2020 – A Time For Clear Vision

Next year will be the year 2020. Twenty-twenty vision is often perceived to be perfect vision. However if you talk to those who work in this field they will tell you that twenty-twenty vision in fact only indicates ‘the clarity of vision at a distance.’

A new decade is a short distance away, incredibly the third of this century, and across many sports this decade could prove the most important ever. There are currently financial pressures on many sports, as they have struggled to adapt to the rapidly changing environments in which they operate. There is the issue as to how fans view their sport today. No longer is it through the old-fashioned method of a television in the corner of our living room. Which has a knock-on effect when it comes to how much people are prepared to pay for the rights to air sport. Then there is the reduction in the number of volunteers in sport; people who week-in week-out worked tirelessly behind the scenes because they loved the game or their club. These people are becoming exceptionally rare, and regrettably some continue to underestimate their value.

There is no doubt that the sporting landscape in Australia is going to change in the next ten years. It is also probably going to change considerably on an international level. The real test will be how many sports have a clear vision for the next ten years? How many sports are ready to evolve, re-structure and adapt to the changing sporting world?

We have seen in Australia the push for all sports to be administered centrally, and State bodies dispensed with. Where this concept has merit on some levels, the way it is trying to be forced through is only going to end in tears.

What should the clarity of vision be heading into this next decade?

The recent travails of Rugby Australia have shown that there have to be changes in terms of Governance. A year ago it was the Football Federation of Australia that was facing Governance issues. So this is not an isolated incident. When it comes to the election of office bearers and Board Members the sporting public want more of a say. No longer is there trust that the right people are running their sport.

The Crawford report in Football came up with a system that should have worked, but because it did not suit those employed to run the game, it has been abused and has in many cases across the country failed the stakeholders.

So if these bodies are to be truly representative of the clubs and players they represent then surely each of these clubs across the nation, which are members of the RA, and FFA and numerous other sporting bodies should each be given a vote? After all they are the people producing the next generation of players, they are the clubs offering a service to their community, they are the ones making ends meet to ensure that the club survives. They are the ones paying to play. So should not every registered club have a vote when it comes to those that will represent them on the Board?

The current systems are failing the game, as has been witnessed. The clubs have had next to no say as to the make up of the board of the national body. Very few State Associations have gone to their members and asked how they wish them to vote, so why should they still be given that power? After all how easily influenced can they be to vote for certain candidates? With every club having a vote it would be very hard to influence a vote.

Every club should be given the power to elect the Board. A set of candidates should be proposed, and those candidates should then communicate with the clubs as to what they bring to the table, and then each club should elect who they think will serve the game best.

Once that has been achieved when it comes to this top level of administration, the boards must, as is their legal obligation, ensure that the statutes and constitutions are followed to the letter.

Too many people elected to Board positions fail to realise their obligations; especially in Australia where they think it will look good on their resume to be a Board member. With such a position comes huge responsibility. One sporting organisation has altered their statues to say that Board members cannot be held accountable financially. Not The Footy Show checked the legality of such a clause with two International lawyers who both advised that such a clause would carry little weight in court. That if the Board make decisions that have a financial impact on the organisation, they would still be liable to personally cover those losses. This is applicable under Australian and European law.

So moving forward into the next decade it would be good to see new structures for Board elections and all Board members having attended courses on what their roles and responsibilities are, so that they can oversee the Governance of that sport properly, and the way it was intended.

Two other key areas where there needs to be a clarity of vision is when it comes to finances, and youth development.

The dream for all sports in Australia in the coming ten years should be to be self-funding. Clearly the Governmental well is drying up, so if you are relying on Government hand-outs in ten years time your sport could be a trouble. Sure, promoting sport creates a healthy environment, which in turn reduces illness, but Governments are under pressure to spend the money on education, age-care and hospitals. So as we have seen with the Arts, funding is being slashed. Sport is likely to be the next one to suffer major cuts.

To survive the next decade the structure within the various organisations is going to be the key. Sports are going to have to operate with lean and effective staff structures. The top heavy pay structures that currently exist in some organisations will simply be unsustainable, so too will be the current staff organisational structures.

Crucial to the future of not only Australian sport, but sport in many countries across the globe is that the money set aside for youth development must reach the people it is intended for. For this to happen those issuing the money, be it the Government – while they still do – or sponsors, must ensure that it ends up where they intended. At the present time too many organisations are chewing up large chunks of this money in administration, and the money needed at grassroots is not filtering down.

There must be a shift in mindset. Australian Football is a clear example as to how trying to fund a sport from the bottom up does not work.

The Football Federation of Australia and its various state associations continually boast that their sport is the most played in the country. That is potentially good news, but when you have a model that is being funded from the bottom up it is disastrous.

The number of players who play in the A-League and the W-League compared to those playing across the country is minute. If you take it a step further to those representing Australia internationally it is an even smaller number. Yet these athletes playing at the elite level are eating up the majority of the money in the game, leaving those at the bottom trying to produce the next generation of elite players, fighting for scraps and in some cases for survival.

Hopefully as we enter 2020 there is a vision to change this model. Certainly it appears that the new Technical Director of the FFA, Rob Sherman is well aware of the problem and is already looking to put in place changes that will hopefully change the Australian Football landscape for years to come.

Football is not alone in having to change. There are many other sports in Australia where you witness the “weekend warriors” being the ones underpinning the elite programs financially. Unless they start to adopt change the next ten years could prove to be very tough indeed.

One thing that would help alleviate the costs would be to do away with State competitions for any age group under 17 years of age. These tournaments are a financial burden on the sport and at the end of the day mean very little. The number of players who progress from these age groups to play at the highest level is exceptionally small. Surely there is more merit in having age tournaments that reflect international age tournaments? Anything else is a luxury, and a luxury few sports or parents can afford; how many of these under age teams see players picked whose parents can afford to pay for them to go away, rather than the best players? This does not benefit the sport at all.

In the next decade let us hope that clubs, athletes and associations get a handle on the whole social media space, and realise that there is a responsibility attached to having a platform on which to air your views. That promoting something on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram is not marketing, but one small but crucial component of an overall marketing plan.

If you cheat as an athlete or are found guilty of match-fixing in this decade then face losing your job. Fans do not want to see you as part of their sport. The first administrators to take such a decision will reap the rewards. Athletics is an example for all as to how allowing drug cheats back into competition has lost them credibility, sponsors and fans.

Let us also hope that we do not have to suffer any more new formats of games that we all love. As ultimately these new formats are costing sports more, as they create new competitions, new rules, new teams, which in turn means more administration. They may bring in some new fans, and sponsors but in the long run they have been proven to dilute the value of the product that already existed.

It was the great Leeds United and Scotland midfielder, Billy Bremner who famously said “side before self every time.” For the decade ahead those in power would be wise to remember that they do not own their sport, they are merely guardians of its rich history and their job is to secure its future long after they have moved on. So maybe the motto. or tagline should be, whichever sport it happens to be before self every time. With the added aim and goal being to make Sport for all.