As part of ongoing discussions around the club’s long-term future, on Monday 23rd March Mousehole AFC hosted a Fan Ownership Forum at Interiora Trungle Parc. You can watch the full meeting in the video above.

The summary below captures the key themes, questions and ideas raised as we begin to explore what this could mean for the club and its community.

🔑 Why the club is exploring fan ownership

• Running a Step 4 football club is financially challenging and often unsustainable
  • Example: away travel (~£1,500 per trip) can exceed matchday income
• Current structure places responsibility on a small number of individuals (directors)
• Desire to move towards a model where:
  • The club is owned by the community
  • Decisions reflect collective priorities rather than a few voices
• Key aim: long-term sustainability
  • Ensuring the club still exists and thrives in 10, 20, 30 years
• Recognition of differing priorities among supporters:
  • Some want on-pitch progression (promotions)
  • Others prioritise youth development and community football
• Fan ownership seen as a way to balance these competing visions democratically

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🧩 What fan ownership actually is

• Typically structured as a Community Benefit Society (CBS)
• Core principles:
  • One member, one vote (democratic control)
  • Members become co-owners of the club
  • Profits are reinvested, not distributed
• Membership:
  • Tiered cost to suit the pockets of fans across the economic spectrum
  • Provides a stake and voting rights, not free entry to matches
• Governed through elected board members, similar to:
  • A democratic organisation
  • Fans elect leadership → leadership makes decisions 

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⚖️ Key advantages of fan ownership

• Financial sustainability
  • Clubs must “live within their means”
  • Reduces risk of financial collapse
• Transparency
  • Fans can see accounts and understand budgets
• Community engagement
  • Club becomes more embedded locally
  • Encourages wider participation and support
• Volunteer growth
  • Ownership increases willingness to contribute time and skills
• Access to funding
  • Eligibility for grants and community funding streams
• Asset protection
  • “Asset lock” prevents stadium/land being sold without approval
• Stronger identity
  • Club reflects values and priorities of its community 

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⚠️ Challenges and limitations

• No financial gambling
  • Cannot overspend to chase promotion
• Slower decision-making
  • Democratic processes take time
• Increased governance
  • More structure, compliance, and admin
• No “sugar daddy” funding
  • Success must be built sustainably
• Requires active participation
  • Model depends on people contributing time, not just money

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⚽ The big strategic question: What kind of club do we want to be?

• Central theme of the evening:
  • There is no single “right” model without defining the club’s purpose
• Key tension:
  • Push for higher leagues vs. financial reality
• Example given:
  • Step 3 football could require:
    • Larger crowds (~600)
    • Increased travel (London trips, overnight stays)
    • Higher wages and operational costs
• Suggestion:
  • Build a long-term strategy before chasing promotion
  • Grow sustainably (crowds, income, infrastructure) first
• Club acknowledged:
  • Currently lacks a clear strategic plan
  • Intention to develop a shared vision across:
    • Fans
    • Players
    • Volunteers
    • Community stakeholders 

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👥 Membership & participation

• No fixed number of members required:
  • Could work with ~100 members
• Membership is:
  • About engagement and ownership, not just income
• Key benefit:
  • Unlocking skills within the community
    • Accountants, marketers, organisers, etc.
• Emphasis:
  • Everyone can contribute at different levels:
    • From strategic roles → to helping on matchdays

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🌍 Community reach & identity

• Membership can extend beyond Mousehole
  • Includes:
    • Former locals
    • Wider Cornish diaspora
    • Supporters aligned with club values
• Importance of storytelling:
  • Club identity and community roots are key to growing support

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🛡️ Governance & control

• Safeguards include:
  • Democratic voting
  • Membership rules (e.g. closing membership before elections)
• Prevents:
  • Small groups taking control unfairly
• Major decisions (e.g. selling club):
  • Require significant majority (e.g. 75%)

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💬 Key themes from Q&A

• Membership fees:
  • Flexible (set by the club)
• Model does not replace existing income streams
  • Still reliant on:
    • Gate receipts
    • Sponsorship
    • Bar revenue
• Travel and spending decisions:
  • Fans would have greater influence
• Model works at all levels:
  • From Football League down to Step 6
• Success depends on:
  • Clear vision + active community involvement

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🔮 Overall conclusion from the evening

• Fan ownership is:
  • A tool, not a solution in itself
• Its success depends on:
  • Defining what the club wants to be
  • Building a shared strategy
  • Engaging the community meaningfully
• Most important takeaway:
  • The future of Mousehole AFC should be shaped collectively, not by default

Tavistock 1 – 1 Mousehole 

For the third time in a week the Seagulls drew a match one all. For the third time in a week the Seagulls had to come from behind after a disappointing first half. 

With three ex-Tavi players in the Mousehole squad this was something of a reunion but unlike pub gatherings with old school friends it was anything but a happy night out. Tavistock are nailed to the bottom of the league table having only won three times this season. That the last of those three victories was in October and the one before that was at Trungle was not lost on anyone. 

All teams have bogey teams and for Mousehole, Tavistock fall into that slot. It doesn’t seem to matter where the two teams sit in the table, or what the occasion, it is a rare day when the Seagulls get the better of the Lambs. With neither team in good form presently it was almost impossible to predict how this game would go but the early exchanges indicated that the hex would continue to haunt Mousehole. 

From the off, the hosts looked like the team in mid-table. They were winning all the fifty-fifties, finding their men with passes and repelling any Mousehole advances with ease. They looked comfortable on the ball and very far from a team almost certain to go down. Maybe this was part of their new manager bounce, or maybe it was just because they were playing Mousehole. 

It’s been very rare recently that teams have to do something special to score against the Seagulls and so it was here on a chilly night in the Devonian heartland. Tavistock could have taken the lead sooner. In the tenth minute a diving Scott Simmons cleared one off the line with his chest. They eventually did, ten minutes before the break. A long ball from defence had Jack Calver, starting for the first time since the summer, turning in his own box. He should have whacked it clear but Jack’s too good a player to resort to that and so he tried to bring it down even under pressure from a marauding forward. 

His touch was good but the ball dribbled away into the forward’s stride as Calver slipped. Free in the box he found a colleague who only need to tap it home. And tap it home he did. He we were playing against the league’s ‘worst’ team and we were one nil down and hoping it wouldn’t get worse before the break. If it truly is darkest before dawn then surely this was pitch black and the sun was about to come up. 

With Jake Ash suffering from a cold, a result of which meant he was under doctor’s orders not to shout, he refrained from entering the changing room at half time. This saved his voice and possibly saved a few teacups. It’s unclear who took on the manager’s mantle in his absence but whoever it was, they were unable to catalyse the required transformation. There was more urgency about the Seagulls’ work but as in the previous two matches there wasn’t the guile to break down a stubborn defence. 

Mousehole huffed and puffed but for the umpteenth time this season it was not until the last ten minutes that they were able to make the breakthrough. It wasn’t pretty and it won’t win any awards but Liam Prynn’s strike in the eighty third minute brought some form of relief to the visiting fans. Hayden Turner pulled a low cross into the box, Mark Goldsworthy had a shot blocked and it ricocheted skywards. When it fell it was met by the hammer that is Liam Prynn’s right boot. It flew into the roof of the net much to the relief of all aligned with Mousehole. 

There were only three chances thereafter and they all fell to the home side. Thanks, as so often, to Ollie Chenoweth, Tavistock did not register again and the points were shared. And here comes a final sentence that we’ve seen before and we’ll see again. Whether that turns out to be a point won, or two lost will only be known after the last game of the season. 

Twenty Eight Days later is not just the title of a really good Danny Boyle zombie apocalypse film, it is also the number of days since Mousehole last played a game of football. It’s longer than the life-span of the average housefly which possibly explains why your reporter can’t even remember what that previous game was. This game though, will live long in the memory, maybe even until Mousehole next play, because for the second home game in a row it was rounded off by a goal in injury time*. On this occasion, unlike the last gasper against Bashley, this was not a winning effort but it was celebrated with no less gusto by the home fans. 

(*Younger readers will refer to this as time added on for stoppages. They probably weren’t born the last time we played!) 

There’s a certain level of muscle memory in playing football that can not be replicated in training. This meant that the home team were a little rusty and so it was no real surprise that Willand, battling relegation and having played quote recently on the 31^st January!, scored first. The breakthrough came just after the half hour. Mousehole had possession deep in their own half by the corner flag but couldn’t clear it. Willand nicked it, sent it in to the box, and a crisp finish from around the penalty spot left Ollie no chance. 

The seagulls bounced backed instantly. It was a bit of a scrappy goal, following some pinball in the area. Eventually it fell to Kaleb Kadimashi about six yards out, he took a touch and sort of bobbled it home. It’s lack of pace seemed to fool the keeper. 

Sadly, parity only lasted a couple of minutes. A free kick from Willand’s left wasn’t properly cleared and when the cross came back in it found a lone striker with the freedom of Trungle. He had time to take it down and lash it home. As has been the case a little too often this season Mousehole were then hoping to only go in one goal down, that they managed this was a blessing. 

If Mousehole came out hoping to strike early and go on to get the win they were to be disappointed. It was Willand who started the second half stronger and thus, again, it was no surprise when they extended their lead. The goal deserved to win any game. The Willand number nine, Charlie Bateson, picked the ball up on the left and jinked, like a wee Scottish winger from the 1960s, past several defenders. When he’d found a little space near the edge of the box he unleashed a thunderbolt across the face of the goal into the far corner of the net. 

One could have been forgiven for thinking that was that but suddenly the home ranks found some get up and go and laid siege to the Willand end. The pressure eventually told when Jack Symons smashed home the rebound from his own shot with thirteen minutes left. Could the comeback be on? 

As the sands of time dribbled away, and Jake Ash pleaded with the referee to add on the equivalent time to that which had been wasted by the visitors, it looked like this would be another match that got away. When the board went up with seven minutes to be added a little hope was raised amongst the loyal Trunglites but chances were few in the closing moments.  

The seven minutes came and went but the game carried on. Maybe the referee felt guilty or maybe he was working the “a minimum of…” to its full extent but whatever the reason for the further additional time it proved crucial. A corner was awarded on the right, Hayden Turner stepped up and Charlie Davis held his breath. The delivery was cleared but quickly recycled to the hit man, he sent it back in and this time it was perfect. It was met on the edge of the six-yard box by a flying Jacob Kevern and arrowed into the net. 

A draw was possibly a little more than Mousehole deserved but no one cared as they celebrated a late point as the men in white and green extended their unbeaten run to twenty nine days. 

As you may be aware, the club is currently exploring the possibility of becoming a fan-owned club as part of wider discussions around long-term sustainability, financial resilience, and keeping the club rooted firmly in its community.

To help inform that conversation, we are pleased to confirm the following:

🚨 Fan Ownership Forum
🗓 Monday 23rd March
🕡 6.30pm
📍 Trungle Parc Clubhouse

We will be joined by Darren Bernstein from the Football Supporters Association, who will be speaking to fans, players, staff and volunteers about:

• What fan ownership actually means in practice
• The potential benefits and challenges
• How a club like Mousehole AFC could make it work
• Examples of other non-league clubs who have taken this route

This is very much an information-sharing and listening event. No decisions have been taken, and this process will only move forward with proper understanding and supporter involvement.

It is important that we have a good turnout on the night, both to show the strength of interest within our community and to ensure the discussion reflects a wide range of views.

You can find out more about the FSA and their support for fans ownership here: https://thefsa.org.uk/our-work/supporter-ownership/

Mousehole AFC is beginning an early-stage exploration into whether the club could become a 100% fan-owned football club.

Following recent discussions among the board, initial conversations have taken place with both the Exeter City Supporters’ Trust and the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) to better understand what a supporter-owned model could look like for a club of our size, history and community roots.

It is important to stress that no decision has been made. This is the start of a listening process – one that puts our supporters at the centre of the conversation about the club’s long-term future.

Why consider fan ownership?

Club Secretary Daniel Tasker explains the thinking behind the discussions:

“In Germany all clubs must be at least 51% fan-owned; there are more and more clubs over here who are moving in that direction and we want to be part of that. With fans across Cornwall and all over the country – if not the world – we feel this is a really exciting opportunity for the club and our supporters.”

At its heart, fan ownership is about long-term sustainability, transparency and community control. Rather than being dependent on a small number of individuals, the club would be collectively owned by its supporters, helping to protect Mousehole AFC for future generations.

Why now?

Like many non-league clubs, Mousehole AFC faces increasing financial pressures. Rising operating costs, infrastructure investment, and the ambition to continue growing on and off the pitch mean we must look carefully at how the club is structured and funded.

Exploring fan ownership is part of a wider conversation about how we ensure the club remains:

• Financially stable
• Community-focused
• Ambitious but responsible
• Protected for the long term

Your voice matters

This process will only move forward with the support and involvement of our fans.

Alongside this article, we are launching a poll to gauge interest from our fans. If you can, please click below or follow this link below to take part in the poll.

We want to understand:

• How you feel about fan ownership in principle
• What excites you about the idea
• What worries you
• What you would want from a supporter-owned Mousehole AFC

This is about shaping the future of your club – together.

What happens next?

At this stage, we are:

• Learning from clubs who have already taken this route
• Seeking guidance from supporter organisations
• Listening to our community

Any future steps would only be taken after full consultation with supporters and a clear understanding of what is best for Mousehole AFC.

You can keep up to date with progress by subscribing to our fans ownership email by clicking here