Our series has plotted the decline in local club sport since the mid-1980s and asked what clubs can do to remain relevant in the future. Adrian Seconi offers his final thoughts on the issue.
Perhaps clubs in crisis would have been a better hook for this series.
We felt that was too strong and, clearly, not all clubs meet the criteria.
But when you break down the numbers, you cannot escape the fact club sport has declined alarmingly since the mid-1980s.
In 1985, the sports draws in the Otago Daily Times consumed two full pages.
These days, sometimes the draws claim just half a page, although they mostly account for at least a third.
Anecdotally, we knew club sport was not the thriving beast it once was.
But it was not until we started the painstaking process of counting that we realised just how tough it had become for clubs.
The 10 years between 1995 and 2005 saw the most rapid descent in club membership.
Netball, for example, dropped from 119 club teams to 52 - that is a 56% fall or, in real numbers, a loss of 67 teams.
Say each team had 12 members; then that was a loss of 804 players.
While some of the missing generation would have popped up to play in the various social leagues on offer, they were still lost to clubs.
Rugby, softball and cricket were also hit hard.
Rugby lost 25 teams (500 players) in that period.
Softball almost fell off the graph, dropping from 35 teams to just eight (270 players), while cricket, which has halved since 1985, lost 16 teams (240 players).
All up, clubs in those four sports alone lost about 1800 people.
We never expected the numbers to be so high and it begs the question: Why did so many people take flight during that period?
This series was focused on the problem and the solutions, not the cause.
But a follow-up article on the dramatic slide in clubs' fortunes certainly seems appropriate.
Football is the only sport of the five we included in the series that has held its ground.
It was up marginally from 74 club teams in 1985 to 77 in 2015.
To have trod water while other sports have fallen away was a success and one of the keys has been offering masters football.
Football South has 18 masters teams split into two grades and that has helped keep the clubs healthy.
New Zealand has an ageing population and people are enjoying better health for longer, so it makes sense to target the 35-plus athlete.
Netball has suffered the heaviest losses of the five monitored sports but has a flourishing social competition with 116 teams.
A lot of the people who would once have played club netball are now playing social netball, so they are not lost to the sport.
And with people busier in the weekend than they were in previous generations, netball has shifted part of its operation to the middle of the week.
Next season the premier club netball will be played on Thursday nights.
One of the many unresolved questions from this series is: Where will that leave the clubs?
Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble is well aware of the challenges clubs face but is optimistic about the future.
However, he believes if clubs are going to remain the backbone of New Zealand sports systems, then they will need to adapt.
He sees a future where mergers are common as clubs look to share both expenses and resources.
Caversham AFC finds itself in a situation where it needs to do something differently.
Despite all its success on field, it is struggling financially.
Early last year it was forced to take out a $10,000 loan when it got behind on its bills.
It hiked membership fees by $100 but is still in a perilous position and unsure whether it will be operational next year.
The clubrooms it shares with Carisbrook-Dunedin at Tonga Park are in disrepair and it will cost $6000 to repair the roof.
Caversham is still considering its options but one of them is walking away from its base and linking up with another club - possibly even a rugby club.
That would never have happened in the 1980s.
●We are interested in hearing your feedback about the series and any thoughts you may have about the future of club sport. Please contact adrian.seconi@odt.co.nz.
