Writing Your Club History
What is a club history all about?
This section covers all of the important events and achievements that have occurred over the lifetime of the club. It provides an overview of where the club has come from and the key people involved in creating it. Often histories are written for a major event, such as the 50 th or 100 th anniversary of a club’s founding.
Go to top
Why does our club need a documented history?
For a club, benefits of having a documented club history include:
Go to top
- Interest/curiosity value for members or media;
- Having a sense of tradition;
- Understanding where certain policies or processes came from;
- Giving members a sense of belonging to an enduring organisation;
- Generating extra pride in the club;
- Generating ideas that may help your club;
- Demonstrating longevity to attract members/volunteers etc.
What does a club history look like?
Examples of a New Zealand club history can be seen with these clubs:
Go to top
How do we develop our club history?
Step 1: Set some boundaries
The first step is to clarify the scope of the history to be documented – i.e. picking how wide and to what depth your club wants to know about its past. Scoping the project tightly means that the project can be broken down into small, manageable tasks and avoids wasting time.
Your club will also need to delegate a person to co-ordinate the research efforts. This doesn’t mean that they will have to do the whole thing – just be in charge of organising the project and assigning tasks where needed.
Areas to consider for research could include:
- When/why was it founded?
- Who was involved during the start of the club?
- What were the names of the first members?
- Are any of the original members or their family members still part of the club?
- How many original members were there, and how many members are there now?
- What did the first membership subscription cost?
- Were there any requirements for becoming a member, and what membership categories existed?
- Where were the original club facilities located? Have the club facilities moved since? If so, why?
- What facilities existed then and now?
- What contests/club champs events have been held, and who won them?
- Have club members represented the region or country? If so, who, when, how many times, what events and how did they perform?
- What awards/honours have been presented to the club?
- What awards/honours does the club present to members?
Step 2: Dig for information
The next step is doing your research! You’ll need to find as much information as possible about your club over the years – and to ensure accuracy, it’s a good idea to cross-check and verify information where possible. Try to find photos or similar as well – as the cliché says, a picture is worth a thousand words and they add interest to your research.
In developing this section, your club might use a number of sources. Sources you might consider tapping into include:
Step 3: Get it on paper
The third step is to get writing! This will take time to craft, but collate all of your research into one place; create an outline of what areas you are going to cover and then fill in the blanks. Be careful about including sensitive or debatable information - try to stick to the “facts”.
It’s also a good idea to get your work edited by a single person at the end of the project so that the writing is well structured, readable and is free of grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Go to top
How do we use our club history?
Release and communicate your work!
It would be a shame if you did all that great work and then no-one ever saw it! Get out there amongst your club members and show them what you’ve found. You might consider a special edition printed copy for an anniversary event, or putting it on your club website so you can update it over time. Don’t let it gather dust in the back of your club!
You might even get the local media interested if you can demonstrate something interesting or a unique angle in your work – free positive publicity is great for attracting members to your club.
Go to top
