Ask ten clubs what a season costs and you will get ten different answers, because almost every cost in grassroots football is set locally. Your County FA sets the affiliation fee, your league sets its entry fee and its referee fees, and your council or pitch provider sets the hire rate. What every club shares is the same list of costs, and once you have your own number against each line you have a budget.
The costs every club has
Pitch hire. Pitch hire is the biggest bill of the season for most clubs, once you add training to home matches. Council pitches are usually the cheapest and are often cheaper still when booked for the whole season rather than match by match, while 3G and private pitches cost more but survive the winter. Do not forget training, because in the worked example below a weekly hour on a floodlit pitch costs about three times as much as the home matches. Councils publish their pitch rates in their yearly fees and charges.
County FA affiliation. Every club affiliates to its County FA each season and the fee is normally charged per team, with youth, adult and disability teams priced differently. Your County FA publishes the fees on its affiliation page when affiliation opens for the new season.
Insurance. Every club must have public liability insurance and every team must have personal accident insurance. Both can usually be bought as you affiliate, or from another provider as long as the cover meets your County FA's minimum. Cover for an adult team costs a good deal more than cover for a youth team, so check the price before you budget.
League fees. Leagues charge an entry fee per team and some also hold a deposit. Fines sit here too, because a late result, a missing team sheet or a postponement without notice can each cost the club money, and they are the one line in the budget that good admin can bring down to nothing.
Referees. Referee fees are set by each league, not nationally, and they vary with the age group and the format of the game. In many leagues the home club pays the referee on the day, so check your league's rules. Count your home fixtures, add a couple of cup ties and multiply by your league's fee.
Kit and equipment. A match kit should last at least two seasons, so spread the cost rather than loading it onto one year, and ask a local sponsor before you ask parents. Balls, bibs, cones, nets and a stocked first aid kit need topping up every season.
People. Coaching courses, safeguarding and first aid training, and DBS checks for everyone working with under-18s are requirements rather than extras, and some carry a cost. Your County FA lists what is needed for the season on its affiliation page.
Everything else. Trophies and presentation night, a website or club software, and the fee on every payment you take online.
A worked example
Here is how the sum looks for a club with one under-12 team and 14 players. The figures are an example, so swap in your own.
|
Cost
|
How it is worked out
|
Season
|
|---|---|---|
|
Match pitch
|
Council pitch booked for the season
|
£385
|
|
Training
|
30 weeks at £40 an hour
|
£1,200
|
|
Affiliation and insurance
|
County FA, one youth team
|
£80
|
|
League entry
|
One team
|
£60
|
|
Referees
|
11 home games at £25
|
£275
|
|
Kit
|
Half of a £400 kit that lasts two seasons
|
£200
|
|
Equipment and first aid
|
Balls, bibs, cones, first aid top-up
|
£150
|
|
Trophies and presentation
|
End of season
|
£120
|
|
Total
|
|
£2,470
|
There is no single national figure, because County FAs, leagues and councils each set their own fees. In our worked example, one under-12 team with 14 players costs about £2,700 a season including a 10 percent cushion, which works out at roughly £194 per player. Spread across 12 months, that is about £16 a month.
From the total to your subs
Take your total costs for the season, add a cushion of around 10 percent, take off any sponsorship, grants and fundraising you can count on, and divide by the number of players. That gives the cost per player for the season, and that figure is where your subs conversation starts. Charge less than it and the gap has to come from somewhere, which usually means the same few volunteers quietly covering it.
Show parents the working. A one-page breakdown of where the money goes settles most arguments about subs before they start, and it makes the ask for a sponsor or a grant far easier too. Once the figure is set, our guide to collecting subs covers how to take the money and chase it without it eating your evenings.
Where clubs lose money without noticing
Three costs rarely make it onto the budget. League fines are the first, and almost all of them come from admin being late rather than anything that happened on the pitch. Unpaid subs are the second, because a player who owes three months is a cost the rest of the squad is carrying. Payment fees are the third. Some platforms charge over 4 percent plus an annual cost, and on the example club above a 4 percent fee takes more than £100 a season, which is over half of one player's subs.
Where Centre Circle fits
Centre Circle is free for clubs, with no premium tiers and no hidden costs, so the software line in your budget can be zero. If you collect subs through it the fee is 0.9 percent plus 15p per payment, and it tracks who has paid and who has not, so the treasurer is not cross-checking a bank statement on a Sunday night. Get Centre Circle free on the App Store or Google Play.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run a grassroots football club?
There is no single national figure, because County FAs, leagues and councils each set their own fees. In our worked example, one under-12 team with 14 players costs about £2,700 a season including a 10 percent cushion, which works out at roughly £194 per player.
What is the biggest cost for a grassroots football club?
Pitch hire is the biggest bill of the season for most clubs, once you add training to home matches.
Who sets referee fees in grassroots football?
Referee fees are set by each league, not nationally, and they vary with the age group and the format of the game. In many leagues the home club pays the referee on the day, so check your league's rules.
How do you work out what to charge for subs?
Take your total costs for the season, add a cushion of around 10 percent, take off any sponsorship, grants and fundraising you can count on, and divide by the number of players. That gives the cost per player for the season, and that figure is where your subs conversation starts.
