Fee-free vs fee hikes: The growing divide in kids’ sport

Source: Radio New Zealand

A growing divide is emerging in junior sport.

As some clubs experiment with ways to reduce barriers for young players, others say rising costs are forcing difficult decisions about fees just to keep the lights on.

RNZ last week reported a Nelson rugby club has waived junior fees for 2026 in a bid to ease financial pressure on families and revive grassroots participation.

Just a few kilometres away a different code tells the opposite story, reflecting a wider challenge in grassroots sport – balancing affordability for families with the rising cost of running community clubs.

Nelson parent Cherie Liddell was shocked to see a $170 fee for her son to register for junior football.

Liddell did not want to single out the club, as she said the problem was across the board. Local clubs Nelson Suburbs are charging $120 for players aged four to seven, and $195 for players aged 14-16, while FC Nelson will cost $100 for ‘first kicks’ (five to six-year-olds) and $185 for youth grades.

“It annoys me because it is a massive barrier to playing sport for a lot of families. Every child deserve to be able to participate in sport,” said Liddell.

“I simply want sport to be accessible and inclusive for all children including those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those with physical and mental disabilities. We do pretty well I think on the whole in New Zealand but it can always be better.”

After questioning the costs with her club, Liddell said she was told the fees cover levies for NZ Football and Mainland Football, as well as ground fees and equipment, leaving little left over.

Liddell said she hoped the growing popularity of football in New Zealand could help boost revenue and drive costs down at grassroots level.

“With football numbers increasing year on year, the increased awareness and interest in football through Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix for example, perhaps the tide is turning for football and fees could reflect this a little more,” Lidell said.

It’s a similar story in Hawke’s Bay, where mother of two Katrina James has seen fees rise sharply over four years at the Havelock North Wanderers.

James said in 2025 fees rose from $80 to $125. This year, parents have been asked to fork out $200 plus an additional $15 for a team photo. The fees do not include the purchase of a uniform and kit.

“Basically they said the board made the decision, to cover the costs of additional programmes such as holiday programmes and academies. I disagree with the fact that a seven-year-old should be charged $215 to play any junior level sport.”

With fees less than half in neighbouring Hastings, James believes the club is taking advantage of the higher socio-economic position of Havelock North.

“It’s not for the fact that our family can’t afford to pay the fee, but I don’t believe it should be the case for the youth in New Zealand to have to be charged that much to participate at youth level. It’s such a deterrent and it’s such an obstacle for so many families. And their argument was around we’re in a high decile area.”

Due to the increase at the club, James has opted to play elsewhere.

“We’re moving our son, but lots of people don’t want to make the fuss, but when you’ve got families that might have three children, that’s $600 from the get go, not to mention boots, travel away for games, all of those kinds of costs, it’s not appropriate. It shouldn’t be inhibiting to families.”

However, grassroots clubs say it’s not about extorting parents, but simply survival.

Administrator for Mid Canterbury Football junior league Aimee Layton said without charging fees to members, the club could not operate.

“We wouldn’t have uniform available for kids. We wouldn’t have any gear. We wouldn’t be able to replace goals or nets or anything like that.”

The club, which is the only one in the region is home to 550 members, and run by a committee of just five volunteers.

Layton said they are often overlooked when it comes to national funding.

“I apply for every grant available and am lucky to get enough to cover the cost of balls. There’s only a certain pot of money in grants. we apply for the grants that we can. Fingers crossed, you get something, but most of the time you don’t get anything.”

Fees at the club begin at $50 for first kicks, and up to $130 for travelling youth teams.

“We’re trying to keep ours as low as we can, but it’s still a struggle.”

For Layton, it’s hard to hear about sports such as rugby offering fee free seasons.

“We have to charge parents fees in order to provide all the training equipment. If a team wants a set of balls, we get a set of balls. We supply the uniform for free. So, it’s necessary and it is frustrating when you hear other clubs fees free or whatever. We’re just not in that position to do so, especially when a proportion of the fees we charge then goes to your various affiliated bodies above you.”

Layton said differences in funding models between sports play a role, with some codes benefiting from major commercial backing.

Grassroots rugby was fortunate to benefit from the trickle down effects of NZ Rugby’s $262 million deal with private equity group Silver Lake, of which millions was distributed to provincial unions and clubs. Football had no such mega influx to rely on, Layton said.

“We thought after the [2023 Fifa Women’s] World Cup was here, we might have seen some money trickle down to grassroots clubs, but we did not.”

According to NZ Football’s 2024 annual report, the organisation invested $8.4 million in women’s football development through a legacy fund from hosting the World Cup.

It’s not just money the club is struggling to find, but also volunteers.

Layton and the other four members of the committee don’t have any children playing at the club, all having moved on to play in the next tier up.

“But it’s a bit of like if we don’t, who will? I understand everybody’s time poor, but if people don’t step up to help, it’s going to get to the stage where there’s no one to run it on a weekend.”

Supporting the club was not a simple case of fund-raising in the community.

“You don’t want to burden parents into having to fork out all the time. This year I thought I’d try something online where they don’t have to do anything, just have to buy some hot cross buns. Well, we made $180 out of 550 sets of kids.”

In a statement, NZ Football said it has several low-cost initiatives at a grassroots level such as MILO Fantails, Kōtuitui and the Kickin It programme.

It said that membership fees for young people were reduced by 14-38 per cent in 2021 (now $5 for First Kicks, $10 for Mini Football and $15 for youth).

“Football clubs across New Zealand have a wide range of fees depending on their context and face rising costs due to inflation and in some areas Council ground charges. We are always monitoring ways to encourage more Kiwis to play football and low barriers to participation and are in regular discussions on how to do this with our federations and football system,” the statement said.

The national body said that as part of its 10-year strategy, it has set out to double revenue and downstream investment into federations.

“Low-cost initiatives to play will help ensure football continues to grow at the rate it has over the past 10 years, as New Zealand’s largest and fastest growing participation sport.”

Layton does not worry about the popularity of the game in the region, but she does fear for the future of funding it.

“It’s a massive amount of kids that play on a weekend. I worry about having to year after year increase fees and where the parents draw the line and just go, ‘actually, we can’t do that. We’ll go play rugby because the first three years are free.’ It will get to a stage where you’re basically pricing people out.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand