Leschenault Sporting Association given $30,000 lifeline loan after haemorrhaging funds over winter

Shire of Harvey councillors have voted to bail out the Leschenault Sporting Association, lending $30,000 to the association which suffered haemorrhaging funds over winter. Low membership fees, a lack of sponsorships and a particularly brutal winter has put the LSA on the back foot financially, treasurer Matthew McTaminey said, with the club on the verge of collapse. The association projects losses of $44,724 by 2025 and suffered a loss of $19,475 in 2024. Mr McTaminey said $50,000 of the loss came in just three months. Despite dire need for finances, membership fees for the group’s more than 2600 members “costs just $1,” with their website stating members can get discounts, while non-members can dine in as “guests” but must sign in on a guest register. Cr Robyn Coleman questioned Mr McTaminey why the fee was so low and said raising the membership fee to $10 would net the club $26,500 yearly. “I belong to 10-15 different clubs and it’s costs me thousands of dollars a year, but none of them are that low,” she said. “I think for the facilities that you have and the opportunities that you present it is probably worth more than a dollar. “You are paying to enjoy great facilities. Paying $10 to enjoy great facilities over the bar, with the opportunity to have a meal, I feel is a very cheap and very sustainable option going forward.” But Mr McTaminey said while raising the cost of memberships — required under their liquor licence — to stay afloat would be possible, it was not preferred. “If you ask more, you get less,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a revenue raiser we can rely on — I’d much rather see that $10 put over the bar for an extra meal or an extra drink.” Cr Coleman said the LSA should prioritise making its income sustainable. When asked if fees had always been $1, Mr McTaminey said it had been a recent move due to the complex sporting environment. The sporting club affiliated fee was $15 or $25 for a family — on top of club subscriptions, he said. But with the LSA operating with seven different sporting clubs, the fees became a “challenge” to manage. For a family involved with multiple sporting clubs, an additional cost on top of the individual sporting club costs, was becoming a struggle to balance, Mr McTaminey said, leading to the price reduction. When asked if the LSA had approached any corporations that operate within the shire for funding assistance, Mr McTaminey said they “haven’t done enough in that space” with the “beauty of hindsight,” being there could be opportunities to leverage support from the organisations which use the facilities. Cr Craig Carbone put forth an amendment to the shire’s initial proposal changing the one time payment of $30,000 from the shire, to instead be a $30,000 loan the LSA would have to repay along with a once-off $10,000 community grant for the club to put together a detailed business plan. “The LSA may not be happy because it’s a loan, but I think, if we start to hand out money to clubs that fail in a year we will open up Pandora’s Box,” he said. “I’m involved with the seniors (football) club out in Brunswick, and the seniors club has run at a slight loss this year, so does that open the door for HBL (Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault) senior club to come to the council and ask to top up the money?” Cr Carbone said comparing the LSA to HBL showed what could be possible to scrimp and save, with HBL getting most of its income from sponsorships. “If we didn’t have that, as a senior club, we’d be in all sorts of strife and probably have to close the doors as well,” he said. “At every home game, I butter 300 buns myself. In the LSA, they have paid staff, no perimeter advertising and very few volunteers. “Now, Australind has been handed this facility. One of the first things I did on council was vote to build that facility, with very little money put in from the community. “Any shire or organisation would love to have a facility like that. It is time for volunteers in Australind to get off their a... and get involved in this club.” Cr Carbone said membership prices needed to be increased. “It costs me $50 to be a member of Harvey-Brunswick, $30 for my wife and a $50 raffle ticket straight up before the season even starts,” he said. “I sympathise with them, and I understand the hard work they do, but at the end of the day, if the doors have to close because they can’t get volunteers, then maybe that’s what’s got to happen to get the Australind community to get their a... into gear and get in there and support this organisation.” Cr John Bromham said the LSA needed a structured business plan moving forward. “I think that’s not what has occurred in the past, so I think they need to go back and look at how they’re running the facility and then move forward from there,” he said. “I don’t think it’s council’s task to bail out anybody in relation to this.” Cr Coleman and Cr James Junio both expressed concern with adding debt on to the club, but Mr McTaminey said if the LSA “does well” like in previous years, it would be able to repay the loan by June 2026. Ultimately, the council voted unanimously to support the motion.