A heroine fix

Where are all the sports heroines? Following on from the great Sports Personality of the Year debate, there is a deeper issue that should be under serious discussion.

The dismal showing by the BBC’s nominations for the annual sports personality does throw up the rather unpleasant truth that there is a dearth of visible female talent within sport in the UK. That is not to say there is no talent – that is far from the truth – but the fact is, that whatever their sporting walk of life, women tend to take second place to men.

In competitive terms there is no need to look further than the big three – football, cricket and rugby. In each of these sports women are recording equal, if not better, results on the world stage than their male counterparts. The women’s rugby team were beaten finalists in this year’s world cup. In recent years the women’s cricket team have won the Ashes, the One Day International World Cup, and World T20. The women’s football team were quarter finalists in the last World Cup.

But the same inequality exists in other spheres of sporting life. A study by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation has found that the number of women on the boards of national governing bodies of sport has remained stagnant for the last few years at 20 per cent.

This immediately throws up a number of issues. Firstly, if only a few women make it to boardroom level, at what point do they get stuck on a rung or completely fall off the career ladder? Secondly, what hope is there that the decisions made by a boardroom that only reflects the views of the male half of the population will be appropriate for the sporting demands of female participants.

And, perhaps most importantly, where are the role models for aspiring female leaders to be found? Just as young girls need to see elite participants on the television or in the newspapers, so too do the young women working in the sports industry. How many female sports graduates have the aspiration to get half-way up a ladder and then stop?

Currently, 54 per cent of graduates in sports-related degrees are female. There are many female sports centre managers, a high proportion of gym instructors are female. But then where do they go? National team coaches tend to be male – Dyl Powell, the England football coach, is a shining exception to this rule. Top umpires and referees are usually male, and there was uproar when a female referee was appointed to premiership football matches. And how many of the sporting press are female? There are some very good female journalists but the chief sports reporters and sports editors of most of the nationals are male and heavily biased towards golf, football, cricket and rugby in its male form, of course.

However, there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel. Two of the most influential UK sports organisations are female. Jennie Price is chief executive of Sport England and Liz Nicholl has recently become top dog at UK Sport. Other female heavyweights include the Baronesses: Tanni Grey-Thompson and Sue Campbell – but these high achieving women are the exception not the norm.


Shining examples in sports management















But a male dominated boardroom makes no sense. A recent government study into the lack of women at the top of big businesses said: ‘the business case for increasing the number of women on corporate boards is clear. Companies with a strong female representation at board and top management level perform better than those without’.

And the pro-business lobby group the CBI, believe that having a gender diverse board improves business performance in the areas of “Innovation and creativity”, “Knowing your customer” and “Business reputation”.

Situations like the BBC Sports Personality Awards offer a momentary spotlight on these inequalities, and the promised review is a small step forward but there is a much longer game to be played here.

There are many changes that need to happen. The media can play a huge part by supporting women’s sports to a much greater extent. The female sporting elite can take a leading role in pushing a positive message through the media and the sports industry, which is a huge employer in the UK, can take an enlightened view on its senior management strategy – by making it possible for a women to combine family and career, and by recognising the many strengths that females can bring to the industry at boardroom level.

Female sports stars can act as role models

A new guest at the top table

Last night I went to a 'working dinner' celebration of the formation of the Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity held at Roehampton Tennis and Golf Club.
Guest of honour was Sport and Olympic minister Hugh Robertson, and after admitting that even he had not received his choice of Olympic tickets, it was down to serious business. 'I want this body of sport to make my job uncomfortable,' he said. Robertson added that the Institute in it's two previous forms - ISRM and ISPAL - had been too reactive, but now that the move had been made to create one creditable, chartered organisation then there was space at the top table for a representation from sports management.
'This industry should be getting it's people into positions of power, chief executives of local authorities and within the higher levels of government,' added Robertson.
This was music to my ears because my new journal - Sport and Physical Activity - is the voice of IMSPA and listening to the minister and seeing the faces around the tables I could see that there is a real potential for both this organisation and the magazine to make a real impact on both the sports industry and the health and fitness of the UK.

Giving Stratford a Sporting Chance

Looming large on the horizon – the Olympic Stadium

If I wasn't ridiculously excited enough about the Olympics, then my visit today to the Olympic Park served to do the trick. I decided to walk the four miles from Liverpool Street Station to Stratford to get an idea of the local area.
It is economically deprived, the housing is shabby, shops are boarded up and the whole area from Bethnal Green to Stratford has a tired feel. That said, there is a cultural mix of people and a sense that change may be just around the corner. And, indeed it is. A stones throw from the social poverty a glittering showpiece is slowly growing. The Olympic Stadium, the Amish Kapoor monument, the Aquatics Centre, the velodrome - they are all becoming iconic sights on the east London horizon.
At the same time, the ODA design team have put a lot of thought into the bigger picture. The road, rail and waterways transport system will allow a new ease of accessibility to the east end. The miles of walking and cycle paths hits the governments active people agenda. The acres of grassland, meadows and wetlands create a green haven and 4,000 new trees will add to the landscape.
Economically, new, affordable housing, alongside new private housing, a new school and the huge Westfield shoppin centre will all stimulate employment, training and the local economy.
As a sports fan I was blown away by the facilities, as a person who loves London, I cannot wait to revisit the walk from Liverpool Street to Stratford in a few years time and marvel at the difference this legacy will have left. Well done to John Hopkins and his team for having this vision.

Boules rules!

A friendly game of boules after work, a few pints of real ale and a supper of sausage and chips. There are few sports that are more suited to the quintessentially rosy view of English life than this.

I went to my first game of boules last week, and it lived up to all expectations. The game was a league match between the Blue Lion at Hardwick and the Lamb and Fleece at Horningsea. The home pub, the Lamb and Fleece, was quaint, local and friendly. The competitors were quirky and from a range of backgrounds, and the competition itself was hard fought, with just a hint of steel around the edges.

For those new to the game here is a quick fire summary of the rules.

Two teams of six compete. The team is divided in two for the first round, so three people from each team compete, throwing two boules each. The first team to accrue 13 points wins that round. The cochonnet, or cloche in local dialiect, is thrown a distance of between 6 to 10 metres from the throwing circle. The teams then try to get their boules as close to the cloche as possible. Whoever throws the closest holds the initiative and the other team have to try to get a boule closer. When all the boules are thrown, points are added up. A point for the team with the boule closest, but if the next nearest boule belongs to the opposition then only the one point is scored. If one team has a number of boules closest to the cloche with no boule from the opposition then the leading team gets points corresponding to the boules near the cloche (I hope that makes sense!)

The second round of the game involves the teams splitting into three pairs. They follow the same process but throw three boules each. The final score is tallied in sets won, with five sets played in total.

So, the rules firmly established, let me describe the evening.

As people turn up at the pub there is a laconic air about the early arrivals. No-one wants to appear too keen. Drinks are ordered and the teams carefully eye the opposition up. On this occasion Phil was skipper of the visiting team, a duty he was clearly taking very seriously. One of his team was making her debut so Phil took her through the rules, emphasising that 'the cloche can not be thrown out of the area – that will mean the game is dead.' The debutante, who was clearly more than capable of keeping the cloche in the area humoured her skipper and nodded sagely.

By now one or two members of both teams were rather sheepishly making their way out of the pub to grab a quick practice throw. This was laughed off, because no-one could be seen to be taking this seriously. As more people made their way out, the practice became more serious, until, unable to resist, one of the team members gave a coaching tip. That was it – the match had tipped into competitiveness.

Dave, one of the visiting team had still not thrown a practice boule. This was clearly worrying skipper Phil, who followed him around the pub garden with a boule in his hand. Finally Dave gave in and threw a practice boule. All was okay, Phil visibly relaxed and Dave smiled ruefully, his cool cover disintegrating.

The home team had a worry. Baz was drunk. The youngest team member had been out for a day of drinking with his mate, Jeff. The pair were clearly in their team's bad books and Michelle, five months pregnant thrust the cloche into Baz's hand with a look that clearly defied him to throw erratically. Luckily for Baz, his cloche landed with unerring accuracy and his first boule followed, landing just centimetres from its target.

As the dusk fell, the sun at the back of the pub went down in a blaze of red. The Cambridgeshire skies were a picture and a fabulous backdrop to this most English of evenings. It is ironic that boules is a french import, but it is one, along with brie and garlic, that we have adopted enthusiastically.

The match took three hours and it was past 11 when the final scores were marked and both teams shook hands. The home team had won convincingly, which didn't please Phil, but his newest team member had thrown well, his oldest player had enjoyed six points of ale and was in full flow with stories about the local postman, Dave had played well despite his reluctance to practice and the plates of sausage and chips were beckoning.

Roll on the next match

IMSPA leads the way in slimming down sport

Last week (4 May) I went to the House of Commons to report on the granting of chartered status to the Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity. While members of this Institute will rightly celebrate gaining chartered status and the new level of professionalism this gives people working in this sector, I think the move actually heralded a more fundamental reason for celebration - the rationalisation of sports management in this country.

IMSPA was born out of an amalgamation of the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management and the Institute for Sport, Parks and Leisure. These bodies in turn were originally known as ILAM and NASD. Just writing those two sentences made me sweat!

But then look at sports organisation in this country and this sort of mish-mash and duplication is mirrored all over the sporting landscape. Sport England, UK Sport, the Youth Sports Trust, the Sport and Recreation Alliance, the British Olympic Association, County Sports Partnerships etc etc. the list of bodies involved in sport is endless, and in fact each body in its own way does a valuable job BUT there is overlap and confusion. For this reason IMSPA is to be congratulated on putting tribalism and insularity to one side and taking the lead in simplifying its offering to the sector it serves.

The additional news that IMSPA is joining with SkillsActive to develop a single qualification structure for all the levels of workforce in the profession is another step in the drive for simplification.

Celebration time at Old Trafford

Very short post today - 'get in!' Thoroughly enjoyable game between Sir Alex's men and Ancelotti's team, and a thoroughly enjoyable outcome. Thought JS Park was mercurial and energetic, Valencia added a whole new dimension on the right-hand side of the pitch and Giggs was masterful.
I also thought it was a great indicator of the coaching team at Manchester United's great professionalism in preparing their players to peak at absolutely the right moment.
Can Sir Alex come up with the strategy to beat Barcelona - I hope so.

Dr Bird's obvious remedy

Dr William Bird talks lots of sense. So much so that it is a surprise he is not locked up somewhere.

Dr Bird talks about a deficiency that is sweeping across the country, causing misery and suffering and costing the NHS, and hence the tax payers, millions of pounds.

Much as deficiencies in vitamins A, B or D can have devastating effects upon people’s health, so too can the deficiency that Dr Bird refers to as PA deficiency. And just as vitamin deficiencies can be addressed easily, the answer to PA deficiency is also easily available, if we could just bring ourselves to adopt it.

The practising GP and chair of the Physical Activity Alliance, who also advises the Department of Health on the benefits of exercising outdoors, has been beating his particular drum for nearly two decades but his message is both consistent and relevant.

PA deficiency, of course, refers to a lack of physical activity and the easy remedy is to get our bodies moving more frequently and at a higher intensity.

Easier said than done? Well that may be the case if the motivation is lacking, but with the threat of obesity, diabetes, cancer, stroke, heart disease, not to mention the feel good factor and the increased mental capability associated with exercise, there are surely enough carrots and sticks available.

Solutions

For the person who is ‘time pressured’, then a few simple life-style changes may work. If you drive to the train station, try swapping four wheels for two. If you sit in front of the computer at lunchtime, go for a walk. If you go to the gym twice a week, add an evening jog, a weekend swim or a yoga session to the schedule.

If a lack of confidence is stopping you, remember that there are many, many people in similar situations. A quick troll through the local gym, sports centre or leisure centre websites will direct you to classes or groups where there are beginner groups who will welcome you. Or a quick email around work colleagues may unearth someone who is desperate to play squash with a fellow non-sporty person, or who would just go for a lunchtime spin class or walk.

Illness or injury is a common reason to stop being active. In most cases exercise of some kind is of benefit to people suffering from long term illness or injury, or returning from injury. Arthritis sufferers will benefit from a controlled programme of activity, someone with a broken arm can still walk, someone with a broken leg can still do upper body exercises.

The point that Bird makes is that there are a million solutions to the PA deficiency. He advocates bite-sized chunks of exercise that fit into a modern lifestyle. Today, an active person is as likely to be doing a 20-minute jog in the morning, a game of football after work one evening, a bike ride with the kids at the weekend and a pilates session once a fortnight. The goal is to be doing a minimum of five lots of 30 minutes of physical activity a week. How that is done, or when that is done is not important.

Ooops!

No apologies - this is just a rant

So we are just over 14 months from hosting the biggest multi-sport event on the planet and we learn that the British Olympic Association is not going to be able to fund the GB team!

Due to a lack of commercial sponsors, salary hikes, a £1m spend on a failed coaching plan and general inability to budget, the athletes, who have been training for years to reach this place may find their preparations in the final days compromised.

UK Sport, which looks after the athletes the remainder of the time is fine. It has government funding and through some careful budgeting, stringent rules on spending and some unavoidable cuts, UK Sport has continued to back our Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.

BOA relies on donations. So where are the donations? We read daily about the millions of pounds in bonuses that are going to bankers, chief executives of large corporations and the huge salaries of many public sector staff.

We read about the millions of pounds that are going overseas because some of our wealthiest businessmen and women do not want to pay tax. Well how about giving something back now. How about supporting an event that has the potential to show the UK in its very best light. Put your hands in your pockets, millionaires and billionaires of Britain and support this event.

It will be repaid because a successful Games will help this country on the road to recovery. Jobs, opportunities and feel good factor alone will lift the spirits and push the UK economy into a higher growth rate.

Come on you wealthy people - do your bit

Men of honour

Had a bit of a misfire with yesterday's post. It was the first time I have attempted a post via iPhone, so here's hoping that this one goes okay. It is day two of the cricket World Cup and I cannot be the only one hoping for a good England performance to prove that the Ashes was not a one off, but at the same time be hoping that Sachin Tendulkar lifts that cup to mark the end of an astonishing career.
There is also the news that Ryan Giggs has signed another year's contract with Man Utd, and again the most fervent Man U despisers cannot help but hope he picks up at least one more trophy to mark a fantastically professional career.
Longevity and honour rarely combine in sport, particularly in these days of intense media spotlight so it is great to recognise two men who are role models in both their sports and lives.

First day of my blog

Hi, this site is very much in its incubation stage but I thought I would offer a quick vision from my world.
I love all things sport, I was in sporting heaven last night as I listened to England move ever closer to victory in Sydney. As a Man Utd fan I have to shamefully admit that I was cheering on Wolves over Chelsea and I enjoyed Man City and Arsenal drawing.
However, I also got very annoyed at the lack of support for Amy Williams at the Sports Personality of the Year awards, I fume at the lack of awareness when it comes to women's sports generally and I want to turn that anger into some form of redress by giving sport - no matter what the participants gender - coverage through my eyes.
So this blog will be a personal look at sport. It will celebrate, it may be unashamedly biased at times, it may get emotional, it might even be funny. But if it gives just one person some enjoyment of a sporting moment then it will have done its job.

So my first celebrations of 2011are as follows:

1. Barring a washout (that would be so ironic) England are about to win the Ashes
2. Clare Balding has had an all clear from throat cancer
3. Jessica Ennis has got engaged - good news because she will be focused for 2012
4. Man U top of league without really hitting form