Your Club's Website Is Costing You Players

A parent moving to a new town does what everyone does: they search. "Football club near me, under-8s." The clubs that show up — with a real website, a clear sign-up, a contact that replies — get the call. The ones hiding behind a three-year-dead Facebook page never know the player existed.

Recruitment in grassroots football has quietly become a search-and-discovery problem, and most clubs are losing it without realising a contest was being held. The team down the road with the tidy site isn't better coached. It's just findable.

The fix is unglamorous and cheap, which is exactly why it gets ignored. A proper club website is worth more new players than any amount of on-pitch reputation. In 2026, being invisible online is a recruitment strategy — just a losing one.