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In twelve years, Drumaness Mills went from twelve children to over 180. Facilities built for two senior men’s teams were suddenly in use five nights a week, and the club was paying up to £95 an hour to train elsewhere. Grants funded the building work that followed, but the club still had its own side of the loan to service.
A supporters draw with TeamFeePay is what helps cover it. It brings in money every month without asking members for more, it’s become something the club looks forward to, and it gives funders what a one-off fundraiser never can: proof the club can generate consistent recurring income.
Darran McQuoid has been Club Secretary at Drumaness Mills for fifteen years, and part of the youth setup since it began. He also works at TeamFeePay as Club Development Team Leader.
“The biggest thing for us as a club was to try and stay in the community and develop the facilities within the community,” he says — so that local children “would have a facility to be proud of, and a facility that enabled them to train in good conditions and in the best facilities possible all year round.”
Club growth created well loved, but overused facilities that were struggling to keep up.
The changing rooms were traditional male changing rooms with no female capacity, and there was no outside toilet block — spectators had to leave the ground or use the toilets inside the men’s changing rooms. “It’s just not ideal. We would never make that now, but it’s what we had.” The grass pitches were as good as any in the country in summer, but from October a sand-based surface taking three to four hours of use every evening couldn’t hold up. So the club went off site more and more, at up to £95 an hour plus floodlights.
“We were paying other sites from our own pockets, paying our own bills and essentially eating into our own club development funds,” Darran says.
A full development plan followed — new toilet blocks with male, female and disabled access, a perimeter pathway, fencing, lighting, and a floodlit 9-a-side 4G pitch for the club and community. Grants covered the build, through DCMS via the IFA, Peace Plus via Newry, Mourne and Down Council, the club’s accreditation, and Sported.
But grants build things. They don’t service loans or run clubs. “We needed to look at how we could pay our side of the loan without impacting the day-to-day running of the club.”
That ruled out how clubs usually raise money. Bucket collections, scratch cards, a last man standing — they’re one-offs, they take organising, and they land on the same two or three volunteers every time. The club had already moved subs off the biscuit tin and onto electronic collection. Fundraising needed the same shift: money that came in every month with less admin and more enthusiasm.
The club set up a monthly supporters draw with TeamFeePay.
“With any new product, people can be apprehensive about how it’s going to work,” he says. TeamFeePay’s team took the club through every step, answering queries and ironing out the bumps in setup.
The advice was a 50/50 split — half to the prize fund, half to the club. What made it land with members was that none of it leaves the club. “Not only are they paying a fee, 100% of that money is going back into the club somehow”.
“In the lottery, the winners are nameless and there’s no real connection there. Whereas in your local draws, the winners are always within the club, so you see how possible it is to win and that keeps people invested”.
Monthly prizes of £500, £150 and £100 go out on the last Sunday of the month. TeamFeePay designed the poster, with a QR code to register and the club share it on Facebook, in WhatsApp groups and on club mailing lists; the tools needed to keep it running successfully long term, which most club committees just don’t have the time to do personally.
What Darran would advise another club:
Newhaven Youth FC, based on the South Coast of England, is home to more than 200 members. Like most grassroots clubs, its committee runs on volunteer hours — and those hours were increasingly going on registration paperwork and back-office admin rather than the club itself.
Falkirk Foundation is a community organisation working with partners across Scotland to bring football and community programmes to those who need them most. With over 1,100 members, 100+ volunteer coaches, and a year-round calendar of camps, schools football, mental health courses, first aid courses, and employability programmes, the administrative demands on the Foundation’s staff are significant. TeamFeePay has brought everything into one place — transforming payment collection, camp management, and safeguarding in the process.
Ballymacash Rangers Ladies was co-founded in 2018 and has grown into a club driven by a passionate committee of volunteers — many of whom are also playing members. Balancing full-time jobs, training, and the demands of running a club meant that finding a smarter way to manage finances and administration wasn’t just helpful — it was essential. TeamFeePay has given the club the clarity, stability, and breathing room they need to plan not just for this season, but for the future.
Liverpool FA oversees one of the country’s most active grassroots football communities, supporting 470 clubs, 3,400 teams, and over 33,000 players across the county. With a network of that scale, helping clubs operate efficiently, sustainably, and in line with safeguarding requirements is a significant undertaking. TeamFeePay has become a key partner in that mission — giving clubs the tools to manage their finances, administration, and compliance in one place, and freeing up the volunteers who make grassroots football possible.
FC Abbey Meads was formed in 2003 and has grown into a large grassroots club with over 40 teams. For years, collecting and reconciling payments meant a monthly ritual of bank statements, handwritten checklists, and chasing parents for missing subs. TeamFeePay put an end to all of that — and gave the club’s administrators their time back.
London FA supports over 941 affiliated clubs, 6,454 teams, and 78,744 registered players across the capital. As a TeamFeePay County FA Partner, London FA has seen how the right platform – combined with the right support – can transform the way clubs operate day to day.