The Australian Schools Cross Country Championships, courtesy of CMS Lateral/Great Australian Cross Country Challenge.
2020’s Crises and the future of Sport and Recreation
Martin Sheppard explores the opportunity to reform sport, make it stronger, more resilient and future proof it
T
he start year of a new decade normally starts with optimism, long term future plans and a renewal of energy and focus. Yet 2020 has already presented massive challenges. Australia has been hit with its worst ever bushfires, losing 7.7 million hectares of land (an area larger than Ireland) - with 3,000 properties burnt to the ground and 33 lives lost, resulting in an estimated $1 billion in damage. Following this, parts of the country that had not seen rain for years celebrated rain, while the shadow of the Coronavirus outbreak began to spread, leading to the activation of the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) on 27th February. Within weeks, the industries of community and professional sport, fitness, aquatic and recreation had been shut down while people embraced the request to ‘stay at home’ with the true Australian grit we expect. With one of the four reasons ‘to leave home’ identified as to exercise, the positive is that across every community you see people, two by two, or families exercising together, walking, jogging or having a kick around. But, what legacy will this create when state and territory governments loosen stay at home requests? The Future of Sport – the Backbone of Australia As an industry we have experienced two decades of growth in traditional sports clubs, driven by 30% population growth, set against an underlying trend (and well documented) move away from traditional sports provision. The question now is whether changes resulting for Coronavirus closures will fast track this trend and what can
we do to embrace this movement and ensure that sport as we know it also survives. The pressure on sport at all levels has already been documented during the COVID-19 Crisis with many elite sports suffering or on the verge of economic collapse with the worry of a subsequent knock on effect to community sport. Numerous commentators are asking if we are at a ‘crossroads’ for sport, whether the way Australian sport is structured is sustainable and whether multiple levels of sporting administration is too ‘heavy’ and draining. Leaving emotion and egos to one side, we need to quickly consider how these challenges can be embraced, and how our beloved sports (and the sector) can reconnect and rebuild for the future. Why are some sports teetering on the edge, regularly staving off financial hardships and seemingly living month to month or even beyond their means? Will this year’s obligatory sign up to the National Redress Scheme mean that sport will this time fall over the edge? (The National Redress Scheme has been created in response to recommendations by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.) As we see Virgin Australia enter voluntary administration, with a focus on restructure and becoming more sustainable, hopefully coming out the other end a stronger and more robust organisation. Should we be establishing something like this for sport in Australia, a collaboration between sport, community NBL owner Larry Kestleman
44 Australasian Leisure Management Issue 138
