Over the years grassroots football has faced many battles.
There have been financial crashes, economic peaks and troughs, policy changes of local councils, reductions in provisions and facilities, different government policies and most recently a pandemic that brought the game to a complete stop.
All of these challenges had one thing in common; they made the life of a grassroots volunteer that little bit harder. They created obstacles, some of which we had never seen before and weren’t prepared for.
However, collectively, as a community, we rallied together, took on these challenges and ultimately found our own ways to get through them. The current cost of living crisis is the latest opponents our grassroots game must contend with.
So we're using our latest column to look in more detail at how it is impacting grassroots football and the possible options to navigate our way through these testing economic times.
By now, I’m sure we have all felt the pinch in our pockets at the petrol pumps and the supermarkets. Energy prices and raw materials worldwide have sent costs of goods and services to sky-high levels.
Grassroots football is not immune to this; the shirts we wear on matchday, the balls we kick and the equipment we use, by and large, will be imported from far-off places in the world. So these raw material costs, energy and import costs will continue to be a factor this summer.
With disposable income becoming strained, our spending habits and behaviours will inevitably change. How many of us waited as long as possible last winter before the heating was switched on?
So here's 8 money-saving tips including changes that can be made in our behaviour and the types of support available for parents and clubs with limited budgets.
1) SOS - Save Our Strips
As unpopular as this may sound, look at your kit and ask the question, do we need a new one? This may at first glance seem a silly question but we often get a new kit every year, not always because we need it, it’s just become an item on the to-do list that we just do. Could it last another year, or even be handed down to another age group in the club?
For those with no other option but to get a new kit, donate your old one to charity and everyone’s a winner; charity clothes banks will pay around 40p per kilo for the stuff you have cluttering up your wardrobe and drawers.
2) Recycle your boots
The same is true for football boots, could you take advantage of the Football Rebooted scheme?
The scheme, which Grassroots helped to set up, means there are boots waiting for new owners in your area which are FREE. It could also be worth setting this up in your club to help those in need of a new pair. You can find out more here.
3) Grants and funds
Knowledge is also a key factor to help during these times. Do you know who has funding and where to apply?
To help we’ve put the four most common places to gain funding below.
These groups are able to grant funding for a host of things, such as equipment, clubhouses, 3G pitches and maintenance, improving grass pitches, fencing and small-sided facility improvement.
Click on the links to find out more:
Community Funding from the National Lottery.
Sport England Small grants programme.
The Grassroots Fund – Powered by Utilita.
We spoke to Charlotte Lawrence at the FA who also told us about the latest funds and subsidies below to help your clubs.
Energy Support Fund
The Premier League, The FA and the government's Football Foundation have announced a new package of support to help grassroots football clubs and organisations with rising energy costs. The Foundation's Energy Support Programme will also help support facilities with the ongoing responsibility to protect the environment by lowering energy usage, where possible.
A total of £6 million will be available across two funds, The Energy Fund and The Floodlight Fund. In addition to this, the Foundation has designed guidance specifically for football clubs that will provide some useful tips and guidance to help reduce energy costs. You can find more information here.
Howden's Deal
Howdens' Game Changer Programme, in partnership with England Football, will see the kitchen company aim to fund £3m worth of kitchens over three years for England Football Accredited grassroots clubs. The Programme will look to provide better kitchen facilities to help clubs make their matchday experience more enjoyable and increase revenue opportunities. You can read more here.
Safeguarding Course Subsidy
The FA Safeguarding Children Course has been a requirement for anyone completing coaching qualifications since 2000, but there are some coaches who haven't undertaken coaching qualifications and therefore haven't done safeguarding training.
For Teams to affiliate for the 2023/2024 season, all managers and coaches of youth teams (U18) are now required to complete The FA's online Safeguarding Children Course and ensure this qualification remains in-date by doing the free re-certification course every two years.
Safeguarding Children Course costs £30 and lasts two years, with a free re-certification to last a further two years. To support this new mandatory requirement, a discount code will be generated for clubs to provide a 50% reduction for their coaches taking the Safeguarding Children Course bringing the cost down to £15 during the months of May, June and July.
4) Find a sponsor
Finding a generous sponsor is proving more and more difficult for teams in the current climate but there are still thousands of people out there willing to sponsor teams.
Thinking smaller could help with this - would a company be willing to sponsor balls or kits? Asking for one company to sponsor home and away strips, tracksuits, balls and winter jackets would be more off-putting.
Also, consider speaking to your local newspaper first - the promise of pictures in the paper and a bit of good publicity could help sway a potential sponsor’s mind.
Alternatively, are any of your team’s parents connected to a business? They may also be able to help.
5) Fundraising
Activities such as bag-packing can prove to be very lucrative for grassroots clubs. If your club is able to, arranging a trip to the local supermarket and offering to spend a day packing bags could see you rake in the cash. Be warned, though, there can sometimes be a long waiting list to do this - but it can be well worth the wait.
Similarly, a sponsored event could also prove worthwhile. Fifteen players getting 20 people to sponsor them £1 for an activity, such as a walk, would raise £300.
6) Matchday money
Does your club sell tea and coffee on matchdays? Serving hot and cold drinks for parents during games and training sessions could bring in some regular income, and there is also the potential to sell items like bacon baps if you have the facilities to do so.
Thirty drinks sold at £1 every matchday would make £120 per month, or £1440 a year, which seems like a good amount for what would be an initially small outlay on teabags.
Along these lines, is there anything else that can be sold on a matchday? Football cards or stickers, like Match Attax and Panini, can be bought online and then sold to spectators during a game or in the clubhouse post-match.
7) Raffles and race nights
Holding a raffle once or twice a year can prove to be lucrative. Perhaps businesses unable to provide sponsorship may be more willing to donate prizes to help their local grassroots football club, such as a summer or Christmas hamper. Be warned, however, that too many raffles may not receive the same level of support as a handful of big ones throughout the year.
Occasional race nights can also be good fun, with a chance to get everyone together for a good night. Whilst they can be organised with a little effort and imagination by people in the club, there are also companies who will organise the event in exchange for a cut of the profits.
8) Tournaments
If you have the space and facilities to do so, organising a football tournament with teams from local leagues can also be a successful income stream. Charging a registration fee for teams to enter can be a good money earner, particularly if your tournament is successful enough to keep teams coming back to later editions.
On the day, you can also charge for things such as parking and stall holders, whilst also using above ideas such as running a raffle, opening a tuck shop or selling teas and coffees.
Producing a programme and charging for adverts could also be a potential revenue winner.
In summary, we have to be honest and say there isn’t a one size fits all solution - there isn’t a magic wand to fix this problem, certainly not in the short-term that will get us through the cost of living crisis.
However, there is something we can have certainty on. We can be certain of the people in grassroots football, the same people who, by working together, got us through every crisis the sport has faced.
Every obstacle we’ve ever faced together, we’ve overcome, and I have no doubt in my mind that we have the right people in the right places, at the heart of our communities finding new and unique ways to collectively take on these challenges as a community. Ultimately we will find our own ways to get through this.
Paul Kirton is the founder and managing director of Team Grassroots, the UK's number 1 grassroots football organisation, and Mat Kendrick is a senior editor at the Mirror's parent company Reach PLC, who runs the Kick N Mix newsletter for parents of football-mad kids, along with writer David Byrom.
