All posts by @packers4

Sports Marketing seminar not to be missed

May 4, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

A great initiative from the Southern Football Netball League in presenting a seminar that will provide tips to community clubs on sports marketing in the digital age.

Featuring Senior Associate Commissioner Dan Butterly and Sports Geek Sean Callanan, the seminar will be held on Wednesday 13 May 2015 starting at 6.30pm at Clayton Football Club rooms. Both Dan and Sean are former Sportzfan Radio contributors and have a long history in sports marketing.

Dan is responsible for branding and marketing the Mountain West Conference which forms part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the USA. He is the key person involved in marketing, promotions, merchandising, licensing and advertising. The Mountain West comprises 12 colleges in 8 states of the USA with almost 6,000 student athletes involved in 15 different sporting disciplines.

The Mountain West has been a very successful conference having, in the last 16 years, had one of their student athletes selected as the number one draft pick in the NFL, MLB and NBA drafts. That includes Australia’s own Andrew Bogut who was the first Australian drafted at number one into the NBA.

Sean Callanan or the Sports Geek, as he is better known in sports digital circles, is at the cutting edge in the field and his expertise has seen him develop a client base in both Australia and internationally. He
provides advice to teams in the NBA, AFL, NRL and cricket and is also a much sought after presenter at any seminar covering his area of expertise. He is fresh from presenting at the SEAT conference held in March 2015 in London.

This is sure to be an opportunity not to be missed to hear two leaders in their respective fields.

Check out the SFNL website for further details.

Sports

Friday musing is back talking Mick Malthouse, Jock McHale, soccer….

May 1, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

Well this weekend we have one of the longest running records in VFL/AFL football broken. Mick Malthouse becomes the coaching games record holder and he breaks a record that has stood for 66 years.

There are a few points that are worth making when contrasting the careers of both men. The McHale record included five seasons as a playing coach which at the time was not uncommon. This bolstered his record, but it should also be considered that he also coached in an era when the seasons extended to only 18 games (plus finals).

Without trying to denigrate Malthouse’s achievement, three premierships and a winning percentage of 57% pales a bit compared
to the McHale record of eight premierships and a winning percentage of 66%. To get to the record on the back of one premiership every ten years is a remarkable performance and I cannot see this record being broken in my lifetime.

It is also remarkable when you consider that two North Ballarat boys have broken two of the longest standing records in VFL/AFL history with Malthouse taking the coaching record and Tony Lockett taking the goal kicking record from Collingwood’s Gordon Coventry.

While I am on the AFL, I watched the Anzac Day game and again the Essendon side has fallen into the trap of trying to play dry weather football in the wet. Everyone knows that when you get the ball you kick it as long as you can and get to the next contest. I blame the coaches.

I know there is little chance of any further representative games being added to the very busy international soccer calendar, but I was thinking the other day that it would be great to see a team representing the EPL playing a team representing the Spanish Primera Liga or the Bundesliga or Serie A. There is always a bit of chest thumping as to who has the best league so why not have a competition where they play each other. Imagine the Spanish team with Messi & Ronaldo in the same team. Who wouldn’t pay money to go and see that?

Have a great weekend!

Sports

One AFL draft that doesn’t make headlines

April 21, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

If you missed the fact that the AFL held its women’s draft last night, it’s not surprising. A Google search of the event brings up links to the AFL, Melbourne FC, Western Bulldogs FC and Canberra Times websites. That the two matches in 2015 are between the Dees and the Bulldogs means it is not surprising that the AFL and the two teams are talking the event up.

What is also not surprising is the total lack of coverage from all major media outlets representing television, radio and print. That one of the biggest events in women’s football garners no interest is a sad reflection on the media.

It is not surprising as research shows coverage of women’s sport in the media ranges between 4%-7% (depending on the particular study referred to). Given the paucity of media interest, it naturally follows that commercial investment in women’s sport is a miniscule 0.4%.

That is a totally unacceptable result in today’s world.

It is up to major organisations, such as the AFL, to lead the community and demand more coverage for women in sport. Only then may the imbalance be corrected.

Sports

Southern Football League embraces netball

April 20, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

The Southern Football League became the first metropolitan Football League to embrace Netball to the extent that it incorporated it into its name to become the Southern Football Netball League from the 2015 season onwards.

The dramatic rise in popularity after the League included a netball competition has seen the number of teams increase from seven in the first year to fifty-one playing in six divisions in 2015.

On the same evening, the League also announced its community partnership with beyondblue.

At the League’s season launch, the Victorian Premier, the Hon Daniel Andrews said “In particular I want to congratulate the League on its great work to grow a thriving netball comp, not as a sideline but an integral part of its being, alongside its important partnership with beyondblue raising awareness of mental health issues.”

“This League is a labour of love for so many – and there’s so much done behind the scenes, whether it’s the people who wash the kits to those who manage the books – these are the people who ensure the League has gone from strength to strength.”

“The strength and resilience of community sport and recreation is indispensable to the future of our state and our suburbs. I know this League has a great future and I wish all the clubs well as the 2015 season properly gets underway.”

Sports

Gelding’s tips for 18 April 2015

April 18, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

The Gelding’s attention remains at Randwick this weekend with the running of a further two Group One races.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Randwick

Race 3 Horse 3 – Peeping
Race 4 Horse 8 – Pasadena Girl
Race 5 Horse 4 – Malice
Race 6 Horse 1 – Chautauqua (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 10 – Our Boy Malachi (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Sports

Friday musing – football, AFL umpires, golf, Spieth, soccer…..

April 18, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

After watching the first couple of rounds of football I must say I think the umpiring has been okay. However, I have a couple of observations regarding interpretations. Firstly, there are high tackles, usually umpires won’t pay a free kick for a high tackle if the offended player has ducked his head. What is the difference when the player drops his knees to influence the high tackle. Luke Shuey, the Sellwoods and Paul Puopolo seem to be masters of this tactic and it seems the umpires fall for it all the time. It is certainly more difficult to adjudicate than a player dropping his head, but to my mind no different. The other issue is the sling tackle. I thought the sling tackle had been banned and yet two weeks in a row we have Hawthorn players execute the sling tackle. Firstly we had Duryea on Bartel, which resulted in a concussion and then last week McEvoy on Melksham and Baguley in separate incidents. Has this rule been shelved?

Last week I raised the issue of the Scott brothers both losing by big margins in round one. Well North bounced back for Brad, but Geelong suffered their worst defeat for sometime at home and they are still in last position. Geelong have played Hawthorn and Freo, so it is no disgrace to lose to those sides, but the way they have lost would worry the hierarchy at Geelong. I am certainly not ruling Geelong out for the season based on two bad loses, but I doubt they will be good enough to make the top 4-6 this year. Having said that, they will win this week and could easily win the following three.

I must also give myself a pat on the back picking Jordan Speith to win the Masters. Very rarely does a player lead the first round of a major and take out the title, but with a chasing pack of major winners he maintained a four stroke buffer over the last two days and don’t forget he is only 21. Two starts at the Masters have delivered a second and a first. This guy is clearly a special talent who now sits at number two in the world and with the way he has played you wonder how long it will take before he displaces Rory McIlroy as number one. What world golf does have at the moment is a number of quality golfers who can put pressure on each other, rather than a Tiger Woods or a Greg Norman being number 1 for an extended period of time. It has to be good for golf.

In the Champions League I was extremely surprised to see Bayern Munich lose to FC Porto. Bayern are a team absolutely chock full of stars although a few of these were missing and I would expect them to bounce back in the return leg, however, they do have a two goal deficit to overcome.

Have a great weekend!

Sports

AFL’s fan engagement strategy not working for me

April 11, 2015 @packers4 1 Comment

Having attended an AFL match last weekend, I can categorically say that the AFL’s fan engagement strategy did not do it for me!

Recorded music that was too loud, boring highlights of a match from last year and annoying interviews during the ritual singing of the Club song after a long awaited win was on offer from my Club.

From my perspective, it was a waste of time and money. I don’t want to hear music I can hear everyday on 101.1 or 104.3 nor do I want to listen to a breathless player ‘congratulate the boys’ while I am basking in the glow of a hard fought win.

Questions – who decides the fan engagement strategy and better still, as a member of the Club, why wasn’t I polled about what I would like as entertainment before, during and after the match?

Why not bring back the reserves playing before the seniors – a far cheaper and better option…..perhaps some live music between games too.

The engagement is not working with this fan.

Sports

Friday musing – AFL is back, the US Masters & Sydney’s Autumn carnival

April 10, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

Well the football season is back and everyone has something to talk about. It was strange in an opening round that included five games where the result was two goals or less but with two big blow outs being the Adelaide v Nth Melbourne and Hawthorn v Geelong games. The coaches on the receiving end were the Scott brothers. As usual you cannot get too carried away with the results from the first round of the season and I would not be writing off either North or Geelong. North were belted by the Bombers in round one last year and made the Preliminary Final and Geelong played the best team in the competition who were primed and ready to go.

The Masters started this morning and my tip before it started was Jordan Spieth and he is currently in the lead. Last year I predicted that Jason Day would win a Major, however, his body let him down and he failed to fulfil my prediction. This year he is fit and is also well placed and if Spieth does not win, I would be more than happy to see Day salute. It is always difficult for a golfer to lead a tournament from start to finish, so I will be monitoring the scores over the next three days with interest.

Sydney’s fickle weather again played havoc with their Autumn carnival with day one of the Championships postponed from last Saturday to the following Monday. It is a shame that these good races with good fields are run on wet tracks, so sometimes the best horse does not salute. One horse that could not blame the state of the track was Lankan Rupee. I had been concerned after his run in the Newmarket and my concerns weren’t allayed by hearing Mick Price give a cautious appraisal of his recovery before last weeks T J Smith Stakes. I was not surprised to see him finish out of the places again. He is clearly not right and should be tipped out for a spell.

Have a great weekend!

Sports

AFL needs to re-think ‘illicit’ drugs policy

April 9, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

It is about time that the AFL amended its illicit drugs policy.

Sportzfan Radio has been calling for this for a considerable period of time. This week Melbourne Football Club coach, Paul Roos and Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley have added their voices to this call. Buckley went as far as to say ‘if it’s a battle, we’re not winning it’ and wanted players to be held accountable for their behaviour.

The drugs policy indicates that the AFL does not condone the use of illicit substances and aims to identify AFL players who have substance abuse issues and place the necessary support around them to protect their health and wellbeing with a focus on education of the player. The policy includes a ‘three strikes’ component that means a player’s identity does not become public knowledge until he has been detected three times with illicit substances in his body.

First off let’s look at the word ‘illicit’. It means ‘forbidden by law, rules or customs’. In other words the policy can be described as the AFL’s illegal drug policy.

Interestingly, the AFL Player Code of Conduct that is incorporated into the standard AFL playing contract, is intended to ‘educate players on the importance of maintaining appropriate standards….’ and requires them to conduct themselves in a manner so as not to bring the game of Australian Rules into disrepute. The Code also indicates that AFL players must refrain from taking illicit and/or performance enhancing substances.

There are provisions in the Code that allow Clubs to penalise players where there has been a serious breach of the Code and, in cases of wilful misconduct, termination of the playing contract is open to the Club. I would argue that taking illegal drugs is a serious breach of the Code.

The problem with the current illicit drugs policy is that when a player is detected, he has already breached his playing contract with the Club. However, the Club is unaware of this until the third strike and is powerless to take any action it may deem appropriate. It is arguable that after a first strike and certainly after a second, the player comes within the ‘wilful misconduct’ provisions and could have his playing contract terminated. Without that knowledge of course, the Club is unable to act notwithstanding the player is engaged in illegal conduct.

Paul Roos’ analogy of ignoring motor car theft three times before taking action hopefully focusses those at AFL headquarters and the AFLPA on the problem of the current illicit drugs policy.

Time for a rethink!

Sports

Saturday’s Randwick race meeting abandoned – re-scheduled for 6 April 2015

April 5, 2015 @packers4 Leave a comment

With all the rain that fell in Sydney on Friday and Saturday morning and the weather forecast predicting even more rain, the Randwick Derby-Doncaster meeting was abandoned and re-scheduled for Easter Monday 6 April 2015.

The good news is that the Gelding’s tips, posted on 3 April will not be wasted and be useful tomorrow.

Good luck and good, water logged punting!

The Gelding