Hockey Ireland ‘GO’ Membership database

This page updated in August 2021.

North Down HC is affiliated to Hockey Ireland (HI) through its affiliation to Ulster Hockey (UH).

At its AGM in 2018 HI approved the introduction of a new HI membership system.  This also had the support of UH.

HI required every club affiliated to HI to supply the names, email addresses and dates of birth of every playing member from age 6 upwards.  For under 18s, a parent’s email address was required.  We supplied this information.

This is our understanding  of the system and how it affects our members.

Initially HI wanted to know the numbers and age ranges of people actually playing hockey in Ireland, information which could also be of interest to potential sponsors. HI will use the database to distribute information on HI activities.  At North Down we assume that the database is also of interest to potential sponsors.  We were advised that there would be an opt out facility for individuals not wishing to receive marketing information.

Each of our playing members was allocated a unique ID number which they retain permanently even if they subsequently transfer to another club.  This number is included in ‘Your Profile’ on the GO Membership system accessed on the Hockey Ireland website www.hockey.ie.  In the future, this ID number may be included on match cards which at some future date may also be electronically based.  The ID system may also be extended to include a photo ID card or smart phone link.  There is no timescale for any of this that we are aware of.

From season 2021/22, each playing member will be individually billed for their HI membership, see below, directly by email from HI.  Members who are not on the system for season 2021/22, or who do not pay by the cut off date for 2021/22, will be ineligible to play in any UH/HI competition.  It is each member’s responsibility to update their profile information on the GO system including, importantly, any change of email address as this is the prime medium of communication.

For 2020/21, every club paid affiliation fees to HI, via UH, of £442 per team – in our case a total of £4420 which, for North Down, equates to approx. £25 per senior playing member.

The Board of Hockey Ireland have empowered themselves to set whatever membership fees they require without subsequent approval by clubs.

At the HI AGM on 20 May 2021, held on Zoom, the following membership fees in Euros were imposed:

For 2021/22

Senior club         465 per team (ie the same as 2020/21) !!

Adult player        10

Under 18 player 20

Under 13 player 10

Coach (Premier) 35

Non player (!)     10

We have estimated that the total cost to our Club and it’s members, including an estimate of bank charges and exchange rates , for 2021/22 will increase from £4420 to £10092 an increase of over 128%.

For 2022/23

Senior club        200 (in our case – 2 clubs, no #one club concept here)

Junior club        100

Adult player        35

Under 18 player 20

Under 13 player 10

Coach (Premier) 35

Non player          10

Total estimated cost to North Down and it’s members £9926.

The announcement of these imposed fees was greeted with considerable opposition at the AGM and financial figures quoted by similar sized clubs to ourselves were broadly in agreement with our estimates.  There was no vote allowed on the announcement.

For info, just over 60% of HI’s expenditure of 1,897,650 euros in year ended 31/12/20 was incurred on the international teams.

We will reflect these increased costs to our members when setting future subscription levels.  The rates set at our AGM in July 2021 for 2021/22 are lower than those set for 2019/20 and we will consider rates for 2022/23 in due course in order to minimise the affects on members.

We will continue to update information on this page when it is received.