On Saturday 16th July, CAST attended the in-person AGM of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) at Plough Lane, home of AFC Wimbledon. During the meeting it was confirmed that CAST board member Heather Alderson has been elected to the National Council of the FSA as one of three representatives from Leagues One and Two.
In addition to looking out for Johnnie Jackson and having a look at the Dons’ rather swanky new conference and hospitality suites, Heather attended the meeting and two very interesting workshops.
The main business of the AGM was to review the chair, treasurer and CEO reports for the year in which the FSA has led the fan contribution to the Fan-led review of Football. Given the current hiatus (other words were also used!) in government, everyone stressed the importance of keeping the pressure on to make sure it is adopted.
CAST was a signatory to a motion proposed by West Ham Supporters’ Trust to work to introduce a common set of regulatory standards for any cryptocurrency partnership entered into by a football club, as well as to develop an awareness campaign so that football fans are aware of the risks involved.
Here is the FSA summary of the meeting:
https://thefsa.org.uk/news/round-up-fsa-agm-2022/
In the afternoon there was a series of workshops.
The first was on Fan tokens, NFTs (non-fungible token) and crypto currencies. Andy Walsh of FSA gave an excellent briefing into the world of block chain etc. as it applies to football. As a supporters’ trust, this will enable us to be informed and vigilant on this matter.
Our simple take out at this point is that the extension of fan merchandise to include electronic as well as physical merchandise, via NFTs is not necessarily an issue in itself (21st century Panini stickers?). However, speculation and payment in a crypto currency is of concern because, as yet, the market is entirely unregulated.
CAST also attended the Pledgeball workshop. The commitment Charlton supporters declared to help reduce climate change last season puts us 3rd in the league table behind Bristol City and Whitehawk FC. We’d love to win it in the 22/23 season. So, expect more from us on that.