In British
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can ...
, a supporters' trust is a formal, democratic and
not-for-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
organisation of
fans who attempt to strengthen the influence of supporters over the running of the club they support. There are over 140 supporters' trusts across
England,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
and the majority of these are affiliated to
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...
clubs, however trusts also exist for
Rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
and
Rugby Union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
clubs.
With
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
and with cross-party support,
Supporters Direct was established to encourage the formation of supporters' trusts to promote democratic supporter ownership. Supporters Direct encourages these bodies to be formed as
Industrial and Provident Societies (IPSs) and assists with their formation, legal and start-up costs.
Supporters' trusts were commonly founded in response to financial crises which threaten the future of a team, as was the case at
Chesterfield,
Lincoln City,
York City, and
Real Oviedo
Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...
. Their involvement has reportedly ensured the survival of over 20 different clubs entering into administration, particularly during the period of crisis as a result of the collapse of
ITV Digital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...
. Supporters' trusts are now more commonly founded in order to increase influence at clubs through a financial stake in the club.
The first trust established was at
Northampton Town in January 1992. The largest is the
Manchester United Supporters Trust, which used to be known as Shareholders United and currently has over 200,000 members. Other large trusts such as
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
,
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
,
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
,
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...
,
Spurs and
Glasgow Rangers
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The f ...
have between 3,000 and 7,000 members.
Methods for influencing clubs
The main objective of a supporters' trust is to provide a vehicle for fans to influence the running of their club. This is achieved by a number of different strategies, including gaining control by fundraising to finance the acquisition of
shares
In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
in the club or direct board representation.
Club ownership
The most effective method of influencing the running of a club is club ownership. In the UK more than 110 supporters' trusts currently hold equity within their football clubs while supporters' trusts have outright or majority ownership or control at two
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
clubs.
Board representation
Over 40 football clubs currently have supporter representation within the boards of their football clubs, such as the
Rangers Supporters Trust at
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fo ...
,
Lincoln City Supporters' Trust at
Lincoln City F.C.,
ArabTRUST at
Dundee United F.C., the
Oldham Athletic Supporters Trust and th
Swans Trustat
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional association football, football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of Englis ...
The Bluebirds Trust at
Barrow AFC have a board representation and are fundraising to purchase shares. However their formation is different from the vast majority of Trusts, they are not born from crisis but success; Barrow AFC were a members owned club but voted to become a privately owned club. Barrow-born Texan businessman Paul Casson of Casson-Mark (C-Mark) Corp.
purchased the club in the Summer of 2014. In Real Oviedo's case, when the club was about to go bankrupt, the club started putting shares up for sale to people across the world to help the club. Thousand of people invested, including 2nd richest man
Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the '' Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from h ...
and Youtuber Spencer Owen (aka Spencer F.C). As was the case for
Ebbsfleet United.
About 100 football trusts currently have shares in their clubs.
There are many Rugby League supporters' trusts currently in the UK who run and operate their respective clubs, such as
Rochdale Hornets
The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby club ...
for example, likewise, so do some rugby union clubs, for example
Friends of Newport Rugby, representing
Newport RFC
Newport Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Casnewydd) is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, South Wales. They presently play in the Welsh Premier Division. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated o ...
.
See also
*
Supporters Direct
References
External links
Supporters Direct: homepageSupporters Direct: links page - links to supporters trust websites
Fresh Players, New Tactics: Lessons from Northampton Town Supporters Trust
published by The Football Governance Research Centre
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908021126/http://www.barrowafc.com/fa-confirms-paul-cassons-takeover/ , date=2014-09-08
Supporters' trusts,
Association football culture
Australian rules football culture
Cricket culture
Gaelic games culture
Rugby football culture
Sports culture