Annual membership

Whilst it is possible for clubs to set up membership payments on their own website, it is more common for them to use a third party online service, such as LoveAdmin or Register Now for this purpose.

Some major sporting bodies allow memberships to be paid through their websites, or allow clubs to set up online payments through the club websites that have been provided to them. For instance:

• Cricket Australia's MyCricket allows clubs to set up online payments for membership and other purposes. The system operates using the Playcricket online service.

• England Athletics provide a number of different options for club secretaries to facilitate online registration to their club athletes.

• Athletics Victoria offers a similar service to England Athletics.

It is interesting that clubs that charge a regular weekly fee (such as a match or training fee) tend not to use online payments to collect these. They still receive cash payments or use Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) devices for these. Probably the main reason for this is the small amounts of cash involved. Annual membership generally involves larger amounts of money and can be tied into other important aspects of playing or competing (such as being insured).

Note that in some instances (such as athletics), online registration is required by the major sporting body, so for some clubs there is no need to have such a system.

There are a number of benefits and concerns related to the use online financial transactions for membership fees that may influence clubs to adopt them or not. The following benefits and concerns have been raised by clubs and include whether the club has its own system or uses that of a major sporting body.

Benefits

• Less need to handle cash.

• There is a record of each transaction.

• The system used often asks members to update their contact details at the time of registration, which is useful for clubs attempting to keep in contact with members.

• The system may be associated with a database that can be used to manage member details in general.

• The burden on volunteers is lessened in the long run.

Concerns or reasons for not using online membership payments

• If some people still insist on paying 'offline' there is a need to balance two systems.

• Most members are already paying by cash, EFT machine or via 'direct debit' to the club's bank account. That is, the existing system works.

• There may be fees associated with setting up or using the online system.

• There may be credit card fees that will need to be paid by the player or club.

• The system can be difficult to set up for multi-sport clubs.

• Some people still have concerns about the security and privacy associated with such transactions.