Bournemouth Poppies football club is an English team that plays in the Wessex Premier League, which sits at level 9 of the English football league system (Step 5 of the National League System).
They play at Victoria Park and the ground holds about 200 people.
A club like the Poppies can’t fully fund their staff or players so they have other jobs on the side to make a decent living. The main sources of funding are sponsorships and match day revenue.
The club relies heavily on local business sponsorships to cover operational costs and player wages.
Poppies media manager John McKay said: “one of our player’s dad is a local manager for Westview service station so he helped sponsor one of our matches and we hope that he’ll do more in the future”.
Ticket sales and attendance are good ways to provide income.
The club encourages more university students to attend games, and they show it by making ticket prices cheaper if you show your student id.
They also have hospitality in the form of a bar where fans can get food and drinks during the game, which helps create a community atmosphere within the club.
However, in some cases, council owned facilities (local rivals Christchurch) don’t always have their profit go directly to the club.
Due to the Poppies being a non-league club, volunteers are involved in the work that happens behind the scenes. They help come up with ideas like fundraising events that contributes to keeping the club afloat.
Poppies manager Phil Brown is a volunteer, and he dedicates a lot of his time to the club.
He said: “the week is always busy due to analysing games and preparing for our two training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday”.
“If you ask my wife, it’s like I’m here 7 days a week, it’s hard work but I enjoy it”.
Non-professional football players often maintain regular jobs alongside their football commitments.
Poppies midfielder Ethan Cheshire said: “I used to do property development with my dad but I’m not working as of right now”.
The Bournemouth Poppies are the oldest club in the area, and they survive through the work of the community.
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