I'll use Modbury for example, div 5 early in the millenium, they sourced a good chorum of people to make thier club attractive to potential sponsors and players, now they've tasted division 1, have 4 senior sides running around the park each Saturday, this was achieved from hard working supporters
Thanks LM, its something at Modbury we are very proud of. Alot went into the club getting up the grades. Major support from the Sports and Community Club and some sponsorship were a key enabler, but one major thing is a junior system that functioned well and encouraged the kids to move into seniors. There maybe 5 A graders atm that didnt play junior footy at the club. This link between Junior & Senior ranks is even stronger now with a number of Senior players coaching junior teams which they have no kids or relations playing in.
Having people work behind the scenes is very important and many people may not know that MFC only had approx 4 people doing all the work for the club behind the scenes during the above mentioned period. The Jolly family were instrumental in got the club to were it is basically alone with a few helpers along the way.
Help is very hard to find. Now MFC has a committee of 18 of which i am involved in and Stuey and Matt are taking a back seat helping as required taking a well earned break.
Smaller Clubs like Ovingham etc with no juniors are always going to find it hard to remain stable due to a number of things which are out of there control such as econimic climate, cultural/Age demographic of surrounding area. ST Pauls is a good example of how a small club can survive IMO. Times are tough and tough amatuer football is becoming more proffessional on and off the field and with that importnat/tough/unpopular decisions must be made