"Cooperative" Model For SPL Club?
10
Back in 2021, one article by "SoccerKakis" discussed a few business models that Singapore Premier League (SPL) clubs could follow should the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) decide to privatise the league.
Some models cited in the abovementioned article included those used by some leading European clubs, the MLS (Major League Soccer), and the nearby Liga Super Malaysia.
It got me thinking about the possibility of "co-op" the clubs when except for privately owned Lion City Sailors (LCS) which is registered as private limited with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the other clubs in SPL (except Young Lions and Brunei DPMM) are registered as "society" with Registry of Societies (ROS) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
When the S.League (the former name of SPL) was started in 1996, it stipulated that the pioneering eight clubs (mainly from the semi-professional FAS Premier League) had to each register as a new entity with ROS.
Clubs like Geylang International which was founded in 1974 as International Contract Specialist FC had registered as Geylang United (the name was reverted back to Geylang International in 2013), a split resulted in one faction registering itself as Tampines Rovers Football Club (FC) while their rival faction took part in the amateur National Football League (NFL) under the name Tampines Rovers Sports Club (SC)
The "fan ownership" was referred to as the "50+1 rule" which, according to Wikipedia, regulates the Bundesliga clubs must retain "overall control, by way of owning 50% of shares, +1 share, protecting clubs from the influence of external investors." before licenses are granted to allow them to compete in the German league system.
Besides the German clubs, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are also owned by the fans, who are involved in any major decision-making process of their clubs like electing the club president.
"With fans being the owners of the club, the club will have to be transparent in their expenditure," said Decker, who explained the characteristics of the "co-op" model.
"Imagine each fan just invest $500 per year ($1.36 per day) and sell the shares to 1000 (fans which equate to) $500,000. That's guaranteed revenue each year on top of the funding received from Sports SG. **" (** Decker later clarified he was actually referring to subsidies issued by FAS to the eligible clubs)
Indeed, such commitment would not only foster a sense of belonging to the club they are involved, these fans-turned-investors could also see themselves at games not only as supporters cheering their teams but also feeling obliged to make their presence on match days to ensure whatever amount they invested is put into good use.
Touching on his second element, Tam explained: "The concept may be alien to football clubs in Singapore, however, as fans usually don't organize into groups that take part in a voting process. Their numbers are usually very small anyway, so the strength of mandate can be contentious."
Citing overseas examples of how clubs are seen as a focal point of their based locality as the third element, Tam felt that given Singapore's small land area, it would be difficult to "create a sense of community based on geography".
"Singapore is a small country that doesn't have clear county or prefecture boundaries, and people can move from one housing estate to another with relative fluidity, so those terms don't work for us.
"If, say, (a fictional club called) Bidadari United tried to do a fundraising thing among residents of the Bidadari area, the community there may wonder why Bidadari United is trying to play on a sense of 'Bidadari spirit' to get their money."
"Many football clubs elsewhere around the world are seen as representative of their community, because of the way societies there are built like for example, Newcastle United represents Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund represents Dortmund and in J-League, Consadole Sapporo represents (the island of) Hokkaido."
Some models cited in the abovementioned article included those used by some leading European clubs, the MLS (Major League Soccer), and the nearby Liga Super Malaysia.
COOPERATIVE MODEL SUGGESTION
Soon after I shared this article on the Facebook Page of this platform, there was this suggestion of having the SPL clubs operate using the "cooperative" model.It got me thinking about the possibility of "co-op" the clubs when except for privately owned Lion City Sailors (LCS) which is registered as private limited with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the other clubs in SPL (except Young Lions and Brunei DPMM) are registered as "society" with Registry of Societies (ROS) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
When the S.League (the former name of SPL) was started in 1996, it stipulated that the pioneering eight clubs (mainly from the semi-professional FAS Premier League) had to each register as a new entity with ROS.
| The Eagle mascot of Geylang International |
Clubs like Geylang International which was founded in 1974 as International Contract Specialist FC had registered as Geylang United (the name was reverted back to Geylang International in 2013), a split resulted in one faction registering itself as Tampines Rovers Football Club (FC) while their rival faction took part in the amateur National Football League (NFL) under the name Tampines Rovers Sports Club (SC)
FAN OWNERSHIP AND FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
"I don't think there (are) that many private companies who will be willing to part their money." said Facebook user Renton Decker who suggested the "co-op" model in his response to the "SoccerKakis" article on the mentioned FB page posting.
"Also just becos (sic) a private company buys a club, eg: LCS...it doesn't equate (to) fan following which ultimately is about having (a) sense of belonging," added Decker.
To illustrate how successful the "co-op" works in established footballing nations, Decker stated the majority of the clubs in Germany function under such a model except for Red Bull-owned RB Leipzig and a few other clubs like Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg.
"... you can see why they (RB Leipzig) are (the) most hated club in Germany cos (sic) it goes against their fan ownership," he added.
"Also just becos (sic) a private company buys a club, eg: LCS...it doesn't equate (to) fan following which ultimately is about having (a) sense of belonging," added Decker.
To illustrate how successful the "co-op" works in established footballing nations, Decker stated the majority of the clubs in Germany function under such a model except for Red Bull-owned RB Leipzig and a few other clubs like Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg.
"... you can see why they (RB Leipzig) are (the) most hated club in Germany cos (sic) it goes against their fan ownership," he added.
| Borussia Dortmund being subjected to the "50+1" rule |
The "fan ownership" was referred to as the "50+1 rule" which, according to Wikipedia, regulates the Bundesliga clubs must retain "overall control, by way of owning 50% of shares, +1 share, protecting clubs from the influence of external investors." before licenses are granted to allow them to compete in the German league system.
Besides the German clubs, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are also owned by the fans, who are involved in any major decision-making process of their clubs like electing the club president.
"With fans being the owners of the club, the club will have to be transparent in their expenditure," said Decker, who explained the characteristics of the "co-op" model.
"Imagine each fan just invest $500 per year ($1.36 per day) and sell the shares to 1000 (fans which equate to) $500,000. That's guaranteed revenue each year on top of the funding received from Sports SG. **" (** Decker later clarified he was actually referring to subsidies issued by FAS to the eligible clubs)
Indeed, such commitment would not only foster a sense of belonging to the club they are involved, these fans-turned-investors could also see themselves at games not only as supporters cheering their teams but also feeling obliged to make their presence on match days to ensure whatever amount they invested is put into good use.
CHALLENGES AND IMPLEMENTATION
The "cooperative" model could be seen as one model to ensure a steady income stream following the discontinuing of allowing SPL clubs to operate jackpot machines in their premises while promoting "Mandatory Financial Transparency" and having a committee democratically elected by the members based on merit, advocated Decker who revealed himself as a member of one such fan-owned English club.
Such as a show of fan power was recently illustrated by members of Turkish club Fenerbahce whose members have voted against a proposal to withdraw from the Turkish Super Lig after an on-pitch incident hogged the headlines worldwide.
Such as a show of fan power was recently illustrated by members of Turkish club Fenerbahce whose members have voted against a proposal to withdraw from the Turkish Super Lig after an on-pitch incident hogged the headlines worldwide.
Being a new concept to Singapore football, one local football analyst opined for this "cooperative" model to work in the local context, there are three elements that are critical.
"For a 'co-op' model to be successful, it will usually need some combination of three elements," said Tam Cheong Yan.
"First (1), a passionate and dedicated organizing core, follow by (2) the presence of a huge membership base that provides a strong mandate in any decision-making process and third (3), having a wider financial support base that doesn't have to be as engaging but at the same time see the club as representing the identity of a town or neighbourhood."
"A critical mass of membership willing to participate in a democratic decision-making process from time to time, and a not-so-engaged wider base that is willing to be financially supportive at affordable levels." explained Tam, who used to write for the S.League official website, on the importance of having an "a passionate and dedicated organizing core".
"For a 'co-op' model to be successful, it will usually need some combination of three elements," said Tam Cheong Yan.
"First (1), a passionate and dedicated organizing core, follow by (2) the presence of a huge membership base that provides a strong mandate in any decision-making process and third (3), having a wider financial support base that doesn't have to be as engaging but at the same time see the club as representing the identity of a town or neighbourhood."
"A critical mass of membership willing to participate in a democratic decision-making process from time to time, and a not-so-engaged wider base that is willing to be financially supportive at affordable levels." explained Tam, who used to write for the S.League official website, on the importance of having an "a passionate and dedicated organizing core".
| Will "Hools" be keen to take up share offers by Hougang United? |
Touching on his second element, Tam explained: "The concept may be alien to football clubs in Singapore, however, as fans usually don't organize into groups that take part in a voting process. Their numbers are usually very small anyway, so the strength of mandate can be contentious."
Citing overseas examples of how clubs are seen as a focal point of their based locality as the third element, Tam felt that given Singapore's small land area, it would be difficult to "create a sense of community based on geography".
"Singapore is a small country that doesn't have clear county or prefecture boundaries, and people can move from one housing estate to another with relative fluidity, so those terms don't work for us.
"If, say, (a fictional club called) Bidadari United tried to do a fundraising thing among residents of the Bidadari area, the community there may wonder why Bidadari United is trying to play on a sense of 'Bidadari spirit' to get their money."
"Many football clubs elsewhere around the world are seen as representative of their community, because of the way societies there are built like for example, Newcastle United represents Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund represents Dortmund and in J-League, Consadole Sapporo represents (the island of) Hokkaido."
FUTURE OF THE COOPERATIVE MODEL IN SINGAPORE, IF ANY
The sharing of stadiums among the clubs since 2019 saw clubs uprooted from their original vicinity, thus making clubs harder to forge bonds with the vicinities they were supposed to be based in, except for Albirex Niigata (Singapore) whose ties with the Yuhua community gone from strength to strength, so is this "co-op" concept going to take roots in and revolutionise the way football clubs are being operated?
Only time will tell whether it is feasible.
Only time will tell whether it is feasible.
(P.S.: Conceptualisation of this blog post first started in 2021 but it was hold back due to unforseen circumstances, it is also regrettable that "Renton Decker", who initially proposed the cooperative concept on the platform's Facebook page back then, is no longer contactable, but the platform acknowledges his/her contribution.)