount of bursaries awarded. As we
appreciate that discretion and confidentiality are important, individuals in receipt of awards will only
in exceptional circumstances be named in discussions outside the Management Committee.

The clubs policy is that club members should usually purchase their own personal kit including goalkeeping kit.
We do however appreciate the goalkeeping kit is expensive and the club holds sets of kit that can be loaned out to
address this. Where the clubs kit is not sufficient and individuals are struggling to purchase their own kit, the club
can potentially assist with purchasing kit. When providing funds we usually ask for a pro-rata share of the equity of
the kit. The usual policy is that whilst with the club any kit will usually remain the property of the individual,
however on leaving the club the individual has the option of either returning the kit to the club or retaining it by
buying out the clubs equity (minus an agreed reasonable level of reduction for depreciation). NB Funding for kit
will come from general club funds rather than the Bursary budget.
2

The dates the committee meets (typically every one to two months) are available on the website

Applications after the 1st of November will be considered, however as much of the budget may have been spent
by this time it will be harder to award funds. The Committee will also take a negative view of late applications
without any reasonable reasons for this.

December 2015 vr 1.0