ABOUT SALSC

What does SALSC mean?

SALSC stands for the Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils.

What is SALSC?

SALSC is a ‘not-for-profit’ national organisation supporting our member Local Sports Councils to deliver quality local sport and physical activity opportunities to their local communities. With a membership of over 50 Local Sports Councils from all over Scotland, in total representing almost 10,000 sports clubs, SALSC is a truly Scottish association. We work in partnership with key bodies such as sportscotland and the Scottish Government to develop sport and volunteering in sport at the local, grass roots level to ensure everyone in Scotland has access to quality opportunities to get physically active.

What is a Local Sports Council?

A Local Sports Council is a voluntary body representing sports clubs from a particular geographical region. Local Sports Councils are vital because collectively sports clubs represent a significant number of the local community making them far more effective in delivering local events and opportunities and getting the ear of the local authority, leisure trust and elected members.

What does SALSC do?

SALSC, in its broadest definition, exists to support and represent the views of its member local sports councils, who in turn represent the views of Scotland’s sports clubs. Through its restructuring SALSC is now able to support its members in new ways:

At a strategic level, the SALSC’s Management Board…

• Ensures local sports clubs are represented and given due consideration in the development of national sports and volunteer strategies

• Develops relations with local authorities and national partners so SALSC members have access to and are suitably informed and prepared for any changes and developments in such areas as child protection, grant aid schemes and volunteer development

• Works in partnership with national partners to enable consultation work with clubs to be distributed through Local Sports Councils to ensure grass root sport from across Scotland is represented

Through its working groups SALSC can also offer practical support…

• With proper financial procedures in place and through gaining company limited by guarantee status SALSC will be able to apply for larger grants to provide more and better services for its members

• By investing in technology SALSC can keep its members up to date with the latest information by developing its newsletter and website services

• Increase the level of support and number of SALSC sporting events held each year

• Through work with national partners the SALSC seminar can begin to offer more practical and up to date support for Local Sports Councils and community clubs

• By affiliating to ISCA and the extensive network of European contacts SALSC can offer a number of international opportunities in the forms of scholarships, seminar, forums and tours

• Through these international events SALSC has developed an extensive network of European contacts resulting in the opportunity to participate in European exchanges with and learning from visiting European clubs in a number of sports

• By working closely with national partners and Local Sports Councils SALSC can ensure its members receive appropriate support that is both relevant to them, easy to use and understand, and easily accessible.

To find out more about the role of the Management Board and working groups in delivering this support please visit the SALSC Committees pages on this website.

What do Local Sports Councils do?

Local Sports Councils play a very important role in local communities providing an independent voice for local sports clubs, regardless of size or sport. This is especially important for small clubs or minority sports but can be equally beneficial to large and even professional clubs – collectively, as the Local Sports Council, clubs represent a significant number of the local community. This makes Local Sports Councils well positioned in the community for raising important local sporting issues with their local authority and locally elected members. It is for this reason that Local Sports Councils are required - to respond to local needs, with the its national body providing support to ensure it is well equipped to meet those needs.

While this element of work is a crucial aspect of what Local Sports Councils do, this work is nonetheless reactive. It is equally important that Local Sports Councils are seen to be proactive – supporting its member clubs, being visible in the local community and playing their part in encouraging people to get physically active. This can include distributing funds to clubs, holding events, facilitating workshops, acting as the quality checking agency for local sports clubs and developing links with Active Schools to create pathways from schools to clubs. However, Local Sports Councils are limited by their human and financial resources. It is for this reason that SALSC promotes partnership working between Local Sports Councils and local authorities to ensure its members are adequately supported to best serve the local sporting community.

Ultimately, there is no hard and fast definition of what a Local Sports Council should and should not do because each community has its own needs but it is the job of Local Sports Councils to react and meet those needs if they are to be effective and add value to their local sporting community.