The foundations of amateur sport in New Zealand have significantly eroded since COVID-19.

According to the results of the 2024 National Sport Club Survey, the average number of sport club volunteers, who volunteer for at least 3 hours per month, has nearly halved over the past five years.

Despite a more upbeat membership metric in this year’s survey, the proportion of clubs reporting they are now losing money compared to 2019 has nearly doubled to 9%, clearly reflecting New Zealand’s post-pandemic economic environment, with fewer clubs reporting a surplus in 2024 and around the same number of clubs reporting that they are managing to break even.

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