I am not talking about the professional teams or what it does cost to support you, but I am talking about having a son or daughter who want to play football! Here in Belgium Football is more or less the biggest sport, followed by cycling! I did play it when I was young and both my sons are also playing it!

There are a few days left to pay the membership fee for both sons, and I will cost us a bug chunk of Hive! While of course I have no clue if it was also take expensive when I was a kid, but I am pretty sure it wasn't.

Back in those days every town had its own team. Ran by volunteers and supported by the local stores and small business men. You did have to pay a almost negligible membership fee. Back in those days the outfit for the games did belong to the club. After the game it was all put back in the bag of the team and the next game all clothes were freshly washed! There was no entry fee for the parents to pay to see their kids giving it all!

What are the membership costs?

First we do have to make a distinction between both sons! The club they are playing in does have teams registered in 2/3 different competitions. There is the lowest division which normally only includes nearby teams, you do have a step higher which are the team who do play at state level and the highest allowed division for their club is at interstate level! Depending in which division the team of your kids play, the membership fee is different!

This is due to the fact that the lower ranked teams only have 2 practice sessions per week, while the team in state and interstate competitions do have 3 practice sessions. And of course how higher the team plays, the more expensive a coach is. They do need to have some UEFA licenses to be allowed to train a team at interstate level!

The membership fee for the youngest is 810 HIVE! The membership fee for the oldest one is a whopping 1138 HIVE. Like I wrote that is just the membership fee. So we do pay 1948 HIVEin total in membership fees!

Of course these fees do differ from team to team. A lower ranked team has a lower membership fee, a much higher ranked team also has a lower membership fee. But it are the teams in between where the cost is pretty high. The lower ranked teams don't have qualified trainers while much higher ranked teams do have lots of sponsorship which does make then capable of asking a lower fee, all of the players are scouted!

The team where my sons do play in such a middle team. They do need qualified trainers and due to covid there isn't so much support of the local stores! We never choose this team because it is a middle team but because is was the closest team! We do have one of their practice fields as neigbour!

Other costs!

But there are lots of other costs!

Let's start with the clothing! They are forced to buy a complete clothing package which does cost 156 HIVE. Two are needed here, so another 312 HIVE BCH added to the cost!

They are free to wear any football clothes to the training. But with 3 and 2 practices per week, you do need to have more than one of course. Also here in Belgium the weather is completely different in all seasons. It can be boiling hot or freezing cold! So even when buying these clothes at discount and at the right places, it will probably do cost you around 312 HIVE per kid! So another 624 HIVE added!

But hey they also do need football shoes! The youngest one still can buy kids shoes which are of course less expensive than football shoes for adults! But the oldest one has size 41 and has to shop in the regular section already! Let's say 113 HIVE for the youngest and 226 HIVE for the oldest!

So the total cost is running to the sky!

Okay, you do play a lot of money to let them practice their hobby, so when the time comes and they do have a game. You do want to be there and cheer for them! Of course mam and dad want to be present! For each home game we do have to pay 25 HIVE to get in and watch the game. 16 home games per season, does mean an extra 400 HIVE! And these are alone the home games, the away games do cost on average more or less the same. So another 400 HIVE added!

See it is still ticking!

A game does take a long time. They have to be at the pitch an hour before the game. That is time that the parents do need to kill! The games itself is for the youngest 4 times 15 minutes with a break of 15 minutes and for the oldest one 4 times 20 minutes with a break of also 15 minutes. So you do get some drinks!

At our club a drink does cost 5 HIVE. Suppose that both parents drink two and of course the kids also do want a drink after the game, which does cost 25 HIVE. 32 games per season, per kid. So 32 * 2 * 25 is another 1600 HIVE. Of course this is something we do choose!

So if we do add everything up, we do get the following cost per season:

• Membership fee: 1948 HIVE
• Clothing: 936 HIVE
• Shoes: 339 HIVE (if you are lucky, sometimes they do need 2 pair in a season)
• Entry fees: 400 HIVE
• Optional drinking: 1600 HIVE

Total cost: 5223 HIVE

Let's make it 5225! If you don't want to or can't afford to support your kids then the bill still only stops at 3223 HIVE! Which is a lot! This is more than I do have Hive power!

So, it looks like football is turning into an expensive sport! This of course also does increase the competition between the kids and honestly also between the parents! We are lucky that in both teams the parents are fair and square. We don't have any Messi or Ronaldos in the team, at least in the eyes of the parents! If a kid did play superb everybody is talking about it, but if a kid didn't play that well none of the parents are offended when we do talk about it!

And that's the way how it has to be! Not only does it cost a lot of money, but it does also cost lots of time! Away games from the oldest are at least a 30 minute drive!

Still I am happy that my kids do practice a sport regardless of the money it does cost us! To be honest I am a little bit surprised by the overall cost of a season! Like written we could make it cheaper by not drinking at the game or not to watch the games, but we feel obliged to do so and we also enjoy watching our kids giving the best of themselves regardless of their qualities!

I didn't even add summer and Easter camp, which they both normally attend! That would have added another 0.83 BCH!

With this total cost, I can imagine that some people do find it hard to let their kids play football! But as a parent you also do try to give your kids the best possible life!

Cheers,
Peter