Costs

What you need to pay and when

There is no annual membership fee.

Each period of our cricketing year (autumn term, spring term, summer season and holiday camps) can be paid for separately. You are not obliged to book into all of these, though naturally the more that players train, the better they, and their teams, will become, and the more they will probably enjoy their cricket. 

Although there is no annual membership, players must be registered before taking part in any cricket session. We do this in our online registration & payment system.

For the purposes of voting at the club's Annual General Meeting, we treat payment for the summer as "membership". Parents have vote per junior member. Juniors who have played regularly in senior cricket can vote for themselves.

Costs for the 2023/23 school year

Autumn term 2023 & spring term 2024 indoor training costs

SMCC indoor training with 360 Cricket - Is £135 for a course of 10 x 1 hour sessions or £205 for a course of 10 x 90 minute sessions. There are no sibling discounts for indoor training.

Summer term costs (2024)

There is a single fee covering training, matches and year-round access to the grounds to use nets outside of official club training times. 

This fee is to be paid to the club (not 360 Cricket) via the Spond app.

Mixed boys/girls squads

• • School year Reception & Year 1 (Under 5-6s) mixed squad: £105 (60 minute training sessions)

  • School year 2 (Under 7s) mixed squad: £105 (60 minute training sessions)

Girls' squads

• • School year 3-4 (Girls Under 8-9s): £165

  • Schoo year 5 (Girls Under 10s): £165

  • School year 6-7 (Girls Under 11-12s): £165

  • School year 8-9 (Girls Under 13-14s): £165

  • School year 10-11 (Girls Under 15-16s): £165

  • Girls U17-18s: £60 (All players under 18 should be registered as a junior even if playing in senior cricket only; concession rate per-session training fees and match fees also apply for women's cricket). Rises to £90 if not paid by 15 May.

Boys' squads

• • School year 3 (Boys Under 8s): £165 (NB. this was £105 last year; but sessions in 2023 will be 90 rather than 60 minutes)

  • School year 4 (Boys Under 9s): £165

  • School year 5 (Boys Under 10s): £165

  • School year 6 (Boys Under 11s): £165

  • School year 7 (Boys Under 12s): £165

  • School year 8 (Boys Under 13s): £165

  • School year 9 (Boys Under 14s): £165

  • School year 10 (Boys Under 15s): £165

  • Development Squad - School year 11+ (Boys Under 16-18s): £75 (all under 18s should be registered as a junior; concession rate match fees also apply for senior games). Rises to £90 if not paid by 15 May.

We do not have any match fees for junior games.

Reduced match fees (50%) apply in senior games and Development Squad games. These are to be paid via the Teamo app. Match fees primarily pay for the food and drinks that are provided during the tea interval. See the men's and women's pages on our main website for details.

Development Squad summer training is also optional to be paid separately via the Teamo app.

Sibling discounts: Our online payment system does not enable us to process sibling discounts, however, you will instead get the equivalent value back in the form of a 'bar tab' for £30 per child (after the first) which can be used to purchase drinks, food or anything else that is available for purchase from the bar at the clubhouse. Please ask about this at the bar.

You are not obliged to buy club clothing, but it is very popular and nearly all parents buy a club shirt and cap for junior players. 

Holiday camp costs

• Holiday camps (during the school holidays) - prices for 2023 will be confirmed in due course per camp, but in 2022 the cost was approximately £45/day (9am-3pm) with discounts for booking multiple days. There are no sibling discounts for summer camps.

Joining mid-way through a course or season

Players joining mid-way though an indoor course or mid-way through the summer period will pay on a pro-rated basis for the remainder of the period or course only. If you are signing up online and the cost does not look right, please contact us.

New players can join at any time, as long as we have space. If you want your child to attend a taster session, we will be happy for you to do so where we have space available. If your child doesn't enjoy it and doesn't wish to continue, then you won't owe the club anything. If your child does wish to continue, we normally ask you to pay for the sessions already attended. We find that the majority of kids trying cricket with us love it and want to continue.

Ability to pay is not a barrier to play and bursary fund

SMCC is proud of our "ability to pay is not a barrier to play" policy and bursary fund.

If you have a player who wants to play but you will have difficulty with the fees, please let us know of your circumstances and we will be happy to discuss an affordable fee smcccolts@gmail.com. 

For those on very low or no incomes, we can potentially also provide assistance with purchasing clothing and equipment.

Please note that for the summer season, it is also possible to set up monthly instalments. As the summer goes on, we reduce the number of months that the cost is spread over so that fees will still be paid by the end of the summer term.

How do our fees compare to other local cricket clubs?

In 2018, we benchmarked our fees against around 20 other local clubs. Some clubs charge separate membership and training fees. Some clubs charge match fees in addition to membership. Some clubs do not offer sibling discounts. But on the whole, our prices were around average for the region, and we expect that is still the case as our prices have risen roughly in line with, or below, inflation since that time.

How is the money used?

We are a non-profit Community Amateur Sports Club (similar to a charity).

The fees we charge are used to pay for coaching, pitch hire, balls, insurance and so on, and to make a proportionate contribution to the general running and upkeep of the club.

Nearly all of the running of the club is done by members volunteering their time, but the club has outgoings in the region of £150-200k per year. 

The junior section, after paying for its own costs, typically contributes around £25,000 to the general upkeep of the club. This covers the juniors' share of ground rent, grounds maintenance, building maintenance, insurance, utility bills and so on.

Finances are reviewed several times per year by the club's Executive Committee, on which the juniors have 2-3 representatives. Accounts are published annually as part of the club's Annual General Meeting, and in line with ECB ClubMark guidelines, our accounts are also checked each year by a qualified accountant.

At present, the club typically makes a surplus of around £10-20k per year. We initially used this to build up a cash reserve of £20k in order to protect the club from any major equipment or building repair expenses. In 2022, we used around £40k of club funds, combined with grants of around £90k , to build new practice nets and to carry out essential repairs to the clubhouse. We are now planning towards other improvements such as a bore hole / storage tank and sprinkler system and delivering our pavilion replacement project.