Rising costs hit clubs for six

Anyone who has ever flown in to Perth will have noticed the vast number of sports fields that dot the suburban sprawl.

On any given weekend, whatever the season, these patches of green are filled with swarms of people – many participating, others watching, but all taking part in what has become an established part of our national character.

It is hard to reconcile this general enthusiasm for sport in Western Australia with the massive challenges and pressures facing the sporting clubs of this State.

Social change is creating new pressures on sport participation, and local level clubs are feeling the greatest impact.

Despite the pessimism pervading some club halls about their financial future, there are clear signs of growth in the industry and many clubs have adapted, stayed true to their club’s purpose and flourished.

Clubs WA executive director Peter Seaman believes governments need to work more closely with clubs to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Clubs WA has been lobbying for an assessment of the club industry’s financial health to bring attention to clubs’ social contribution and to promote a better informed policy debate.

Unfortunately, the details available do not paint a positive picture. Clubs WA estimates that about 40 per cent of unlicensed clubs trade unprofitably, and that the figure is even higher for licensed clubs.

The reasons for this are unclear. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ do not indicate any particular trend away from sport. What has changed, however, are the demographics of Western Australian society, which has, in turn, affected sports participation habits in the State.

The ‘casualisation’ of working hours makes it harder for parents to take children to regular sports training, while the impact of Sunday trading has already been resoundingly felt in junior sports. The onset of 24-hour trading is viewed with a sense of foreboding by many in the sports club sector.

And it is not just the parents who under time pressure. Increasingly targetted by the marketers of goods and services, children also are finding themselves ‘time-poor’ when the demands of earning money, spending money and playing sport are taken into account.

Clubs have had to become more flexible to grab people’s scarce disposable time. Some clubs, for example, have incorporated their sports facilities into school curriculums, while others have hosted corporate events, run community open days, and developed a tiered system of membership to accommodate social members, amateurs and professionals.

Rowing WA State president Craig James said adaptability of this type had contributed to an increase in the number of rowers in WA. Appealing to a broader participant base also had lifted the sport’s profile, with Rowing WA now “actively encouraging the disabled to participate”.

But not even the cleverest marketing could do much without funding, according Mr James.

“There are not many philanthropists around now,” Mr James said.

“Sponsors are now preoccupied with getting something for their money.”

This reality creates problems for the many smaller clubs that depend on this money, as membership fees barely cover staff costs.

This has driven some clubs to adopt unusual measures.

Doubleview Bowling Club president John Carter said the club (widely regarded as the State’s premier bowls facility) made enough money on its investment in a TAB Sports Bet branch to repay the $10,000 deposit “within months”.

A popular alternative source of income is through fee paying social members, but this strategy can come at a cost when these members vote and express preferences for funding allocation. The industry is full of anecdotal stories from the eastern States of golf courses with overgrown greens but fabulously up-to-date poker machines.

Not every alternative income scheme ends in success, however. Perth and Tattersalls Bowling and Recreation Club recently had its parking bay rental operation halted by the town council. Without this somewhat imaginative income the club has had to let go of its grounds keeper.

Another challenge to clubs’ survival is posed by the legal and insurance landscape in WA. But a rise in civil litigation and increased insurance premiums are not the only threats.

The current taxation and legal accountability regimes are a burden, according to Clubs WA’s Peter Seaman.

“Good meaning and committed volunteers … [are] forced into undertaking less productive tasks, sometimes semi-legal and outside the brief they initially expected,” he said.

It could be argued that many successful clubs attribute their longevity to the club’s ethos and to the volunteers who guide the management.

“We are a business,” Thornlie Bowling Club president Warren Smith said.

He said the club operated on a “three-, five- and 10-year plan” guided by a committee of consistent and dedicated volunteers.

In the experience of Strikers T-Ball Club president Kevin Coburn, such volunteers would be worth more than $60,000 over a year if paid industry wages.

Thornlie Bowling Club volunteers have proved to be worth much more, however.

Through their long-term planning the club’s application for government funding was successful after two-and-a-half-years of hard work.

The government grant matched one third of the club’s contribution up to the value of $57,000 and this, combined with intensive fund raising, has allowed the club to install new synthetic greens.

That result would seem to confirm the widely-held belief among those involved with sports clubs that volunteers are a critical resource.