The Most Amazing Sport You’ve Never Seen

 

Who would like to support one of the most amazing sports that most people have never seen? Imagine a cross between ice hockey and 5-a-side football. Power, balance, passion and skills – all with metal sticks and a football. This is of course  a very overt request for partners to step forward.

The amputee footballers of England (and the wider UK) have been growing their own sport for some years now with only relatively superficial support. I’ve been away from the sport for too long and want to help these elite athletes and the grassroots programme that supports them.

Please take a few minutes to check out the photos and videos below and then get in touch via the links below…

I was always stunned by the lack of media / corporate support for such a photogenic sport that is pure adrenaline and poetry. Once during my spell in charge of the England team we had a media team courtesy of One 2 One (or T-Mobile as they were once called) follow us on a World Championship in Rio de Janeiro in 2005. This was during a short  period of strong commercial and governing body support as disability football was hitting a larger audience, but very little happened after the event was over, and then external support headed downhill for a while.

Much has changed since then. One of the biggest challenges was the quality of organisation at a global level but many, many more international teams now play, and grassroots participation is accelerating too. The players stepped up and took it over themselves, again, as it was in the start many years ago before the FA dabbled.

The England Amputee Football Association (EAFA) are looking to talk to any potential supporters, especially of the commercial kind to take amputee football to the next level at home and abroad. A huge opportunity on the horizon. Great timing and a great sport.

Who wants a piece of this?…

Here’s some more about the EAFA team and the players from an older video via The Guardian.

These guys have done a brilliant job of getting their sport to where it is now and all support can only accelerate a truly special sport with a bright future. Imagine being part of the bigger team when they win the World Championship? Trust me there is no better feeling and n spectacular opportunity for all partners!

For more information head over to www.theeafa.co.uk or via Twitter at @amputeefootball, use the comment section below or even get in touch directly with me and I’ll share what I know.

And as a treat for reading this far, a special goal from the 2010 World Championship Argentina v Japan game…

Would You Sack Luis Suarez?

What would you do if an employee bit one of your competitors?

I know this doesn’t happen often, and in most cases the answer is to show that employee the door, quickly. What if that employee was one of most talented in your industry? Should that make a difference? What if that employee also demonstrated public indicators of emotional or mental instability?

The Liverpool FC v Chelsea FC game yesterday was supposed to be a stage for a returning and much loved ex-manager and a platform to show support for a recently departed campaigner for justice following the Hillsborough disaster, but midway through the second half the next day’s headlines were decided beyond all doubt.

Why Luis Suarez sank his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic is a mystery. No real warning signs of prior animosity during the game leading to an innocuous tussle, then a bolt from the blue vampire-like thrust toward the Chelsea defender. Nobody saw it coming, but then again you wouldn’t, and the referee didn’t either.

So, what happens next?

VfL Wolfsburg Score Football CSR Winner

It may have taken a while but VfL Wolfsburg are the winners!

Back in October 2010 I wrote a post called Not a Premier League CSR Report about the state of non-financial reporting in football, especially in the UK. At the end of the post I urged / hoped / challenged / pleaded with the industry to step up to the penalty spot by producing a credible report. VfL Wolfsburg have scored first.

The post was spurred at the time by a couple of so-called CSR reports by Manchester City and Aston Villa (and an earlier attempt by Chelsea). Manchester City’s in particular was much more of an interactive animation experiment by a communications team than a genuine report with little credible detail.

The German based team playing in the Bundesliga recently kicked out their ‘Moving Together’ sustainability report, and it was GRI certified (Level B)! I should also point out that a couple of other teams (SC Corinthians Paulista and Djurgarden Fotboll)  have also produced GRI based reports, but neither of these was certified externally.

I applaud all three teams for taking what was a bold step, and especially Wolfsburg for going into extra time and opting for external verification. In an industry dominated by a culture of defensiveness (no pun intended this time) it was a brave decision to be a pioneer for openness. I wonder if Wolfsburg’s approach is linked to their parent organisation Volkswagen?

Congratulations to all involved at Wolfsburg, and very worthy recommendations to SC Corinthians Paulista and Djurgarden Fotboll.

Now, who will be the first to score an ‘A’ rating from GRI?

What Do Premier League Football And Apple Have In Common?

New report says UK football CSR is maturing but needs to train harder and play as a team.

The defences are well and truly warmed up at Cupertino at the moment ahead of the iPhone 5 launch event next week but Daniel Agger isn’t part of the team.

Both brands have an almost religious like appeal to their audiences. Huge queues for product, tattoos and media saturation are just a couple of examples of the more obvious cultural similarities.

Both brands also have long journeys ahead of them on the CSR road and neither showing signs of ticking the leadership box any time soon.

I’ve just finished reading “It’s Not Just A Game: Community Work In The UK Football Industry And Approaches To Corporate Social Responsibility” by Heledd Jenkins and Laura James from the ESRC Centre at BRASS.

If you are into football, sport and all things CSR / sustainability go and take a read. It’s a comprehensive, intelligent and open report that provides a useful stick in the ground for the current state of social responsibility in UK football.

In short, all the clubs deliver effective community work locally with some reaching further afield across international boundaries, many through independent Community Trust models, but fall short on embedded strategic approaches, innovation, leadership and transparency.

Football CSR Team Talk at Responsiball

This week for no reason in particular my attention has been gravitating towards football. It may well be a returning passion after recovery following eight years worth of burn out. Behind the media hype  I’m constantly on the look out for any beacons of hope in the form of CSR related developments to really begin to justify the overused ‘Power of football / sport’ cliché. One such emerging gem may well be Responsiball.

My football radar started pinging last week with Gary Speed’s sad and untimely death through what appears to a result of depression, then watching a resurgent Liverpool FC remind ex-team mate Fernando Torres what a good team is against Chelsea FC in the Carling Cup, next I saw the news break about a former Everton FC colleague, Communications Director Ian Ross, departing the club in strange circumstances, then it was a formal yet enjoyable discussion about Coethica steering a to remain unnamed Premier League Club toward a more strategic CSR path, and finally rounding things off today just in time for the Euro 2012 draw.

But the highlight of my footballing diary this week had to be the conversation with Daniel Cade at Responsiball.

Football loses Gary Speed

photo via The Guardian

Rest in peace Gary Speed MBE, I hope you’ve found the tranquility you were looking for.

Gary was a great professional player, national team manager, true ambassador for the sport of football and an incredibly humble and genuine person. Football will remember and miss you deeply.

Petulant prima donnas, designer labels and glamorous girlfriends usually dominate popular perceptions of an industry more than happy to revel in its position as the world’s most popular sport. How can anybody on the surreal wages commanded by top players possibly struggle with mental illness? Depression has yet to be positively confirmed as an element of Gary’s death, but for a 42-year-old fit and healthy man to be allegedly found hanged at home surrounded by his family, has to suggest a deeply troubled, if apparently successful role model of a professional athlete.

I was lucky to have briefly met Gary a couple of times during my days at Everton FC, and also a certain Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne. Of the two I can’t think of anybody that would have bet a single penny on Paul out living Gary, but the world is a crazy place sometimes, often making no sense. The solitude of depression and its ability to completely debilitate outwardly appearing robust people should never be underestimated.

The Secret Footballer wrote in Friday’s Guardian Sport Blog, a scarily premonitory post about the “darkness behind the limelight” offering a glimpse into a hidden world of mental illness in an alpha male world.

The sheer scale of the shock and devastation across sport may lead to Gary being remembered as much for the cause of his final moments as his sporting talents.

FIFA To Kiss And Make Up

Photo via http://www.CostelloEntertainments.co.uk

Apparently Henry Kissinger has been asked by the unchallenged and re-elected President, Sepp Blatter (@SeppBlatter), to clean up FIFA in the wake of the recent allegations of corruption.

In my humble opinion there are more than a couple of similarities between FIFA’s shenanigans and many of the financial institutions exposed by the economic troubles of recent years. Hubris definitely, and both supported because the powers-that-be believing they are needed for a common good. Some banks should have been allowed to fail by governments and those who voted for Mr Blatter have fallen into the same trap. Football fans deserve better.

The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins penned a prickly but accurate article on Tuesday that pretty much outlines the reality of the political context of unfortunately too many sporting organisations.

If FIFA was a horse it would probably be shot. Like many other sporting organisations it survives not because of great management but the passion of millions of supporters around the world parting with hard-earned cash to enjoy the entertainment, and that is all it is; entertainment.

New Signings > European Champions League CSR Team

   

UPDATE:

Seems like my fun and speedily thrown together post during the UEFA Champions League Final has caused a bit of a stir, and rightly too. A few eagle eyed CSR friends noticed the deliberate mistake and passed the test. Honest.

Yes, the team lacked a little gender diversity and was all men! My original  selection criteria was very loose and based on CSR reputation and any football connections (and my awareness of). Like any good team Captain I’ve had an imaginary word with the Manager and suggested a couple of new signings both on and off the pitch. I only hope we can afford the fees and will be actively looking for a new sponsorship deal with Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream (any ideas who’s been scouted?) to help with the fees.

I’ve included the new signings below, assuming the money is available. I’ve also had imaginary calls to those who’ve been dropped to make way for the new players, with one dummy spat out (now playing in the reserves) and one player off to be a TV pundit.

I’m also starting to scout the USA for the next team, after all we’re going to need somebody to play against! Let me know who I should pick?    

   

       

I couldn’t resist picking a European Champions League CSR squad today following inspiration from @aandreup’s Tweet and of course tonight’s big game.

@SedexTom CSR manager is the Midfielder: links deffense (risk) & attack (business units). Fans are your most important stakeholder:customers—
Alberto Andreu (@aandreup) May 27, 2011

A great point simply stated.

It made me smile and sent me back a few years to my time in football. So, sat in front of Barcelona V Man Utd in tonight’s European Champions League final I decided to pick my own CSR European team.

Not a Premier League CSR Report

This is a very public challenge to the football industry.

Who will be the first professional football club to produce a credible non-financial report? I’m hoping to use this post to appeal to the intensely competitive nature of sport to raise the Corporate Social Responsibility / Sustainability bar to the dizzy heights of mediocrity.

‘High, wide and handsome’ is a cliché used by football commentators to eloquently describe a very badly executed shot at goal and its resultant trajectory, obviously missing by a substantial margin. It just so happens it describes football’s attempts at CSR and reporting.

Prince William Honours Grassroots Football Campaigner

Back in my days at Everton I once received a call from an excited man asking for the club’s support, like hundreds of similar requests we received each year, except this time something felt different.

An obviously nervous, yet effervescing character called Mal Lee excitedly accepted my offer to come to Goodison Park and explain exactly what we was looking for. As a local junior football team manager he had had enough of witnessing the at times appalling behaviour of a minority of parents towards, referees, team coaches, other parents and worst of all to young footballers themselves.

Mal had become exasperated with all the official bodies expecting everybody else to take responsibility. Referees were leaving the game in droves and who would blame them when many had been regularly verbally abused and others threatened with violence or actually physically assaulted. Children were also walking away in tears never to return. With no referees there are no games. Without players there is no future.