Cost of living crisis is red card for grassroots football clubs

A new report published today has revealed that as many as 2,600 grassroots football clubs have folded and a further 6,000 are at risk of closure between now and the end of next season.

The report has been published to mark the one-year anniversary of football’s biggest ever environmental movement - Football Rebooted. 

The Price to Play Report, commissioned by Utilita Energy in association with David James MBE, asked 1,000 parents of grassroots footballers aged 5-16 how their football had been impacted by the pandemic and, latterly, by the cost-of-living crisis. The report reveals that seven percent of clubs have closed, and a further 16 percent of parents fear their child’s club could be the next to go. 

The new report is the sequel to Utilita’s State of Play Report published in 2020, which revealed the devastation caused by the pandemic on grassroot football. As the previous report had warned, 10 percent of players have not returned to the pitch, with most parents saying affordability got in the way of play (58%). 

Parents said the two main barriers to their child returning to grassroots football today exist because of the cost-of-living crisis - affording subs and the kit needed to play (34%). This figure has almost doubled since Utilita’s State of Play Report (18%). Worryingly, a further third of parents (34%) fear they will not be able to afford kit for next season. 

David James MBE is a grassroots football champion and is the ambassador of Utilita’s Football Rebooted recycling campaign. He comments on the kit crisis that kids are facing unnecessarily: 

“The cost of football kit cannot be allowed to be a barrier to playing football. There is enough for everyone - we just need to think twice about throwing away perfectly good items. 

“About two-thirds of parents say their child requires more than one pair of football boots for playing on different surfaces (67%), out of which 27 percent said they can’t afford more than one pair of boots, limiting where their child can play. This does not have to be the case. Football Rebooted is the game’s biggest ever environmental movement, and there are enough boots for every child who wants to play - no matter what the surface.” 

Annual subs have become a major hurdle for parents, too. Only six in 10 parents say they can comfortably afford their child’s football subs, and the rest said they either have to make sacrifices elsewhere or accept support from the club. Families in the Northeast are facing the biggest struggle to afford subs. Other areas where families are facing difficult decisions are: 

•              Northeast - 46%               
•              Yorkshire - 43%
•              Northern Ireland - 42%
•              Southeast - 42%
•              London - 39%               

Paul Kirton, Founder of Team Grassroots, the UK’s largest online grassroots football community comments on struggles that families face: 

“Grassroots clubs have demonstrated their incredible resilience during the last three seasons. The community spirit carries these clubs through, and they would never knowingly let a child miss football because they can’t pay. However, this report has identified a major participation problem ahead. 

“There is one challenge that no club can overcome - and that is a parent’s pride. Very few parents or their kids would be honest about why they’re not turning up, or why they haven’t returned for a season, and that is totally understandable. But it is for this reason that a major intervention is required, to help these families avoid coming cap in hand to continue playing, or start playing, grassroots football.”

Utilita’s Football Rebooted campaign has gone from strength to strength since its launch in May 2021, now with 500 dedicated boot collection points in schools, colleges, clubs, and community centres all around the country. The campaign set out to rehome one million pairs of boots and is well on track to smash the target by the end of the year. 

Bill Bullen, Utilita’s Founder and CEO of Utilita Energy comments on the report findings: 

“For millions of people, football is at the core of their lives and their community, and we can’t let that slip away, for all the obvious reasons. I really hope this report will urge decision makers to intervene before affordability results in families and children becoming absent from their clubs.”