Supporting local sport since 1982
The Armchair Club began in 1982, when six local businessmen answered a call for help from Mansfield Town Football Club. What started as a one-off fundraising effort quickly grew into something broader, and the club began raising money to support sportsmen and women right across the district.
More than £200,000 has been raised since then, and every penny of it has gone to local people. In 2015 the club formed the Armchair Club Sports Foundation, which holds charitable status and allows us to increase the funding available for amateur sport in the area.
We run four fundraising events a year — a quiz night, a golf day, a swimathon and the Sports Recognition Awards. They are open to everyone, and the money they raise goes straight back out as grants to young athletes and clubs who need help with kit, coaching, travel or competition costs.
Armchair Club members
The volunteers who organise our events and decide where the money goes.
Our patrons
Sporting figures who lend their name and time to the club.
Rebecca Adlington OBE
Olympic swimmer
Richard Bacon
TV and radio presenter
Liz Broomhead MBE
England Netball coach
Charlotte Henshaw MBE
Paralympic gold medallist
Bryan Steel
Olympic medal-winning cyclist
Oliver Wilson
Professional golfer
Bill Taylor
Founder member, Mansfield 2020
John Sankey MBE
Founder member of the Armchair Club
1938 – 2025