Footy bridges the business gulf
IS THERE anything amazing about a bunch of Crows and Magpies fighting it out in the desert? Not usually. But in this case, it’s the Adelaide Crows and the Collingwood Magpies, it’s a game of Australian rules football and the desert is not in Australia but in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East.
The Adelaide-Collingwood clash is the opening match of the pre-season NAB Cup and is part of the AFL’s program to showcase the game globally and grow the business dimension of Aussie rules too.
According to Gillon McLachlan, the AFL’s chief broadcasting and commercial officer, the match meets several football and business objectives. The AFL wants to increase international participation in the game, serve the Australian expatriate market and expand the game financially among Australian and international business interests. The financial side of the game is increasingly a global proposition.
“We need to support the global ambitions of our corporate sponsors and partners and the international matches are an important part of this strategy,” says McLachlan. “The international matches help us to showcase the game and build the Australian brand among potential foreign investors and sponsors and give our global Australian partners some good leverage in new markets.”
So, why was the UAE chosen for the first NAB Cup game? One reason is the large Australian corporate interest in the region. According to Austrade research, there are now more than 2000 Australian businesses exporting to the UAE, and a large number of Australians are based in Dubai.
In fact, the increased Australian business presence in Dubai helped build momentum for the match. The idea for the game came out of discussions between the former Australian senior trade commissioner to the UAE, Peter Linford, and the AFL about how to raise the business profile of Dubai in Australia while raising AFL brand awareness in the local market.
Linford worked with the AFL to attract sponsorship for the match, which now includes architects Wood Bagot, Multiplex, Nakheil, Al-Futtaim Motors (Toyota’s distributor in Dubai), Pierlite, Clipsal and National Australia Bank.
With all this commercial interest in Dubai, there are also naturally a large number of Australian expatriates there too. According to Kym Hewett, Australia’s senior trade commissioner to the UAE: “There are over 12,000 Aussies here, compared to about 3000 six years ago. Dubai acts as a hub for business to the rest of the Middle East, so much of the trade and investment passes through here.”
With the large Australian presence, the AFL anticipates drawing a crowd of 10,000, including locals, expatriate Australians and about 2000 travelling fans.
Of course, Collingwood and Adelaide are the ideal clubs to be playing in the desert clash as the Magpies are sponsored by Emirates and the Crows by Toyota.
Collingwood’s marketing manager, David Emerson, says Emirates has sponsored Collingwood since 1999 and the club has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Dubai-based airline. “Emirates has always built its brand in other countries through sports sponsorship and it always targets big-name clubs - such as Arsenal in the British Premier League. And with the strong Collingwood brand, rich history and large supporter base - the Magpie Army - it saw us as a natural partner,” says Emerson.
Collingwood’s travel agency is selling lots of packages for supporters to go to the game and the club is expecting the trip to be a good experience for the players.
“We do things big at Collingwood, and the Dubai game is no exception!” says Emerson.
In South Australia, too, the match in the UAE is seen as an important part of the state’s trade development program. State Department of Economic Development chief executive Ray Garrand says they will use the match to promote the state’s interests in Dubai in the automotive and defence industries and to help “attract back SA expatriates based in Dubai”.
At AAMI stadium, the Crows are gearing up, too. According to Adelaide Football Club CEO Steven Trigg, their reasons for taking part are threefold.
“First, we want to provide an opportunity for our supporters and sponsors to broaden their life experience. We have at least 1000 supporters making the trip. Second, we are very proud of our 17-year relationship with Toyota and are supportive of their growing business in the Middle East. Finally, at the Adelaide Football Club, we take every opportunity to showcase our great game to international audiences.”
In addition there are benefits to the club football-wise as well. Crows operations manager John Reid also sees the Dubai game as important for the Crows’ playing group.
“The trip and the match are a great experience for the players - especially for the younger recruits. They get to travel overseas to both KL (Kuala Lumpur) and Dubai, play a match in a brand new environment (they are training at the police academy and playing at the polo grounds) and bond as a group. It’ll be a great way for the younger blokes to meet the older players, which will help build team cohesion among our playing group.”
Is the Dubai match a secret plan for world domination?
No, not at all, says McLachlan: “Our main focus is on being the national code, hence our work in NSW and Queensland and regional areas. But the international program is a good investment in the game’s development - particularly given the global focus of many Australian companies.”
However, the international spread of Australian rules is stronger than at first glance. According to David Matthews, the AFL’s general manager for national and international development, the game has taken great strides in terms of participation in South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Britain, China, the US, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Denmark and Japan.
“At current rates, there will be as many AFL footballers in South Africa as in Tasmania by 2009. We’ve run a successful Auskick program in South Africa (known as footywise) that has helped health and development in the townships and, in 2006, we had a very successful indigenous youth visit there,” Matthews says.
At present, four clubs are involved in South Africa - Collingwood, Carlton, West Coast, Fremantle - and Carlton and Fremantle are playing in Pretoria on Saturday, a week before the Dubai game.
Indigenous football legend Michael Long has been influential in promoting the game in South Africa - pointing out the strong indigenous participation rates in the AFL (indigenous players make up 12% of the AFL).
NAB Cup games will be hosted in other world capitals and the AFL has hired legendary Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy to help drive the international dimension of the game.
Besides the Dubai clash and the South African development, the Melbourne Football Club led a business mission to China last year, so there is plenty happening from an international business perspective in Australian rules. Accordingly, we can expect the big men to fly from Dubai to Durban to Dalian as the great Australian game builds opportunities for Australian businesses looking to expand their horizons beyond our shores.
Tim Harcourt is chief economist of the Australian Trade Commission and author of Beyond Our Shores.
See: www.austrade.gov.au/economistscorner
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Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 11:20 pm under