Patrick wrote:Governing bodies seem to prefer to focus attention and resources on further boosting successful clubs in preference to reviving the fortunes of those that are declining.
I can see why you might think that, but to be fair to BO, and my own region, this is not the case in my experience.BO's development initiatives have mostly been non event based, but with partnership with any willing club. In my own region, small club DFOK and large club SO both did 'club nights'. DFOK and Saxons are involved with 'Find my way'.
Patrick wrote: a considerably greater number that are shrinking towards potential non-viability
That is an interesting point - but what is non-viability?
Non-viability could be defined as the point where the club can't even get key committee post holders to volunteer, probably chair, treasurer, mapping, secretary. We could call this viability level 1. That's a very low bar.
However the definition of non-viability could be that the club regularly can't raise full teams for the key national club competitions, ie Peter Palmer, YBT or (returning to the original post) the Compass Sport Cup (unless you take the view that it is the competition(s) that are unviable). This could be viability level 2.
Another definition of viability might include if the club is actively trying to get new members and develop its existing members, through publicity, coaching, schools initiatives etc. Viability level 3. This is what a new member with a background in team sports might expect. I suspect very many clubs are not at this level.
A few years ago people might remember 'club mark', I think a Sport England thing so a lot of hoops and box ticking, but it forced (small, possibly unviable) clubs to get someone qualified as a coach, enter some juniors into a competition. When I was at DFOK it was a bit of a milestone to actually enter a junior team at a JK, the first for many years (and a club mark box ticked). A BO developed club mark might force clubs to look at where they are and whether indeed they are not viable and would be better off merging... but alternatively give clubs a nudge to improve and think beyond just holding events.