Hockey Ireland Relaunches Clubmark — With Grant Money for Clubs That Finish It
Hockey Ireland has relaunched Clubmark, its club accreditation programme, and this time there is money on the table for the clubs that see it through.
Clubs that complete the Bronze accreditation before the end of 2027 can claim €300 (or £300 for clubs in Northern Ireland). Finish Silver and the grant rises to €400 or £400. The money is for the club to spend on its own projects, initiatives and equipment.
That is not small change for a club. A few hundred euro buys a set of cones, a few balls, a bit of kit, or puts a dent in a coaching course. And the point of Clubmark is bigger than the grant. The programme is about identifying, developing, accrediting and recognising high-quality clubs, and it gives every affiliated club a clear structure to work through.
It starts at Bronze. Any Hockey Ireland affiliated club can apply, and the idea is to build a proper Club Development Strategy from there: how the club is run, what programmes it offers, how it attracts and keeps members, and how it meets a quality standard in governance and safeguarding.
More than 20 clubs have already completed Bronze and Silver since the programme launched. The relaunch is aimed at the ones that haven’t started yet, or the ones that started and stalled. Templates are in the Toolkit section of the Clubmark page on hockey.ie, with separate application forms for clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Any questions go to your Regional Development Officer.
Why this matters
Club hockey runs on volunteers, and volunteers run on time they don’t have. Programmes like this only work if the ask is clear and the reward is real. A grant for finishing is a real reward, and the structure matters too. A club that has thought through its governance, its safeguarding and its plan for the next few years is a club that survives.
Irish hockey has had a busy month off the pitch. The men’s national team is in transition, with Mark Tumilty stepping down as head coach and assistant Neville Rothman in as interim. Clubmark is the other side of the same coin: the work that keeps the game healthy underneath the international level. If your club hasn’t done it yet, this is the moment.
