SANFL’s Sturt Football Club makes fourth profit in four years after back-to-back premierships

BACK-TO-BACK senior premierships and now four healthy profits in four years — that’s the upwardly mobile record at Sturt Football Club.

Sturt Football Club general manager Sue Dewing, with footballers Courtney Roberts, Caitlyn Swanson and Tess Maple at Unley Oval. Picture: AAP/Dean Martin

• Sturt score club’s largest profit in its history
• Sturt win back-to-back SANFL premierships

BACK-TO-BACK senior premierships and now four healthy profits in four years — that’s the upwardly mobile record at Sturt Football Club.

The Double Blues recorded a $498,000 profit for the 2017 season, with premierships in the under 18s, reserves and league competitions.

The club also says it has recorded its highest every membership figure, in a 117-year history, with 3900 supporters signing up.

Sturt general manager Sue Dewing was proud of the club’s success on and off the field.

“It just goes to show that everything the board and management have put into place over the past few years has started to pay off,” Ms Dewing said.

“There has been a lot of hard work done behind the scenes from dedicated people and it’s good to get a return on investment.”

The club’s financial success comes only five years after mounting debt threatened its existence.

Ms Dewing said a $250,000 SANFL grant from the sale of Football Park and the decision to manage merchandising within the club had helped its bottom line.

But average crowds at Unley Oval last season were 2770, down from 3200 in 2016.

“We had around 20,000 supporters at last year’s grand final and if we can convert a few of those to members it would be a great thing,” she said.

“While we very pleased with the past couple of years, it doesn’t mean we can stop.

“We are still not where we want to be — and we want to continuously improve.”