A Message from the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust
There is a lot going on with your Swans Trust but we wanted to take the time to keep all of our members up to date with what we are doing and how the new board is settling in. We are sorry that it has been a while in between updates, we have seen some key departures to the Trust board and it has taken a little while for the new members to settle in.
August and September is always a busy time with the dawn of a new season, electing the board members to represent the fans and dealing with a new membership campaign.
Your Supporters’ Trust Board: This year has seen quite a radical change with the structure of the board. Firstly, we have lost over thirty years of incredible service to the Trust with the departures of Supporter Director Stuart MacDonald, Trust Chair Andrew Godden and Associate Director and DSA representative Cath Dyer. We thank them for their invaluable work over the years and wish them all the very best. Their presence will be sorely missed.
As one door closes another one opens and these departures created opportunities for new members to join the board and for other more experienced officers to take on greater responsibility. We all work with the unified aim of representing our members best interests and of serving both the Trust and the club as best we can.
Your new Trust board is now as follows: Chair– Dave Dalton; Supporter Director – Terry Sinnett; Associate Director – Sian Davies and Vice Chair – Ceri Stone. Board members are: Adam Lewis (co-opted); Nick Phillips; Carys Ingram; Howell Williams; Rupert Thomas; Chris Golledge and Howard Corder. All of our details can be found on the Trust website here: https://www.swanstrust.co.uk/meet-the-trust-board/.
Membership: We are in the midst of a new membership cycle and we are pleased to note that our numbers are tracking consistently with previous years. It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you at the POD before games, where you can join or renew membership if you choose not to do so online.
There has never been a more important time to join the Trust. If you haven’t already done so it is very easy. Simply click on the following link https://www.swanstrust.co.uk/join-the-trust/ and you can join the Trust right away and make your voice heard. Spread the word amongst the Jack Army because no membership means no opinion.
By joining you ensure you will continue to receive regular news and updates from your Trust and be entered into our monthly member prize draws that we launched earlier this year. You will also be notified of any upcoming events and member related issues and of course be allowed to continue with your voting rights in significant matters as and when required.
Club Related Matters: With a new board and elected officers, plus the reopening of the stadium to fans we have been actively working with the club to ensure a great match day experience for all supporters. We have been building new relationships with the club and although it is early days for some of our officers all the signs are of a very positive working atmosphere. To date we have been able to assist or provide guidance on the following:
- Helping the club with their communications to ensure their messages reach all fans across the many social media platforms.
- We have been involved with the implementation of the new turnstiles and ticketing scheme and support the club’s decision to bring us up to date and in line with most other clubs in the league. • We have been actively involved with various inclusivity schemes/groups by working with and attending meetings with United Against Racism, the DSA, Her Game Too and Proud Swans. We are also delighted that new board member Carys Ingram is an active member of Proud Swans and she is a highly valued and welcome addition to our board. In the long term we aim to be a leading example and be the most inclusive group of supporters in the UK.
- We have also been assisting with the redevelopment of the Riverside Bar and are delighted with how it is taking shape, especially given the constraints of Covid-19 and a lack of available staff. The club have made great strides so far.
- The Trust POD is now open again. It is situated next to the club shop and it is a great chance for you come and engage with the board members on duty and to complete any membership applications. The response so far has been great. To date we have received a lot of comments about the lack of a physical match day programme and our Supporter Director will be passing this on to the club’s leadership team. We understand the club’s decision to cease the publication from a financial point of view, with publishing costs becoming unsustainable, however the response from fans is that this decision drastically impacts on the match day experience.
Gambling Guardian: We would like to congratulate one of our new board members, Nick Phillips, who in the past two weeks has carried out some extraordinary work to encourage the government to ban Gambling advertising. As we write Nick has just handed over a petition to 10 Downing Street alongside Gambling with Lives and the Big Step. As part of the Coalition Against Gambling Ads they ask the Government to end all gambling advertising. This is off the back of a week-long #Parkthebus tour around the whole of the UK to raise awareness.
More information can be found at: https://www.gambling-guardian.com/
Keep up the great work Nick.
Former Players Association (FPA): Many of you will have seen the launch recently of the new Swansea City Former Players Association. The FPA is being overseen by a working committee comprising former players and invited officers, including new Trust chair Dave Dalton.
The Trust are fully in support of this initiative, especially as we have been encouraging the club to establish it for a long while. There are a number of events planned over the coming months including a memory walk around Swansea in aid of Alzheimer’s Society Cymru, coffee mornings in or around the stadium and other events that the committee are working on.
https://www.swanseacity.com/community/former-players-association
Here’s to a great season.
Swansea City Supporters’ Trust
25th September 2021
