Twenty Years and the Changing Football Club Landscape

Twenty Years and the Changing Football Club Landscape

As this month sees my twentieth year at the Football Association, what better way to celebrate than to look back at how the grassroots and National League System (NLS) club landscape has evolved from both a professional #clubdevelopment perspective and as a former player, coach, manager and now as NLS club volunteer at Lichfield City FC. In addition, let’s look forward to an emerging English Football Club Model that sees football clubs at the heart of their communities, and embraces those models we so envy on the continent but with a subtly English tint.

The number of football clubs in England has been on the decline over the last twenty years, reducing from over 30,000 to 18,205 clubs, however there is more affiliated football being played today in clubs than ever before. Some 114,471 teams provide training and competitive opportunities for over 1.5million players, as clubs provide a greater offer for youth football, for male and female players and for those with a disability.

More introductory and recreational opportunities are being offered for those wanting to experience football for the first time or return to play football in less competitive formats such as veterans and walking football. Although my experience of veterans football is far from 'less competitive', as in our minds we still can, but the legs cannot.

Of course, within all the growth, there are areas of decline as the traditional Saturday and Sunday, male, open age league numbers and teams will testify. Playing as a 15 year old on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning in the late 1980’s certainly opened my eyes to the ‘beautiful game’, where we were trained, not necessarily coached and first aid, literally, was a bucket and sponge. #EnglandFootballAccreditation has certainly raised standards and safeguarding on this front over the last 20 years. The local factory and pub teams have been in demise over the last few decades, and the replacement Costa and Starbucks establishments have significantly more cups, but far fewer teams.

These trends are shown within club sizes over the last 10 seasons. The number of small clubs (1-4 teams) have reduced by 25% and continue to do so while the number of large clubs (over 40 teams) has risen by 200% over the same period and continue to rise by 33% seasonally. There are now clubs with over 150 teams with the likes of MSB Woolton in Liverpool , West Bridgford Colts in Nottingham, Horsforth St Margarets in Leeds and Rugby Borough FC in Rugby. Many clubs becoming of such a scale that they have, or are professionalising their workforce for critical key roles. ?

Clubs of all sizes are important and it’s critical we support and service them all appropriately. So why are we seeing these trends and is it likely to continue?

Broader Community Based Football Clubs.

Probably the greatest contributing factor to the evolving club landscape is the development of artificial grass turf (3G) pitches that have revolutionised the quality of playing and training surfaces and the amount of football that can be played on one or fewer sites. They allow clubs to create a home, an identity within their community, a club culture, plus greater financial sustainability.

It’s great to see more stadia 3G pitches within the NLS where they can be accessed all week and all year round, creating revenue generating facilities to increase and diversify their club income. They allow greater access through community groups and secondary spend through cafes and function rooms, not only on match days. NLS clubs also create significant participation opportunities for their communities with the 960 plus clubs in the NLS supporting over 15,000 youth and female teams.

The traditional stand-a-lone NLS clubs are diversifying their offers on the pitch to develop greater youth and female provision while large youth clubs are growing and entering the NLS with this provision in place. This is creating the next generation of players for the senior men’s and women’s teams, new fans for the clubs and potentially the future generation of volunteers.

Of course, there is always the challenge at the top of the NLS with the English Football League restricting the use of stadia 3G pitches that significantly hinders the business models of clubs like Bromley FC, Harrogate Town FC and others. It also reduces the local facility stock for grassroots clubs to train and play. It’s good that this is currently being discussed during current Government Select Committee hearings in relation to the Independent Financial Regulator.

With my Sports Law ‘wig’ on, I do wonder if this is a ‘barrier to entry’, just as many legal academics may argue, so is Financial Fair Play.

Supporting this trend #TheFootballFoundation, The FA’s charity in partnership with the Premier League and Government is investing record amounts in to grass pitches, 3G pitches, changing facilities and large hub sites. Over ￡1Billion has been invested over the last two decades with next season planned to be their biggest ever year with over ￡120M to be distributed.

Of course, more needs to be done so we have more quality training & facilities pitches and facilities but by focusing this investment into our club network, it will continue to generate greater participation and community engagement.

This changing club landscape has required me and our team at The FA to understand the evolving, wider needs of clubs. Over the last 5 years 700 clubs have been directly supported with their differing needs. This has allowed us to consolidate their needs and create a club framework and The FA Club Programme to support clubs within this framework. This includes providing professional services such as legal support and financial guidance such as VAT advice and importantly, using the knowledge and experience of over 50 FA Club Consultants to provide one-to-one support, as we recognise all clubs are different.

A digital self-assessment tool highlights where clubs are strong and thriving, and where they need support within this club framework that includes themes relating to their identify, business sustainability, workforce and facilities. This allows for an individual club analysis but also for this to be aggregated nationally, where we can then create the appropriate services and support.

So what for the Future?

I am extremely fortunate and privileged that over the last twenty years I have met and worked with many inspirational colleagues, club leaders and volunteers, many of whom are within my LinkedIn network. As a sports development industry we have become more professionalised over the last 20 years, broadening beyond participation into governance, business acumen and community engagement. Likewise, so have volunteers in clubs both on-pitch for coach delivery and off-pitch in their leadership and administrative roles. This will only continue as clubs grow and expectations rise.

Time and societal changes have increased the expectations of players, parents, spectators, coaches and managers on voluntary run clubs and rightly, greater emphasis is now placed on clubs providing safe, positive environments and quality activities. The consolidation and growth of clubs and football facility sites, such as the ￡11.9M football facility at Derby Racecourse site allows this and will continue. Such sites will benefit all participants and football clubs of all sizes.

Clubs are and will increasingly become community hubs delivering far more than football, including wider health and social activities. Measuring the social impact of these clubs is now achievable through The FA Club Impact Calculator. The fore mentioned Rugby Borough FC provides ￡3.6 Million of social value per season to their community through social interaction, player well-being, volunteer hours and facility infrastructure.

Leveraging this data will only further support clubs in building wider stakeholder relationships, increasing investment through grants, commercial sector sponsorship and corporate CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) budgets.

What this means for the club landscape is that by the end of 2028 more football will be played in clubs with more than 20 teams than in those clubs with less than 20 teams. Participation will continue grow as will the diversity of offer from competitive to recreational football, and for the whole community to become involved. An incredible thought if you cast your mind back 20 years and a great testament to all those volunteers who unwillingly give up their time, to support the ‘beautiful game.’