Appendix A

MAKING THE MOST OF COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS FEATURE/COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS : WINNERS ALL ROUND Commercial partnerships and sponsorships are, on the one hand, a vital source of revenue for any business and on the other, can provide a compelling platform for businesses looking to enhance their sales and marketing reach and communications strategy.

A

s an association it is vital for the FMA to have partners and suppliers onboard, to bring invaluable revenue to help support our administration. This revenue along with member subscriptions, allows us to employ staff and to function as an independent, membership organisation.

Commercial activity is particularly evident in top class sport and professional football is no different. While player sponsorship sits well with consumer products, football medicine and science can offer companies with relevant products and seeking business to business

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opportunities, some immediate rewards; not least high profile visibility and access to a niche market with buying power.

Companies are therefore understandably very keen to get their products into Professional Football.

However, it has led to an all too familiar scenario that many Heads of Department will immediately recognise. It’s the end of a long day at the training ground, most staff and players have long gone and in wrapping up the days work, several emails are yet to be answered. There’s also a raft of phone numbers from various companies on your desk, asking you to call them back

about an exciting new product that will do a 101 things its competitor cannot, or will have players back on the field in half the current time, or will provide energy where other well known products cannot reach, or will revolutionise player fitness and so on and on. So, you prioritise the emails, respond to some, delete others and the phone calls, well you will sort another day.

If this is all too familiar then rest assured that you are not alone in handling the situation in this manner. So what about the “calls” you will sort later but are never made? Life is very busy in a professional football club and work

can be arduous at the best of times.

In prioritising the demands of the job, returning a call or email to a company you have never heard of is understandably low on that list.

This goes some way to explain why the FMA has ended up with a role that was definitely never envisaged at the outset.

In short, we have become the “go to” for our Members who, savvy as they are, have realised that they do not have the time to spend setting up speculative meetings or reviewing unknown products. Instead many have passed the task to the FMA by directing companies to us and we are very happy to support our members in such a role From a company perspective instead of trying for several months to get a meeting with one Club, companies can now get their product in front of everyone through the FMA and in a variety of different way including the FMA magazine & website. The magazine is mailed to the FMA membership and every Head of Department in professional football receives a copy. It is also featured online.

Opportunities are available for companies to come onboard as partners giving them much needed visibility and the chance to build credibility and long term relationships.

A further development has seen the introduction of the FMA Product Appraisal System. Put simply, companies who wish to work more closely with the FMA as Business Partners or Club Members are given the opportunity to have a specific product evaluated by a pre-determined panel of FMA members.

Panel members are selected from 2 Premier, 2 Championship, one Division I and one Division II Clubs. The Panel can vary throughout the season. The FMA team does due diligence regarding the company and the product prior to any testing being undertaken and, by working with Members, makes best use of their

skills and expertise, which are of course unique to the FMA. The Product Appraisal System enables companies to have their product evaluated in a practical, appropriate and “realistic” environment. The subsequent “market appraisal” report submitted by our members to the FMA is valuable feedback

for companies allowing them to assess their own product in a “real world” setting.

Where a product is given resounding approval by the Panel, companies, at the discretion of the FMA, may be invited to take the process to the next stage with regard to use of the FMA logo to support that product.

The value of this is that all practitioners within the game – and beyond – will see the FMA logo as a sign that this particular product has been independently evaluated by colleagues and that the product is considered to be of significant value to football medicine or science in the treatment, rehab and fitness of players.

For a company such a seal of approval is invaluable.

The FMA Product Appraisal system is already underway and we are now spearheading the football medicine and science market, helping to determine the value of products to the football industry and ensuring, with the guidance of our members, that the introduction of products to this arena helps to continue to raise standards of care across the game.

This isn’t something we set out to do as an organisation but we are sure that it will form a welcome resource for companies and most importantly our members.

Hopefully it will also free up some time for Heads of Department and relieve them of the need to respond to those numerous enquiries.

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