It was a numbers game back then
The premise behind our 2015 series was that club sport was a social adhesive that helped stick communities together.
But we felt it was losing its grip, and we wanted to understand why and to what extent.
We started with a deep dive into the playing numbers during the past 30 years and focused on structured senior club competitions in Dunedin.
We picked out five sporting codes — netball, softball, cricket, rugby and football — and reviewed the sports draws in the Otago Daily Times in 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015.
The results backed up our hypothesis. Participation in senior competitions had fallen away dramatically since the mid-1980s.
In 1985, there were 80 club rugby teams, 181 netball club teams, 52 club cricket teams, 74 club football teams and 46 club softball teams in Dunedin.
Football bucked the trend and maintained its playing base — it was up three teams to 77 in 2015 — but netball had slipped to just 38 teams, a fall of almost 80%.
Cricket had halved to 26, and rugby peaked with 82 teams in 1995 but fell to 57 teams in 2005 and maintained that level in 2015.
Softball went into freefall and by 2005 had just eight teams. It rebounded slightly during the next decade to record 12 teams in 2015.
We did not count junior club teams or school teams playing in senior competitions.
There had been a shift to casual competitions, which had a big impact on netball and cricket in particular.
Social netball and twilight cricket were flourishing in 2015 and accounted for a good chunk of the missing players.
None of the findings surprised the then-chief executive of Sport Otago, John Brimble.
He was acutely aware of the many challenges club sport faced. The cost of living, the erosion of the weekend, a drift toward casual or individual sport and many other wider societal changes had chipped away at the institutions like sports clubs which once held such sway in our communities.
Brimble was realistic about the future. He suggested clubs may have to consider merging or sharing resources more.
"There is certainly a move away from single-sport clubs," Brimble said in our 2015 series.
"Increasingly, clubs are having to look at becoming multisport clubs. And I can see that trend accelerating."
But he was also hopeful the worst of the decline was in the past.
"The statistics from 2010 to 2014 show total membership in national sports organisations has remained static," Brimble said at the time.
"Clubs still serve a purpose. They are still the backbone of the New Zealand sport system and our clubs are particularly strong at the junior level here in Otago."
It is still a numbers game now
The battle for people’s attention remains a keen focus.
The phrase "time poor" gets trotted out a lot, and the weekend is no longer a two-day stretch where people are free to pursue their passions. People are being pulled in many different directions.
But there are signs club membership in Dunedin has stabilised.
Our two biggest codes, rugby and netball, have experienced growth.
Rugby is up from 57 senior teams in 2015 to 65 teams. Most of that growth has been in female game, and some clubs are still finding it hard to retain and recruit new players.
Netball has rebounded from a low of 38 senior teams a decade ago to 49.
Softball is down marginally from 12 to 11.
Football has dropped from 77 to 71. But while team numbers are down, playing numbers are up throughout the region. And that is because there are more players per team, with an average of around 24.
Cricket continues to struggle. It has dropped from 26 teams to 22, and that fall has happened during a time when the national men’s team has experienced a lot of success.
As in 2015, we have not counted junior club teams or school teams playing in senior competitions.
Dunedin Netball general manager Lee-Anne Anderson said the growth in club netball was down to "dedicated volunteers that run our clubs" and a flexible approach.
"Back in 2015, our club team numbers had been declining consistently since 2011," she said.
"We had a big upturn in 2016 and team numbers peaked in 2019.
"Covid hit and team numbers have declined, but we now understand any decline in enrolment numbers at Otago University and Otago Polytechnic has an impact on club team numbers.
"If you look at the last 10 years, growth can be attributed to club consultation and changing competition formats based on member feedback."
Anderson was optimistic about the decade ahead.
"I think there will still be a considerable need from members for organised sport. [People] still want an organised competition with officials and winners, so I think netball in Dunedin will continue to have a premier and senior competition with good participation numbers in 10 years’ time."
Hanging on
The Caversham football club was feeling the pinch in 2015.
It had scooped most of the major silverware on offer but was struggling to pay the bills.
The previous year, the club, founded in 1931, had taken out a $10,000 loan, and it was forced to hike its membership fees from $150 to $250.
Club president Steve Fleming had questioned "how operational" the club would be in the future.
"We obviously need to think outside of the square because if you are forever doing the same thing, you are going to get nowhere," Fleming said in 2015.
The club had flirted with linking up with the Dunedin rugby club and walking away from its base at Tonga Park, where it shared clubrooms with the Carisbrook-Dunedin cricketers.
They were struggling to pay for the upkeep because people were not returning to the clubrooms as reliably any more.
When they did show up, they were not spending as much as they once may have.
"We sell more crisps and lemonade than we do beer and that is just the nature of society these days.
"I’d say, if in 10 years’ time there is anyone at Tonga Park, well, I’d be very surprised if it is Caversham."
Letting go
Fleming was right about Tonga Park. He was also right about the need to do something different.
Caversham merged with three other football clubs, including longtime rivals Dunedin Technical, to form the Dunedin City Royals club in 2022.
The Carisbrook-Dunedin and Kaikorai cricket clubs formalised their own merger in 2022 following a two-year trial.
CDK won the Bing Harris Shield in their first two years as a combined team, but fell off the pace and have finished last during the past two seasons.
Tonga Park still serves as their home base, but the clubrooms are not used as often.
Club president Iain Nellies said it was hard to maintain playing numbers, and financially they were reliant on grants.
"We deliberately try not to put our subs up too much, because most of them are students and stuff like that, so haven’t got a lot of disposable income," Nellies said.
"So we do a lot of fundraising to subsidise that.
"In my opinion, you’ve got a lot of people that are working weekends and time is precious. And as you get that little bit older and you start having families ... you can’t really commit for a whole day of cricket, and stuff like that."
Pirates sail off
A decade ago, the Pirates rugby club was staying afloat.
Conrad Stedman was the chairman and told the Otago Daily Times the club was going the extra mile for its members.
"We’ve been going back to basics and having functions for club members and things like that," he said.
"We also supply a courtesy van to transport people around. We’ve sort of done it [in the past] but have just made people more aware of it.
"It is hard work. The club has done all right and we have money in the bank, so we are OK."
The situation deteriorated fast.
The following year, the Pirates premier team found the going really tough. They were struggling to field a team and were on the wrong side of some lopsided scores.
Pirates pulled out of the Dunedin premier grade at the beginning of the 2017 season and have not been sighted at the top level since.
In 2019, the club was facing a $20,000 loss, and its premier 2 team dropped out.
The senior club hung in there courtesy of its women’s team, but when the bulk of the players switched to allegiances to the Dunedin Sharks in 2022, Pirates pulled out of the senior women’s grade as well.
This season, the club fielded a men’s team in division 3. But Pirates have essentially been reduced to a club for juniors.
Pirates stalwart Brent Rodgers said the junior club remained very healthy, and having a senior team in division 3 this year brought some life back to the clubrooms at Hancock Park.
But he is not optimistic the club will be able to rebuild its senior ranks.
In fact, he sees challenges ahead for some of the other clubs.
"I wouldn’t like to see another club fall over," Rodgers said.
"But I can’t see the number of players being sustained. I’m looking at the scores in the last two or three years here.
"It is like when we were starting to fall over. The extra hard work that everybody’s putting in to keep their club going. The time, the energy, the money that’s required.
"We probably left it a little bit too late. We should have really looked at amalgamation or something like that a little bit earlier.
"But you don’t think of that at the time because you’re confident what you’re doing is going to work."
Valley holds out
Of the four clubs featured in the opening story of our series 10 years ago, only the North East Valley cricket club has retained its shape.
Committee member Glen Cawood said the club had its issues in 2015.
"We are like any of the other clubs. Our three main revenue streams come through the bar, subscriptions and sponsorship," he said.
"When we have all those functioning properly, it certainly helps. But we are not a club that is financially comfortable by any stretch of the imagination.
"But we do survive and we’re probably in a lot better shape than some of the other clubs around town."
They are still in good shape. Club chairman Sheldon Kindley told the Otago Daily Times the club was ticking along nicely in 2025.
"Our finances are in good heart, primarily because of a lot of good stewardship by our former chairman Bryan Johnston, who worked tirelessly applying for grants," Kindley said.
"It was disappointing that the DCC increased ground user charges to outdoor sports associations by 27% this year. In a cost-of-living crisis, this is the type of thing that will deter people from playing sport.
"Our fees for grounds in 2024 were $7990 and this season they went to $9588.
"The increase was even higher for junior teams, and this was with OCA providing a 7% subsidy so clubs didn’t have to wear the full impact."
Player recruitment remains a key focus and helps keep fees competitive.
Valley field five senior teams — the most of any club — but it remains a challenge to get people back to the clubrooms.
"Society has definitely changed and the good old days of people returning to the club after games have changed. However, we do get good turnouts for various club events like our recent quiz night."
Green shoots and crystal balls
Sport Otago chief executive James Nation has a measured view of the future of club sport in Dunedin. He can see some green shoots, but there are also some fish hooks ahead.
"The environment is really challenging and you can throw in Covid into the mix as well. I think that had a big impact.
"We were still seeing some volunteer tiredness and cost of living and whatnot. But Covid threw a spanner in the works.
"Sport New Zealand’s physical activity numbers are back to where they were pre-Covid, after taking a big hit and slowly building back up.
"And organised sport is still a massive part of sport in Dunedin. It’s good to see it stabilised. We feel that and see that, but there is certainly pressure from the cost of living."
Nation said there has been "massive growth" in the active recreation sector between 2015 and 2025, and the challenge for club sport was to adapt their offerings to entice people back. To provide more flexibility, but also the structure that club competitions offer.
