RUNNING THE BUSINESS
Bob Mouatt, Director (Development)
THE END OR THE START OF A NEW ERA?
sport throughout Australia, hence the Sport Development funding was abolished. Could OA have presented a better case? Yes it could, but the case-building exercise would have to have started in the 1980s and there would have had to have been much better support for it at the grass roots level. For most of the 30 years before 1997, I was a systems analyst and/or resource manager, with two main tasks: working to a budget and achieving outcomes (getting results). I may not be a good mathematician, but I have long understood the value of good record keeping and being able to sprout statistics and well rehearsed one-liners, that are often called ‘elevator speeches’, ie quotes that could be used during 30 seconds in an elevator (lift) with an important person. Some examples of elevator speeches include, • less than three percent of orienteers are smokers • around 66 per cent of orienteers over the age of 24 have a tertiary qualification • in the past five years over 6,000 people have participated in an orienteering event in the ACT • in visiting remote areas, orienteers provide a community service through highlighting illegal activities, finding the bodies of missing persons, etc • orienteers running through the bush have no more impact on an area than a mob of kangaroos • Julian Dent’s 22nd in the WOC Middle-distance final was a best-ever by an Australian on debut • Hanny Allston is the youngest orienteer to be ranked number one in Australia • China has over one million orienteers
BY now most readers would be aware that the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has cut its support for Orienteering Australia (OA) through the cessation of Sport Development funding. As a consequence OA has had to re-shape its budget to the point where it can no longer afford to pay for a number of activities. My paid position, Manager, National Development, is one that OA has had to abolish so this is my last column in that capacity. As a consequence it is longer than usual as I wish to reflect on my nine years in the position. In so doing, I also want to comment on the grounds used by the ASC for cutting OA’s Sport Development funding. As to my future in Orienteering, my intention at this stage is to continue for a while as Director (Development).
I Had a Dream What I am now about to write may be provocative and controversial, but I make no apologies as I consider that if Orienteering is to prosper a number of people in the sport need to realise that we are no longer living in the 1970s, when life was relatively easy. I have been involved in sport since I started school 60 years ago and in Orienteering for nearly half that time. Even before I started Orienteering I was always attracted to it and after my first event in June 1977, I was hooked. To me it was the ultimate sport and I did not take long to get involved in its administration and promotion. For many years I had a dream of it becoming a significant sport in Australia, but being in very demanding jobs I could not devote as much of my own time as I wished to making that happen. I consider Orienteering missed a golden opportunity in the mid 1980s to capture the media’s attention and secure a position as a significant sport in Australia. Two sports that did not stand still were triathlon and mountain biking and they now enjoy the fruits of success that could have been Orienteering’s. So when the opportunity arose in late 1996, to receive a moderate remuneration to pursue my dream, I walked away from a highly rewarding and well-paid job (with a six-figure salary package) to chance my arm at making the dream come true. I believed the skills and energy that had brought me success in the RAAF and in ASIO would be enough to win the day, but now I have to be realistic and say I have not succeeded and the dream is over.
What went wrong? The great dilemma for Orienteering is that the personality type required to succeed in the sport is not necessarily the best to run a successful enterprise. Many years ago, before he migrated to Poland, Graham Moon told me that Orienteering would not prosper until professionals ran it. At the time I did not agree with him, but after nine years of battling negative attitudes, I am now inclined to agree with him. The main reason that the ASC down-rated Orienteering was relevance which is defined generally by the ASC as “as indicated by performances in international competitions such as the Olympic and Commonwealth Games and World Championships (senior level for each discipline), the level of participation and the interest in the Sport throughout Australia.” In other words, how important is a sport to the average Australian taxpayer? If the answer is, ‘of little importance’ then the view of the ASC, as driven by government policy, is that taxpayers’ money should not be wasted on it. OA continues to receive High Performance funding for the time being because its HP program was deemed to be successful, but OA was not able to demonstrate a significantly high level of participation and general interest in the 46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2005
Making credible elevator speeches requires a well-stocked data bank, which in turn requires a good source of data from the grass roots level of activities. Most orienteers have a minimalist approach to management and can’t see the point of collecting data on membership and participation. However, if there had been a positive attitude towards accurate record-keeping and data processing, OA might have been able show that the number of active orienteers, including school children, was in the tens of thousands, rather than the low numbers who are actual members.
Others Who Rate Importance Apart from the ASC, ‘importance’ ratings influence the decisions of a number of other organisations including, other government agencies, landholders, the media, insurance companies, etc. As already mentioned in previous columns, access to many large tracts of good orienteering land are under threat and some State Associations are now engaged in major exercises to retain access to key areas; Namadgi National Park in the ACT is one such area. In their submissions, the associations have to stress the importance of Orienteering within the community, the need to have access to the areas and having Orienteering in the area is beneficial, not detrimental.
Media Interest While Orienteering is able to get reasonable coverage in ‘local’ papers, the major media outlets still do not recognise it as a ‘real’ sport. Orienteers are seen by many as eccentrics and the garb many orienteers wear often reinforces this. Only a minority wears clothing that projects an athletic image and few elites project an appropriate image when they are out of competition clothing, collecting awards, etc. While the older folks should be allowed to enjoy their sport in whatever they please, the younger ones need to lift their game, both in and out of competition. When I started playing Rugby in my late teens, my first coach had two one-liners, “look like you can play, even if you can’t” and “never
