Financial struggles at Modbury Sports and Community Club to ease with Tea Tree Gully Council fee waive

ONE of the Adelaide’s largest junior sporting clubs has been handed a lifeline after renovations at its headquarters left it financially crippled.

30/10/15 Jake Phillips, Jack, 17, Nicole Tucker, Sam, 9 and Cooper, 7 cheer on the club after Tea Tree Gully Council waived fees and bills and went guarantor for the Modbury Sporting Club after it came into some financial trouble. Picture: MATT LOXTON

ONE of the northeast’s largest sporting clubs has been handed a lifeline after renovations at its headquarters left it financially crippled.

Tea Tree Gully Council will waive almost $29,000 in bills racked up by the Modbury Sports and Community Club to help it get back on its feet. The council will also act as a guarantor for a three-year $33,500 loan the club plans to take out to cover its operating costs until business picks up next football season.

Hawks president Dennis French said the club would also be forced to increase membership fees.

Senior and junior members face fee hikes of about $10 from next season. There will also be an annual “Facility Improvement Fund” charge of $35 per family to help pay for work around the club.

Average junior fees last season were about $166. Mr French said the move was to prevent the club’s finances slipping.

The club, which has more than 900 football, soccer and darts members, asked the council for help after two years of renovations, including upgrades to the kitchen, downstairs hall and veranda, took a toll on its finances.

“We don’t want to go back in this position again,” Mr French said.

“We believe that by putting our fees up and having a building fund in place, that will keep us up and running.

“We never anticipated a downturn in bar takings while the renovations were occurring.” A council report into the club’s predicament showed it recorded a $64,000 operating deficit in 2014/15.

“We’re like any other club ... a lot of places are really struggling and there’s probably a lot that are at the brink of closing,” Mr French said.

He said the club, off Hazel Grove, Ridgehaven, was pleased the council had agreed to help.

Senior women’s football player Nicole Tucker, 24, said she was upbeat about the club’s future.

“It’s definitely a good, family-oriented place … it’s like a big family,” she said.

A Tea Tree Gully Council report said the club was a vital part of the community and offered key services to families, so recommended stepping in.

It said the club’s fees had not been increased for years.

“Membership fees have been compared to other similar clubs and … the membership fees at the club are on the lower end of the scale,” it read.