I have made a few comments in the past, and read a number of posts, regarding the general living costs in Australia being so high, rent, food, internet etc. however I was shocked at the weekend when I took my son to look at signing up for our local Under 10's rugby union. $225 sign up fee and $75 for a training top. Added to this will be the costs for boots, protective equipment, transport costs etc. The local soccer club wasn't much better at $200 for the season, plus the obligatory family membership to join the club. Back in the UK we never had to pay more that 40 pounds for a season and soccer was generally pay 3 or 4 pounds per week. How on earth can they justify these costs? I have also been looking at getting my daughter in dance schools but the costs of these are also prohibitive.

Another moan over.

re: soccer over here, what are the weekly fees like?

Just wondering, what are people paying for swimming lessons for their kids ? here in Aus, and in the UK?


just enrolled the little one at a swim school which has a very good reputation, great facilities and very well qualified, friendly staff. Cost is $60 per month.

Other places do it cheaper.... cheapest I have seen is $12 per session.

We paid $8 a session for our (then) 3 kids but unfortunately had one drowning incident ... however, we figure the cost-savings were worth it in the long run.

$13.00 per lesson here, with a class of three children.

Netball, which my daughter used to do, was $140 for the years membership + $2.00 per week

Usual reason is the clubs liability insurance costs. Even with the litigation culture in OZ I think they are still OTT on costs. School camps went the same way, kids went to same camp 2 years apart, it had trebled in that time.

The $75 for a training top is like many things, just a rip off. Mate was teling me yesterday how 5 pairs of private school socks cost nearly $100

I surprise myself sometimes ...

Hell's teeth !

That sounds steep, if he's an only child it's bad enough, but if you have two or three kids, those sort of charges would leave a hefty dent in the wallet.

Of course with kids....... I guess that you don't really have a choice.

Does the team have any sort of 'uniform pool' so that the kids who have outgrown their uniforms ( usually takes about three weeks ), can pass them on to the smaller kids ???

Sometimes I regret not having kids of my own, sometimes I'm not so sure.

I have to buy my daughter some school socks at the school shop today... you have me worried, i'd better check the price first ....

Phew... only $6 a pair Uniform list

Our local dance classes are $6 per lesson. I pay $85 per term for tennis and used to pay $120 for gymnastics. When my oldest did circus skills, that was more expensive at around $220 per term (but that was 90 min lessons).

Custard pies don't come cheap . . .

my sons rugby league club = $115 and that came with training shorts, socks, a top, and a ball.

I had a feeling you would have to buy socks today ....


The socks at the school I am talking about sound like a bargain compared to the rest of it, Avg cost for the uniform is $700 according to the website, it doesnt give a list, they probably dont want to give the parents a heart attack.

Mate has 3 kids there now, crazy