Glenelg Football Club financial agreement

The City of Holdfast Bay and Glenelg Football Club have reached a financial agreement that resolves a long-standing loan, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the football club.

In 2001, Council entered into an agreement to loan Glenelg Football Club $2.5 million for the construction of a function centre at Glenelg Oval.

However, since 2012, the Club has sought support and assistance from Council with restructuring the repayment of the loan.

“We have worked diligently over a number of years to reach the best outcome for ratepayers, the club and the broader community,” said Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson.

In 2016, Council engaged an independent review of the Club’s financial position and viability by insolvency, business recovery and forensic accounting firm BRI Ferrier.

“When it became clear in 2016 that the club was in extreme financial difficulty, we had to take immediate action as Council’s ability to recover the loan was directly dependent upon the continuation of the club,” said Mayor Wilson.

“Our focus has always been to reach the best outcome for our community – ensuring responsible debt recovery, while at the same time recognising the importance of the long-term viability of the club, for our community.”

Council agreed to a progressive debt repayment program, whereby it would receive a share of the SANFL dividend due to the club from sale of its Football Park asset. This dividend, totalling $1.3 million, was received in instalments over seven years, with the final payment received in October 2023.

In 2023, Council established a working group with members of Glenelg Football Club to assess the Club’s long-term sustainability and its capacity to repay the outstanding balance of the loan upon receipt of the final SANFL dividend.

In August 2023 BRI Ferrier were again engaged to assist in this analysis by conducting a review of the Club’s financial position and capacity to repay the remainder of the outstanding loan.

As a culmination of this review and following negotiations, the Council and club have reached an agreement in which the club has repaid 50% of the outstanding debt of $1,029,922 to Council, and Council has provided debt forgiveness of the remaining 50%, totalling $514,961.

Due to an existing provision within Council’s financial statements for an impairment on the loan, the forgiveness of 50% of the outstanding debt will have no impact on its operating result or its Long-Term Financial Plan.

“There are questions over whether both the council and club undertook the appropriate due diligence back in 2001 when the loan agreement was made, and there were clear lessons that have been learnt,” said Mayor Wilson.

“This is an issue that our current council has inherited, and our commitment has been to resolve this in the best interests of our community; to recoup as much of the money owed to Council as possible, and ensure the club is in a sustainable position to continue to be an important part of our community.

“Over this period, the support we provided has enabled the club to move towards a sustainable future. The Glenelg Oval facility has become more open to the community, changeroom upgrades have supported the widening and diversifying of the club’s membership and participation, with great success and positive feedback from the broader community.

“We have recovered as much as possible and now it’s appropriate to let the club go back to focussing on football.”

Glenelg Football Club supports 400 young players, draws crowds of up to 35,000 people per year, and contributes an estimated $9.9 million to the local economy each year.

Now that the financial agreement with the club has been resolved, Council has released all council reports regarding the loan agreement, which are available to the community to read.