$1 billion of community service in New Zealand sport in jeopardy

The New Zealand Amateur Sport Association (NZASA) has revealed that feedback from community clubs suggests that many are struggling to remain viable, with the combined impact of the cost of using local authority resources, falling volunteer numbers and increased compliance obligations together creating a potential ‘extinction event’ for community sport.

NZASA estimates that the average annual value of unpaid volunteer hours to an incorporated sport club to be $125,000. With over 7,500 community sport clubs in New Zealand, the total unpaid value of sport delivery through clubs to local communities is estimated to be over $1 billion per annum.

Given that the recent State of Volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand Report 2022 reveals that around 20% of volunteers don’t intend volunteering long-term, and with the 2021 National Sport Club Survey (NSCS) revealing the average number of volunteers at sport clubs nationally has fallen by 45% since 2019, NZASA fears that up to half of that value may have already been lost.

In addition, NZASA cites New Zealand Ministry of Housing and Urban Development data showing that mortgage affordability has tumbled as interest rates have risen, with households now facing a trade-off between basic needs and discretionary expenses.

As a result, NZASA fears that community sport may experience falling participation and income if families choose not to pay sport club subscriptions for their children, the cost of which in many cases pays for the use of local authority facilities.

NZASA Chairman, Gordon Noble-Campbell observes that “as volunteer numbers reduce and compliance obligations increase, clubs will be challenged in bridging the gap between maintaining service to their community and the cost of doing so.

“A reduction in volunteer ‘unpaid hours’ can only be compensated by ‘paid hours’ - by employing staff, or by reducing services.”

In terms of new compliance obligations, Noble-Campbell add, “data on club dissolutions indicates that many clubs have found it difficult to comply with the obligations of the earlier 1908 Incorporated Societies Act, with feedback from recent seminars around the country confirming fears that the increased compliance required by the 2022 Act will cause a reduction in the number of volunteers willing to assist in the governance of clubs, potentially resulting in a reduction in the number of clubs overall.”

NZASA suggests that a reduction in volunteers and participants may result in a significant reduction in the use of local authority sport facilities. While ratepayers should not bear the total cost of community sport’s use of grounds and facilities, councils will not want to see community use by sport clubs significantly reduce.

Given community clubs are the primary vehicle for the delivery of sport, (many of which are based at local Council owned grounds), NZASA is concerned for the future of local sports clubs and the potential underutilisation of community owned sport facilities in which they have invested time and money.

Image courtesy of Aktive Auckland.