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Capturing the wider benefits from football participation: a social return on investment (SROI) evaluation of a community based football intervention

Abstract

Background Gendered approaches to engage men are recommended for health promotion, with community settings, that involve physical activity and specifically football being frequently employed. One such football initiative, Football Cooperative (FC), has operated in Ireland since 2017 bringing men together twice a week for ‘pick up’ games. However, there is limited understanding of the reach or impact of the initiative, and an economic evaluation would inform policy decisions around the allocation of scarce resources within the public health and community-based setting.

Methods

A localised version of cost-benefit analysis – Social Return on Investment (SROI) – was employed to assess this initiative. This involved a study of one site in 2021/2022 without a control group, and a range of data
(self-reported and anthropometric) were collected at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months. One hundred and twenty-three Participants (P) were available for this study, which also gathered data from other stakeholders, Significant Others (SO), Community Partners (CP) and Volunteer Coordinators (VC).

Results

Outcomes were validated with all stakeholders and measured by the stakeholders. Input costs were also gathered, and a comparison of outcomes with costs showed an SROI ratio of €17.60 in benefit for every €1 invested in the single FC site. Additional analysis exploring the implications of scaling this initiative to ten sites proposes an SROI ratio of €9.46 for every €1 invested.

Conclusions

The computed SROI ratios for a single site and for ten sites compare favourably with those of other health initiatives particularly other football and community based SROI evaluations. Furthermore, this study quantifies the benefits of football participation from a mental health and social perspective in addition to physical benefits, and it also highlights the benefits of football participation to other stakeholders such as participants’ family (SO). Future research could expand on this study and investigate the impact of future football initiatives in diverse locations with larger cohorts.