Business Advantages of Supporter Community ... - Supporters Direct

at a “normal” football club, you’d be paying for. Your costs go down. At Exeter
City, at the end of every game, you’ll see people sweeping the ground, as with all
football clubs; the difference is that at Exeter City they’re doing it for free, they’re
supporters who at the end of the game will pick up a broom.’
Such ‘routine’ match day volunteering did not occur before the club was
supporter owned and indeed levels of supporter volunteering for core club
business is relatively low in football. Supporter volunteering can also lead
to the development of new areas of operation. At FC United this has lead to
supporters being involved in every aspect of the club and the development
of new services for supporters, including the establishment of a free internet
radio station and free internet TV highlights of games.
‘Engagement goes beyond putting a tick on a ballot paper once a year at a general
meeting,’ says Andy Walsh. ‘It’s about supporters themselves running their club
in every way – they staff the turnstiles, they write, design and sell the programme;
they procure the merchandise from suppliers, decide what the price is and put it
on sale; they run events on match days including bars and putting on bands; they
run the radio with 24 / 7 online output and over 30 different presenters; and
supporters televise games and put them on the internet. We currently have an A
level student operating as our match day cameraman, under the supervision of
people who’ve done it professionally.’
The added ‘social value’ generated through volunteering helps support the
brand image of supporter community owned clubs, something that has
tangible business benefits (highlighted in the section on sponsorship).
Supporter Survey
In our supporter survey we asked supporters about their involvement in the
club as well as their volunteering with clubs.
Involvement
We asked about supporters’ sense of involvement in their club and asked
them to indicate which of a series of statements was most accurate 11 .
● On average 47% of all respondents said they felt very involved in their
club.
● Amongst supporter community clubs, this figure was 52%, compared
with 26% amongst supporters of other clubs.
11 These were: ‘I’m not interested in being involved in my club beyond attending matches’;
‘I don’t feel very involved in my club but would like to be’; ‘I feel very involved in my
club’ and ‘I don’t know’
Business Advantages of Supporter Community Ownership 31