Mergers & Amalgamations: what’s our shirt going to look like?!?
Mergers and amalgamations are in the wind. They’re being whispered about in committee meeting rooms and broadcast widely as many sports become ‘one’. CPR Group’s Director of Sport and Community Development, Steve Connelly, has been helping lots of clubs with the process. He’s seen the fears, the hold-ups, and the long-term benefits that can occur with each club’s journey to one entity.
Let’s get rid of the whispers and discuss mergers and amalgamations.
But we love our club!
Our clubs are an important part of our lives. We love our club, our sport, and the people we’ve grown close to in our clubs. Perhaps our whole family, over multiple generations has been a part of the club. With a discussion starting about a merger or amalgamation it’s understandable that there is also a fear of losing the attachment to the club, to its history and traditions.
The emotional attachment people have with their clubs can hold up the process – not only because of the fear of loss, but it can also convert small discussions into big, time-consuming issues. It’s often the little challenges that bring the process undone, for example “what’s our new shirt going to look like?!?”
The merger or amalgamation does not have to mean a loss of a club’s identity; rather it can be seen as a chance to really focus on what has made both clubs great – and to capitalise on each club’s achievements and the fantastic people within the clubs. A discussion about a merger or amalgamation wouldn’t have begun without a good synergy between what each club is already trying to achieve.
There are so many unknowns!
People are often afraid of change, or are they? It’s often not the change itself that is scary, but the unknown that the change brings. In the volunteer world it can go deeper than that. Yes, there could be fear about the money, about the work, but it’s also that human element.
There will always be different people and different circumstances around the history of the club. So, remember to take the journey you need to take! Don’t rush the process – don’t rush your members. And ensure each member is heard and has the opportunity to provide genuine input.
A merger or amalgamation is always going to take work – and volunteers never have enough time – but it can be done, step by step. There will be a teething process. But it gets easier and pays off in the long run. People will look back, even the nay-sayers, and say, “Oh I see, it was worth it”.
What is the difference between merging or an amalgamation?
In Queensland, there are two common paths for separate incorporated bodies to follow in becoming a single legal entity: amalgamating or merging.
Merging
Merging involves one club taking on the assets, liabilities, operations, members and volunteers of another club, which then winds up and deregisters.
This is typically a simpler process than amalgamating, as the continuing club retains its legal status, ABN, bank accounts and any legal contracts or agreements such as tenure arrangements, liquor and gaming licenses. If desired, the members might agree that the continuing club changes its name to reflect its combined operations.
Unlike amalgamation, the merge process is not enshrined in law and can be customised to the needs of the clubs combining to create one legal entity. A merge is essentially a contractual agreement between two clubs to form a single organisation.
While merging is a simpler overall process, depending on the situation, this option can be a difficult decision for the club winding up.
Amalgamations
Through the amalgamation process, two existing clubs join together to form a new incorporated association, with the assets, liabilities, operations, members and volunteers of both clubs automatically transferring to the new amalgamated entity. There is no need for formal transfers of ownership and, upon amalgamation, each of the original clubs is taken to have been dissolved and to have had its incorporation cancelled.
It is important to note that through the amalgamation process, the amalgamated entity requires a new name, certificate of incorporation, constitution and management committee. The process essentially establishes a new club, and this means that legal contracts or agreements such as tenure arrangements and liquor and gaming licenses held by one or both existing clubs may need to be re-negotiated, or fees may need to be paid to transfer these contracts to the new entity.
Listen to Michael and Steve discuss mergers & amalgamations in more detail on Basket Case Clubs.
