Category Archives: Sport

Bad Sports

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The Paris Olympics have just ended, and overall we can say that sport was the winner – although there were the usual political spats, doping allegations, faux outrage, athlete arrests and typical media hyperbole.

Speaking of the latter, I can’t believe that the following headline appeared in a serious newspaper:

Civil war bubbling in Paris as Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan clash in Olympic 200m

“Civil war”? Really? Quite apart from the implied hysteria, is this a responsible use of language in today’s turbulent and highly charged political environment? And after all, it’s JUST a sporting contest, between a couple of athletes who have chosen to pursue a career in sport – it’s not like a life and death situation! Plus there were a few other swimmers competing in the final – but you might be forgiven for thinking it was a two horse race.

Of course, Australians are fanatical about sport, so perhaps this kind of OTT reporting is what we have become used to. Actually, let me clarify. The Australian public has become addicted to watching professional team sports on TV, and gambling on the outcomes. But there are so many paradoxes about this sporting obsession.

First, the two main sporting codes that dominate domestic media coverage, sponsorship dollars and betting apps are the AFL and NRL. Despite what these big businesses would like to believe, neither of these competitions is national, as defined by geographic team representation. No teams from Northern Territory or Tasmania in either league, and none from Western Australia or South Australia in the NRL (and only one from Victoria – which to many people, is the bastion of Australian sport, being the home of the MCG!). As for the travesty of a national Rugby Union competition, let’s not go there…

Second, despite all the attention that the AFL and NRL command, Association Football (aka soccer) is the largest by player participation. Which should not be too surprising given soccer’s global reach and appeal.

Third, there are more people involved with individual rather than team sports. Recreational walking, fitness/gym, athletics, swimming, yoga and golf have higher participation rates. Again, not surprising, as most people drop out of team sports once they leave school. (This may also explain the recent surge in gyms and fitness centres in Australia.)

Fourth, despite being a sport-obsessed nation, Australia has a high percentage of children who are overweight or obese. So rather than pouring public money into a new Tasmanian sports stadium, or failed bids to host the Commonwealth Games (and who knows how many billions the 2032 Brisbane Olympics will eventually cost?), perhaps our State and Federal governments should look at how they can fund greater participation rates, especially among children and teenagers, and make existing sporting facilities more accessible to the wider population.

Finally, as a long-suffering supporter of England in cricket, rugby union and soccer, I can sometimes admire (albeit grudgingly) the difference between English and Australian fans – the former hope their teams will do well, whereas the latter expect (nay, demand!) nothing short of a win. But this obsession with winning comes with a price – sandpaper, anyone? It can also be unhealthy – I was living in Sydney when Australia last hosted the Olympic Games, in 2000. It was a fantastic time to be in the city, and the locals put on a great show. But as I walked away from watching the closing ceremony fireworks over the harbour, one young Aussie supporter was loudly declaring that “we won the Olympics”. I think he was under the misapprehension that Australia topped the medal table (they were fourth) or that it was “Australia vs the World”, not quite in the Olympic spirit!

Next week: Notes from Hong Kong

 

It’s Only A Game…

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“90 minutes of madness” is how the ABC described Australia’s latest batting collapse during the current Test series in India.

Much of the local, angst-ridden media commentary suggested that Australia’s batsmen threw the game away, as if they had “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory”.

True, most of the Australian players came unstuck playing a particular stroke that is not normally part of their natural Test-match technique. (Although it has become de rigueur in the T20 form of the game.) But even if the sweep shot was their agreed tactic against India’s spin bowlers, they forgot the two guiding principles of successful Test batting:

1) Play your natural game as much as possible;

But also:

2) Play according to the actual conditions (not according to prior expectations)

No doubt there will be calls for selection reviews, more enforced net sessions, and even suggestions that some of the team should be dropped for good – either because their time has come (in relation to a few senior players), or because the experiment has failed (in respect of recent choices). But there probably won’t be a call to cull any of the team’s leadership, given the tumult of the past few years. The present captain seems both a pretty likeable person and a professional player – unlike some of his recent predecessors, the continued presence of whom casts a shadow over the Australian team.

None of which really acknowledges that however badly Australia performed, they were simply out-classed and out-played by their opponents. Failure to realise this fact perpetuates the notion that the opposition can never be as good as, let alone better than, the men in baggy green. And it reinforces the arrogant belief that Australia is somehow invincible, and only loses when it trips over its own self-confidence.

Of course, like any professional sport, cricket is just a game, and the top players get paid handsomely to train, travel overseas and turn up to hit a ball around. And like any job, you can sometimes have a bad day in the office…

Next week: Compulsory maths?

 

 

Startupbootcamp Sports & EventTech Demo Day 2021

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I have to admire the resilience and perseverance of startup entrepreneurs, who continue to build their businesses in the face of lock-downs, travel restrictions and associated economic challenges. Starting a new business is hard enough at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic. The latest installment of Startupbootcamp‘s series of virtual Demo Days was another example of how founders and their teams have just knuckled down and got on with the job – this time, in the area of Sports and EventTech.

The 10 startups featured a mix of market places, content creation and distribution platforms, coaching and performance services, and fan engagement. In alphabetical order, they were (links in the names):

Atlas Coaching

Founded by and for women, this is a digital coaching service designed to provide better access to (and feedback from) professional athletes and quality coaches. This is one way to help female athletes offset the costs of being a professional (as well as help pay for their own coaching). A good example where the gig economy meets digital delivery.

CityGuyd

An app that brings AR into sporting events and tourism, to offer an enhanced fan experience and match-day activities, through virtual city guides, which could be presented by professional sport stars who are competing in the event you have come to see. For organisers and venues, the app provides great data on attendees. Offered as a
white label solution plus SDK.

Famecast Media

Designed as an all-in-one content platform, it connects creators and consumers – not just in sport coaching and training, but across music, education, hobbies, well-being and fashion. The founders reckon that creators spend 70-80% of their time on the tech, and only 20-30% on monetizing their content. A huge challenge is that disparate digital tools don’t play nicely together…. The suite of services combines content, streaming, ticketing, branding and merchandising – all built on a commission and revenue share model.

Full Venue

Presenting itself as a data analytics and AI platform for events and venues, the founders see the current pandemic as an opportunity for new business, as economies start to open up and fans want to return to live events. Using AI-based marketing tools, it claims to predict the likelihood of a fan making a purchase (both tickets and merchandising. Again, uses a revenue share model based on a % of the sales generated.

Homefans

This marketplace connects communities of fans who are traveling to attend events and watch live sports, with local fans and supporters. The latter can offer access to local experiences that visitors might not otherwise be aware of. Describing itself as “like Airbnb for Sports Experiences”, the platform takes a 20% commission fee.

PromoShare

Described as a “monetized fan community”, this platform enables organizers and promoters to realize the value of “billions” in unsold tickets for sports, events and concerts. Using primarily word of mouth, fans get to sell unsold tickets on behalf of the events – a form of “social buying”. It integrates into major ticketing platforms, and has proven that fan-generated content can directly lead to ticket sales, by offering the “ambassador” fans access to rewards and other engagement incentives.

refbook

According to the founders, managing sport officials is currently unsophisticated and disconnected, and lacks adequate no digital solutions. This is intended to be an holistic platform to help officials, and leagues co-ordinate, recruit, manage and process payments. With 200+ clients already on-board, the team must be doing something right! (It wasn’t clear from the pitch whether refbook can handle training, certification, accreditation and disciplinary aspects of officiating.)

Row Nation

The only startup here that is directly supported by the relevant sports body, this is a platform for indoor rowing (of which there are apparently 4+ million participants in Australia. Backed by Rowing Australia, it is positioning indoor rowing as a major
e-sport (“like Peloton for rowing”), and a significant part of the digital fitness market. Combining “community, connection, and competition”, at its core is the ability to track and compare personal performance.

SportMatch

A platform the early identification of future sporting talent, which, according to the founders, is currently a slow, sporadic and long-winded process. This solution uses predictive analytics based on measurements and movement, and takes an evidence-based approach to performance data.

SportVot

This is a live steaming service for community-based and grass roots sports and tournaments. The founders claim that only 1% of all sport (in terms of actual participation) is televised, so this is designed to bring access to local sport enabling organizers to broadcast (OTT) their competitions using standard smart phone devices. The platform monetize the content via streaming fees and advertising.

Next week: Same, same – but different?

 

Expats vs Ingrates?

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Just as we were starting to think that Australia has largely beaten Covid, the past few weeks has seen the topic heat up again on a number of fronts, especially the thorny issue of border control.

First, a series of community outbreaks in and around Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were all traced back directly or indirectly to returning overseas travellers. This again brought the hotel quarantine programme into the spotlight – and given the poor record of Victoria’s HQP management (which led to the Stage 4 lock-down for much of last year, as well as causing several hundred deaths among aged care residents), State Governments are under increased scrutiny not to stuff it up (again).

Second, there are something like 35,000 Australian citizens living and working overseas who are still trying to get home. Since many of them are based in countries with escalating infection rates (and extra-contagious strains of Coronavirus), it’s no wonder there is a lot of circumspection about bringing them back in a hurry. While I have a lot of sympathy for those expats who are stranded overseas, at the same time, they went abroad by choice. There is always a risk that international travel can be disrupted, as we have witnessed with increased regularity over the past 20 years, thanks to terrorism, volcanoes, tsunamis and geopolitical events. However, this has not stopped some expats complaining that their fellow Australians don’t want them back; some have been highly critical of this “smug” attitude: “we’re all right, but you can stay away and fend for yourselves”.

Third, the latest domestic border closures left numerous Victorian residents stuck in NSW. Many of them had only recently managed to travel interstate for the holidays, having just emerged from months of local lock-down. No doubt some of those affected may have a bit more sympathy for those Australians stranded abroad?

Of course, all these border restrictions might not be so hard to stomach if we didn’t have the spectacle of professional sports players being flown in (specially from overseas) to hit a few balls around. The fact that one cohort of these international visitors has managed to bring Covid back into the country is not helping. Nor the fact that a few of these over-paid sports “stars” and their partners appear to be acting like spoiled brats as they endure quarantine in 5-star hotels…..

Talk about being ungrateful.

Next week: The Day That Can’t Be Named…