1. WHAT IS THE RegISTRATION FEE?
The player registration fee for the 2024/25 season is £265.00.
The Committee has always prided itself on ensuring we provide 'affordable football for all' and during the Covid-19 pandemic the club subsidised the annual registration fee by £10,000pa, for two consecutive seasons. After child welfare, our next priority is to ensure as many children as possible can play, and nobody is unable to due to economic reasons.
The registration fee across the 2024/35 season has risen slightly - by £20, compared to last season. This is due to the increase in costs of 3G pitches across the town, as well as the general inflation on footballing equipment and kit.
Our registration fee is reviewed annually, and voted on by our Committee. The fee is in-line, or cheaper, than many local clubs of our size, and considering we don't own our own pitches or property, the club has to run highly efficiently to keep costs to a minimum. All in all, across a 48 week season, a registration to Hitchin Town Youth FC costs around £5.50 a week - about the same cost as a box of washing powder - which also comes in handy...
2. WHAT DOES THE REGISTRATION FEE COVER?
The annual registration fee of £265.00 covers the following:
- League, Herts FA and County Cup (where applicable) registration fees
- Player insurance with Blue Finn Insurance
- Full HTYFC football kit (every two seasons)
- Midweek training fees (Floodlit 3G in winter, grass in summer - approx 44 weeks per year)
- Match day pitch fees (approx 20 games per season)
- Friendly match pitch fees (where applicable)
- Match day Referee fees (from U11 - U18)
- Core equipment - new balls, bibs, cones, respect lines, first-aid kits, etc
- Coach DBS checks
- Coaches training costs including safeguarding and first-aid training
- Administration costs (website, accounting, welfare costs, etc)
- End of season player awards and trophies
- Any additional league and Football Association fee's.
Like many community clubs we are often asked if the registration fee offers good value for money. Just on the number of occasions a child will be partaking in football activities (and not including friendlies), if you consider your child receives up to 44 training sessions and 20 matches per season, this equates to a cost per training/match of around £4.14p (£265.00 / 64), and across a 48 week season, approx £5.50 per week. Set against other clubs and societies in the town, the Committee believes this still provides excellent value for money.
3. REGISTRATION FEES WHEN JOINING MID-SEASON
4. HOW DO WE PAY?
Each individual team Manger/Secretary is responsible for collecting all registration payments from their players. Parents/Guardians can either pay the registration fee in full, or in two instalments of (1st half) £132.50 by 30 June 2024 and (2nd half) £132.50 by 30 September 2024.
Once a team Manager/Secretary has collected all the payments for their team, he/she then transfers that to the club account.
Parents do not pay the Committee individually, and we don't accept cash.
5. WHAT IF WE LEAVE MID-SEASON - DO WE GET A REFUND?
On occasions we understand a player may need to leave a team midway through a season. In these cases we offer the following terms and conditions:
- Players who have paid either the first half payment of £132.50 or the registration fee of £265.00 in full, and depart the club before the 1st day of September of the playing season will be eligible for a full refund, provided they return their full kit.
- Players who have paid the full Annual Registration fee of £265.00 and depart the club before the 1st day of December of the playing season will be eligible for a 50% refund (£132.50).
- Players who have paid the full Annual Registration fee of £265.00 but depart the club on or after 1st day of December of the playing season will not be eligible for any refund of annual subscription fees.
- Please Note: All player departures and subsequent refunds (where applicable and decided by the Committee) will be subject to any outstanding current, or impending, fines due to disciplinary and/or misconduct charges imposed against that player (or their family members/guardians) by the FA or HTYFC, being paid. Any outstanding fines will be subtracted from the refund amount.
