Following our submission to Hutt City Council last month, Capital Football have made a submission to Wellington City Council's Long Term Plan consultation process.

Capital Football’s mission is to provide a range of football-related activities that create a thriving football community that benefits all participants – players, officials, administrators, families, and supporters in the greater Wellington region.

This submission has been made in the best interests of our football community and we intend to speak to it in front of Council on behalf of that community.

If you would like to read the submission in its entirety, includind appendices, you can download it here.

Should you have any feedback on our submission, we encourage you to comment on our Facebook page.

Capital Football is the governing body for football and futsal in the Greater Wellington region, including Wellington, Porirua, Mana, Horowhenua-Kapiti, Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa.

In 2017, Capital Football had 16,000 players (including college players), 6,419 of which were from the Wellington City Council region. Fifteen of the 42 clubs in the Greater Wellington region are from Wellington: Brooklyn Northern United, Brooklyn Northern Juniors, Island Bay United AFC, Marist AFC, Miramar Rangers AFC, North Wellington, North Wellington Juniors, Wellington Olympic AFC, Onslow Junior FC, Seatoun AFC, Tawa AFC, Victoria University, Waterside Karori AFC, Wellington United AFC, and Wellington College. In football, there are 2,263 junior and senior women, 6,499 junior males, and 3,984 senior males.

There was a 35% annual growth for futsal in 2017, with 5,600 Capital Football players and 706 teams playing across junior, youth and senior leagues last year compared to 1,856 in 2013.1 The gender split of futsal players is 4,544 men and 1,128 women. There are 1,576 juniors, 3,280 youths and 816 senior futsal players. We expect our player numbers to be similar for the 2018 playing season for football and futsal.

Capital Football is dissatisfied with the value for money that is currently being received for the football facilities provided by the Wellington City Council (WCC). This submission discusses and outlines our concerns in three key areas: proposed fee increases for artificial grounds, the current indoor venue and artificial turf prices, and the tier system for grounds.

The submission also details Capital Football’s support for the WCC’s proposed Community Sports Hub at Grenada North.

VALUE FOR MONEY

As highlighted in the WCC’s 2017-2018 Annual Plan, strategic objective 5 includes providing sport and recreation facilities. The benefits of sporting facilities are well-known; these facilities allow Wellingtonians to live healthy lifestyles, “keep people safe and healthy”, and “strengthen communities”.

Proposed fee increases for artificial turfs

Capital Football strongly opposes the proposed increases in costs for the artificial turfs for football. The WCC 2017-2018 Annual Plan indicates a proposed increase in operating expenditure for artificial turfs. The 2017-2018 operating expenditure of artificial turfs increased by $248,000 from 2016-2017.2 Capital Football is not arguing against paying for the facilities, but does not agree with the current and proposed prices.

Capital Football recognises the large investment WCC makes each year for social and recreational facilities: nearly one quarter ($24.70) of rates value per $100 is spent on social and recreation facilities, which is the second largest cost for the WCC after the environment (strategic objective 2).

However, Capital Football players contribute to the $70,300,000 used by the WCC for social and recreation (strategic objective 5), which includes sporting facilities, through their rates. The WCC also collects $44,300,000 for social and recreation through methods including fees and charges, which the Capital Football players contribute to through their club fees. This twofold payment for Capital Football players is acknowledged and although it could be argued it is not the case around the rest of the country, the proposed cost increases and historic charges are too high and do not represent fair value. The proposed cost increases associated with football facilities in the Wellington region concern Capital Football because it may reduce participation in team sports. A decrease in Wellingtonians who play sport would negatively impact on the WCC’s key objectives of social cohesion and participation in community life as part of the social and recreation strategic area.

Indoor venues and artificial turfs

Capital Football opposes the costs of using indoor venue facilities and artificial turfs in the Wellington region. In 2017, Capital Football paid $141,715 for Wellington City artificial grounds (an increase of $39,125 from 2016, which is a 39% increase) and $104,489.13 for indoor venues at the ASB Sports Centre (an increase of $44,815 from 2016, which is a 75% increase) (see Appendices 1 and 2). Capital Football acknowledges that a portion of the cost increases for indoor venues is due to its “unabated” growth since 2009 as the fastest growing indoor sport, with over 5,600 players in 2017.

As disclosed in the 2017-2018 Annual Plan, in 2016-2017 the WCC’s capital expenditure for artificial turf was $1,789,000 and recreation centres were $77,000. In 2017-2018, the capital expenditure for recreation centres increased to $474,000 (figures for the capital expenditure for artificial turfs in 2017-2018 were not disclosed in the WCC’s Annual Plan). While Capital Football recognises the scheduled $25,000 as Capital Projects and Programmes Activity 5.1.4 and upkeep for the replacement artificial turf carpets, the upfront costs of these facilities are recouped yearly through fees and charges by the WCC. For example, Capital Football has paid $567,000 for the use of Wakefield Park (see Appendix 3). Based on the original capital development costs of Memorial Park that is owned by Capital Football ($2,000,000), we estimate that Capital Football has paid back an assumed 25% of the costs of Wakefield Park. This contribution would increase to over 50% of the original capital development costs if it included all the bookings from Capital Football-affiliated clubs for weekly practices. Therefore, it is a fair assumption that a large portion of the costs associated with Wakefield Park have been recovered. As such, the WCC cannot continue to use the capital expenditure of such facilities as a justification for increased or static fees and charges, unless regular upgrades like replacement turfs are completed. Therefore, Capital Football argues that the costs for hiring these facilities should be decreasing yearly as the initial costs are recovered.

Tier system for grounds

Capital Football is also dissatisfied with the current tier system used by WCC for ground hire charges. In 2017, Capital Football paid $50,432 for tier 1-3 fields (with a discount of $1,438 for closed grounds) to the WCC for natural grounds (see Appendix 4). Capital Football pays the same price for David Farrington Park (a tier 1, top-quality sportsfield) as Nairnville 1, which has a cricket wicket running through the field and cannot be used for higher grade games. WCC needs to reassess the quality of the grounds used in the tier system and change the prices accordingly.

Similarly, there are artificial turfs that do not provide adequate value for money, as we are paying the same rate for different standard fields. For example, the Wellington College artificial turf costs the same as Alex Moore (see Appendix 1). The Wellington College artificial turf is not good enough for high level games and only has one changing room, which means less games are able to be scheduled there each week. Yet, the WCC charges the same price for the Wellington College turf as Alex Moore, which has good facilities and a quality surface. We are also concerned about the quality of the Te Whaea, Wellington College and Wakefield Park artificial turf carpets, as they are all showing real signs of considerable wear and tear. As owners of our own artificial turf (Memorial Park) and the biggest users of artificial turfs throughout Greater Wellington, we feel we are well qualified to make this comment regardless of what the WCC staff may think. Therefore, Capital Football recommends that WCC reassesses the quality of the natural and artificial fields currently included in the tier system and price them more accordingly.

GRENADA NORTH COMMUNITY SPORTS HUB

Capital Football would like to add their support for the Grenada North Community Sports Hub, which has “the potential to become a multi-functional sport and active recreation hub” and “improve access to high-quality sports and recreation facilities” for the northern suburbs. As per previous council facilities expansion, Capital Football remain willing and able to financially contribute to the Grenada North Community Sports Hub project.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In summary, this submission highlights the Council does not provide value for money of the football facilities used by Capital Football. As mentioned, Capital Football requests that the current and proposed prices are reconsidered. Therefore, it is recommended that the Council:

1) Removes the proposed fee increases for artificial grounds, as players are paying for these twofold through their rates and playing football.

2) Decreases the cost of using artificial turfs and the indoor venues for futsal, as the upfront capital development costs of these facilities have already been substantially recouped through charges and fees.

3) Reassesses the quality of the natural and artificial grounds under the tier system and price the facilities accordingly.

Capital Football believes that these recommendations will matter to the lives of “individual Wellingtonians and the community as a whole,” “keep people safe and healthy”, and “strengthen communities”.