Before everyone heads off on their summer break, I wanted to drop you all a line. Season 2023 / 24 was again a successful one for Beechwood FC with our U17 boys A & U16 B winning their leagues and the U13 girls & U17 B boys making the DDSL Cup finals. As I said in my January note, the club will remain an open book as to its operating model and financials and I want to continue this transparency as Chair. So where do we stand at the end of this season.
As a club of 860 kids and set to grow further for the season 2024/25, we do need to improve our financial position if we are to continue to provide the pitches for training twice weekly, match jerseys and dedicated coaching. As an Executive Committee, we are absolutely focused on maximising the player experience through coaching, pitch space and gear and this is the model we want to retain. To this end we will be increasing the subscriptions for next season as follows:
I do appreciate this is a significant increase, but the last increase was 2018. The club closely manages its cost base however we have little control over the cost of pitch rental. For background the club paid c.€103,000 during season 23/24 on pitch rental and this is forecast to increase to €130,000 next season due, in part, to increased electricity, pitch maintenance and insurance costs in the schools we rent from on a weekly basis.
On the coaching front, each squad gets a minimum of one coaching session every week and for those squads that want a full-time coach the Club will endeavour to provide one, but the extra cost will be borne by the parents of that particular team. Sponsorship plays a key part of the income of the club. One of our long-standing sponsors, Travel Suite, have completed their multi-year sponsorship as of May this year – I would like to thank Mary McKenna for her steadfast support of the club over the last several years. So next season our primary club sponsors will be Nobo, Rathmines Sports and Sherry Fitzgerald along with squad sponsors Lantech, Line Up Sports, DSG, Catalyst, O’Dwyer Property Management, Lennan’s Yard, Barina, PWC and Rathgar Pharmacy. Sponsorship is a key revenue driver for the club so If you would like to sponsor individual teams or become a primary Club sponsor, please contact me directly. This will of course assist in keeping any future increases in subscriptions to a minimum. We will be talking to all sponsors to see where we can add value to their brand through our new landing page on the website and our social media channels. We are volunteer led club, and our Executive Committee is ever changing. Brian Murray is leaving his post after 10 years as Honorary Secretary – Brian has been instrumental in bringing the Club to where it is today so on behalf of everyone, I want to thank him sincerely for all of his time and wish him well. Brian Carr will take up the role from next season. There are a number of positions vacant like pitches and gear management which do not take a huge amount of time so please contact me to get involved. Finally for your diaries the following are the details when the DDSL Season 24/25 will commence: Weekend 31 st Aug/1 st September All Boys 11- a -side teams Weekend 7 th /8 th September All Boys 9-a-side and All Girls 11-a-side teams Weekend 14 th /15 th September All Boys and Girls SSG teams. So, thank you to our sponsors and to you the parents for always supporting the Club. Beechwood FC is in a great position for future on field success across all age Groups and I very much look forward to meeting you on the sidelines throughout the season. Please feel free to contact me on 087 2259134 or BEECHWOODFCCHAIR@GMAIL.COM Wishing you all a fantastic summer break. Personal Regards, Diarmuid
