Issue: October 2004
News
PIONEERING A NEW EXPORT INDUSTRY
Sports management scores goal in Emirates
Sports management specialists from La Trobe University are helping pioneer a new Australian export industry - marketing Australia's sports management expertise overseas.
Dr Hans Westerbeek and Dr Aaron Smith, Associate Professors in the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, have completed a six-month contract with a major professional soccer club in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
They say Australia's international reputation for state-of-the-art sports administration - greatly enhanced by our success at the Athens Olympic Games - gives Australia an edge in this growing industry.
'Many developing countries have little or no tradition in playing and organising sport. With sport becoming a more vital element in governments' attempt of nation building, and a very benign way of uniting their people, Australia has much to teach the world.
'We have played sport for 200 years and it has become a way of life, envied by people in other countries. Over those two centuries we have built up expertise in sports management that other countries, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, simply do not have.'
Their contract with the Federal Government of the UAE was to help the Al Jazira Soccer Club become more professional in its management and organisation, and to develop talent identification systems for the club to become more competitive on the field.
Beyond that, Drs Westerbeek and Smith say the UAE Government also wants to employ sport to communicate national pride, identify the nation to the rest of the world, and use the club as a sporting hub for the region.
Apart from camel racing and falconry, the government has no sporting tradition on which it can call. So they looked overseas and, after considering the USA, decided on Australian-based expertise.
Drs Westerbeek and Smith, with research partners in Sydney, recently completed the first stage, submitting their report on strategic planning. They hope to receive future contracts to carry out aspects of that planning program.
They spent a week every two months during the contract period in Abu Dhabi, pursuing two lines of activity.
'We attempted to identify what the club's brand name, Al Jazira - 'The Island' in Arabic - meant to local people, and how this brand name could be enhanced to increase its commercial value.' The second was purely practical: to guide the club from being an insular soccer-focused organisation to a community-driven institution beyond soccer or other sports. This included outlining the community-building benefits of sport such as building bridges between the club and primary and secondary schools and assisting the club in organising community events such as fun runs, in order to make the club and its brand more 'relevant' to the community.
Dr Westerbeek and Dr Smith run the sport and leisure management courses in the school of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management.
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