Key facts
- £1 a day + VAT: annual at £365 + VAT or monthly at £35 + VAT
- Fixtures, results and league widgets kept working
- Membership forms and subscriptions via hosted payment providers
- Junior photos only with consent; location data stripped from images
- Cloudflare caching for match-day and registration-day traffic
- Domain and hosting held in the club's name
What club websites get used for
A club website is a noticeboard, a recruitment tool and a sponsor showcase. Members check fixtures and results, parents look for training times and kit, new players want to know how to join, and sponsors want to see their logo. Many clubs also embed league tables or results from their governing body's systems. We keep those embeds working and the site fast on a phone at the side of the pitch.
Junior members and safeguarding
If you have junior sections, your governing body will have safeguarding guidance that covers photos and online content. Common good practice:
- Publish photos of children only with parental consent.
- Avoid full names next to photos of junior players.
- Strip location data from photos before uploading. Phones often embed GPS coordinates.
- Publish your welfare officer's contact details and safeguarding policy clearly.
- Keep registration forms with medical or emergency contact details out of ordinary email and in a proper membership system.
Memberships and payments
Subs, registrations and event tickets are best taken through a hosted payment provider or a club membership platform, so card details never touch your server. If you run WooCommerce for kit or memberships, we'll keep basket and checkout pages out of the cache so prices and stock are always correct. See WooCommerce hosting. Registration day and the start of the season bring traffic spikes; Cloudflare caching helps the site cope.
Surviving the AGM
Club committees change every year or two, and the website often goes with the outgoing secretary. Keep the domain registered to the club, not a person. Keep the hosting account under a club email address. We'll deal with whoever the committee nominates and can help recover a site if access has been lost. See abandoned website takeover.
One fixed price
dijitul Complete Hosting is £1 a day + VAT, billed annually at £365 + VAT or monthly at £35 + VAT. It includes a domain, daily backups, free SSL and free migration of your existing site. Order at clients.dijitul.uk/order. Clubs that are charities or CASCs may find hosting for charities useful too.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best website hosting for a sports club?
A managed host with a fixed, budgetable cost that keeps fixtures and membership forms working and backs the site up. dijitul hosts club websites for £1 a day + VAT, with a domain, backups, SSL and free migration included.
Can a sports club put photos of junior players on its website?
Only with parental consent and in line with your governing body's safeguarding guidance. Avoid full names next to photos, and strip location data from images before uploading them.
How should a club take membership subs online?
Use a hosted payment provider or a club membership platform, so card details never touch your website. Link to it from your site. If you sell memberships through WooCommerce, make sure checkout pages aren't cached.
Who should own a sports club's domain name?
The club, not an individual volunteer. Register it in the club's name with a club email address, so it survives committee changes. dijitul registers domains in the customer's name.
Our club's website went with the old secretary. Can we get it back?
Often yes. Check who the domain is registered to and contact the registrar. dijitul helps clubs recover domains and websites, moves them into the club's name and hosts them for £1 a day + VAT.
Do we need a website if we use social media and a club app?
Social media and apps are great for members, but a website on your own domain is what new players, parents and sponsors find on Google. It's also somewhere you control, regardless of platform changes.
Related
Set it up and forget about it
Managed hosting, Plesk, Cloudflare DNS, daily backups and your domain for £1 a day + VAT. We move your site for you.