GoCardless has announced a partnership with Total Grassroots and kit manufacturer Kelme. The partnership aims to simplify payment collection for grassroots football clubs and help them kit out their teams.
Collecting cash is often the bane of club administrators. The new partnership is in line with Total Grassroots mission to help provide small clubs up and down the country with sports infrastructure, equipment, and services that include advice on funding and grants.
The agreement with GoCardless will enable clubs to leverage the enhanced Direct Debit capabilities. It will also give club treasurers and secretaries greater visibility and control over their payments. GoCardless has an easy-to-use platform that offers automatic payment collection and reconciliation. It also integrates with finance solutions such as Zoho, Xero, Sage and QuickBooks.
Where Kelme fits into this partnership is where Football Clubs will see the main benefit beyond what the GoCardless platform provides. Until summer 2025, clubs that sign up to collect payments through GoCardless will receive a £300 Kelme gift card. This can be used in an exclusive GoCardless club shop to purchase kits and other apparel from Kelme. Kelme is less well known than some brands but supplies clubs such as kit suppliers of Watford FC. As well as National League clubs Wealdstone, Maidenhead United and Scunthorpe United.
Making a difference to Football Clubs
The partnerships aim to help football clubs with unpaid subs and membership fees. It will help to reduce the administration burden faced by club secretaries and treasurers by making the payment process consistent and user friendly for payees.
GoCardless offers a transparent fee structure that can make the payment process 54% cheaper than accepting cards directly. It also keeps costs down, freeing up time and resources that are better spent on other initiatives. Funds are also paid directly to the club rather than through intermediaries using cash, which adds to the administration burden and slow payments.
Colin Bowden, Founder of Total Grassroots and Commercial Development Officer at Leicestershire-based Hemington Hammers, said, “GoCardless has literally been a game-changer for our club. We went from spending hours each week chasing unpaid subs and thousands of pounds in lost income to collecting an extra £300-400 a month in previously missed revenue. Card fees were also eating into our budget but by switching to Direct Debit, they’re no longer an issue. Coaches handling cash is also a very welcome thing of the past!
“We’ve been able to redirect all of the time and money we’ve saved into growing our club. Over the past 5 years, we’ve grown from having one adult men’s team, to having a whole junior section with well over 150 members because we’re a financially healthier organisation. And because GoCardless is all digital and automatic, we can continue to grow with confidence knowing that our payments can scale with us.”
Football clubs interested in the offer can sign up here.
Kelme and GoCardless offer support to Football Clubs
Bowden added, “We’re excited to launch this partnership with Kelme and GoCardless, especially having seen firsthand how a new payment system has transformed our operations. Enterprising clubs could even use it to launch new income streams, for instance, by offering Direct Debit to pay for a supporters club membership or a monthly club lottery. We also want to thank Kelme for subsidising the GoCardless VIP club shop. With home and away kits to pay for in these economic times, their generosity will go a long way.”
For Kelme, this is an excellent way for clubs to be made aware of their football kits. Kelme is a global operation with a presence in 40 countries. It has a strong presence in Asia. It also has a small foothold in Europe with clubs such as Espanyol and Boavista all wearing the Kelme claw logo.
Rob Lowe, UK partner for Kelme, commented, “Grassroots clubs are the heart and soul of football, and we’re proud to play our part so every team can train and play with high-quality kit. By working with Total Grassroots, we can grow our footprint in the UK and support even more clubs.”
GoCardless expands support for sports clubs
For GoCardless, this is yet another relationship with sports organisations that operate in the UK. In 2023, it became the official payment partner for Swim England and the headline sponsor of its national events. It also has a partnership with club software vendor ClubManager for clubs looking for a more sophisticated tool to manage operations.
GoCardless also sponsors the shirts of Chesham United FC Women, and recently sponsored a match with Norwich City Women’s FC. This summer, GoCardless launched a partnership with Future Ticketing to help make season tickets and memberships more affordable.
Jolawn Victor, Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless, said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to help grassroots sports thrive. By taking the pain out of getting paid, we can empower football clubs to focus on what they do best: fostering lifelong healthy habits and changing lives through sport.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
The announcement lacks some detail about how GoCardless will work with Football Clubs to ease the payment process for clubs. There is also no detail about what will be available on the VIP Store. It isn’t clear what terms there are within the agreement for clubs to receive the £300 vouchers. It will be worth clubs checking the details.
However, for many clubs struggling to raise cash from sponsors and to obtain payments from members, this could be a useful way to obtain new shirts and possibly equipment at a discount.
