In the UK and the US, sport is mainly organised along ‘franchise’ lines where support for a big club like Manchester United or the New England Patriots is seen as the individuals primary connection to the world of sport.
Ireland has always had a closer connection to local sport through clubs and communities. That is not to say that Dublin GAA does not have the biggest pull on any crowd to gather for a match, or that the media hangs on every word spoken by Martin O’Neill or Joe Schmidt as managers of our national teams.
But those who go to Croke Park or read their Sunday Independent reports will also likely have stood on a sideline of a club pitch, coaching an underage side, sweeping the floor of a school hall for a basketball training session or laying out a cross country course for the local athletics club before they did so.
We have 12,000 sporting clubs in Ireland and as many as 500,000 volunteers engaged in their local community through the medium of sport. Figures published by the Federation of Irish Sport suggest that 38% of Irish adults are members of a local club. That is almost double the figure of 21% that would be so in the UK according to Sport England surveys.
The clubs are supported by national governing bodies and some funding does filter through from the broadcast rights and gate revenues that the bigger teams generate but for the most part clubs, as the foundation of the sports themselves, bear much of the weight for their own financial health.
Subscriptions are the main revenue line for clubs of all sizes. They will generally fall due in clubs around the country over the coming months and 12,000 treasurers will hold their breath and wait to see if the economic troubles of recent times mean one fewer family member is enrolled for 2014, or one of the multiple memberships that families often have is let slide, ‘just until we get through the next few months.’
Once the registrations are counted and the money banked, the calls for team entry fees, coaching, winter training under floodlights, hall hires and bottles, bibs and balls will come thick and fast.
Many National bodies have relationships with kit and equipment suppliers that produce some savings through collective purchasing power but many will look to the cheaper alternatives that might be supplied by sliotar manufacturers or net suppliers in non traditional Irish sporting heartlands such as Bangladesh or China.
Individual clubs will find the best way to manage their resources and many will have the benefit of committed individuals that pour time, energy and often their own money into keeping the club on an even keel.
There are collective resources such as those provided by My Club Finances that enable them to use modern methods to collect money and raise it through fundraising. Sport for Business writes regularly about fundraising ideas like a night at the dogs, strictly come dancing or white collar boxing that can make a single large dent in a growing deficit. There are initiatives in purchasing, lotteries, draws, affiliate deals and bill analysis that can help as well and there are club initiatives by major businesses that also provide valuable resource.
Ulster Bank, Lucozade Sport, Supervalu and Liberty Insurance have all run schemes in the past 12 months across Gaelic Games, Soccer, Rugby and other sports to provide smart ways of engaging with a brand and gaining a reward for the club.
Over the coming days we will look in particular at the ways the GAA, IRFU and FAI help in the management of their club structures, as well as at how clubs themselves are looking within to find the strength to carry on.
If you have a story about your club that you would like to share, contact us today and we will gather the best and most imaginative to see what is possible for clubs of all sizes.
Sport for Business is a membership organisation. We help sport reach out to business, and business to engage the power of sport in its management, marketing and values. We publish a free daily news digest on the commercial world of Irish sport, we bring together smart minds in round table and larger formats, and we create initiatives among our members that make a difference. Contact us today to see how you can be a part of what we can achieve together.
