Where your kids can play soccer for $400: Adelaide Youth Football Club readies for its first season
Junior soccer fees can cost as much as $1500 a season but a newly-formed club is charging a third of that. Find out where your kids can play soccer for cheap.
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A newly-formed junior soccer club is capping its registration fees at about a third of what is being charged at some Adelaide clubs.
The western suburbs-based Adelaide Youth Football Club (AYFC) will fix its charges between $400 and $500 for a season, significantly lower than fees of up to almost $1500 at some clubs for boys aged 13 to 17.
The club has been lobbying since 2022 to join the Football SA MiniRoos, its initial attempts vetoed by Football SA on the grounds more clubs weren’t needed.
A passion project of president and co-founder Tim Quinn, a dad of two and former national youth league coach, the club will enter three teams – U6s, U8s and U11s – in local competitions in its inaugural 2025 season. The hope is to further grow the club.
Mr Quinn said addressing the “cost impediment” was just one of the aims with a focus, too, on “increasing participation among girls, indigenous Australians and culturally-diverse communities”.
“AYFC was created to change how youth football is delivered in SA with a focus on providing high-quality training and opportunities for children, irrespective of their economic circumstances,” he said.
“This isn‘t just about soccer; it’s about creating opportunities and shaping futures; our goal is to develop the next generation of Matildas and Socceroos while building a vibrant footballing community.
“We are ecstatic, absolutely over-the-moon to be entering the competition.”
Mr Quinn said the plan was to keep fees at the juniors-only club indefinitely capped at $500, with donations and sponsorship helping to cover costs, helping also, it didn’t need to try and boost the coffers for a seniors competition.
According to its website, sought-after club Adelaide City charged its junior boys, aged U13 to U17, $1415 for a season in 2024; boys U8 to U12 paid $1115 and participation for boys aged U6 and U7 cost $725.
For girls, aged U13 to U17 fees were $950, dropping to $725 for girls aged U7 to U11.
Young Alessia Zhao, 7, cannot wait to pull on her boots and white AYFC kit – splashed with blue and yellow – for her first game this season.
Mum Crystal Deng said the youngster had been counting down each day since November, excited for her first training scheduled for Friday, January 31.
She said while the affordable fees were a bonus, the location of the club at the Sam Johnson Sportsground in Renown Park, was the main drawcard for her family.
“Three girls in our neighbourhood are all joining … they are happy to be pla
ying together and it means, as parents, we can help each other out getting the girls to training,” she said.
The novice soccer mum was unaware of the high fees elsewhere.
“We would probably have had to think twice if the fees were that high,” she said.
AYFC first applied to join the Football SA MiniRoos competition in 2022 but was rejected with Football SA declaring the western suburbs competition was “saturated”.
“The proposed location … was in an area of multiple well established football clubs with the closest being less than 1km away,” a statement at the time read.
Mr Quinn attributes persistence as well as the backing of Premier Peter Malinauskas and other key advocates for the backflip, with permission granted last year to compete in the 2025 season.
The newly-launched junior club is now seeking a major sponsor.
“We have been going around to businesses face-to-face to try and generate some interest … a lot love what we are doing and see the value but it is (financially) tight for them too,” Mr Quinn said.
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Originally published as Where your kids can play soccer for $400: Adelaide Youth Football Club readies for its first season
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