With the cost-of-living crisis placing a strain on families, community sporting clubs are on the brink of collapse, a leading sports organisation has revealed.
Australian Sports Foundation chief executive officer Patrick Walker says challenging economic conditions are "a massive issue".
"If you have a local footy, cricket or netball club go under, it's going to have a disproportionate effect on the local community," he said.
And in a growing concern, the crisis could also have a huge impact on Australia's talent pool ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Mr Walker said that with community clubs affected in the medium and long term, the outlook could also be grim for athletes at the highest level.
"It has implications for our pool of talented athletes looking ahead to the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032," he said.
A 2023 survey by the Australian Sports Foundation found rising costs were impacting participation and pushing many clubs toward insolvency.
The report also found clubs were struggling with running costs and declining volunteer numbers after COVID-19 and extreme weather events.
"One of the most shocking stats coming out of the report was that around 20 per cent of all the clubs surveyed had considered closing their doors due to the financial situation and that figure was actually higher — 24 per cent — among smaller community clubs," he said.
The Australian Sports Foundation is the country's non-profit sports fundraising organisation focused on supporting a thriving national sporting sector.
The organisation had been helping clubs, organisations, and families for nearly 40 years.
Mr Walker said smaller community clubs were the lifeblood of rural and regional towns.
"Sport is a lifelong habit and it's really important that it's embedded in our children when they're young and if that doesn't happen, then they're very unlikely to pick up sport at a later age," he said.
"Obviously, if we don't have the participation and the registrations, the clubs lose money, which means they're under financial pressure, so it's a bit of a vicious circle."
Sport is a way of life
For single mum Casey McLoughlin and her three sports-mad children, sport is more than Saturday morning fun. It is a way of life.
Each weekend, the family packs up the car in central Queensland and heads around the country for everything from softball to rugby league to athletics.
Ms McLoughlin said rising costs in day-to-day life were making things tough.
"It is a hard choice but sometimes you just have stick to what you can afford," she said.
But the Rockhampton mum is determined not to let it stop her children, Jackson Poustie, 15, and 11-year-old twins, Paige and Coby, from being active.
"I grew up that way. My mum was a single mum too, but I played netball, I played softball, so I really want to instil that in my kids," Ms McLoughlin said.
"Right from the start, at age six, the kids were playing something whether it was soccer, football, softball, tee-ball … it's really great for them."
In the past three months, Ms McLoughlin has travelled to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Canberra to support her talented trio representing Queensland in softball.
Ms McLoughlin admitted she had to recently turn down Coby, who is also a talented runner, from competing at the state athletics titles.
"Everything's going up and the amount of travelling is really the killer," she said.
"You have the accommodation costs and obviously, the levies and the uniforms and everything … but it's the travel and the extra 30,000 kilometres you are putting on your car every year getting the kids to and from things."
Women and girls bolstering numbers
While these are worrying trends, there are some positive signs.
Increased female participation was uncovered in the results from almost 3,000 community sporting clubs in the Australian Sports Foundation's online survey.
The Glenmore Bulls Australian Football Club, which competes in Queensland's AFL Capricornia competition, is one club seeing a new wave of junior girls players coming from its ranks.
"Aussie Rules is the fastest growing sport in Australia for girls and there's a set pathway there for the girls," Bulls president Sean Peckover said.
In a new initiative, Mr Peckover said the club was this season offering free registration for new players due to cost-of-living pressures on families.
"We as a club also really encourage parents and players to reach out if they're struggling with regards to fees and we will help them out," Mr Peckover said.
"For parents, it's really tough if you've got an active kid to be able to spread the finances thinly across multiple sports, so we need to look at ways that we can be innovative and assist parents."
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