We have all heard the saying ‘politics and sport don’t mix.’ Words attributed to Eric Heiden, the former long track speed skater, who won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.
Heiden is not just an outstanding sportsman. He studied medicine at Stanford University. He became an orthopaedic surgeon, and has been the team physician for the NBA’s Sacremento Kings and also the US speed skating team. He is also a published author. So he is certainly someone worth listening to.
Yet despite these sage words, across the globe and more so in recent times, we are seeing politics and sport becoming more and more entwined.
What is interesting to note is whereas sometimes it is the politicians who are looking to influence the sport, in today’s world we are seeing the athletes becoming more involved in political issues.
Case in point in football was when England went to play Germany in an international in 1938, they were forced to do the “Nazi salute.” This was something that the team was against, yet only one player refused, Wolverhampton Wanderers captain Stan Cullis, and he was dropped. The rest of the team were convinced to give the salute by the British ambassador in Berlin, Neville Henderson, who advised them that by saluting it did not constitute an endorsement of the Nazi regime.
In 2021 the England team, the players this time, opted to take the knee following the murder of US citizen George Floyd and to support the statement that “Black Lives Matter.” Interestingly, when this decision was announced it was the the politicians who were up in arms. Before Euro 2020, – which took place in June 2021 due to the Covid pandemic – the then British Home Secretary Priti Patel said that she did not support “people participating in that type of gesture politics”. While Tory MP Lee Anderson refused to watch England’s Euro 2020 matches in protest, saying it was a political gesture with which he disagreed.
Yet our Politicians frequently use sport to enhance their own status and credibility. Australians will never forget their Prime Minister John Howard becoming a parody of “where’s Wally” as he turned up at event after event at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. The current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese milked the nation’s support of their women’s football team at the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup, again hosted in Australia.
However, it is their use of sport come election-time that is probably the most galling. The 2019 Australian Federal Election, saw sport become a very key part of the election campaign by the Coalition who handed out $102.5 million of grants for community and professional sports facilities. This became known as Sports Rorts II as it was a carbon copy of the Australian Labour Party’s (ALP) Sports Rorts I in the 1994 election. To be fair the ALP also used sport in their 2019 election campaign but not to the same extent.
At the end of the day it transpired that these grants were not based on merit, or who needed the money most, it was found that both programs favoured government or marginal electorates. The money was promised to gain votes.
Isn’t this the only reason that Politics and sport are entwined?
The masses love their dose of sport each week, be it playing or watching, so what better way is there to reach the masses than by trying to win favour by being seen to lend financial support to the fans and participants of that sport?
However, massive government spending of tax payers money building stadia and other facilities that fail to deliver, has many wondering how such things received approval and who is accountable.
Frequently local government is spending large sums on upgrading local facilities with great looking braced cantilever structures, however the braces impair viewing and frequently mean that filming from an undercover position is not possible without these braces obstructing certain views.
The “state of the art” Optus stadium in Perth is a wonderful facility, with all the bells and whistles, but as highlighted many times on Not The Footy Show it was highjacked by Australian Rules, and the end design is not a good one for a rectangular sport. Viewing rugby or football from ground level is an experience that many have vowed they will not repeat. Which is not good news for such a new venue.
Also in Perth in July, just prior to the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the new State Football Centre – now named after Sam Kerr – was officially opened. This is a home for football. The facility almost tripled in price from when it was first tabled and ended up resulting in a $46 million investment jointly funded by State and Commonwealth Governments, with the Western Australian Government making a $29.71 million contribution. However, on another Government website the price is quoted as being $50.8million. Which is it and how can these numbers differ by such a huge amount?
There are still a great many question marks over the location and whether it will be supported by the football community, but only time will tell. Clearly the State Government is not concerned, as in October, just three months after the facility was officially opened, and riding the wave of emotion following the recent hosting of the World Cup they announced a further $9.3 million investment in the sport. This included a further $6.1 million investment to expand the new facility. This investment will see two additional pitches created and lighting.
This facility was years in the planning and was meant to deliver football all that it required. It would house the administration offices for the game and be a venue for visiting teams to use for training. It was also supposed to house the A-League side Perth Glory, however with ownership up in the air this is currently on hold.
Is it any wonder then that some tax payers are a little upset that after such an expenditure the sport was at a council meeting a week ago arguing that the lease on its old facilty in Maylands be extended, as it is housing Football West’s Futures Foundation; which was not set up when the plans for the new facility were drawn up.
This raises a multitude of questions in relation to the long term planning at Football West and also those on the side of the Government. Surely when investing so much money you plan well into the future and for expected expansion? How can a facility costing so much money be insufficent to a sports needs when it opens?
In fact it would appear that while the vote-grabbing politicians look at investment in sport as a way of wooing voters, many voters who are finding life hard in these tough economic times are beginning to feel that enough is enough. There are plenty of other sections of the community that would die for similar investment.
Football talked about a legacy after the Women’s World Cup, and it is great that across the nation some of the facilities are being upgraded, but surely the biggest legacy would have been to lower the participation fees that are being charged, thereby making the game more affordable and accessible to so many more people?
Hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars are handed over each year by State and Federal Governments to various sports, but how much of that money ever reaches the areas that it is supposed to reach? How much of it is squandered on bloated sports administrations?
Rather than just handing over money and hoping that it will be used to do what it is intended, should the State and Federal Governments carry out an audit on the Governance of all sports before any more money is handed over?
How many sports would in fact be insolvent without the annual Government hand-outs? It has been scary to hear how many sports are totally reliant on that money to survive year-on-year. Why is this the case? This money is not handed over purely to administer the sport.
If sport is so popular and has so many of us transfixed why are so many sports being so poorly managed? Why are they struggling to attract revenue outside of Government grants?
In the last ten years or so we have seen sports receive funding to promote various political causes. This has resulted in tokenism, where for one weekend these causes are highlighted due to a change of shirt or socks. Most of the players and the public are very much aware of these particular issues but are now becoming tired of the annual plug, which in most cases is not backed up by any form of education. If you fail to educate on this issues how are you ever going to change attitudes? Is a shirt or a pair of socks going to change someone’s behaviours or views?
How many sports talk about multiculturalism but are they really inclusive? Australia is a country built on the back of migration, yet still when you go and watch local sport, and it does not matter which sport, you will rarely see many sections of those migrant communities participating. Often they have organised their own competitions because they ‘don’t feel welcome.’ Yet once again sporting bodies have received money to promote this very issue. If a section of the community feels that way, why are they still receiving funding, surely they need to be told they need to address this before any more tax-payer funds are handed over?
If Governments are handing over money for these particular issues and causes then there must be tangible benefits to the community as a whole. Regrettably the community is not seeing these and hence the frustration and opinion, and often from those involved within the causes being promoted, that these gestures are no more than a money-grab and tokenistic. It has to be said that some sports and clubs do actually take these issues very seriously and plan activities around them, activities that do in fact serve to educate and effect change.
At the end of the day when we buy tickets to watch our teams play and certainly at a lower level most fans will tell you that they want this political messaging kept out of sport. When watching or playing as hard as it is in the current commercial world we want sporting prowess to be “pure”, expressions of skill or endurance. Moments and feats that are a key component, that inspire us and make us marvel at these acts of human athleticism that we can only ever dream of achieving.
Of course sport and Politics will always be entwined. They have been for centuries. Often social and political contexts are the very things that shape sport. In fact most who follow sport understand that sport cannot be detached from its social grounding. If it was in many cases it would lose its soul. However it does not mean that its sanctity is for sale. That it can be a vehicle for political messaging as long as the price is right.
As touched on previously on the show, the creation of a sports management degree may well be one of the problems. Whereas years ago people came into sport having gained experience in the overall working environment, and brought those skills to the sport, we now see people with a qualification but no practical experience taking on key roles within sport based on a piece of paper, a qualification.
Equally concerning are the number of former athletes that currently hold the CEO positions within sport in Australia. All will be quick to tell you that it took them years of training, commitment and graft to get to the top of their sport, yet many have not put in the same hard yards in the workplace to gain the skills required to run a sport. Some have never even held a position within the club set up, so even lack the understanding as to what are the key issues facing the clubs that are their lifeblood and produce the top players of the future.
How do these people get these roles? Often they end up with the role purely and simply because the members of the board are fans. They are unable to distance themselves from their fan-worship, and doing what will be best for the sport, whose interests they are there to protect.
Take for example how many Boards outsource the finding of a new CEO to an employment agency. Having spoken to someone employed in this space, they not surprisingly advised that they look to find positions for those who are on their books already, ahead of others. This may not be the case for all employment agencies but the comment makes sense. As explained, if they have found an individual a job as a CEO in one company they will see if they are interested in new positions that come up. Thereby assuring themselves of the commission that comes with finding the right candidate.
This maybe explains why many CEO’s jump on the sporting merry-go-round and will have three jobs in 10-12 years before they disappear as finally people have realised that they actually unable to deliver what is needed.
As one individual who works in sport suggested, maybe there should be a clause that if the individual hired on the employment agency’s recommendation proves to be a dud, the sport is entitled to a refund on the fee paid.
One employment agency contracted to find a CEO for one sport rejected an applicant even though their application was received before the cut off date, “because yours was the last application we received.” A baffling response, and one that showed that they were already pushing their person for the role.
Another reason that sport finds itself in trouble is the calibre of the board members that are elected, and their reasons for being there. To ensure that these individuals are genuine about the role the first thing to do is stop some of the freebies that they receive. This would help sort the wheat from the chaff.
Equally important is that all sign off that they understand what a conflict of interest is. As it would appear that many have no idea, or simply do not care. One forensic lawyer was asked to talk to the board of an international sport on this very topic, and was stunned at how, despite being advised that almost all had major conflicts of interest, that board opted to ignore their advice and advised that they had no intention of resigning.
One thing that is truly baffling in Australia is how currently there are CEO’s of sports nationally or in state roles who are sitting on the boards of other sports, their competitors. That should be an absolute no-no, as there is clearly a conflict of interest either way. In one case there is the Chief fInancial officer for one sport sitting on the board of another, so they have access to the financials of a sport they are competing with. Somehow this is believed to be alright by their fellow board members, and those who elect the board.
The governance and management of sport in Australia is currently not in a good place. This has been played out publicly in several instants in the past few years. There have been key individuals who have tried to speak up as they have seen the warning signs, but unfortunately those in the positions of power and currently on the gravy train clearly do not want to see or implement change.
What is more those investing the most in these sports equally do not wish to delve too deeply, the politicians. They simply want to continually hand over tax payer money maintaining the facade that they are helping the nations sporting bodies and all who play and watch it, without any checks and balances as to where that money goes and how it is spent.
It would appear that Australian sport is in a very precarious position. Not just a few sports but many. The reason being that they are not being run well. Success in key events simply papers over the cracks. What that success does not show is how many sports are using money from youth programs and grassroots to prop up their elite programs, in the hope of success. Even when that success does come their way they lack the expertise or the know how to capitalise on it.
The warning signs are there. There appears to be very little long term planning. While Australia has punched above its population weight for decades many are saying that those days are behind us due to a lack of strong governance rules and lack strong administrative structures.
Too many sports are living beyond their means. They simply cannot compete financially, and unless they trim their costs and work within the budgets that they can afford then they are headed for a rocky time ahead.
