City of Liverpool Football Club is a unique community catalyst; a club rooted firmly in the community from which its players – and supporters – come from. The team, which competes in the Northern Premier League, West Division (the fourth level of non-league football), plays its games at the Halton Stadium in Widnes. Next year, it celebrates ten years since its incorporation and played its first match in July 2016. Since then, City of Liverpool has generated £320,181 in total of social and economic impact – and a wider impact of £921,900 – alongside creating 12 additional jobs.
Fan activism, social enterprise and community are the central tenets of the club’s ethos. Its founders included members of different supporters groups, who’d been involved, in many cases, for more than 30 years in in groups including Spirit of Shankly and the Football Supporters Association. “But we noticed that – as Premier League football went global, clubs were branded by place names, but not of those places. Our vision for City of Liverpool FC was to be inclusive,” says company secretary Peter Furmedge.
For fans at the match, that manifests in a number of ways:
- it’s strict on racism, sexism and homophobia at matches, and bans supporters who break its rules
- it’s affordable – under 16s tickets cost £1, building the next generation of supporters
- its hugely popular women’s teams have really taken off, with an innovative social media community, better match experiences and live-streamed games
The club now boasts more than ten teams, working closely with Kingsley United in Liverpool 8 across its junior teams, alongside a men’s first team, men’s Sunday team (a development squad for younger players); a women’s first team (and range of other women’s teams in different tournaments), an under 18s men and a spread of junior teams. It also runs a number of football programmes addressing community issues, including its refugee and asylum seeker team which plays under the banner of ‘Football for Everyone’, a walking football team, which targets men aged 50+ who may be socially isolated, and a ‘get fit football’ scheme, which is aimed at players who want to lose weight and play football in a relaxed environment. Its junior programme works with more than 130 young people, creating opportunities to train, play and learn across the city region; ‘Kits for Kids’ provides sports kit to those most in need, while ‘Boots 2 Play’ recycles football boots for children and adults alike.
City of Liverpool FC is one of Kindred’s most recent investments, with the money allowing the club to grow the business, developing its revenue streams – which include a community hub in Huyton which is used for a range of activities and events; its merchandise range, alongside memberships and matchday tickets.
Its community links are clear: the community hub includes two 3G 5-a-side football pitches, which are used for a range of games, including walking football and for the junior teams who need floodlit pitches to play through the autumn and winter. There’s a boxing club, and self defence classes alongside recovery support groups. “It stayed open through the pandemic,” says Peter, “and we know for a fact that it saved lives. For many people, it’s their main social event of the week.”
He points to the link between football and mental health and wellbeing – the club’s welfare officer is a mental health professional and its closely linked to a range of community support, including recovery living centre Damien John Kelly House. While the committee positions are voluntary, the side employs a manager and assistant manager, two coaches and a physio for first team, alongside 20 semi-professional footballers on the payroll.
The club has also been successful at taking on players cast off by bigger clubs. “We have a reputation for fixing them and putting them back together when they’ve lost their mojo,” says Peter. “There’s a through-put of players who’ve been at Liverpool and Everton – and then there are other players who’ve never been at any professional club, but should have been. We had a young lad who signed for Burton Albion in League One – he played 200 games for us; another lad left us to play for a team in a lower league, but scored a hattrick at Wembley in the FA Vase. He’s at Gillingham in League Two now.
What the club is trying to do is show that – in a time of huge change in global support – that there’s another way. “It doesn’t need billionaires or global capital,” argues Peter. “Clubs are community assets, and should be built on social capital. No matter what level were playing at, we’re representing something other than a bank account or a share price.”
Longer term, the club is fighting for a home in central Liverpool, and has been working towards a new community ground on Edge Lane: “it’s a place that will be at the heart of the local community,” he says. “We could host community outdoor cinema and festivals – provide a vital community resource in this area of Liverpool that is so well connected. A place to create something that people really identify with…”
The dream, Peter says, is to “be competitive, whatever level we play at. Ultimately, the club will be as big as the community wants it to be.”