Why Lewes Bonfire Societies Are Stupidly Shunned by Lewes FC
WHAT IS CO-OPTING A BOARD MEMBER?
Under the terms of our constitution, we have an elected board. We are also permitted to co-opt, appoint members. It is rightly suggested that the club co-opt people from the community who can bring something fresh and important to the club, add a real functionality cog between the club and the community.
DO LEWES CO-OPT BOARD MEMBERS
I once asked a pivotal member of the board why Lewes FC had not ever co-opted anybody and was told the board felt they had all the skill sets covered. We have recently co-opted some women with experience in women’s football but certainly for the first eight years of community ownership Lewes FC co-opted nobody.
WHO SHOULD LEWES FC CO-OPT?
I believe it was the 2017 AGM that a board member conceded the club was at a loss on how to sort out the debacle that is the catering. The logical thing would be to co-opt somebody from the catering industry, a local landlord or landlady perhaps.
But it is sheer stupidity that Lewes FC has never co-opted somebody from the Lewes Bonfire Council or of similar kudos.
WHY BONFIRE.
Lewes Bonfire is the beating heart of the town. It is the largest amalgamation of bonfire societies in the UK. 6 societies, some with 2000 members. Lewes FC is supposed to be a community club and has no links with the institutions that define the town. Lewes FC boasts about having 2900 members, most from around the world through marketing strategies, but Lewes Bonfire has maybe twice that just I the town.
WHAT WOULD BONFIRE BRING TO LEWES FC
The local community. A wealthy community of volunteers and enthusiasts that on the whole shuns the football club. There is an uneasy stand-off as the society’s memberships know the football club is run by people who do not know or understand the town or Bonfire. Many board members have privately acknowledged to me that Lewes FC ‘has lost the town.’
A healthy relationship with Lewes FC working with Bonfire and Bonfire being on the board would bring the enormous organisational skills that are needed to put on the largest Bonfire celebrations in the UK, once up to 80,000 people. The links and connections to the community and Lewes commerce that Bonfire would bring is awesome. Most importantly the goodwill would begin to mend the links between Lewes FC Community Club and the Lewes Town Community back together again.
WILL THIS HAPPEN?
Not a hope in hell. Lewes FC is farrowing a dangerous path of overstretching itself enormously financially and is beyond believing that getting the community onside can help fund this in a self-sustained way and are instead chasing outside investment.
HYPOCRITICAL?
100%. This is a board that promised the membership it would run the club within it’s own means within the community and instead is running up gigantic profit and loss deficits chasing money from big sponsors out of the town.
The Rights of Fans. 