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1/ Running a Futsal Club - a thread.
I’m as passionate as anyone when it comes to Futsal in England. Ive been involved since 2003 but not seriously until 2012. Here I share my experience of growing a Club. Some financial and strategy stuff on this. Hopefully it helps someone!
I’m as passionate as anyone when it comes to Futsal in England. Ive been involved since 2003 but not seriously until 2012. Here I share my experience of growing a Club. Some financial and strategy stuff on this. Hopefully it helps someone!
2/ My motivation stems from a love of playing briefly whilst at uni in 2003. After the birth of my 2nd son in 2010 & with no opportunities to play in Carlisle it became clear if I wanted my boys to play I would need to create something myself. @carlislefutsal was born.
3/ The best advice I can give for anyone starting out is to make sure you have good people involved in running the Club. We set up a steering group in the early days and ran everything formally with minutes and actions.
4/ This is important because it sets a standard of professionalism and helps people take you seriously. It helps attract those good people. Also helps with funding applications to have good records.
5/ One of the first things we also did was set our mission, vision & strategy. VERY important as it sets the destination for your Club & allows you to put a pathway in place to get there. Everyone can buy in. Here the leagues and the FA play a REALLY crucial part. Here is why...
6/ For a Club to have a destination it needs a vision for where it wants to be. That vision MUST come from the very top. Im sure there is a saying ‘if you dont know where you are going you will definitely end up somewhere else.’ Seems appropriate here.
7/ The FA and the leagues play a vital role in setting that vision. Back in 2012 we took the entry criteria for the National League and looked at what we needed to do to become one of the top clubs in the country. We used this to put in place our strategy for developing the Club.
8/ One of my biggest gripes with Futsal is how easy it is to gain ‘National league’ status for ‘Clubs’. It should be a badge of honour to compete nationally. Difficult to obtain. A status which requires Clubs to have done a lot of work in their community first.
9/ There are some great examples of Clubs recently doing things the right way. @ERFutsalClub look to be doing great work and remind me a lot of what we were like when starting out. On the other hand weve played teams with a 10+ year history that still just have a senior team.
10/ Our growth from 2012-2015 was rapid but our financial records for this period aren’t great. We always turned a small profit but all revenue was reinvested to ensure our growth. I wish we had kept better records as we had so much going on then including running our own leagues
11/ establishing an academy and a first team to play top flight Futsal. We were overstretched in terms of personnel available to deliver all of our operations though. We’ve always operated on a volunteer, not for profit model, as it guarantees those involved with our Club are..
12/ motivated by the right reasons. However the drawback of this is that you rely on goodwill & volunteer power & during rapid growth that can overstretch people. My advice is be careful not to take on too much. It was a great lesson for me to learn. Its a marathon not a sprint.
13/ In 2015 we started keeping better records. Our membership numbers increased steadily over the last few years along with our revenue. 2020 is tough due to COVID but we have managed to generate about £4K in revenue through sponsorship and grants for facility improvements.
14/ For most Clubs the primary revenue source is membership fees. A full academy programme is so important. It provides A talent for the first team and revenue to support the growth of the game. Its important Clubs have roots that go deep into the local community, here is why....
15/ Over the years we have ran leagues, tournaments, donated goals to schools and equipment and delivered free of charge sessions to schools and clubs. We’ve formed partnerships with as many people, clubs and businesses as we can because you never know when you are going....
16/ to need each other. This isn’t a brag btw its just really important to do this work. Its what leads to sell out home crowds. Reputation in the community matters.
17/ You can see since our men’s team reformed in 2019 our second biggest revenue stream is income on a matchday. This income is vital for sustaining the first team as our travel costs are much higher than most other Futsal Clubs due to our isolated location.
18/ Our biggest costs by far are on facility hire. A men’s team means higher costs in relation to equipment, kit and travel. For season 2019/20 our men ran at a £4K loss but much of this was due to investment in equipment for our home events and playing and training kits.
19/ We expect the first team will turn a small profit going forward as our home games get bigger and better. We’ve already been able to attract record sponsorship for the season ahead and have revised our training model.
20/ Leading a Futsal Club means you have to constantly review operations and make decisions that will 1) improve what we do for our members 2) improve our finances. Do what you think is right. You will upset people because people really dont like change. You cant please everyone.
21/ This might sound daft but the hardest part has actually been learning Futsal. When I started out in 2012 I thought I knew what it was. I would say as time has gone on I’ve began to realise how little I actually know. A trip to Barcelona in 2017 opened my eyes a lot.
22/ Advice for starting an academy programme. Focus on the tech basics and paired movements. You can start your learning journey from there. Go on as many clinics and workshops with experienced foreign coaches as you can. FA quals fine but you need to commit to learning.
23/ If you set your Club up well and run it professionally then people will want to be a part of it. Cheesy I know but people really are awesome! They make our Club what it is. As your Club ages you will grow your volunteer workforce and you will be able to expand.
24/ We started off with one squad of u6s on a tennis court in 2012 and now have 3 academy centres across the county. Organic growth. Nothing has been forced since 2015. This is our membership split across the County.
25/ @carlislefutsal is on the brink of an exciting new era as a result of us being able to secure a new outdoor training space. It needs investment and will take several years to get it into the perfect shape but if we can manage this then our turnover will grow to £100k per...
26/ annum by 2025. This will dramatically change our operating model and will open a lot of opportunities up for how we run our men’s team and academy. Next level stuff.
27/ As with all plans things can change. The important bit is that you have a plan and work to it as best you can. If things aren’t happening then find a way to make it happen. Dont give up. Monitor anything that poses a risk and take advantage of any opportunities that present.
28/ Here is our historic and forecast accounts for you to show the journey. Hope this helps some of you. I know its a long thread but Ive actually cut out loads! If anyone wants to talk Club development then feel free to get in touch. Always happy to share ideas and learn myself
