New Club....New Concept 

Canterbury is the largest metropolitan region in the UK without a Senior representative football team. The new Canterbury City Football Club CIC* intends to put that right. But there is more to it than that. The club has been set up in a way that is unique in British football, being the first in the country to be formed from scratch as a Community Interest Company. The aim is to provide Canterbury with a club that the great city deserves and make it an asset for the community. The steering committee has been working hard to set the foundations but needs your help to  achieve the objectives.

Phil Knight, Chairman of the committee, explains:-

 “With the demise of Canterbury City Football Club in 1999, an unbroken record of almost 100 years of competitive senior football came to an end and left the city of Canterbury without a senior representative  football team.

A group drawn widely from the local football community worked resolutely behind the scenes to explore the possibility of re-launching the club and continues to be in discussion with the local council as to how a community football stadium/facility might be developed.

In order to embed the club within the local community it has been incorporated as a Community Interest Company and operates within pre-agreed community objectives which are monitored annually. Ownership of the club will remain firmly within its membership, with all corporate and individual members enjoying identical voting rights".

*What is a CIC?    Community Interest Companies are a new form of non-profit distributing organisations that have community objectives at their core and can prove each year that they  have worked towards and met these objectives. Canterbury City FC decided to incorporate as a CIC because:-

1.  It meets the club’s determination to involve itself deeply in the community. The club and Canterbury City Council are in full agreement that the Canterbury City FC project starts from the community and works upwards towards senior football.                                                                          
2. Asset locks the club, ensuring that no one individual can take control of the assets enjoyed by the club or its membership.
3.  Allows the club to be owned by its membership – with private and corporate members having identical voting rights – including the make up of the Board.
4.  Allows the club to form Charitable Partnerships. The club has identified the local Pilgrim’s Hospice as their key partner and is working on a number of initiatives with them.
5.  Gives confidence to members, the Council and other partner agencies that the club has been built on firm foundations.