The tragic death and devastation caused by the floods that recently hit Queensland and Northern New South Wales really put sport into perspective. At the time of writing, the death toll stands at 18 and there are 12 people missing.
The late Bill Shankly, legendary manager of the successful Liverpool Football Club of the 1960s and 1970s, once famously said that sport, and specifically soccer, is more important than life and death:
‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.’
As I sit here writing this in Australia, I find it inappropriate to agree with such sentiments, although I have high respect for Shankly and firmly believe he was a fantastic manager.
However, what has been really heartwarming to see over the last few days is the way sport has responded to the crisis. Money for the flood victims has been raised by all sporting codes here – by players and clubs from sports at the professional level down to grass-roots. Sport has stood up and shown that it is part of the fabric of society down under. Players and clubs have taken responsibility, have realized that they are role models and are giving back so generously. [click to continue…]
Chris is a strategic programs analyst at the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) focusing on, amongst other things, sponsorship research, analytics and acquisition. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Business (AGSM). Chris took part in the school’s exchange program by completing a semester at Stern business school, NYU where he studied sports marketing and sports economics. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Web | Twitter | LinkedIn | More Posts (24)
So this week would not be complete if I went through this entire saga regarding LeBron James and did not write about him once. I know everyone is sick of hearing about it, but for some reason everyone keeps reading the tabloids and listening to the countless information put out by the media. Everyone complains about it but than he or she plays devil’s advocate and wants to learn more about it anyways. I am not sure if there was a connection with the scorching temperatures that plagued the east side of the country this week, but LeBron decided he also wanted to be part of the “heat” epidemic.
Okay LeBron is on the Heat, we get it, but South Beach was not the only thing that came out a winner in the sweepstakes for King James. This article actually has little to do with the blockbuster deal that recently took place, but rather focusing on the wise choices made by the Boys and Girls Club of America. [click to continue…]
Matt Clark is currently an intern for Sports Networker, studying sport management and public relations at York College of Pennsylvania. He has an extreme passion for learning about new trends in social media and technology and how it is revolutionizing sports. He has contributed as sports editor for the York College newspaper, been an event manager for collegiate sporting events, intramural supervisor, contributor to the sports information department, and executive board member on the Sport Management Student Association. Matt is heading into his third season as part of the game-day entertainment with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees. Connect with him on Twitter @mattgclark
More Posts (8)
(This is a guest article by Cord Pereira)
“On behalf of the Atlanta Hawks, I’d like to thank our ownership group for recognizing that for every dollar we give away, we get three in return!”‘
These were the honest words of an Atlanta Hawks spokesperson during an acceptance speech when the organization received the “Pro Team Community Award” from the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, back in the mid 90′s. The Hawks, like all pro teams, work closely with their community charities in a multitude of ways. After all, professional sports franchises are really quasi-public utilities that are emotionally owned by their communities, and therefore an organic platform to all kinds of community programs.
[click to continue…]
FOLLOW US