The Gungahlin United Collapse: A national warning on unfair football funding
Credit: Gungahlin United
The recent collapse of Gungahlin United, leaving 2,000 players without a team, is more than a local tragedy—it's a case study in systemic failure. FSAA's Nicholas Houston breaks down how a volunteer-run community club was driven into bankruptcy by massive government ground hire fees.
Despite football being Canberra's largest participation sport by a huge margin, it receives a fraction of the funding given to other codes. This is a story about a Canberra affair, but the issue of unfair football funding affects every level of the game in Australia.
One of the biggest clubs in the city, Gungahlin United, collapsed last month with debts exceeding $550,000. The downfall of the club has left more than 2000 players looking for a new team.
Gungahlin United is based in one of the fastest growing regions in Australia and has a well organised junior development program and men’s and women’s NPL teams.
That a major community organisation could collapse created shock within the football community and attracted significant coverage in the Canberra Times and comment from the ACT Government.
In drilling into the reasons for the collapse it emerged that the club owed $180,042 in unpaid sports grounds hire fees to the ACT Government including $99,899 for the 2025 season. This represented around a third of the total debt.
Credit: Gungahlin United
Like most clubs around Australia, Gungahlin United is a community organisation run by volunteers. Like other local clubs, it pays over $150,000 a year to the ACT Government in ground hire fees.
This money comes from player registrations, sausage sales, and a thousand other volunteer led fund-raising contributions each year.
The collapse of Gungahlin United is a study in the lack of government support for football. Football is the largest participation sport in Canberra but receives a fraction of the funding allocated to other sports. It was the inability to make this payment that effectively driven the club into bankruptcy.
There are 43,116 people who play football regularly in Canberra, twice as many as those who play Rugby League, AFL, and Rugby Union combined, and significantly more than the combined number who play Cricket and Netball. Source: AusPlay October 2023.
Despite the number of people participating in football, the code has never been properly supported in Canberra or at the national level in comparison with the funding that flows to the other codes.
The historic lack of funding of football is reflected in the paucity of facilities available to the football community.
While this is a Canberra affair, the issue of the unfair funding of football affects all levels of football in Australia.
