RUNNING THE BUSINESS

THE END OR THE START OF A NEW ERA?

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 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

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

run flat out, always save some oxygen for your brain”. I have always obeyed the first adage, but regretfully often forget the second.

Improving Relevance and Saving the Sport

There are many things that Orienteering could do to improve its relevance and despite what some of the critics might say, we have to keep recruiting new people just to cover attrition. I have some data on OACT’s memberships dating from 1985 and on renewals since 1992. The renewal rate has varied from 66% (1993) to 84% (2003), with an average of 79% over the period. So OACT has to recruit around 40 new memberships (100 new members) a year just to maintain its current memberships at around 200 and members at 500. If it doesn’t, its membership will decline and as a consequence the people available to stage events will decline and it will have to reduce the number of events, leading to a further possible decline in memberships and ultimately oblivion. Thus promotion and recruitment are very important to the survival of Orienteering.

There are many ways that Orienteering can improve its relevance rating: • results and general stories in the press, on radio and on television • advertisements and promotional articles in magazines and newspapers, and on radio and television that lead to improved community knowledge of the sport and increased participation and memberships • schools-based activities (this might not have an immediate impact on participation and memberships but it educates young people in the basics of Orienteering so that they know about and have a positive attitude to the sport when they get older) • participating in community activities such Clean Up

Australia, community Fun Runs, eg Terry Fox Fun Run, helping charities, planting trees, giving blood in groups, etc (other sports, especially major sports, use these activities extensively to get media coverage) • having good data on activities that can be produced at a moment’s notice.

And What if Nothing is Done?

My greatest concern is that Orienteering could lose its High Performance funding, if OA does not keep meeting ASC standards. Mike Dowling is working very hard to ensure this doesn’t happen, but he will need a lot of help.

I am hopeful, but not confident that there are enough people living in the 21st century with the vision, desire and energy to ensure the survival of Orienteering, but if nothing is done, then the sport will go into decline and I will have wasted nine years of my life.

Final Observation

There are some people who have been critical of having paid officers on a Board of Management, because of a perceived possible conflict of interest and I understand that the OA constitution will be amended accordingly. My view is the concern is unwarranted. I could never have done as much as I have, even if I failed to achieve my dream, if I had not been receiving the remuneration that I used to fund my expenses while being a member of the Board. My net income for a couple of years was next to nothing.

As I receive annual reports from the various companies in which I have shares, I look at the remuneration paid to directors of those companies and ask what is the difference between those enterprises and Orienteering Australia? While there is no way that Orienteering Australia could consider paying substantial remunerations to directors, I consider that it should consider having expense of office allowances commensurate with responsibilities.

IOF World Rankings

The International Orienteering Federation World Ranking Scheme is based on points scored at World Ranking Events, full details of which can be found at http://www.orienteering.org/. The current standings for men and women are given in the following tables:

Men – Foot-O

1 Mats Troeng SWE 2 Jani Lakanen FIN 3 Daniel Hubmann SUI 4 Valentin Novikov RUS 5 Thierry Gueorgiou FRA 6 Jarkko Huovila FIN 7 Andrey Khramov RUS 8 Mats Haldin FIN 9 Anders Nordberg NOR 10 Øystein Kvaal Østerbø NOR 61= David Shepherd AUS 68 David Brickhill‑Jones AUS 84 Grant Bluett AUS 85 Troy de Haas AUS 111 Julian Dent AUS

Women – Foot-O

1 Simone Niggli‑Luder SUI 2 Vroni Konig‑Salmi SUI 3 Jenny Johansson SWE 4 Minna Kauppi FIN 5 A Margrethe Hausken NOR 6 K Arewång‑Hõjsgaard SWE 7 Marianne Andersen NOR 8 Heli Jukkola FIN 9 Emma Engstrand SWE 10 Paula Haapakoski FIN 22 Hanny Allston AUS 56 Jo Allison AUS 79 Tracy Bluett AUS 107 Natasha Key AUS 128 Allison Jones AUS

Men – MTB-O

1 Ruslan Gritsan RUS 2 Adrian Jackson AUS 3 Margus Hallik EST 4 Tönis Erm EST 5 Stefan Surgan SVK 6 Ants Grende LTV 7 Alex Randall AUS 8 Christian Gigon AUT 9 Jussi Mäkilä FIN 10 Beat Schaffner SUI

Women – MTB-O

1 Michaela Gigon AUT 2 Anke Dannowski GER 3 R. Arlauskiene LTU 4 Anna Füzy HUN 5 Hana Bajtosová SVK 6 Anna Wlodarczyk POL 7 Hana La Carbonara CZE 8 Anna Sheldon AUS 9 Päivi Tommola FIN 10 Markéta Jakoubová CZE 19 Mary Fien AUS 31 Carolyn Jackson AUS

BOOKS ON ORIENTEERING

There are a great number of books on all aspects of orienteering. For a list and prices contact: Orienteering Services of Australia

44 Alexandra Parade, Clifton-Hill VIC 3068 Phone (03) 9489 9766 Email info@macson.com.au

continued from page 43.

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