Non-league clubs are facing closure as their income streams dry up. While much of the focus remains on when the Premier League will re-start, spare a thought for the lower echelons of the game. In non-league football, most committees are run by volunteers who give their time for the love of their club and the love of the game. It can be a thankless task at the best of times and these are certainly not the best of times.
Non-League Clubs Face Potential Closure As Lockdown Bites
Season Void
With the Football Association declaring the majority of this season’s non-league football void, some clubs may have appreciated the certainty. They know the situation they now face and can start planning ahead. Of course, there will be winners and losers in any decision made at any level regarding promotion and relegation. Yet, it is hard to see how this will not end up in the courts in some cases.
However, how on earth does a club budget for the new season, regardless of when that can actually start? Some teams and leagues seriously feel there will be no football at some levels of the game before 2021. That may be a little pessimistic, but nobody knows what will happen next week, let alone come August. Playing behind closed doors was never a serious option for grassroots teams. There are TV rights and merchandise sales here to help pay for staging games, to pay players, to pay the officials their expenses, to pay rent and utility bills.
Lockdown has cut off income streams overnight and will do so for the foreseeable future. Most clubs rely on the money taken by the clubhouse bar on match days and just as importantly the functions they hold throughout the year. In most cases more so than money taken at the turnstile. With bars and pubs earmarked to be the last sector to come out of lockdown, this loss of a vital income stream could be devastating to clubs. It could see great local clubs disappear which would be heart-breaking to all involved.
Uncertain Times Ahead
Nobody can truly estimate when matches with paying spectators will start again. Nobody can say whether come next February we will be back in the same position if the virus makes a return. Conjecture of course, but thoughts that have to go through the mind of any officials trying to plan a strategy, let alone a budget, to see their clubs through this situation and beyond.
A club’s pre-season income stream will be curtailed if lockdown continues as nobody will want to buy their season ticket early. Fans will want some assurance they will see a season ticket’s worth of football. The likely impact on the wider economy will see businesses re-assess costs like advertising and sponsorship. This is another key income stream for grassroots clubs which could fall drastically. Any drop in the economy means less disposable cash for people to attend matches and spend in the clubhouse.
Grassroots Importance
At present, it is hard to look past the doom and gloom and, ultimately, public health must always come first. If all the data suggests the lockdown must continue, the lockdown must continue; it is as simple as that. Yet, grassroots clubs are vital. They are not only wonderful parts of our nation’s football history, they often provide excellent opportunities to the wider community. They give access for hundreds of boys and girls to play football in a safe environment every weekend.
Football is usually very good at coming together in times of need. All clubs are going to need each other more over the coming months. Rivalries between clubs and rivalries between leagues must be put on hold. As the manager of Bootle FC, Joe Doran, told the Daily Mail in a recent interview: “I would propose to our committee that if any club in our community is under threat, then we would support them”. He followed this up with, “I would like to think that the Premier League clubs are thinking the same way”.
Bootle themselves were looking at a promotion which could have brought extra income to the club. This is a promotion now wiped off. Other clubs in a similar situation have talked off a potential challenge in the courts. The court route is not a quick solution, potentially extending football’s lockdown further. There is no simple answer for football as there is no simple answer for opening the wider economy. Yet the looking after one another philosophy is one which should apply to football just as much as the wider world.
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