The key to a good blog is to update it frequently and entertainingly. The last time I wrote was in June and I very much doubt this will be entertaining, however, here goes!

This blog post will talk about some of my highlights of 2011:
- March 26th 2011: Launch of the McDonald’s / WFT Community Awards at the Wales v England match.
I was lucky enough to be in the tunnel with both teams and experience the atmosphere from pitchside as they walked out. Giving the chance to 22 youngsters to walk out with the team and for two clubs to play on the pitch at half time is very rewarding and they are all very worthy.

- June 22nd 2011: McDonald’s / WFT Community Awards evening, Cardiff Castle
This evening celebrated the heroes of grassroots football who put their free time and own money into improving grassroots football. The night recognised and rewarded them, with true gratitude.

- August 7th 2011: Community Shield – Man City v Man Utd
My second experience of the McDonald’s Community Shield and a match which had everything. The match was after months of hard work and launched the new look & feel for the McDonald’s Football Programme. With the tagline “Helping young footballers shine”, the campaign featured heroes of grassroots football, in the form of Panini-style football cards.

- August 11th 2011: McDonald’s Cup Finals
This day saw the finals of the McDonald’s Cup Finals at Wembley Stadium. The day featured 16 male and 8 female 5-a-side teams who had qualified from across the UK. The successful 24 sides had qualified as the best of over 650 teams that entered. This programme was it’s third incarnation and won an ESA Award in November for the Business to Employee category.

- November 19th 2011: McDonald’s & FA Coaching Masterclass
November saw the first Coaching Masterclass at Wembley Stadium, giving the opportunity to 16 teams to experience a unique ‘masterclass’ from famous and legendary coaches including Dennis Mortimer, John, Peacock, Gareth Southgate, Andrew Cole and Martin Keown. Alongside three McDonald’s Ambassadors – Eric Harrison, Pat Jennings & Sir Geoff Hurst.

- November 22nd 2011: McDonald’s & IFA Community Football Awards
The first ever McDonald’s & IFA Community Football Awards was hosted in the magnificent Belfast City Hall and once again celebrated the heroes of grassroots football.  The stories of the people who were awarded are quite incredible and huge praise is necessary for those who devote their time and effort into improving the experience within football at all levels.

So there they are; a few incredible highlights which lead into what will be the greatest year of sport in my lifetime.  To be a part of it will be a huge privilege and I for one, can’t wait!

So thanks to Darren Rovell and Twitter, I have discovered today one of the stranger pieces of Sports news.

Plans are underway in the USA for a basketball exhibiton match to take place between the colleges of North Carolina and Michigan State on veterans day.  North Carolina have a prestigious history within NCAA basketball, producing many NBA players including the great Michael Jordan.

ESPN have begun preparations for a match between the two colleges on Veteran’s Day 2011 (Rememberance Day for UK citizens who read this) on a military aircraft carrier in the Pacific Coast.  Incidentally, this will be the very same ship that was used to dispose of Osama Bin Laden’s remains after he was killed.

Having studied the links between politics and nationalism through sporting channels, this has got to be one of the most obtuse in recent years. Sure, there are often military fly-bys / free tickets for troops and national anthems at many sporting matches, however for a significant fixture to take place on military deck is another level.

The logistics of running a match which is dependant on the elements can not, in my opinion be overstated.  Basketball matches usually take place in a sterile arena with no wind, no moisture on the ground and very few outside influences.  The Washington Post reports that a second court is being constructed below deck in case of rain – something which is not expected but possible in November.  This is not like an Ice Hockey match, golf match or a football/soccer match where the elements are all considered factors in the sport.

I am very intrigued by this as I think it creates a huge buzz around a relatively small event. The PR and fanfare surrounding the match will be huge and it will be a great experience for all concerned.  It also raises the possibility of further ‘feature locations’ veing used for exhibiton matches or possibly even as a competitive fixture (suddenly the Hurricanes fixture) on a boat doesn’t seem so far-fetched).

Let’s just hope that the sun shines and the wind is calm. Oh, and the boat doesn’t sink.

]]> http://morethansport.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/sports-over-seas/feed/ 0 colesy86 Artists impression of Basketball match on an aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson http://morethansport.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/thought-for-the-day-2012-ticketing/ http://morethansport.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/thought-for-the-day-2012-ticketing/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:54:02 +0000 colesy86 http://morethansport.wordpress.com/?p=161 ]]>

I will firstly qualify this post by stating that despite working on behalf of an IOC TOP sponsor, I will not be benefitting from Opening Ceremony tickets, 100m Final tickets nor even Synchronised Swimming tickets.  There is a slight chance I will have the privilege of esteemed guests to venues and ensuring their well-being but as far as I am aware, that will be my only role – hardly benefitting from the ‘system’ as many disgruntled members of the public might believe.

I should also state in no uncertain terms that I believe the ballot system that LOCOG employed was about as fair as it’s likely to get.  There are always going to be winners and losers, and LOCOG have employed a system which will nigh-on guarantee full stadiums for virtually all events at the Olympics – the Paralympics are a different story however.

I was allocated 0 tickets across 20 events and various price ranges for heats and finals. I was one in a million unlucky people.  Having painfully checked and checked again, I wondered was it my bank account playing up? It appears not, although there remains an outside chance.

As a huge fan of sports, working within the industry and with very little money to work with, I decided I was happy to risk paying out £3,866 and was fully prepared to part with all of that for the opportunity to see some of the games.  How often does this opportunity come along? Never for most people.

Having had the door slammed shut from the Olympics, I desperately started to panic and seek alternative avenues.  As organising committee, LOCOG have done many things right. However, the allocation of tickets / charging of cards felt a bit of a shambles.  With no communications, I would have known nothing about the likelihood (or not as it were) of receiving any tickets.  This is until James Pearce of the BBC came along. From mid-May he has provided tonnes of information which has varied from either interesting for the keen / ticket-geeks amongst us, right up to the essential.  In short, he should be paid a salary from LOCOG as he has provided far more information than their comms team.  He has also demonstrated how to use Twitter effectively. For all Twitter-phobes, the information provided has been exclusive to us – only 4,000 people signed up for the French authorised sales phase commencing on the 13th June.

Thanks to him, and his newly-formed army of followers, I have now managed to submit applications to Sportsworld, THG, Eventeam and IB Sport who sell tickets on behalf of Denmark, Ireland / Greece, France and Czech Republic.  It would be presumptuous to assume I will get anything, especially after the tragedy of the LOCOG ballot, however I feel much more hopeful now.

Even if it does cost me more money and mean spending nights in a hotel surrounded by Czech tourists, it will be worth it to be part of the Olympics. I am sure I won’t be the only rogue English person in Czech house come August 2012.

I will split my thoughts into 3 blogs -

1. Sector of title sponsorship
2. Geography of title sponsorship
3. Summary of kitwear sponsorship

I observed last year that there was an influx of gambling organisations making a move into kit sponsorship.  This is very much still the case with five gambling companies (24% of the EPL sponsors) represented as title/kit sponsors.  The reason for 5 representing 24% rather than 25% is that I have chosen to include both Tottenhma Hotspur sponsors (Autonomy / Investec) – therefore making 21 sponsors rather than 20.

The financial sector is clearly a dominant sector – accounting for 7 of the 21 sponsorships; including Northern Rock, Standard Chartered, FX Pro and Wonga.  Standard Chartered and FX Pro are both entering the EPL Sponsorship battleground with sponsorships of Liverpool and Aston Villa/Fulham respectively.  Still within the financial sector – Wonga (Blackpool) and Northern Rock (Newcastle) both have strong ties to the location of the stakeholder.  What is perhaps interesting is the abundance of banks and companies offering financial services given the state of the financial world and the negative press surrounding high-profile sponsorship activity.  This analysis distinguishes a difference between insurance companies and finance companies where others wouldn’t painting an even more substantial picture of strength within that sector.

Of the 21 sponsorships, 3 are with insurance companies – Aon, Homeserve and Brittania.  Britannia have maintained their lengthy partnership with Stoke City which dates back to 1997 and includes the naming rights to their stadium until 2016.  Homeserve take over as West Bromwich Albion’s title sponsor – the first time the club has held a permanent sponsor in the past 3 seasons – last year they sold sponsorship’s on a match-by-match basis.  This year, Aon have taken over from AIG – also an insurance company in an £80m, 4-year deal.  They are sure to get their brand logo blazened across the world; with Man Utd benefitting from one of the largest global audiences in all of sport and astronomical replica kit sales.  However timing could be an issue, with a relatively large backlash against the constant cycle of new replica kits and a large dislike for those at the top of the club.

Gambling is still responsible for a high proportion of sponsorships – five of them in total, including Tombola (Sunderland) and 188bet (Bolton, Wigan).  Tombola is a bingo site – a first for the EPL, while 188bet have concluded that sponsoring two of the least attractive / cheapest sides in the EPL will still guarantee plenty of exposure and good value in an often expensive market.  A caveat to this is that some may argue that FXPro who specialise in Currency Exchange – in a similar manner to BetFair does with gambling – still represents gambling. For this analysis, FXPro is seen as a Financial institution as it is regulated by a financial commission based in Cyprus.

Airlines are responsible for two of the highest value sponsorships in Arsenal (Emirates) and Manchester City (Etihad).  The Emirates deal includes a long-term naming rights package for their stadium but is seen by many within the industry as offering great value.  Etihad’s sponsorship can be explained through the recent takeover by Arab Billionaire’s from the state of Abu Dhabi.

Before finishing, it would be remiss to fail to mention the sponsorship deal that Tottenham Hotspur have agreed – a deal which sees Autonomy Software sponsor kits to be used in the league, whilst Investec will have their logo on all Cup competitions including Champions League.  This is a remarkable and perhaps ground-breaking deal, although it remains to be seen how the sponsors feel when Spurs crash out of the Champions League tonight and fail to field a full-strength side in the Carling / FA Cup.

Range of Tottenham's "League" Kits (3 of 6 kits released by Spurs for '10/11

Anyway… I have seen the future. 7:46pm at north wembley on a London overground train.
ITV has been responsible for so much garbage over the past few years- they have even started branching out into football- (see The Premiership, Everton v Liverpool c.2009, England v USA).
The start of the 2010 world cup (am I infringing rights by saying that but not being an ‘official blogger’?!) has not been a classic. It’s hard to argue against this. Despite the England match and possibly the Germany and Spain games, it is hard to recall too many hi or lowlights.

It will always be the moment I watched live football on my phone. On the train home. It was even good quality. Sure enough ITV can’t manage to broadcast football in HD but they can to an iPhone. Amazing.

Unfortunately though, they didn’t mute out the sound of the vuvuzelas. Sure every world cup has a theme or different culture to respect. This I appreciate, however I am fully of the belief that south African culture isn’t reflected by mindless blowing of a one-pitch trumpet.

Where is the song? The dance? It’s a shane WC2010 will be remembered for the din of them rather than the true spirit of Africa.

Speaking of things that haven’t quite clicked so far, half empty stadiums, floating balls and boring games?
1- half empty stadiums in my opinion reflect the poor pricing structure and coordination of ticketing. Here’s hoping 2012 is organised better. Albeit with a much easier demographic to sell to.
2- the ball is more due to the altitude in my opinion. Anyone who knows of the world record feats capable at altitude will know that balls fly further, faster and on unpredictable manners. Players also will take time to adjust to this. Games will reflect this with slow tempo matches.
3- it is only the first round of games. The world cup in 2006 was slated in exactly the same way. Constvative play etc etc. The world cup will truly kick off when there are matches to play for.

That starts tonight. For the good of the tournament let’s hope it does!
I’m off to watch it. On my phone. At willesdeb junction. The new home of football…?

Spanish firm Legea will gain much more than their usual exposure this month after being recently revealed to have sponsored the North Korean football team. In time for this year’s world cup.

They have rebuked their association with a dubious-at-best nation state by saying they are just a sportswear manufacturer. Nothing more.

This doesn’t sit right with me. Plainly, in my mind, an effective sponsorship is one where the sponsor is deeply entrenched within a psyche due to the partnership. It is easier with the sponsorship of international sporting properties due to a simple play on nationalisms and stereotypes.

Particular sporting sponsorships that stick out as near-perfect partnerships include adidas’ New Zealand sponsorship and Nike’s sponsorship of Brazil.

1- adidas has bought into the cultural identity of New Zealand and especially Maori’s whereas no other sporting goods provider has managed to make indigineous people marketable or profitable.
The exploitation/clever marketing of this culture has undoubtedly helped the All Black brand become one of the worlds most recognisable brands in a sport which has relatively low global participation levels.

2- Nike’s purchase of the long-term sponsorship for the Brazil football team has been the backbone of the US giant’s entry into the global ‘soccer’ market.
The marketing of a particular brand of football in itself has distinguished the Brazil team from all competitors and through association, Nike.

To develop from my thoughts… Why would Nike choose to keep one of the largest sppnsorships (£30m/ year) within international football (England) as an Umbro property?

Do English characteristics reflect poorly against the Nike ideology? They surely see Umbro as a closer fit for the English way of life. Given Umbro’s diminishing role in sport and football, is it wild to suggest Nike ltd base the success of the Umbro company on tgat one property of the English football team?

This weekend saw the conclusion of all the domestic seasons with the League One and Two playoff finals at Wembley. I am firmly in the camp that these curtain-closers are perhaps one of the best introductions to the domestic game. This weekend saw two games of huge importance to both clubs with suitably entertaining matches [albeit lacking on World Cup quality].

The 2009-10 season has been dominated by financial problems and it looks set to continue over the summer with Crystal Palace potentially facing liquidation later today.  Blackpool are still fresh in the memory and their season will surely be the biggest story of the season.  Each season seems to serve up a stranger play-off winner and no doubt they will struggle next year.  Newcastle did that most unexpected of things; have a stable, successful season- that will surely change next year, while West Brom learnt how to win ugly.  The rest of the Championship was by-and-large rubbish, with so many bad teams playing each other – reflected by the fact that Watford who had barely won in 2010, string two wins together and finish 16th.

League One saw a desperate scramble for the final promotion place as Leeds stuttered and fell over the line, while the playoff places had been decided (seemingly) weeks previously.  Very exciting though and if teams can hang on to their managers, the likes of Huddersfield and Swindon will surely excel next season. 

League Two was dominated by the media frenzy of Notts County, yet Rochdale came out of nowhere to win promotion with ease before taking their foot off the gas.  Barnet mirrored my team Watford by freefalling in 2010 only to stutter to safety.  Maybe their average age of 47 didn’t help them, come season-end.

Looking back to my first post on this blog, I predicted the following pretty accurately:

• Watford to finish 17th [actually finished 16th]
• West Brom / Leicester / Cardiff to challenge for promotion.
• Norwich to do well [because they have a good management set up - which got sacked two weeks in!!]

Not so accurately I predicted:

• Sheffield United & Middlesbrough would be ‘up there’ in the Championship,
• Ipswich to challenge,
• Notts County to start slowly and lose in the play-offs.

Not too shabby – my predictions for the World Cup will follow soon, although if it anything as bland as predicting Brazil as a ‘Dark Horse’ then it’s purpose will have failed.

For the record…with the Final England 23 to be announced any minute…I think Capello will cut:
A Johnson
Wright Philips
Parker
Huddlestone
Dawson
Baines
Bent

This week’s theme are the playoffs:

Sticks out in my memory as being one hell of a shambles of a goal, but a game that sticks out for all the right reasons:

This match I still consider one of the greatest games ever to take place. It really did have it all – goals, penalties, red cards…

Here is a great turnaround by a team I (at the time) despised…less so now which is weird considering all the money they have now:

Here is my first trip to a meaningful match at Wembley and what sealed my status/transformation as a Watford fan. It includes one of the finest goals at Wembley and a goal which brought so many emotions, to this day it is hard to describe:

Another ridiculous goalfest in a playoff semi final:

And finally – one of the biggest upsets in a Playoff final:

Some of the funnier videos I found this week:

On my commute back from Kensington to the leafy north-west suburbs of London, I had the pleasure of sharing a packed, sweaty train with hundreds of England fans and a few sombrero-wearing Mexican fans.  My first thought was that the England shirt was actually quite nice, but that I couldn’t bare to ever wear one.  It’s not that I dislike the team – I will be cheering us on during the World Cup (even though I do happen to think international football brings out the worst / jingoistic / xenophobic side to many of us).

It’s just the association of wearing an England shirt is automatically that you are a chav.  If you are ever seen wearing an England top other than to an England game or training, there must be either -

1) Something wrong with you

2) National pride bursting out of your eyes in the ‘put a flag up in my window/on my car/on my dog’ manner

So I asked myself…for shelling out £40, I would have the opportunity to wear it to the pub on the 7 days a year England play and associate myself with a collective bunch of tools on the other days I choose to.

My natural train of thought led me to think – which shirt would I wear? 

I have a collection of Watford shirts at home but these tend to only come out when I play football.  The other shirts which I would actually wear on the street are my NY Red Bulls top and a top I scavenged from my university days. 

Summer time means holidays.  Holidays mean the highest concentration of football shirts outside of Sports direct.  You know the scene – walking along the beach in a quiet Spanish/Greek/Portuguese resort and you encounter a *generic football team* football shirt.  You judge them for their choice of team and move on with your day.  Unless it is your team and you might even say something to them. 

If this has made no sense, my point is that a replica kit is the ultimate in visual identity.  By buying a new team kit, you are saying…I’m part of a select group of individuals who support this team. 

• With England, you are looking for strength in numbers – the common denominator – very tribal perhaps. 
• With your team, you are narrowing it down slightly…more so if you choose to support Scunthorpe.
• Foreign shirts / shirts of teams in sports nobody knows – you want to be part of a select group of individuals who can either – show a wider knowledge of the sport or display value by claiming to have visited that team.

What I believe is that there seems to be a form of cultural capital/distinction at work when it comes to replica shirts.  For some, being part of the tribe is what it is about.  For others, distinction and uniqueness are the factors when paying money for the shirt.  Which category do you fall under?