Club Size Research Articles

Implementing injury prevention training in youth handball (I-PROTECT) in Sweden: study protocol for a cluster randomised trial

IntroductionEfficacy trials show that evidence-based injury prevention training reduces injuries in youth athletes but effectiveness, that is, outside the controlled setting, is lower and, consequently this training has had limited...

Financial Performance of the English Football Clubs

The financial performance of twenty English football clubs over the period 2013-22 is examined in this study with correlation and panel data analysis. Three performance measures are used: Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and Profit Margin. The size of clubs and their liquidity, leverage, efficiency, cash flow efficiency, and turnover per employee are employed as explanatory variables of performance. Sporting data, including attendance rate, the number of wins, the uncertainty in the Premier League, participation in the Premier League or not, and the presence in UEFA’s European club competitions, are also assessed. The empirical findings accentuate a positive relationship between performance and liquidity, efficiency, cash flow efficiency, and revenue per employee. The opposite is the case for leverage. Wins are positively related to ROA, while the opposite relationship is found for the uncertainty factor. Finally, the presence of clubs in the Premier League is positively associated with their financial performance

The impact of financial fair play on the financial performance of Spanish professional football: do the biggest clubs behave better?

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the analysis of the impact of financial control or “financial fair play” (FFP) regulations on the financial performance of the Spanish professional football league (LaLiga) by examining the moderating role of club size. The authors argue that introducing FFP positively impacted the financial performance of small clubs but increased the economic gap between large and small clubs.Design/methodology/approachA 12-year dataset covering 22 football clubs is used to test the hypotheses. Panel regression models are estimated for eight measures of financial performance indicators, comprising three financial dimensions: profitability, liquidity and solvency. The Gini index is applied to clubs' economic and sports variables to determine the degree of economic imbalance between the largest and smallest clubs.FindingsThe results show that FFP significantly and positively impacted the profitability of small clubs and the solvency of medium-sized clubs but has not impacted the largest clubs' financial performance. After these regulations, economic inequality in Spanish LaLiga increased.Originality/valueThe authors find evidence that club size moderates the effect of FFP on financial performance. The moderating role of club size may explain the mixed results found in previous research. The authors’ findings contribute to improving the literature on the impact of FFP on the financial performance of European football clubs.

Relative age effect

The aim of this study was to examine relative age effect (RAE) on distinctive variables and age groups in recreational football. Participants (N = 79,249) included male (n = 63,540) and female (n = 15,709) players aged 2 to 12 years. Data were gathered through an official database containing all licensed players in Denmark. Birthdate distributions were split by age category, sex, club size, year group size, and birth quarter (Q1 = January to March, Q4 = October to December). RAEs were calculated using chi-square analysis. Significant RAEs existed in all age categories (except females in U6 and below). The effect was most pronounced at the entry level among both males and females. Club size was not associated with RAEs, but were shown in smaller and midsized year groups, but were absent in larger year groups. The results of this study show that RAEs are present from early sport participation.

БРЕНД ЯК ФАКТОР УСПІШНОГО МАРКЕТИНГУ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ БРЕНДУ ФУТБОЛЬНОГО КЛУБУ)

In the modern period of the general commercialization of sports in general and football, as one of its most popular types in particular, the issue of brand management of professional football clubs is gaining relevance. Today, the brand itself is defined as an effective tool for the development and profit-making of a professional football club as a business model. The article examines different views of scientists regarding the meaning of the concepts "brand" and "branding". It was determined that branding is a key and necessary tool for the successful functioning of any enterprise. The definition of the concept of "sports brand" as a resource based on which the function of influencing holistic perception and consumer choice is realized is generalized. It was determined that among modern sports brands, an important role belongs to football brands, since in them you can find a reference combination of emotional, symbolic and reputational components, which are the basis of any brand. Factors affecting the value of a football club brand have been identified. The constituent elements of the football club brand are singled out, which ensure its maximum uniqueness to create a single image of consumer thinking. It was determined that the main factors that affect the value of a football club brand are its history, sports results, personal achievements of football players who play for this club, the size of the football club's budget, the number of partnerships with sponsors and their reputation, the number of fans and average attendance at matches, the club's participation in international tournaments, the number of telecasts of the club's matches, and the number of mentions in the press. The rating of the most expensive football brands in the world in 2022 according to Brand Finance, a brand evaluation consulting company, has been submitted. Characteristic features of the development of the most expensive football brands in 2021-2022. It was determined that the right marketing can help in solving important issues for a professional football club, namely: attracting high-quality football players, encouraging fans to attend matches, attracting mass media. It is noted that the main task of marketing for football brands is to improve their image, taking into account the socio-economic and political conditions that have the greatest impact.

Universal prevention through a digital health platform reduces injury incidence in youth athletics (track and field): a cluster randomised controlled trial

ObjectivesTo examine whether universal prevention via a digital health platform can reduce the injury incidence in athletics athletes aged 12–15 years and if club size had an influence on the...

Palaeopathological evidence for intraspecific combat in ankylosaurid dinosaurs.

Ankylosaurid dinosaurs were heavily armoured herbivores with tails modified into club-like weapons. These tail clubs have widely been considered defensive adaptations wielded against predatory theropod dinosaurs. Here we argue instead that ankylosaurid tail clubs were sexually selected structures used primarily for intraspecific combat. We found pathological osteoderms (armour plates) in the holotype specimen of Zuul crurivastator, which are localized to the flanks in the hip region rather than distributed randomly across the body, consistent with injuries inflicted by lateral tail-swinging and ritualized combat. We failed to find convincing evidence for predation as a key selective pressure in the evolution of the tail club. High variation in tail club size through time, and delayed ontogenetic growth of the tail club further support the sexual selection hypothesis. There is little doubt that the tail club could have been used in defence when needed, but our results suggest that sexual selection drove the evolution of this impressive weapon. This changes the prevailing view of ankylosaurs, suggesting they were behaviorally complex animals that likely engaged in ritualized combat for social dominance as in other ornithischian dinosaurs and mammals.

Wage Dispersion and Team Performance: The Moderation Role of Club Size

Previous research on professional football offer conflicting results regarding the impact of wage dispersion on team performance. However, the existing intra-league heterogeneity among clubs is overlooked and could be the reason for the diverging outcomes. The aim of this paper is to reanalyze this relationship having the clubs’ size as moderator. Payroll – which captures the financial strength – is used as proxy of club size. Ordinary Least Squares regressions with season and league fixed effects are employed. Dispersion is measured by three indexes for robustness check. The outputs confirm the quadratic relationship between wage dispersion and performance, but adding that identical levels of dispersion have different impact on football clubs according to their financial strength.

Two notions of social capital

ABSTRACT We propose a model that reconciles two aspects of social capital: social capital as reciprocal sharing of favors within a selected group vs. social capital as trust that lubricates transactions in societies. The core assumption is that individuals have productive potentials, e.g., innovations, that can not be put at use autonomously. However, individuals can associate in a club to match productive innovator-implementor dyads among the members. For a given club, allowing one new member has the effect of a) an increased pool of innovations and b) an increased pool of potential implementers. Whether a particular member supports the expansion of the club depends on whether she expects to be an implementor or an innovator. When expansion of membership is decided by vote, both small exclusive clubs and open clubs encompassing the whole society can emerge. The outcome depends both on the voting protocol, on the distribution of innovator and implementer skills, and on the maximal potential club size. Moreover, identical environments may generate multiple equilibrium club sizes. In which of these the society ends up depends on the initial conditions and on the voting protocol.

Returning to sport after a COVID-19 shutdown: understanding the challenges facing community sport clubs

ABSTRACT Rationale/Purpose This study investigates the challenges of returning to sport after a COVID-19 shutdown of sport from the perspective of community sport clubs (CSCs). We explore the relationship between the challenges CSCs identified and the challenges the nation’s lead sport agency identified; and similarities or differences in the challenges faced by different types of CSCs. Design/methodology/approach Concept Mapping (online) with 57 CSCs in Victoria, Australia. Findings CSCs identified eight clusters of challenges related to returning to sport after the COVID-19 shutdown (in highest to lowest mean impact rating order): volunteers; club culture; health protocols; membership; finances; facilities; competition; and governance and division of responsibility. Cluster impact ratings differed by club location, competitive season, venue type, club size, and type of sport offered. Practical implications The challenges CSCs face returning to sport are more complex and broader than current national guidelines suggest, with previously existing challenges exacerbated and new challenges emerging. Listening to CSCs is essential to understanding the nuances of, and support needed to address the complex context-specific challenges to returning to operations after a COVID-19 shutdown. Research contribution Understanding the challenges and how they differ for CSCs as they return to sport.

Social Clubs and Social Networks

We present a strategic network formation model based on membership in clubs. Individuals choose affiliations. The set of all memberships induces a weighted network where two individuals are directly connected if they share a club. Two individuals may also be indirectly connected using multiple memberships of third parties. Individuals gain from their position in the induced network and pay membership fees. We study the club congestion model where the weight of a link decreases with the size of the smallest shared club. A trade-off emerges between the size of clubs, the depreciation of indirect connections, and the membership fee. (JEL D71, D85, Z13)

Does size matter? Entrepreneurial orientation and performance in Spanish sports clubs

Despite its importance, entrepreneurship in organizations has not been widely addressed in the sports association sector (sports clubs). In this context, this study analyses the relationships of entrepreneurial orientation and club size with the economic and sporting performances of Spanish non-profit sports clubs. To this end, a total of 300 sports clubs were analyzed through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results show that risk-taking and innovation are causal conditions for high levels of economic and sporting performance, and large club size is both a core and a causal condition. Practical implications and intervention proposals are addressed, and their derivation considered the results obtained and the existing literature.

Has UEFA’s financial fair play regulation increased football clubs’ profitability?

ABSTRACT Research question In response to the low profitability of European football clubs, in 2010, UEFA established its Financial Fair Play regulation (FFP) to encourage clubs not to spend more than they earn. We examine whether FFP’s break-even rule has increased the profitability of football clubs. Research methods : We use data from the top five European football leagues (those of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) over the period 2008–2016. Our sample includes 1,094 club-year observations (139 different clubs). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and profit before tax (PBT) margins are used as profitability measures. The impact of FFP is estimated using the Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE), logistic regressions, and fixed effects OLS models. We control for both domestic and European competition success, leverage, club size, and country/club fixed effects. Results and Findings In the pre-FFP period, roughly 70 percent of observations are losses, whereas in the post-FFP period, roughly 60 percent of observations are losses. However, the estimated positive effect is significant only in Spain, while for England and Germany we find weak evidence. We cannot rule out that the observed improvement in performance is simply caused by the recovery from the financial crisis. The effect of FFP is insignificant in France and Italy. Implications The effect of FFP on clubs’ profitability has been at best modest. We call upon UEFA and its member associations and leagues to expand their efforts to enforce the break-even rule or to reassess the efficiency of current FFP requirements.

Organizational Capacity and Performance of Community Sport Clubs

Using a multidimensional framework, the authors developed the Community Sport Capacity Scale to measure the key elements of capacity in community sport organizations or clubs and investigate their relative impact on three key indicators of club performance. Presidents or their representatives from 336 community sport organizations in 20 sports across the province of Ontario, Canada, completed the web-based survey measuring the extent of various elements of human resources, infrastructure, finance, planning, and external relationships capacity. The survey also measured club operations, programs, and community presence, identified as key performance outcomes. Controlling for club size, elements representing all five capacity dimensions were significantly associated with the outcomes. The findings highlight the rich information that may be generated from a multidimensional and context-specific perspective on organizational capacity, and indicate implications for building capacity in community sport organizations.

Passports for sale: The political economy of conflict and cooperation in a meta-club

Some of the member states of the European Union sell citizenship or residence to wealthy foreign investors. We analyze these “golden-passport” programs as a study in the political economy of conflict and cooperation in an international meta-club. Seen through the lens of club goods theory, the EU is a club of nations, each of which can be interpreted as itself a club. Each single nation reserves the right to govern the admission of new individual members into its own club, and new members automatically benefit from the EU wide meta-club good. We characterize the unique equilibrium when individual clubs that may differ in membership size are free to choose the terms on which they admit members, and evaluate it from the point of view of the wellbeing of the set of clubs as a whole. We identify club size and benefits as well as differences in cost externalities as the key determinants. We also consider how the set of clubs as a whole can respond to the economic inefficiency problems such a situation creates.

Retention in care and factors critical for effectively implementing antiretroviral adherence clubs in a rural district in South Africa.

IntroductionDifferentiated models of care that include referral of antiretroviral treatment (ART) clients to adherence clubs are an important strategy to help clinics manage increased number of clients living with HIV in resource‐constrained settings. This study reported on (i) clinical outcomes among ART clients attending community‐based adherence clubs and (ii) experiences of adherence clubs and perceptions of factors key to successful adherence club implementation among clients and healthcare workers.MethodsA retrospective cohort analysis of routine data and a descriptive analysis of data collected through self‐administered surveys completed by clients and healthcare workers were completed. Clients starting ART at the study clinic, between January 2014 and December 2015, were included in the cohort analysis and followed up until December 2016. The survey data were collected from August to September 2017. The primary outcome for the cohort analysis was a comparison of loss to follow‐up (LTFU) between clients staying in clinic care and those referred to adherence clubs. Survey data reported on client experiences of and healthcare worker perceptions of adherence club care.ResultsCohort analysis reported on 465 participants, median baseline CD4 count 374 (IQR: 234 to 532) cells/μl and median follow‐up time 20.7 (IQR 14.1 to 27.7) months. Overall, 202 (43.4%) participants were referred to an adherence club. LTFU was lower in those attending an adherence club (aHR =0.25, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.56). This finding was confirmed on analysis restricted to those eligible for adherence club referral (aHR =0.28, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.65). Factors highlighted as associated with successful adherence club implementation included: (i) referral of stable clients to the club, (ii) an ideal club size of ≥20 members, (iii) club services led by a counsellor (iv) using churches or community halls as venues (v) effective communication between all parties, and (vi) timely delivery of prepacked medication.ConclusionsThis study showed good clinical outcomes, positive patient experiences and healthcare worker perceptions of the adherence club model. Factors associated with successful adherence club implementation, highlighted in this study, can be used to guide implementers in the scale‐up of adherence club services across varied high‐burden settings.

Where is the Cash in Clubs?

ABSTRACT The statement of cash flows and the cash budget are two important tools for clubs to better manage their cash. While the statement of cash flows reflects cash flow activities for a period of time and separates them into operating, investing and financing activities, the cash budget focuses on the future and shows both forecasted cash receipts and disbursements. This study benchmarks how clubs utilize the statement of cash flows and the cash budget, documents the current accounts receivable and accounts payable practices, and investigates if the size of clubs (as determined by membership) affects such uses and practices.

Collaboration between sports clubs and public institutions

In the past two decades, several European countries have sought to promote a closer and more formalised level of collaboration between voluntary associations and public institutions. These policies aim to integrate associations in the various forms of public services delivered by local public institutions. This also applies to sports clubs. The purpose of this paper is firstly to analyse the extent of and attitude towards collaboration and co-production among sports clubs in Denmark and secondly to explore the organisational factors that are conducive to collaboration. The study examines the importance of three factors for collaboration: Size of the sports club, professional staff members, and community orientation and embeddedness. The analysis is based on data from an online survey of associations in five very different municipalities in Denmark, which included 832 sports clubs of which 48 per cent answered the questionnaire. The analysis shows that there is widespread collaboration between sports clubs and local public institutions in Denmark and that clubs have a positive attitude towards collaboration. However, collaboration with a public institution is for most sports clubs a relatively marginal activity and the vast majority of clubs do not support the idea that associations should contribute to the resolution of municipally defined tasks. For most clubs, collaboration is not a central part of their activities and goals. The extent of sports clubs’ collaboration with municipal institutions depends primarily on two factors: the size of the club and its community orientation. The professionalisation of the club has no significant impact on the extent to which sports clubs collaborate with local public institutions.

Irrigation reservoirs as blue clubs: Governance and policy intervention

Abstract Reservoirs are increasingly deemed to be important given their potential control of water availability across seasons, from wet to dry seasons, especially given the concerns on the effect of climate change. In this paper, we assess the potential scope for policy intervention on the construction of irrigation reservoirs and its design, focusing on the collective action aspect. We formulate a theoretical model in which farmers pool resources to construct a collective reservoir. We conceptualized the reservoir as a “blue club” that increases the potential water availability in dry season, thus improving water safety for the whole society. We determine the societal potential inefficiency in club size and the policy measures to correct it, focusing on two different club access rules (open vs closed membership). Results show that linear subsidy are ineffective in case of closed membership, and minimum participation rules are required to increase the club size.

Democratic Participation in Voluntary Associations: A Multilevel Analysis of Sports Clubs in Europe

Non-profit associations are usually democratically organized, and this feature plays a legitimizing role for the public support to associations. This article examines which characteristics at country level, organizational level and individual level can explain variations with regard to member engagement in the association democracy in sports clubs in Europe. The statistical analyses use data on 12,755 members from 642 sports clubs in ten European countries. The findings show that the majority of the members in sports clubs participate in the association democracy, but the level and form of engagement varies considerably. At the country level, no link between the democratic strength and quality of the countries on the one hand and member engagement on the other could be identified. Instead, characteristics at the organizational and individual level were found to be relevant. More concretely, (1) the size of the sports club, (2) the socioeconomic background of the members (gender, age and education), and (3) the way in which the members are involved in and affiliated to the club (engaged in voluntary work, participating in social activities, etc.) were found to be significantly correlated with the engagement of members in the association democracy.