Could non-executive Boards be the key to a successful 2012 legacy?

Sport England and UK Sport's recent investment in their national governing bodies has again raised the bar for both performance and participation activity over the next four years.

With UK Sport investing £347 million ($558 million/€417 million) in elite summer sport and £496 million ($797 million/€596 million) going to the 46 sports funded by Sport England, even in these tough economic times there is a commitment to build on the legacy of London 2012.

Investment, as many know, is only part of the puzzle for a successful sport, but the one that gets continually overlooked is the role and value that can be offered by non-executive boards and how they support the organisation and its senior management.

In many industries a role on the Board is something that is valued, fought for, something that is seen as adding value. With this in mind, how many sports can say hand on heart that their board is fit for this particular purpose?

A quick straw poll on a Friday afternoon with eight National Governing Body (NGB) chief executive's would suggest not. Only two of the eight I spoke to believed their Board offered genuine value to their sport, and none of the eight believed their chair was a "personal mentor" to them in running the sport.

This is worrying for not only the sector, but it also raises questions about the support, guidance and development opportunities that senior administrators in the sector are getting.

Having recruited a number of senior management positions in sport, I have seen firsthand the advances that can be made with the right people in the right places.

One such example was the non-executive Board for Commonwealth Games England (CGE). Having gone through a transparent and competency based recruitment process for non-paid Board roles, the new Board included the marketing director of Arsenal, the communications and marketing director from UK Athletics, the founder of the Carphone Warehouse and a partner from PwC.

The new board were able to offer a genuine advice and guidance about the direction of the organisation, utilising experiences from other sports and the business world to chart a successful path forward. The appointed candidates from sports bodies ensured that CGE stayed true to its core participants, creating an excellent blend of experience.

In the case of CGE, the majority of those appointed were not people who replied to the advertisements. Passive job seekers or people outside the core NGB world rarely look at job sites, but would welcome the chance to use their skills in a different arena. Opportunities that can add value to passionate, committed and well-funded organisations where they can learn as much from the sport as the sport can from them are exactly what they are after.

This is a year full of promise for British sport. For organisations looking to add to their board or appoint a new chief executive, look outside the sport. Look outside your network...the results may just surprise you.

Leigh Hine is an associate director, and leads the elite performance and participation division at PSD Group. Recruiting senior management (non-executive board, chief executive), performance (performance director, head coach, head of sports science) and other management in sport, Leigh advises national governing bodies, international federations, professional sports teams and international Governments on talent acquisition and strategic recruitment in sport.

Does LOCOG selling Olympic torches dim the inspirational flame?

At the moment of writing this blog, the London 2012 Torch Relay (Presented by Coca Cola) is winding its way through Carlisle on day 34 of its quite extraordinary 70-day journey.

Communities across the UK have seen crowds 6 deep, as the ‘Olympic Sprit’ is transported by some 8,000 torchbearers, each nominated by their community or in some cases, to boost the profile of the event. Why Will.I.Am texted his way through his leg in Taunton, is a whole different topic for discussion, but skipping that, has London 2012 sold out by selling the unwanted torches to the highest bidder?

There were cries of derision from the general public when the first torch appeared on e-Bay, eventually ‘selling’ for over £150,000 before the bid turned out to be a hoax. LOCOG were oddly quiet at the time about it, not talking for once about protecting their brand, or jumping up and down about the very fact that their treasured torches, for deserving members of local communities, were now available to all and sundry.  As it turns out, it was because they had the same thing planned all along.

At this very moment, there are 19 Olympic Torches available for sale on the official London 2012 Auction site, with prices ranging between £420 and nearly £5,000 for one signed by the one and only David Beckham.

LOCOG are a business and as such, need to look at any way of generating revenue to cover the £2bn they need to stage the Games. Sponsorship, broadcast rights, merchandising & ticket sales all help to generate this figure, but does the sale of these £495 torches damage their reputation more than the £3,960,000 it costs to make them (minus the cost of the ones who get brought by the bearer)?

My argument is that there must be a better place for these torches if London 2012 is REALLY going to capture the imagination for the ‘youth of today, the athletes of tomorrow, and the Olympians of the future’.  

Donating them to schools or sports clubs, putting them in glass boxes on display in town centres, & universities, all seem far more inspiring options to me than them ending up on The Antiques Road Show in 25 years’ time.

London 2012 should be about sport, culture and inspiring the next generation. Not offering the Olympic flame to the highest bidder. 

EPPP - The savoir of English Football?

This summer sees football teams from England, Ireland & Team GB competing on the international stage in search of European & Olympic glory. At home the shape of the domestic game is about to be changed forever as a new way of developing the stars of tomorrow comes into effect.

The Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) is quite a mouthful, and could help to explain why it has been so hard for the majority of Football League clubs to swallow.

Implemented from the start of next season, it's hoped the new system of attracting & coaching the country’s most promising youngsters will over time, provide The FA with a better national team to compete on the international stage. Critics say the new measures ensure top clubs can get the pick of the crop for a fraction of their real value, and they have been held to ransom by the Premier League.

So what is EPPP and why has it been so controversial? 

According to the Premier League, the fundamental principles are:

·         To increase the number and quality of Home Grown Players gaining professional contracts in the clubs and playing first-team football at the highest level

·         Create more time for players to play and be coached

·         Improve coaching provision

·         Implement a system of effective measurement and quality assurance

·         Positively influence strategic investment into the Academy System, demonstrating value for money

·         Seek to implement significant gains in every aspect of player development

Sounds brilliant doesn't it? It does, and it's hard to argue that all of the points above won't be good for the England's future prospects. But is that the real objective, or is it to give the Premier League clubs a leg up in securing England’s most promising talent?

Academies will be independently audited and given a category status of 1 to 4, with 1 being the most elite. Any club can apply for any category, but the financial outlay for the club is huge. To successfully apply for a category 1 academy, the club must invest a minimum of £2.325m and have at least 18 full-time staff. There are not many clubs in the Football League that have 18 staff, let alone in just their academy, and this is one of the points used by critics that it is aimed at helping those with the biggest coffers.

The real dagger to the heart however, is the removal of the independent Tribunal Process that decides the value of youth prospects, with pre-set compensation levels covering all players based on the category of academy they are coming from & their age.

Clubs like Crewe, Ipswich & Peterborough have kept themselves alive by selling on youth talent for seven figure fees, but with the levels of investment now needed in the new scheme these incomes will be a thing of the past.

As an example, a 16 year old in a category 3 academy will only be valued at £12,500.

During an interview to the BBC, Barry Fry commented:

 "Lower-league clubs will look at how much it costs to run their academy or school of excellence and think that, if the Premier League can nick their best players for a low price, what is the point of investing in it?"

Does he have a point? Perhaps he does, but the overall aims and objectives of the scheme ARE in the interests of the players we are looking to bring through, BUT also gives a huge advantage to those at the top of the footballing pyramid.

The proposed compensation scheme however is a disaster, and will lead to chronic under investment at the lower end of the footballing pyramid, for the reason Barry Fry mentioned above. Some English youngsters have over the past years been sold for hugely inflated prices, but surely £50,000, £150,000, £250,000 and £400,000 should be the figures clubs should be compensated?

It would mean that buying clubs had to really think about whether the player was worth the investment, as opposed to buying them for pretty much nothing - a funnel effect if you will. Throw lots in at the top for £25,000 a go, and see what happens. If the compensation levels were £250,000 a time, would they be as excited about their futures as potential first team regulars?

Nobody will argue that the way we coach, educate and develop the players of the future needs to be reviewed. But was the Premier Leagues threat to withhold funding for youth development if the Elite Player Performance Plan was not accepted by the Football League, a sign of how much there is for them to gain?

Many more articulate, educated and better placed than me will be able to give you that answer, but there surely was an opportunity for the Football League to get a better deal for their member clubs?

100 days until 2012

So my first blog was supposed to be about the NHL playoffs, but with my NY Rangers going along nicely, it would be remiss to ignore that today marks 100 days until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

It seems moons ago that Jacques Rogge opened the envelope in Singapore, and much to the surprise of the waiting photo journalists, the typically downbeat Brits, and the how shall we say, 'confident' French, revealed that London had indeed done the impossible and beaten Paris to host the 2012 Olympic Games & Paralympic Games.

I was working in Covent Garden at the time, and heard the roar from Trafalgar Square before the delayed TV coverage revealed the result. I like many, didn't really understand the impact that the Games would have on London or myself, and how much effort it would take to deliver on time, and on budget, for a global audience of 4 billion television viewers.

Seeing the Games on the television for me has always been a 2 yearly highlight. I remember getting incredibly excited, watching Rhona Martin send down the last stone down at the Salt Lake Winter Games in 2002, despite knowing nothing about the sport, if we were any good, or indeed the rules. Sweeping, and throwing a stone? Seriously? It kept me hooked for the whole 2 weeks.

But that's the thing about the Olympics. You always find a sport you know next to nothing about, that somehow manages to keep you up till 2 in the morning. If you haven't seen handball or wheelchair rugby before, make sure you catch it in the summer... It will blow your socks off. 

So what can we expect from the summer? 203 competing nations, 10,500 athletes, 3,000 technical officials, a workforce of 200,000 people, including 70,000 volunteers, 8.8m tickets, 39 disciplines of 26 Olympic sports, and 24 BBC channels streaming more coverage than ever before. Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff, Coventry, Windsor, Weymouth & Portland all are hosting events, ensuring that all of the UK gets to experience the 'stardust' of the Games for themselves.

The question is, are people over it already? 

As with any project of this size, the budget invariably comes up as a reason why people are 'anti Games'. It's worth pointing out at this stage that the budget that LOCOG have is £2bn that is raised primarily from sponsorship, ticket sales, broadcast rights sales & merchandising. The cost to the public will be for the renervation of East London & the Olympic Park - facilities that will remain after the Paralympic Games are concluded. 

With children struggling with obesity & generally being less active, surely a world class community swimming centre (aquatics), a mountain biking & track cycling course (velodrome), a multi sport community centre (handball), as well as countless clubs & educational initiatives, is a price worth paying?  

For anyone that has seen Stratford and the surrounding areas, the change is nothing short of amazing. Land that was contaminated, unusable canal routes and a lack of community facilities, have all been targeted with the investment and have the opportunity to thrive as a result of the Games. The Westfield Shopping Centre has created up to 10,000 jobs, and utilised the skills of 3,000 local residents to get it completed whilst driving further investment and jobs to the area.

The Games should be a catalyst for change in the UK, but have the powers that be been proactive enough about what is in it for Londoners, and the UK in general? We are by design, a miserable bunch at the best of times, and when the swells of people arrive on the tube for 3 weeks in July, Adrian Warner on BBC London will be deliriously telling us all, the Games are a disaster.

But they won't be. They are an opportunity for the UK to witness a once in a lifetime event, and engage sport, culture & the arts like never before. 

It’s always darkest before the dawn, and this is one dawn you will not want to miss!

So here it is...

After running out of characters on Twitter, and boring people to death on Facebook, I have decided to set up a sports blog.

I have an eclectic interest sport (basically anything that's on), and having read the efforts of some, think I can make a decent go of it... Time will tell, and first blog up... the NHL Playoffs.