Vindeln Sports Club is a broad club offering cross-country skiing, floorball, football, and table tennis. The club is lowering the individual membership fee from 500 to 100 kronor, while family fees will drop from 1,000 to 200 kronor. The club has stable finances and is using its own capital to enable this reduction.
In total, the club expects a loss of income of 115,000 kronor but sees it as a necessary investment in the social sustainability of the rural area. The club hopes to inspire other associations. However, the club believes the municipality should contribute more to association sports, alleging it pays twice as much in hall rents to the municipality compared to what it receives back in activity support.
It is an unsustainable equation that the association life in practice subsidizes the municipality's facilities. If the municipality is serious about sports being accessible to everyone, the support to association life must reflect that.
Ingiberg Olafsson, Chairman of Vindeln Sports Club, stated, 'It is an unsustainable equation that the association life in practice subsidizes the municipality's facilities. ' During the year, Vindeln Municipality will review the support to associations, hoping to achieve a fairer system. Mattias Eriksson, Sector Manager for Municipal Development, said, 'We are reviewing the entire part with grants, fees, and association support.
But it will not be completed this year. It is a challenge to see what is fair. ' He added, 'What has been seen is that historically it has been uneven between different associations and which grants one can get.
We are reviewing the entire part with grants, fees, and association support. But it will not be completed this year. It is a challenge to see what is fair. We are open to dialogue on how it could look.
' He hopes it leads to more active members. It is unknown how many children are expected to join the club due to the fee reduction or whether other associations will follow suit.