RESEARCH
Sports clubs make us happier, healthier and wealthier – so how are they faring?
The Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Sports Club Survey 2013 was published in November. It is the largest ever survey of sports clubs in the UK. SRA chair Andy Reed outlines the report’s findings
andy reed • chair • sports and recreation alliance
2012 give them a boost? The Sport and Recreation Alliance
S
(SRA) provides insight into all of these questions by carrying out an in-depth survey of sports clubs every two years. Our latest report was launched in
October and it gives some intriguing insight into how sports clubs have been faring in the run-up to, during and post London 2012. Nearly 3,000 community clubs from more than 100 sports took part in the survey, and were weighted to fairly represent the total of 150,000 clubs in the UK. This gives an unrivalled
o, how are sports clubs faring? Is the economic climate stran- gling sport at birth? Are sports clubs still relevant? Did London
insight into the health of Britain’s grass- roots sports clubs.
The general picture On almost all of our measures sports clubs are doing better than they were two years ago. This reverses a down- ward trend which we’ve seen since 2008 – the beginning of the recession. The average sports club now has 82
adult participating members – a 20.6 per cent increase since 2011. Club income has risen for three years in a row and there has been an encouraging 20 per cent increase in the number of club vol- unteers across the UK. So is it all rosy for clubs? Not quite. Junior membership levels are not quite
reflecting the Olympic Games’ tagline of “inspire a generation” yet. The average club has 90 youngsters – some way un- der the highest recorded levels in 2008 when membership levels stood at 108. Finances, energy and facility costs as
well as disability sport provision also remain issues for many clubs.
Is the economy strangling clubs? Things could actually be looking up. Club income is now creeping up to the levels of pre-credit crunch 2008 after the drastic dip of the past few years. There are also more clubs in surplus or breaking even than two years ago, with some 76 per cent of clubs now falling into this category. It’s remarkable – given the fact that
the economic outlook remains chal- lenging – that clubs are doing so well financially. This is in no small part down to the careful financial management undertaken by club committees. Four out of five clubs (84 per cent) have taken at least one measure in the past 12 months to increase their income or decrease expenditure. The focus has also been on growing
income rather than decreasing costs, showing a real determination amongst local clubs to continue high quality pro- vision for their communities. The top five measures to increase
Judo was one of the sports to record significant increases in participation numbers 28 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital
income have been increasing club fun- draising efforts (49 per cent), applying for additional funding (45 per cent), actively recruiting more members (44 per cent), holding more social events (40 per cent) and increasing membership
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