A defection analysis of lapsed members of five sporting clubs : examining motivations and behaviours

The issue of defection has been examined primarily in a transactional context as opposed to subscription markets where the infrequent nature of the purchase or renewal means that retention of subscribers is often both more difficult and more crucial. This paper reports on a survey that aimed to uncover more information about the motivations and future intentions of recently lapsed subscribers. 1,011 lapsed members across four Australian Football League (AFL) clubs and one Australian National Rugby League (NRL) club were surveyed. Analysis of the responses returned suggests that although these lapsed members report that they joined to financially support and feel more involved with the club, they let their membership lapse primarily due to an inability to attend games. Despite joining for intangible, altruistic reasons, it seems that if these members could not get to games, they believed that the membership was not worth maintaining. These members were satisfied with the membership; however measures of overall level of satisfaction had only a weak positive relationship with the likelihood of members rejoining in the future. The inconsistencies in the findings challenge some conventional approaches to both the methods of researching lapsed members and the theories that are frequently used to explain behaviours. We find that simplistic entry or exit surveys are likely to be of limited value in subscription defection research and that satisfaction is unlikely to be a strong predictor of defection behaviour.

Foucault goes to the footy: professionalism, performance, prudentialism and playstations in the life of AFL footballers

This paper will report on a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) that is exploring the emergence and evolution of a ‘professional identity’ for AFL footballers – an identity that has many facets including the emerging ideas that a professional leads a balanced life, and has a prudent orientation to the future. The research is informed by Foucault’s later work on the care of the Self to focus on the ways in which player identities are governed by coaches, club officials, player agents and the AFL Commission/Executive; and the manner in which players conduct themselves in ways that can be characterised as professional - or not. The paper explores elements of these processes by analysing the forms of risk management that Clubs use in the processes of List and Player management that they engage in as a consequence of AFL rules. Psychological testing and profiling of players is becoming more important in identifying, recruiting and managing players. The paper discusses how this testing is used to identify character or personality traits prior to initial recruitment in the draft or trading processes – and suggests that a number of issues related to workplace surveillance and identity emerge as a result.

Professional education and training for early career players in the Australian Football League: footy first, second and third

In this presentation we discuss some of the findings of a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) titled: Getting the Balance Right: Professionalism, Performance, Prudentialism and Playstations in the Life of AFL Footballers. The research explored the following issues: the emergence and evolution of a ‘professional identity’ for AFL footballers – an identity that has many facets including the emerging ideas that a professional leads a balanced life, and has a prudent orientation to the future, to life after football. This ‘professional identity’ isn’t natural, and must be developed through a range of ‘professional development’ activities (a common link to all other ‘professions’). In the AFL at this time professional development has a focus on engaging players in a variety of education and training activities – TAFE & University courses, and workshops and seminars that the industry has put in place to educate players about issues that the industry sees as important.

The presentation will focus on our research with players we classified as Early Career players. For many of these 17 to 21 year old young men the later years of secondary schooling were compromised in their pursuit of an AFL career, and their subsequent drafting is followed by intense efforts to physically prepare them for football. In this context our research indicates that many Early Career players put football first, second and third – education and training, and industry expectations that they participate in this sort of professional development come further down their list of priorities.

Investigating the influences on attendance and intention to rejoin with inaugural members of a new football team

This study investigated the effects of factors like member satisfaction and social rituals on desirable outcomes such as attendance, intention to rejoin and merchandise sales. This study focuses on the inaugural members of a new team in Australia’s A-League to gain insight into how loyalty develops amongst fans of new sporting organisations. The results show the importance to sports marketers of satisfying members and building ritual behaviour, as both are correlated with all of the positive outcomes investigated here.

All part of the hetero-normative? Women football fans` voices on players` sexual (mis)conduct

From interviews conducted in Victoria with women fans of Australian Rules Football, this paper examines their perceptions and rationalisations of alleged sexual misconduct by players. The paper is situated in the seeming contradiction of women avidly supporting male dominated sports despite players being implicated in misconduct against their gender. Women fans' voices about the reported misconduct are explored. These fall into two main categories that are referred to as the 'predatory female' and the 'rogue male' narratives. The former suggests that the sexual assertiveness of some women - the 'groupies' - unlocks men's primal sexuality. The latter points to footballers being immersed in a hyper-masculine sub-culture that predisposes them to treat women in an arbitrary, demeaning manner. The fans' voices, while condemning players' misconduct, suggest that predatory females, by actively seeking out footballers, become victims
because they trigger testosterone driven male responses. Rogue male behaviour is deprecated, but understood as stemming from masculine ways, accentuated by team bonding, that leads some individuals into misconduct, possibly as a means of emphasising their masculinity within their group. Explaining player misconduct in these ways enables fans to distance themselves from it and continue their passionate support of
football.

Teaching landing skills in elite junior Australian football: evaluation of an injury prevention strategy

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a preseason physical training programme that taught landing and falling skills in improving landing skills technique and preventing injury in junior elite Australian football players.

Methods: 723 male players who participated in an under 18 elite competition were studied prospectively in a non-randomised controlled trial over two consecutive football seasons. There were 114 players in the intervention group and 609 control players. The eight session intervention programme taught players six landing, falling, and recovery skills, which were considered fundamental for safe landing in Australian football. Landing skills taught in these sessions were rated for competence by independent and blinded assessors at baseline and mid-season.

Results: Evaluation of landing skills found no significant differences between the groups at baseline. Evaluation after the intervention revealed overall improvement in landing skills, but significantly greater improvement in the intervention group (z = –7.92, p = 0.001). Players in the intervention group were significantly less likely (relative rate 0.72, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.98) to sustain an injury during the season than the control group. In particular, the time to sustaining a landing injury was significantly less for the intervention group (relative rate 0.40, 95% confidence interval 0.17 to 0.92) compared with the control group.

Conclusions: Landing and falling ability can be taught to junior elite Australian football players. Players in the intervention group were protected against injury, particularly injuries related to landing and falls.

Impact of social expectations on ethical governance of sport organisations

Sport business is different; one of these differences is the significant and important cultural role that sport plays in society. This paper investigates the social expectations of sport, and how these expectations impact on the management and governance of sport organisations. Interviews were undertaken with the directors and CEOs of the Australian Football League and its clubs, to examine the concept of social expectations and ethical governance. Five key themes of the social expectations of sport were found: scrutiny, sport business, sport context, social investment, and the historical development of the club. Each of these themes was identified through the data analysis as having a potential impact on the management and ethical governance of sport organisations. A clearer understanding of the social and cultural context within which sport organisations operate, enables sport organisations to implement sound policy and practices for ethical governance.

How is gender-based violence covered in the sporting news? An account of the Australian Football League sex scandal

Despite the significant amount of feminist and sociological research devoted to the question of sexual harassment and assault in sport, there has been little accompanying exploration of how the media discuss gender-based violence by sportsmen. This study examines the narratives of gendered behaviour that emerge in stories about Australian rules footballers and violence against women in the sport sections of two major Australian newspapers. As the audience for sport news is primarily male, the way that sexual misconduct by footballers is reported in this section of the newspaper provides an important dimension in theorising how media institutions influence public discourse and understandings of gender.

Football's world cup and its fans - reflections on national styles : a photo essay on Germany 2006

The football World Cup is the greatest multicultural sporting extravaganza of modern times. The notion of post-fandom tries to capture the ways in which fans now participate in and engage in self-aware and reflexive strategies to obtain their desired outcomes from attendance at or viewing such major events. This illustrated photo-essay on the World Cup looks at the experiences and behaviour of fans in three countries, Scotland, Germany and Australia, during the tournament with a view to extending our understanding of the relationships between fans and others temporarily interested in the World Cup and the promoters of such mega-events. It argues that the participants brought a wide range of expectations to the tournament and engaged in highly flexible and innovative approaches to ensure that they gained the maximum benefit, individually and collectively, from the experience.

Evaluating sport club board performance : a customer perspective

Customers are overlooked often as a stakeholder group when it comes to assessing board performance. To gain insight into the factors that affect customer perceptions of non-profit board performance, over 20,000 members from 14 different professional, non-profit sporting clubs were surveyed. The results suggest that sporting club boards are evaluated primarily in line with perceptions specifically related to their administrative effectiveness, although the on-field performance of the team is a contributing and correlated factor. Board performance and on -field performance perceptions were both direct contributors to overall member satisfaction, with board performance being the stronger. Perceptions of board performance are clearly worth managing in a holistic manner.

Prevalence of health promotion policies in sports clubs in Victoria, Australia

In recent years, some health agencies offered sponsorship to sporting associations to promote healthy environments by encouraging clubs to develop health-related policies. However, the extent to which these sponsorship contracts reach their stated aims is of concern. This study aimed to quantify levels of policy development and practice in sports clubs for each of five key health areas, namely smoke-free facilities, sun protection, healthy catering, responsible serving of alcohol and sports injury prevention. Representatives from 932 Victorian sports clubs were contacted by telephone with 640 clubs (69%) participating in the survey. Results suggested that the establishment of written policies on the key health areas by sports clubs varied widely by affiliated sport and health area: 70% of all clubs with bar facilities had written policies on responsible serving of alcohol, ranging from 58% of tennis clubs to 100% of diving and surfing clubs. In contrast, approximately one-third of sports clubs had a smoke-free policy, with 36% of tennis, 28% of country football and 28% of men's cricket clubs having policy. Moreover, 34% of clubs overall had established sun protection policy, whereas clubs competing outside during summer months, [diving (86%) and life-saving (81%)] were most likely to have a written sun protection policy. Injury prevention policies were established in 30% of sports clubs, and were most common among football (56%), diving (43%) and life-saving (41%). This study suggests that policy development for health promotion can be achieved in sports clubs when it is well supported by health agencies and consideration is given to the appropriateness of the specific behaviours to be encouraged for a given sport. Communication between associations and clubs needs to be monitored by health agencies to ensure support and resources for policy development to reach the club level.

Marketing for participation, managing for success: the Louisville Racquet Club

Examines two different perspectives concerning the success of a tennis club. Case of the Louisville Racquet Club; Role of the coaching professional in the club; Elaboration on the equally valid perspective of the club owner; Analysis on data collected at the club.

The body, mind and soul of AFL footballers: tales of identity from the global sports entertainment industry

The paper discusses some of the findings of a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) titled: Getting the Balance Right: Professionalism, Performance, Prudentialism and Playstations in the Life of AFL Footballers. The research explored the emergence and evolution of a professional identity for AFL footballers – an identity that has many facets including the ideas that a professional leads a balanced life, and has a prudent orientation to the future, to life after football. The AFL is a high profile, sports entertainment business in which brand relationships between the industry and its sponsors generate substantial income for the League, for Clubs, and for Coaches and players. In addition the AFL’s equalisation policies tightly regulate the ways in which Clubs can recruit, maintain and develop playing lists. In this context various tools of analysis are used to identify and characterise the particular Body, Mind and Soul elements of the young men who might be recruited to a Club; who might have significant time, money and effort invested in their development (as players, as persons); who might develop an identity as an AFL footballer. Drawing on Foucault’s work on the care of the self we argue that in this situation, narratives of identity necessarily involve a struggle for the Body, Mind and Soul of these young men.