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It is estimated that there are approximately 12,000 clubs across 64 sports with approximately 1.7 million members in the Republic of Ireland. [Source: Indecon 2010]. The vast majority of these clubs operate on a voluntary basis.
It is accepted that sport accounts for the majority of all volunteering in Ireland e.g. National Economic and Social Forum Report "The Policy Implications of Social Capital" (2003); Ruddle and Mulvihill report "Reaching Out: Charitable Giving and Volunteering in the Republic of Ireland (1999). Research conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) on behalf of the Irish Sports Council indicates that between 7% and 8% of adults engage in some form of volunteering for sport at least once a week. This is equivalent to between 230,000 and 265,000 people. [Source: ESRI/ISC Irish Sports Monitor Annual Reports 2007 - 2009].
Indecon's detailed analysis of the income and expenditure of the sports voluntary sector revealed the strength and vibrancy of the voluntary sector in Irish sport and illustrated how interconnected it was with other sectors of the economy. Overall revenue / income across the voluntary sports club sector amounted to over €880 million in 2008 with membership subscriptions, match fees and bar / restaurant business of the clubs accounting for the lion's share. The scale of membership fees and bar / restaurant income illustrates the social dimension of the sports voluntary sector and points to its important role in creating social capital and social cohesion.
Indecon estimated that sport contributed over €1.8 billion to the Irish economy in 2008, of which the voluntary sector contributed over €450 million. In terms of employment, the voluntary sector contributes nearly 9,000 of the estimated 38,000 full-time equivalent persons employed in the sports sector. Indecon also estimated that approximately 37.2 million volunteer-hours were spent on sport related activities annually. They also estimated that the value of volunteering in sport was between €322 million and €582 million annually.
All of the above underscores the huge importance of volunteering, not alone in the context of Irish sport, but to Irish society in general. Volunteers act as an input into the conduct of community and elite sport. Without them, there would undoubtedly be fewer sports activities and those activities would be expensive to produce. Thus, they play a major role in sustaining the high level of sporting activity in Ireland with all the associated health and social benefits, and contribute significantly to the development of elite sport in Ireland, which has done so much to enhance the international prestige of Irish sport.
Volunteering itself appears to have health and social benefits for the people involved. Society derives value from these personal benefits in the same way as it does from the improved health outcomes that come from participation in sport - increased economic activity / productivity, reduced health service costs, and greater social capital and social cohesion.
Given the pivotal role that they play in Irish sport, it is important that NGBs and sports clubs have a good understanding of the motivations, needs, capacities, etc. of volunteers. Proper investment in volunteers to ensure that they are properly valued and nurtured in their own right is a strategy which will undoubtedly pay dividends for all sports clubs over the long term.
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