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Lessons learnt from the top sports crises of 2024A

Another year, another series of dramas that brought sport into disrepute.

From governance issues to doping dramas, 2024 will go down as a year when sport faced reputational crises that underline the importance of good planning, good governance and an understanding of how to manage the media when a storm blows.

It’s a reminder of the importance of crisis communications preparation – the insurance to help you navigate not just those crises that you can foresee, but those you can’t.

As we say every year, planning, a code of ethics and transparency can often alleviate many of the reputation-damaging crises we have seen in 2024, but panic and self-preservation often lead to foolish decisions which ultimately do more harm than good.

BILL SWEENEY

Since rugby became a professional sport in the mid-1990s, it has faced some challenges adapting to the world of elite sport.

The international calendar clashes with domestic games, for instance, that resulted in a tug-of-war between clubs and the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

Rugby doesn’t attract the same finances as football, for instance, and the English governing body has got itself into problems over executive pay.

Chief Executive Bill Sweeney has caused an outcry after it was revealed that his salary for the 2023-24 financial year rose to £1.1million.

The RFU reported an operating loss of £37.9m for the same period, the highest it has recorded while Tom Ilube, Chair of the RFU board, sought to justify the increase in executive remuneration.

He said: “During the pandemic, the executive team took deeper and longer salary cuts than the rest of the organisation along with a reduced bonus.

"The long-term incentive plan, put in place post Covid, recognised the material and voluntary reduction in remuneration, despite an exceptional increase in workload while also incentivising the executive team to remain in post to deliver against challenging multi-year targets. The targets included revenue growth, cost control and underlying profit, stretch targets were also in place in relation to other measures including performance and participation."

But with the RFU also making 42 staff redundant in September and grass roots participation in decline, the topics aren’t good.

Three former RFU chairmen then called for Sweeney to step down after doing “enormous and irreparable damage” to the organisation.

Martyn Thomas, Graeme Cattermole and Brian Baister asserted in a letter that the positions of Sweeney and Ilube were “untenable” as the executive director team expenditure rose from £2.8 million last year to £4.9 million.

Reports also suggest that up to 10 members of the RFU senior leadership were handed promotions to become directors.

“The recent RFU announcement of a world record net financial loss to reserves for a sports NGB [national governing body] of £42 million accompanied by large pay increases and bonus payments being made to the Chairman, CEO and other executives, just a month after declaring 42 staff redundancies, has done enormous and irreparable damage to the reputation of the RFU with member clubs, employees and supporters of the game,” read their letter.

“We would respectfully suggest that the positions of the Chairman, CEO and the relevant RFU Board Members are now untenable. We believe a new leadership team is required to chart a new way forward, start the process of rebuilding trust and respect and therefore urge those officers responsible to do the honourable thing.”

The second tier of English rugby is also seeking a vote of no confidence in Sweeney with the 12 RFU Championship clubs requesting a special general meeting (SGM) to debate the leadership of Sweeney and Ilube.

The Championship clubs voted unanimously to add their voices to the demand for a special general meeting, which has also been backed by the Rugby Football Referees’ Union.

England’s 2003 World Cup-winning head coach Sir Clive Woodward described Sweeney’s “unacceptable” pay as “an insult to the wider English rugby public.

The Championship clubs have been engaged in a long-running dispute with the RFU over funding and this season are receiving their lowest ever sum of £133,000 each.

The RFU has sought to defend itself and said in a statement: “The RFU ends this latest four-year cycle with a strong balance sheet, no debt, a robust cash position and positive P&L reserves.

“The RFU has continued to invest strategically in the game at all levels and for the last two years the RFU have been working hard to develop a redesigned Championship with the aim of developing a whole game solution to support the development of England Rugby.

“The objective has been to create a second tier that supports the English rugby system by developing young English talent, whilst supporting the clubs to become financially sustainable by growing local audiences, improving standards, and increasing the value of the league. Significant research has been undertaken and external independent advice sought to underpin the strategy.

“Minimum standards have been proposed along with increased RFU funding and a mechanic for promotion and relegation with tiered capacities for entry into the Premiership and a governance structure to give greater self-determination.”

Learnings

Sports governance is deeply political and can become a distracting sideshow that affects all levels of the game.

Perception is reality when a chief executive and his colleagues are taking higher salaries at a time where redundancies and cost-cutting are being felt by others within the organisation and the game at large.

It’s hard to see how the Chief Executive and his colleagues recover from the growing mood of no confidence after failing to understand the optics in tricky financial times.

PGMOL & DAVID COOTE

Refereeing, from grassroots level to the highest echelons of the game, is beset by criticism with disagreements over decisions a naturally partisan pastime.

But the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the English professional football governing body, does not help itself with a strategy and narrative that seems to change according to the circumstances.

When Howard Webb took over in 2022, replacing Mike Riley, he talked about an improvement in standards, particularly in reference to the video assistant referees (VAR).

In stark contrast to Champions League games, where referees appear to let the game flow without fanfare, there is a perception that referees are becoming the main talking point after many of the Premier League’s most high profile games.

A one-sided TV show on Sky Sports which glosses over inconsistencies and makes excuses rather than taking ownership for mistakes has hardly helped.

Never is Webb pushed on why decisions are so inconsistent, even on the same weekend, underlining a lack of scrutiny, preferring chummy appearances on The Overlap instead of grasping the serious problem the PGMOL is facing.

With PGMOL facing financial challenges, there have been reports that the organisation may have to cut its training programmes, which would add to the problems developing a new generation of top referees and improving diversity.

While the quality of refereeing could certainly be improved, raising standards should come not only through investment in training and education, but in accountability for bad performances.

There is a steady stream of ambitious young referees in Select Group 2 and beyond who should be given the opportunities to prove themselves more readily when mistakes occur.

Currently, there is little in the way of meaningful consequence for referees making what can be egregious, season-defining errors, and therefore standards remain mediocre.

Integrity is fundamental in sport at any level, but particularly in high profile elite competition.

The VAR team for Tottenham’s win against Liverpool last season made a major error but when it transpired that they had worked in the UAE the day before, accusations that they were fatigued did little to calm emotions.

The governing body’s reputation suffered another blow late in 2024 when a video emerged of senior referee David Coote appearing to make derogatory remarks about Liverpool and their former manager Jurgen Klopp who he disliked for having a go at him during a match.

Coote was suspended before another video appearing to show him snorting white powder during Euro 2024 in Germany – where he was officiating – was published by The Sun.

Later in November, The Football Association (FA) launched an investigation into allegations that Coote discussed giving a yellow card ahead of a match in 2019.

Coote insisted nothing improper took place and said: “Whatever issues I may have had in my personal life they have never affected my decision-making on the field. I have always held the integrity of the game in the highest regard, refereeing matches impartially and to the best of my ability.”

After an investigation, Coote’s contract was terminated and the PGMOL statement said: "Following the conclusion of a thorough investigation into David Coote's conduct, his employment with PGMOL has been terminated today with immediate effect.

"David Coote's actions were found to be in serious breach of the provisions of his employment contract, with his position deemed untenable.

"Supporting David Coote continues to be important to us and we remain committed to his welfare.”

Coote has a right to appeal the decision to terminate his employment, according to the PGMOL.

Learnings

The PGMOL has a serious reputational problem.

Their dialogue with friendly journalists does nothing to enhance their credibility and attracts criticism as they avoid real scrutiny or a grasp of the issues sub-par refereeing performances attract.

Howard Webb has made no significant improvement to the PGMOL’s reputation, appearing, if anything, to love the limelight without any self-awareness.

The Coote saga further raises questions about the depth of bias within the roster of top flight referees and why more isn’t done to improve culture and performance.

ENHANCED GAMES

Enhanced Games

With the recent backing of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel and other tech businessmen, it looks like the controversial Enhanced Games has the financial backing to take place in 2025.

The Enhanced Games is a proposed international athletic competition, not unlike the Olympic Games, but with one major difference: they explicitly do not test for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). This is not to say that athletes are forced to dope, but rather than doping is perfectly permissible in the eyes of the organisers.

Their stated goal is to see how far humans can go, using a combination of chemical and technological doping; the former including anabolic steroids and hormone therapy, the latter technology like ’super trainers’ and swimsuits based on sharkskin.

The main philosophy of the Enhanced Games is that PED use should be seen as a ‘demonstration of science’ rather than as cheating.

Clearly, there are grey areas when it comes to genetic and competitive advantages, so it could be argued that any and all enhancements should be allowed.

The Enhanced Games also claim to have a vastly improved pay structure compared to the Olympic Games, including a stipend for all athletes that compete, as well as substantial prizes for the most successful – including up to and above $1m for gold medallists.

A 2017 study carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suggested that as many of half of tested athletes had used PEDs in the last year.

Unsurprisingly, WADA condemned the new Games, calling it “a dangerous and irresponsible concept. WADA warns athletes and support personnel, who wish to participate in clean sport, that if they were to take part in the 'Enhanced Games', they would risk committing anti-doping rule violations under the World Anti-Doping Code,

"Athletes serve as role models and we believe this proposed event would send the wrong signal to young people around the world.”

Travis Tygart, CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, described the Enhanced Games as ”farcical… likely illegal in many states” and “a dangerous clown show, not real sport.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe was scathing in his assessment and said: "There's only one message and that is if anybody is moronic enough to feel that they want to take part in that, and they are from the traditional, philosophical end of our sport, they'll get banned and they'll get banned for a long time."

One of the Enhanced Games website slogans is: ‘My body, my choice,’ clearly attempting to echo the pro-choice slogans of pro-abortion activists while a further slogan of the Enhanced Games is ‘Science is real,’ echoing pro-vaccination arguments during the Covid Pandemic. These attempts to co-opt major worldwide political issues for the gain of the Enhanced Games organisers and investors is unlikely to improve the organisation’s credibility.

Whether or not they can attract sufficient athletes remains to be seen. At the time of writing, very few have publicly supported the new competition.

D’Souza claimed that 500 ‘sleeper’ athletes had privately agreed to take part, but with the very real safety concerns, the question remains: who will actually benefit from the Enhanced Games?

Whether more athletes will sign up in the fullness of time remains to be seen.

Learnings

There is so much that the Enhanced Games have got wrong from a communications perspective.

Instead of demonstrating an understanding of the concerns and addressing them in a sensitive way, the approach has been one of aggressive belligerence.

The risks to athlete safety alone will ensure continued widespread condemnation from the sports world and beyond.

And will sponsors or broadcasters want to be associated with such a controversial competition which would potentially undermine their own ethics and ethos?

THE INTERNATIONAL BOXING ASSOCIATION

Gender has become a huge issue in sport as well as society.

Ever since South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya underwent tests to prove her gender back in 2009, and the LGBTQ+ community has found a voice in mainstream society, there have been questions raised about fairness and eligibility.

The International Boxing Association, (IBA) has had a difficult few years, with concerns over governance and integrity ultimately seeing it removed as boxing’s Olympic governing body by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2023.

IBA President Russian Umar Kremlev, is said to have strong links to state President Vladimir Putin, there has been concern over the integrity of bouts and judging in a report by sports investigator Richard McLaren which said “corruption abounded” when reporting about IBA’s governance.

So, it’s fair to say that IBA’s credibility continues to be stretched.

Last year, Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan were disqualified from IBA’s World Boxing Championships and at Paris 2024, Khelif, who was born and raised a woman, and does not identify as either transgender or intersex, was caught in a gender storm that overshadowed the boxing competition.

The issue was back in the news during the Paris 2024 boxing competition when Italian Angela Carini broke down in tears and quit her bout against the Algerian Khelif after 46 seconds in a fight that sparked huge controversy.

Carini expressed regret over her actions in the ring. "All this controversy makes me sad," Carini told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. "I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision. It wasn't something I intended to do. Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke."

The IOC made a statement criticising IBA’s governance and later IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed that the boxers were not transgender and that the issues was a politically motivated campaign by Russian interests against the IOC and the Paris Olympics.

He said: “We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women. Some want to own a definition of who is a women.

“What we have seen from the Russian side and in particular from the (IBA)…they have undertaken already way before these Games with a defamation campaign against France, against the Games, against the IOC.”

Despite their lack of involvement from Paris 2024, IBA called a press conference to build upon the controversy and explain why they had banned Khelif from their own event last year.

The event was a shambles, with technical issues, while Kremlev used the opportunity to attack the IOC and President Bach again, claiming that he was standing up for women’s sport, despite all the speakers being men.

He said; "Today we are witnessing the death of women's boxing, the corruption of judges. All this is happening while Mr Bach is president (of the IOC). Under no circumstances should we allow women's boxing to be destroyed. Today not only is women's boxing being destroyed, but I believe that in the future they will also try to destroy women's sport.”

Several journalists and other people who were attending left in disgust, at not just the language, but the tone of the answers from the IBA participants.

No wonder the IOC’s Mark Adams responded: “It was a chaotic farce. The organisation and the content of this press conference tells you everything you need to know about their governance and credibility.

"It clearly demonstrates that the sport of boxing needs a new federation to run boxing. If you ever needed any evidence at all that the IBA is unfit to run boxing just look at the key members of the IBA who took part in that travesty yesterday.”

After winning welterweight gold by beating Chinese world champion Yang Liu by a unanimous decision over five rounds, Khelif said: “I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman.

"For eight years, this has been my dream, and I'm now the Olympic champion and gold medalist. That also gives my success a special taste because of those attacks.

"We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, and I hope that we will not see any similar attacks in future Olympics. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”

Learnings

Given their reputation as an organisation, and despite of the facts as laid out by the IOC, what IBA needed to do was show leadership, authority and professionalism.

That would send a message to the world that they are a serious organisation capable of representing the diverse boxing family and acting with integrity.

What transpired was quite the opposite.

The speakers rambled, avoided answering direct questions and there was no coherent messaging to convince the attending media that IBA, and by extension its point of view, was credible.

Not once did any of the speakers show any sympathy for the online bullying and abuse that Khelif has faced.

Nothing is ever off the record with journalists and it was laughable that Roberts then contradicted his President by confirming to media away from the main conference that Russian energy firm Gazprom was still a sponsor and also undermining the validity of the 2023 tests by saying that there was no independent presence when they took place.

One reporter described the event as “the most extraordinary, chaotic, shambolic and badly organised international sporting press conference I have ever attended,” and it was perhaps a fatal blow to IBA’s hopes of regaining Olympic Programme control for boxing.

CHARLOTTE DUJARDIN

There was a time when Charlotte Dujardin was considered the darling of dressage.

She became known as “The Girl on the Dancing Horse” after her partnership with Carl Hester’s horse, Valegro, winning double Olympic gold at London 2012 followed by another gold and silver in Rio four years later, and two bronze medals in Tokyo three years ago.

But the double Olympic champion withdrew from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after a video emerged of her whipping a horse 24 times during training.

The initial complaint was made by the Dutch equine lawyer Stephan Wensing on behalf of an unnamed client. In an interview with The Times in July, Wensing compared Dujardin’s conduct to “old-style abuse of elephants at the circus”.

Dujardin’s reputation has been in ruins since the video  emerged with sponsors withdrawing their support and a global horse welfare charity, Brooke, dropping her as an ambassador.

"Our whole ethos is around kindness and compassion to horses, and to see the opposite of this from someone with such a high profile is beyond disappointing," it said.

Two of Dujardin's sponsors, equestrian insurance company KBIS and Danish equestrian equipment company Equine LTS, have removed their backing while UK Sport also suspended her eligibility for public funding.

Dujardin admitted to being “deeply ashamed” of her actions when the four-year-old video emerged on the eve of the Games.

"What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse.

"I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment."

The timing of the video release was questioned, with Madeleine Hill, a former dressage reporter for Horse & Hound magazine, telling the BBC Radio 4 Today programme it felt like "sabotage".

She believes the FEI should have waited until after the Olympics before imposing any sanctions, adding that "top riders are being persecuted" on social media by people who are against the use of horses in sport.

Following an investigation, Dujardin was banned from dressage competition for a year by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).

“It is regrettable that this case has put our sport in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, especially during a critical time leading up to the Olympic Games,” FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said.

“Yet, despite the challenges, the FEI acted decisively by immediately opening an investigation and imposing a provisional suspension.

“These significant sanctions send a clear message that anyone, regardless of their profile, who engages in conduct that compromises the welfare of the horse will face serious consequences. We believe this outcome reaffirms the FEI’s commitment to equine welfare and to its role as guardian of our equine partners.”

In a statement, Dujardin said she “fully respects” the decision to ban her — and also revealed that she is expecting a baby. “As the federation has recognised, my actions in the video do not reflect who I am and I can only apologise again,” she said. “I understand the responsibility that comes with my position in the sport, and I will forever aim to do better.

“This has undoubtedly been one of the darkest and most difficult periods of my life, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me during this time.

“To those of you who have sent messages, emails and tried to reach me to check in on how I am — thank you. Every kind word truly has made a difference, more than you’ll ever know.

Wensing said his client, the whistleblower, was “happy with the outcome of the case.

“My client is satisfied this sanction sends out a strong message to the whole dressage industry regarding what is a very important issue,” Wensing said.

“The punishment is fair and it’s good that it has finally been concluded. It is also good that Charlotte Dujardin has admitted everything and taken responsibility. My client is happy about that too.”

Whether Dujardin returns to the sport to try to become Britain’s most successful female Olympian at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 remains to be seen.

Learnings

The sorry episode raises more questions about the welfare of horses and what goes on behind closed doors.

To Dujardin’s credit, at least she didn’t try to make excuses or deny the severity of the incident, she was quick to apologise and has accepted her punishment – but her reputation is forever tarnished.

It’s a reminder that in this age of smartphones, everything you say or do can be filmed – doing the right thing at all times is vital.

DOPING IN TENNIS

Some big names from the world of tennis have been embroiled in doping recently, sending shockwaves through the sport and raising questions about the consistency of testing and punishments.

It’s not that long ago that Maria Sharapova was banned after being found guilty of taking meldonium, a banned substance.

But 2024 has seen more controversy, with Iga Swiatek and Janek Sinner both testing positive this year.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in August ahead of the Cincinnati Open and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced in November that she had received a one-month suspension after it was decided that she carried “no significant fault or negligence.”

Swiatek said that the substance entered her body due to the contamination of non-prescription medication she had been using for jet lag and sleep issues, and having already served 22 days of her ban in the autumn, she is now free to compete at her next two scheduled events: the United Cup and the Australian Open.

That news came after ATP world No.1 Sinner avoided a ban after twice testing positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol in March 2024, although the Italian is awaiting the outcome of a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Sinner’s explanation was that the  banned performance-enhancer  entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who used a spray containing the steroid to treat his own cut finger.

It’s understandable that Simona Halep was aggrieved after being given a four-year ban in September 2023 after testing positive for the banned blood doping agent roxadustat at the 2022 US Open.

The two-time Grand Slam winner’s ban was later reduced to nine months following her appeal to the CAS, although she said that there were "completely different approaches” to the processes of dealing with the cases.

In an Instagram post, liked by world No 2 Alexander Zverev and other leading players, Halep highlighted the contrast between her own fate – in which a four-year ban was eventually reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport – and the way that Sinner and Swiatek were allowed to play on with barely any interruption.

“I can’t find and I don’t think there can be a logical answer,” wrote Halep, who is 33. “It can only be bad will from ITIA, the organisation that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence.”

Halep later added: “What I believe is not fair, either, is that they announced my case straight away, and I got all the heat from the press, and for these two players they kept it secret, and they just said about the case when everything was done, so it’s very weird.”

Swiatek rejected those assertions, saying: “I know that people need to automatically compare such situations to others that have already happened, but the truth is that each of these cases is completely different.

“I think this is a question more for ITIA than for the player. My fate, just like the fates of others, was in their hands and they decide how each case will turn out. I trust that this process is objective, that everything is done according to the regulations and no one judges a player this way or that way because of his position. But whether it is really like that, I think this is a question for ITIA.”

ATP Tour chairman Andrea Gaudenzi acknowledged that there “could have been better communication” in explaining the rules involved in Sinner’s doping case.

“I learned the day before we all learned,” Gaudenzi said. “And to be honest, I’m happy about that. I really thank the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) and our representatives there for intentionally keeping me and our entire team in the dark because that’s how it should be.

“It should be completely independent and that was agreed by the (parties). It was a shock, but obviously comforted by the evidence afterward.”

A final verdict in the Sinner doping case  won’t come until early 2025.

Learnings

The cases of Halep, Swiatek and Sinner have led to questions over the way anti-doping cases are handled and whether players are treated differently.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which handles doping cases, has strenuously denied any differences in the way players are treated.

But the fact that Swiatek’s case was heard in secret and only revealed after the fact does raise concerns about consistency and the need for full transparency when sporting integrity and players’ reputations are at stake.

RAYGUN

The Olympic Games has made great strides to attract a younger audience in recent years with breakdancing, skateboarding and sport climbing attracting younger people and reflecting the diversity of sporting competition.

But Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn became a figure of fun at the Paris Games, after she broke out a host of unorthodox moves against the world’s best breakdancers, with images of her moving like a kangaroo, a snake and a sprinkler becoming memes.

The 37-year-old Sydney university professor failed to score a single point and was heavily criticised, with parodies of her performance even played out on late-night TV in the US with comedian Rachel Dratch impersonating the Australian during Jimmy Fallon’s monologue to open The Tonight Show.

Online criticism has included allegations that the Oceania qualifying event, held in Sydney last October, was set up to favour Gunn, and it questioned the judging which allowed her to qualify.

Some even asked — or said outright — that it all might have been some type of hoax or research project for Gunn, 36, a full-time university lecturer who researches dance and gender politics and has studied a range of dance styles, according to her Olympics bio

Gunn ended up posting a response on Instagram where she said that the reaction to her routine was “pretty devastating" and called on the media to "stop harassing my family and friends.”

"I just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me - I really appreciate the positivity and I'm glad I was able to bring some joy into your lives. That's what I hoped.

"I didn't realise that that would also open the door to so much hate, which has frankly been pretty devastating. While I went out there and I had fun, I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics. I gave my all - truly.

“I'm honoured to have been a part of the Australian Olympic team and to be part of breaking's [breakdancing's] Olympic debut."

"What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative — that's my strength, my creativity," Gunn said, according to the  Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get in a lifetime to do that on an international stage?"

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) hit out at a "misleading and bullying" petition  signed by more than 50,000 which criticised Gunn.

“It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory,” the AOC said of an online petition targeting the dancer and others, adding that the actions “stirred up public hatred without any factual basis. It’s appalling.”

While Gunn didn't win a round in her dance battles, some judges did give her a slight edge in originality, and at least one did so in "vocabulary" — the variety of moves a dancer employs. Those are two of the five criteria used to select winners.

The AOC released a 12-point fact-check to combat the spread of claims against Gunn, saying no athlete should be treated the way she has.

AusBreaking, the national governing body, also debunked the attacks on Gunn — including the widely circulated, but false, allegation that her husband and coach, Samuel Free, had somehow orchestrated her victory in last year's qualifying competitions. The Australian Associated Press agreed with the organisation, in a separate fact-check.

The World DanceSport Federation, breaking's sanctioning group, also issued a statement, saying it stands against harassment and abuse, including cyberbullying.

Learnings

Gunn and the Australian Olympic Committee dealt with the controversy well in the circumstances – and originality is certainly not deserving of criticism.

But knowing that she couldn’t compete with her rivals, Gunn could have made clear in advance of her intention to be creative rather than competitive, to face the situation head-on.

As it is, her performance gave fuel to those who ridiculed breakdancing being part of the Olympic Games Programme rather than underline the value of individual expression.

STEVEN VAN DE VELDE

The Olympic Values were severely tested when it was revealed that beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde had previously been convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl.

The Dutchman served 13 months in prison which prompted victim support and safeguarding groups to call for him to be banned.

Kate Seary, co-founder and director of Kyniska Advocacy, which works for the protection and respect of women in sports, said: "His participation sends a message to everyone that sporting prowess trumps crime."

Dutch chef de mission Pieter van den Hoogenband said: "He's not going to downplay it [his conviction]. We have to respect that and help him as a member of the team to be able to perform."

In a statement the Dutch Olympic Committee said it had put in place “concrete measures” to ensure a safe sporting environment for all Olympics participants in light of Van de Velde’s participation.

It said Van de Velde had engaged with all requirements and had met stringent risk assessment thresholds, and stated that there is no risk of him reoffending. The Committee said: “Van de Velde has consistently remained transparent about the case which he refers to as the most significant misstep of his life. He deeply regrets the consequences of his actions for those involved. He has been open about the personal transformation he has undergone as a result.”

"Van de Velde has fully engaged with all requirements and has met all the stringent risk assessment thresholds, checks and due diligence. Experts have stated that there is no risk of recidivism.”

It said it “regretted” the “unforeseen renewed attention, on social media in particular, for those struggling with trauma from sexual offences and transgressive behaviour”.

Van de Velde and his playing partner Matthew Immers reached the quarter-finals in Paris with Van de Velde repeatedly subjected to a stream of boos and whistles from the crowd.

The Dutchman, who requested not to stay in the Olympic Village and was allowed to absent himself from post-match mixed zone interviews, admitted that he considered quitting the games before deciding to compete.

He said: "I thought, 'I don't want that. I'm not going to give others the power to decide they can bully me away or get rid of me'.

"If I think about how much I was focused on peripheral matters – with how I want to be on the field instead of with tactics against the opponent –  then you can say that that has had an influence, but there is no point in passing the buck."

Van de Velde, who received support from fans of the Netherlands, said he understood the commotion.

"Do you want somebody with a history? Can he stand on the podium? That is a legitimate question to ask," he added.

"I can't change what people think of me. Someone can hold me responsible forever for what happened and that's OK, because that's what it is. It is their right. So, I accept that. I'm not the person I was 10 years ago.

"It has been the biggest mistake of my life."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) faced calls for an investigation into how the player had been allowed to compete at Paris 2024. In an email seen by the Guardian, a senior official with the Dutch Olympic Committee has insisted that Van de Velde was not a paedophile, in response to a concerned British man who lives in the Netherlands.

The IOC has said that inclusion in competition is a matter for individual nation’s Olympic committees. Asked if the IOC was “comfortable and happy” with Van de Velde’s involvement, its spokesman Mark Adams said: “I think to characterise it as ‘comfortable and happy’ would not be correct.”

He added: “I think a crime occurred some time ago, 10 years ago. A great deal of rehabilitation has taken place, and there’s very strong safeguarding in place also, and I believe … the athlete in question is not even staying in the village.”

Learnings

Should an athlete be prevented from competing because of past transgressions?

Child rape is a serious crime, and Van de Velde’s presence was another unsavoury sideshow for the Olympic Games.

The IOC dealt with the issue superbly, and the comments from the Dutch Olympic Committee were also understanding of the seriousness of the situation.

But it raises questions about whether an athlete with such a heinous past should be permitted to compete – or whether safeguards need to be put in place to ensure the spirit of the Olympic Movement is followed by every competing nation and its athletes.

CANADA WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

Canada's women's football team were caught in a huge controversy during Paris 2024 which stretched the spirit of fair play on which the Olympic Games were founded.

The team was deducted six points from their group and coach Bev Priestman was banned for one year after New Zealand reported to French police that a drone had been flying over their practice sessions.

FIFA announced the sanctions - which include a £175,720 fine for the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) – a day after Priestman was removed as Canada's Olympic head coach with CSA officials Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander also been suspended for a year.

FIFA said in a statement: “The officials were each found responsible for offensive behaviour and violation of the principles of fair play in connection with the CSA's Women’s representative team's drones usage in the scope of the Olympic football tournament.”

Priestman ‘voluntarily’ withdrew from her coaching role for Canada's opening game against New Zealand after the opponents reported a drone had been flown over their training session.

FIFA and the CSA launched investigations and the latter said the 38-year-old was "highly likely" to have been aware of the incident.

Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive David Shoemaker was shocked by the severity of the punishment, which punished the team despite their lack of involvement in the drone activity.

Shoemaker commented: “We feel terrible for the athletes on the Canadian Women's Olympic Soccer Team who as far as we understand played no role in this matter."

Shoemaker later said there "appears to be information that could tarnish" Canada's women's football triumph from the Tokyo Games amid reports that drones had been used at previous tournaments – and with the men’s team as well.

The consequences were tough on the players, who had prepared for the tournament for years only to be handed a punishment for something they hadn’t been involved in.

Defender Vanessa Gilles told reporters after the New Zealand game that "there was a lot of emotion, frustration and humiliation because as an athlete, it didn't reflect our values ​​and what we want to represent as athletes at the Olympic Games. We are not cheaters."

Ultimately the women’s team crashed out in the quarter-finals to Germany on penalties, but that was far from the end of the controversy.

Former Canada men’s coach John Herdman also became embroiled in the scandal after reports that he had used drones as well and essentially taught Priestman the value of surreptitiously-obtained footage.

He refused to comment citing the "integrity of the investigation.

"I can again clarify that at a FIFA World Cup, pinnacle event, Olympic Games, at a Youth World Cup, those activities have not been undertaken. And I've got nothing else to say on that matter.”

Eventually whistleblowers came forward, telling Radio-Canada they faced "strong pressure" from Canada Soccer's top coaches to take part in the spying. 

"'No' wasn't an option," said a former player on the men's national team. "John Herdman put his staff under a lot of pressure. If his assistants refused they were put aside." 

Canada Soccer has ended up announcing the results of an independent review and it was telling that Herdman did not find time to be interviewed.

Chief Executive Kevin Blue initiated disciplinary proceedings against Herdman accepted that there may be a "systemic ethical shortcoming" that needs to be addressed.

He added: "The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the drone incident in Paris was a symptom of a past pattern of an unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within the national teams.

"We are working to change Canada Soccer into a federation that Canadians trust and are proud of, and one that is not defined by unfortunate actions of the past."​

Canada Soccer also initiated disciplinary proceedings against Herdman for "potential violations of the Canada Soccer code of conduct and ethics.”

Learnings

An organisation’s culture is only as good as the people who adhere to it.

Athletes and employees deserve to compete and work without the fear of being tainted by the actions of their leaders.

If staff or athletes are scared of coming forward and voicing concerns, fearful for the consequences of their actions, it provides a perfect opportunity for serious reputational damage if individuals are abusing the system.

Whether Canada Soccer executives knew about the use of drones is open to debate, but the organisation’s ethical failures should prompt systemic changes and clarity of guidelines that are rigorously enforced.

MANCHESTER UNITED

There was a time when Manchester United set the standards by which other clubs were compared.

The era of Sir Alex Ferguson saw the club win 38 titles including 13 Premier Leagues, five FA Cups and two Champions Leagues. Off the field, the club capitalised on the Red Devils’ global profile to accumulate a raft of commercial partnerships which ensured the club remained competitive.

But when Sir Alex retired in 2013, the club encountered an inevitable decline, failing to win the Premier League or the Champions League again and, at last count, giving eight different coaches control of the first team.

United’s demise has coincided with the club’s sale to the Glazer family in 2005, the American family enjoying a honeymoon period purely down to Sir Alex’s brilliance.

Patriarch Malcom Glazer, an American billionaire and owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, acquired an initial 2.9% stake in the club in 2003 which he later increased to 15%, before increasing his stake in the club to 75% and ending its status as a publicly listed company, before taking full control in June of 2005.

Glazer was quick to isolate himself from United’s fanbase when it became clear that the deal was primarily funded through loans secured against United’s assets – landing the club in the red by hundreds of millions.

Despite fewer trophies over the past decade, United have secured record breaking sponsorship deals around the globe, with the club propelling its commercial revenue from £44m in 2005 to over £300m in 2023.

According to Deloitte’s Football Money League, they remain among the most commercially viable clubs around, an achievement that largely goes under the radar.

The MUST have described the Glazer’s running of the organisation as “slow and opaque,” and after a prolonged period of negotiation billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe acquired a 27.7% minority stake in the club in February this year for £1.25bn through his company Trawlers Limited, an amusing nod to United’s beloved Eric Cantona.

With his business success through the INEOS company, Sir Jim has already shown his passion for sport, backing the former Team Sky cycling team and backing the British America’s Cup bid as well as Ligue 1 club Nice and one-third of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

At the time of the purchase, Sir Jim stated: “Whilst the commercial success of the Club has ensured there have always been available funds to win trophies at the highest level, this potential has not been fully unlocked in recent times.

“We will bring the global knowledge, expertise and talent from the wider INEOS Sport group to help drive further improvement at the Club, while also providing funds intended to enable future investment into Old Trafford.

“We are here for the long term and recognise that a lot of challenges and hard work lie ahead, which we will approach with rigour, professionalism and passion.”

The Ratcliffe reign has being littered with mishaps and embarrassments, though.

A quick win was to announce among his initial reforms that he would instigate a three-year freeze on dividend payments, bucking the controversial trend set by the Glazers.

A central part of this journey, says Sir Jim, is investing in the right people to ensure success can flourish, leading to changes in the club’s leadership team including the inclusion of Dave Brailsford, the director of sport at INEOS. But it hasn’t gone smoothly.

An audit of United staff and the club’s facilities led to some clumsy communications that further underline the need for expert PR support.

In late April, Ratcliffe made the decision to cut staff perks as part of his money-saving measures ahead of the men’s FA Cup final. A company-wide email outlined that while staff would be given a free ticket to the final, employees would have to pay for their own travel to and from the stadium.

Other perks such as the pre-match party, hotel accommodation and the ability for employees to bring friends and family to the match were also scrapped.

The i Columnist Kevin Garside wrote: “Almost six months since his Christmas Eve declaration of purchase, Ratcliffe’s motive is revealed for what it always was, a business opportunity aimed at deriving value from a fading asset even more than the hated Glazer regime he diluted.” It’s hard to disagree.

In early May, after a tour of the Trafford Training Centre, Ratcliffe sent another email to staff condemning the state of the training ground: “I had a good tour around some of the facilities. I am afraid I was struck in many places by a high degree of untidiness. In particular the IT department which frankly was a disgrace and the dressing rooms of the U18 and U21 were not much better. These standards would not come close to what we would expect at INEOS and we are a chemical company.”

Sir Jim also cited email traffic statistics to Manchester United staff as the basis for a ban on working from home and told them to seek ­“alternative employment” if they are not willing to come to club premises.

Sir Jim made his edict despite United’s lack of sufficient office space and some consultants on contracts whose terms do not require them to be in the club’s Manchester or London business complexes.

He later offered early administrative employees an annual bonus if they resigned by June 5 in a further attempt to trim the workforce.

According to the Sun, these communiques turned the atmosphere at the Carrington training centre ‘toxic,’ although it is understandable that Sir Jim wants to get the basics right and fix United’s organisational challenges.

When the staff £100 Christmas bonus was replaced with a £40 store voucher, it did little to raise morale – which will certainly not provide huge spending benefits and will almost certainly impact internal and media goodwill.

Shortly after these disciplinary measures, Ratcliffe attended United’s Premier League clash against Arsenal instead of the women’s FA Cup final at Wembley, when United’s women’s team won 4-0 against Tottenham to earn their first major trophy.

It didn’t help that more recently Ratcliffe dismissed any hint of focus on the Women’s team, saying: “There’s only so much you can do and our focus has been on the men’s team. If not, you get spread too thinly. We need to sort out the main issue, the men’s team.”

Such apathy is hardly going to raise morale among the women’s teams at Old Trafford and could have been handled with more diplomacy.

The regeneration of Old Trafford is a pressing issue with its leaky roof again attracting attention towards the end of United’s 1-0 defeat to the Gunners, that saw 41mm of water cascade through the roof, later dubbed the ‘Old Trafford waterfall.’

Ratcliffe made his plans for Old Trafford clear from the start, with a vision to create the ‘Wembley of the North’ and provide a stadium that the club can be proud of.

As Ratcliffe formed his new executive team, former Manchester City Commercial Director and Chief Football Operations Officer Omar Berrada was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the club in January as a precursor to Sir Jim’s official arrival the following month.

Berrada has an extensive background in football, particularly when it comes to player contracts and transfers, which will be crucial for United in the coming months and years.

The appointment of sporting director Dan Ashworth was controversial, especially after details of his covert email negotiations with Berrada were discovered, highlighting the fact that Ashworth was being tapped up, breaching Premier League guidelines and confidentiality agreements.

Ashworth did not recommend Ruben Amorim, who replaced Erik ten Hag just months after the Dutchman was handed a new contract.

Five months after he finally started work, Ashworth left Old Trafford, with reports suggesting that Ratcliffe was pivotal to the call to part ways, amid concerns that Ashworth’s performance had not met expectations.

Ratcliffe has come under fire from United fans for scrapping concessions of what the club says are the 3% of tickets that remain unsold for Premier League matches and introducing a minimum price of £66.

However, speaking to the respected 'United We Stand' fanzine, external, Ratcliffe says the move is aimed at trying to make United better.

Labelling the Red Devils as “mediocre”, Ratcliffe admitted that ticket prices had to rise.

Ratcliffe said it had to be done, even though he accepts many match-going supporters are from working class parts of Manchester and do not have huge amounts of disposable income.

"I understand that," he said. "I was brought up on a council estate in Manchester. "I don't want to end up in a position where the genuine local fans can't afford to come but I do want to optimise the ticketing.

"We need to find a balance - and you can't be popular all the time either. Here, we are talking about 3% of the tickets. I don't think it makes sense for a Manchester United ticket to cost less than a ticket to see Fulham."

Learnings

A club of United’s size will always receive significant media attention, so every mis-step has been pored over with results as indifferent to some of Sir Jim’s early initiatives.

These drastic measures demonstrate an unwavering commitment to getting Manchester United back on track in the long-term, and any attempt to instil a degree of vigour should be welcomed with open arms.

But it’s also a reminder that senior leaders, however successful they have been in their professional lives, would do well to work closely with their communications teams. Unlike his stated ambition, communication has not been consistently friendly and supportive.

So often we see that the best intentions, clumsily delivered, can do more harm than good that undermines credibility, trust and the support of those key audiences that leaders seek to engage.

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Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Rafa Nadal

Every month we look at the best or worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

RAFA NADAL

Rafael Nadal is one of the most iconic and accomplished athletes in tennis history.

But when Spain lost in the David Cup to The Netherlands in November, the curtain came down on the ’King of Clay’s,’ illustrious 22-year career that has captivated the world.

a fierce competitor with a smile on his face, Nadal’s record-breaking achievements include 22 Grand Slam titles: an unparalleled 14 French Opens, four U.S. Opens, two Wimbledon championships, and two Australian Open victories.

He has also won two Olympic gold medals, further confirming his place among the all-time greats. With an incredible 1,080 career wins, Nadal's dominance on the court speaks volumes of his grit, determination, and resilience, especially as he battled through injuries.

For many, Nadal has been a source of inspiration, both as a fierce competitor and as a role model. His sportsmanship, humility, and unwavering drive have touched the lives of fans and players. Nadal's legacy transcends his success on the court — he represents perseverance, and excellence, and inspires fans worldwide.

But Nadal has also continued to use his platform to promote good off the court, saying in an interview: “I was just a kid who followed their dreams, and worked as hard as possible to be where I am today. The way I'd like to be remembered most is as a good person from a small village in Mallorca.”

Nadal has devoted himself to numerous charitable and community initiatives, focusing on education, youth development, and social equity.

In 2010, he founded the Rafael Nadal Foundation and the Rafa Nadal Academy, which have collectively supported thousands of children and young adults in Mallorca, Valencia, Madrid and beyond. 

He explained: “I’ve always believed that for personal and professional development, opportunities are essential. In 2010, we understood that I was in a position in which I could help create them, and that was when we decided to launch this life project. I honestly never imagined that we would be able to create the organisation that the Rafa Nadal Foundation is today."

The academy provides education programs, language classes, and athletic resources, offering a holistic approach to developing young athletes. It has not only produced professional players but has also become a platform to use sport as a tool for positive change, helping children and young people secure a brighter future.  

The Rafa Nadal Foundation also runs ‘More Than Tennis’ meetings where athletes with intellectual disabilities get together from schools all across Spain, the Olazabal and Nadal golf tournaments and the opening of foundation centres in Palma, Valencia and Madrid.

Other initiatives include the NETS project (Nadal Educational Tennis School) in India and events like the ‘Match for Africa,’ first held in 2010, which raised funds for the Roger Federer Foundation, supporting education, transport, and food for children on the continent.

Nadal's active projects include ‘Play All,’ which offers tennis opportunities to vulnerable children and teenagers, and ‘Study & Play,’ which helps dedicated young athletes combine sports with education through scholarships at U.S. universities.  

He explained: "Famous athletes or famous people have the capacity to inspire people who need help and also in getting other people to help contribute. At home, I had always had the example of my mother, I always saw her help different organisations.

“In 2010, we understood that I was in a position in which I could help create them, and that was when we decided to launch this life project. I honestly never imagined that we would be able to create the organisation that the Rafa Nadal Foundation is today.

"I try to help and give back to society all the luck we have and how well life has treated us. We have allocated our efforts to projects that motivate us, with added value."

In 2020, Nadal and Federer reunited for the sixth edition in Cape Town, South Africa, raising $3.5 million for children’s education and drawing a record-breaking crowd of 51,954 spectators, as mentioned by the ATP Tour.

To further demonstrate his charitable efforts, after the devastating floods in Sant Llorenç, Mallorca in 2018, Nadal joined residents in clean-up efforts and donated one million Euros to support victims, further demonstrating his willingness to help others. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he partnered with Pau Gasol and the Red Cross to raise 11 million Euros for medical supplies, infrastructure, and aid for vulnerable families.

Nadal is also an ambassador for UNICEF Goodwill and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and has used his platform to raise awareness and funds for various humanitarian causes advocating for environmental causes and has used his influence to promote sustainable living and combat climate change.

As an advocate for renewable energy Nadal has invested in various renewable energy projects, solar panels and electric cars. Additionally, he is a team owner in Team Rafa in the E1 all-electric raceboat series.

Nadal has been a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ambassador since 2010 and has used his platform to raise awareness about the importance of protecting endangered species and preserving natural habitats. He has also worked with the WWF to promote sustainable fishing practices and reduce plastic pollution in the oceans.

He consistently emphasises that success is never achieved in isolation. His story serves as a reminder of the significance of surrounding yourself with individuals who have the same aspirations as you, who will be there for you during challenging times and rejoice with you when progress is made.

To further demonstrate Nadal’s legacy, he won the Laureus Sport for Good Award this year as a testament to his fantastic work and groundbreaking innovation.

Accepting the Award, he said: “It is such an amazing honour to pick up this Award in recognition of work being done at Fundación Rafa Nadal. It is testament to the combined efforts of our committed team – both in Spain and India – who have helped bring meaningful change to young people’s lives." 

The day after Nadal officially announced his retirement, ticket prices for his final match increased from £45 to an astonishing £21,000 on resale websites, reflecting the monumental impact he has had on the sport and the lengths fans were willing to go to witness the end of his extraordinary journey.

In an interview before his final match in the Davis Cup he stated that this would be only tournament fitting to end his career because: "One of my first great joys as a professional tennis player was the Davis Cup final in Sevilla in 2004.”

In a speech during a ceremony to honour his retirement in Malaga, Nadal told fans” “I leave with the peace of mind that I have left a legacy, which I really feel is not just a sporting one but a personal one. Thanks to all of you, the public. It’s over 20 years, good years, bad years. I have been able to live with all of you. I have felt very fortunate to feel so much affection from all over the world, especially here in Spain.”

He added: "Famous athletes or famous people have the capacity to inspire people who need help and also in getting other people to help contribute," said Nadal on Wednesday.

"I try to help and give back to society all the luck we have and how well life has treated us. We have allocated our efforts to projects that motivate us, with added value. We create illusions and opportunities and sport and education open it wide."

It’s hard to argue that Nadal’s legacy off the court is as strong as his achievements on it - and no doubt he will continue to change lives with his charitable endeavours in the future.

[calacuspr]

PR Week: CEOs on podcasts – PR masterstroke or minefield?

Is a podcast any different to any other media opportunity?

Perhaps some organisations see podcasts as a form of amateur, on-demand radio, a nice-to-do rather than a valuable option for media exposure. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Perhaps that was the case for Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi, who took part on the Decoder podcast recently.

Mr Goodarzi spoke about his success with the Intuit software giant, which owns Mailchimp amongst other platforms, but as the conversation moved onto wider topics, he clearly became uncomfortable.

There are issues regarding tax reform in the United States and a refund that Intuit made to low-income Americans who paid for Intuit services when they could have filed their returns for free.

Company spokespeople need to be prepared for questions that relate to their wider experiences and knowledge, above and beyond the focus that they anticipated for an interview in the first place.

Knowing how to navigate these hurdles, through robust preparation and the ability to adapt to an interviewer’s angle, is fundamental for anyone taking part in any interview, pitch or presentation.

It’s the failure of spokespeople and their teams not to anticipate the possibility of wider contextual questioning and any self-respecting interviewer is well within their rights to broach difficult topics.

Intuit then made the situation worse by asking for that segment of the podcast to be deleted and accusing the host of being “inappropriate” and “disappointing.

We commented in PR Week about this incident and said: “Having robust answers to other potential talking points is fundamental, as is the competence to handle difficult questions you may not want to answer,” he says.

“To ask for content approval or editorial control for anything other than a factual error speaks of a significant lack of understanding about editorial integrity and undermines the credibility of the speaker and the organisation that they represent.”

There are more than 546 million podcast listeners worldwide and almost half the US population listen to a podcast at least once a month.

In 2024, worldwide podcast ad spending is estimated to hit $4.02 billion, underlining the value brands achieve when associating with shows and platforms.

Ultimately, a podcast is a media opportunity just like any other. Spokespeople should treat them that way and see them as an opportunity to speak to target audiences.

To read our comments and those of others in the PR Week (£) article, please click HERE

And if you need support with messaging or media training, get in touch.

[calacuspr]

Ricky Martin – How to become a Director of Football

Not everyone who plays grassroots football is going to make it as a professional player. Even those who secure Academy contracts or break into the reserves or the first team can find themselves not making it at professional level.

Many of them drift out of the game, but with football becoming increasingly big business, there are plenty of opportunities for individuals to carve out a career in the game off the field.

Ricky Martin is one such example. He was an associate schoolboy for Norwich City and played grassroots football for Histon in the Eastern Counties League before getting his break at a young age at Cambridge United.

He explained: “I was a part-time coach at the club and I was running soccer schools so I was like recruiting players for them. When Paul Ashworth was leaving, they interviewed a couple of candidates but the salary package was so low that they couldn't really attract anyone full-time.

“Paul said to the club that I might not seem ready now, but I’d be really good for them and that I was someone that's going to have a career in the game. So I went and met Tommy Taylor, the manager at the time, and they offered me the job.

“At 20, I just knew that I had to get into the game. It was a very different landscape back then that wouldn't happen now. There’s far more structure to sports recruitment and you require a lot of qualifications, which at the time I didn’t have.

“I understand it but the downside is that sometimes clubs don't sometimes take a chance on someone that is up and coming because they need to tick qualifications boxes. You’d now need a lot more experience to oversee a whole youth programme at the age of 20.

“I was leading the whole Academy programme for kids age nine to 18 and some of the players were only two years younger than me. I had five unbelievable years and I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for that opportunity.”

Martin was identifying young talent across East Anglia and securing players who might have gone to Norwich. The Canaries then came calling, appointing him as Assistant Academy Director and then Academy Manager.

The Canaries are a team renowned for developing young talent and Martin’s impact was integral to that success. He was involved in the development of players such as Jacob Murphy, now an integral part of the first-team at Newcastle United, Ben Godfrey who enjoyed a fine spell at Everton before moving to Atalanta in Serie A, and James Maddison, who was plucked from Coventry City and developed before getting moves to Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Norwich also won the FA Youth Cup, beating Chelsea in the middle of a dominant spell where the west London side won the trophy seven times in nine years. The Canaries also secured Category One status for their Academy, the highest rating in the English youth system.

But football moves forward and so do careers, with Martin keen to take on more responsibility. He explained: “I needed something different and I felt going into a first-team environment was my next step. I needed a new challenge.”

Martin pitched his vision of becoming a Technical Director to the Norwich board, which he secured just as the club was relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2013-14 season.

“The role of the Technical Director was new and is still evolving today. I was there to oversee all the departments. So medical sports, science, operations, recruitment and first team logistics.

“Alongside the manager and the Chief Executive, we formed a management triangle, working side by side. Some clubs put the technical director above the manager, but we wanted a more collaborative approach.

“I assisted the manager to ensure that everything off the pitch was taken care of.  The heads of departments would all report to me and we ensured that we had the right staff in place developing a philosophy of trying to create a best in class environment.”

With varying needs and timelines, juggling each of the departments required delicate management skills to ensure that everything ran smoothly, Martin saw the Canaries get promoted in the Championship play-off final against Middlesbrough before leaving in 2017.

He became a football consultant, advising clubs around the world on various aspects of football administration and youth development.

Within two years, he was back in the Premier League, having been appointed by West Ham, a club renowned for its youth development, as Academy manager.

“When a club like West Ham come calling and gave me an opportunity to lead up their Academy system, it was very exciting and with their tradition and their heritage, it was a great opportunity.

“We managed to get 17 debuts in the first team and saw some young players really kick on and develop their careers. We worked with some really great staff as well, with really great youth developers.”

After three and a half years in east London, Martin was offered the chance to become Technical Director again at Stoke City, who had been relegated from the top flight and looking to put a strategy in place to help them push for promotion.

“When you go into a club, it's new and there's always challenges. Stoke certainly had some challenges and I saw the opportunity to make my mark and put a foundation in place so that the club could move forward again.

“In my first summer we made 18 new signings, so it was a very busy window. When you've got a lot of a lot of players coming in, it's very hard for all of them to hit the ground running, so they needed some time and now some of them are really developing.”

Martin left Stoke earlier this year, and is now biding his time before making his next move.

“I'm a developer of people and so developing young people in an academy is somewhere that I feel really comfortable. I really enjoy seeing young players develop, but also young practitioners and coaches and medical and sports science staff. My next role won't necessarily be as a technical director or sporting director. It could be back in the academy field and developing young people, departments and systems that need to be put in place to optimise the potential of the club and its academy programme.

“In England, I feel we now have one of the best youth development programmes in the world. The facilities and the infrastructure and everything that goes behind running a successful football club are producing some outstanding talent, not just players but some outstanding youth developers and practitioners.

“I've seen so many changes, such as a lot more emphasis around player care and well-being. There's also work around diversity and I've been lucky to be involved with the Premier League on some action groups to help to increase diversity in the workforce.

“It's really valuable because it clubs needs to reflect the diversity of the players and the fans and that's been an imbalance. It’s really empowering to have such a pivotal role in inspiring our young people and our young players.”

With the game growing for men and women from grassroots to elite level, Martin believes football is a great career for those passionate about working in elite sport.

He added: “There's some great opportunities for support staff at the academies and first teams have also really grown. From data to nutrition, sports science, recruitment operations, logistics and law, there's so many now skill sets that are required to have an effective football club.

“Any young person that wanted to get into the game and we're just talking here about the men's game. But you've also seen the growth of the women's game that's and how their academies are growing now and the great work the WSL is undertaking so I can only see that space getting bigger.

“Whether you go straight in on a work placement and look to develop your career that way, or go to university and get your degree and the qualifications required to come into a football club, it's all about people working really hard and maximising their potential.”

Martin also sees the evolving world of football as a good thing and an opportunity to learn from different viewpoints.

He added: ““The Academy director role and the sporting director roles are constantly evolving. I can see them getting bigger because of the expansion of the different departments and because of how much more diverse the game is becoming. In five years time, I think some of the bigger clubs will have an assistant sporting director with a different skill set to complement their colleague.

“You've already started to see that already in the Premier League with how big the game is becoming. Football is a worldwide game so the more we can open up and the more we can learn from different cultures and different environments around the world is going to be really powerful.

“Sharing of knowledge is important. Obviously the Premier League is a really strong brand at the moment and a lot of people want to come to England to work here. But I also see some great opportunities all around the world where leagues and clubs are doing some unbelievable work. I see some really interesting opportunities going forward.”

[calacuspr]

Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Imogen Grant

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

IMOGEN GRANT

At Calacus, we have long celebrated and underlined the importance of sport to be a force for good in society.

It’s not always easy for current athletes to use their profile to communicate about good causes as much as perhaps they should – and when they put words into action, it can lead to criticism if their form has a dip, as we have seen with Marcus Rashford, whose initiatives and promotion of support for under-privileged children has resulted in as much criticism as praise.

We know that sports people lend their names to charities and some teams make visits and appearances to hospitals and other worthwhile causes.

But it’s still the case that far too few are making the time while competing to speak out and support good causes that their profiles can promote.

This summer, Imogen Grant became an Olympic champion at Paris 2024 when she won the women’s lightweight double sculls with team mate Emily Craig.

She became a doctor this summer as well, starting her first foundation year as a doctor at Wexham Park Hospital just three days after the Closing Ceremony, with hospital staff giving her a guard of honour when she started work.

But it’s her passion for the nation’s health and the environment that sets Grant apart.

“I am a normal person who can do extraordinary things,” Grant, said in a newspaper interview recently.

“I follow what I love and try to speak up about things I am passionate about – whether it is getting people up doing sports or campaigning for our river and water quality in the UK.”

Speaking to Calacus, she added: “More athletes should feel empowered to share their voice on issues they are passionate about. Ultimately, elite sport can be very selfish and cut-throat – it takes a lot of time and money to achieve what we do, and I believe we have a responsibility to give back to society in return.

“For me personally, it's also very fulfilling. I am a whole person, being an athlete is just part of my identity, and having balance by working on other projects I care a lot about helps when training is hard and I am tired.

“Elite athletes, especially in popular sports like football, cricket, F1, rugby, have some of the largest public followings on the planet. The impact of any of those athletes asking for something to change is huge, and it bypasses a lot of politicking to achieve so much.”

Grant started rowing when she was studying at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she became a triple Blue, winning three Boat Races including two in record time but has seen the water quality in rivers deteriorate in the last decade.

She was awarded the BBC Green Sport Awards Athlete of the Year accolade and explained the impact that she has seen first-hand to changes to our environment.

"Physically experiencing so many of the changes we have seen during the climate crisis - flooding, inclement weather, hot weather, really freezing weather, unbelievable rains and storms - as I am trying to train has really opened my eyes to the impact the climate crisis is having, on me directly and the entire world," she told BBC Sport.

“I've been rowing for 10 years. I have seen the changes in the water. I have ridden past floating nappies, seen used tampons floating and hanging in the trees on the sides of the bank, and I've seen dead fish. Seeing the degradation of our waterways has been really difficult."

Grant was instrumental in the launch of the Clean Water Sport Alliance earlier this year and added: “Rivers feed so much of the rest of the landscape, and the rest of the wildlife. If you can get the rivers right, you can get the fields and the parks right and make towns and villages healthier and happier.

"As an athlete, I know that I have a platform and I have a passion, but I haven't always had the knowledge and the nuts and bolts," she said.

"Working with the Rivers Trust, I feel like I have learned so much and I am so much better equipped to talk about the things I am passionate about.

"I know enough to know what I am talking about and make a real difference. Knowledge is absolutely power."

In September, she was one of just two athletes - along with beach volleyball player Lina Taylor - to win an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Climate Action Award for 2024.

She now wants to encourage more people to get involved with tackling climate change.

"It is important to remember that a little bit is better than not at all," Grant said. "The climate crisis is here and it can feel really doom and gloom because it is really urgent. But we are sportspeople, we love an underdog and I just think sport is the right place to try and champion this. I don't think we are out of hope yet, we have still got time to make a difference."

She added: “So far, a lot of the change I have instigated has been a the personal or small group level, which builds momentum. I think that small changes are just as important as the larger changes, as it can prove that something is achievable.

“However, my next goal is to instigate wider, legislative, change. Solving the climate crisis requires laws to be passed, and penalties to be handed out to those doing the wrong thing. My long term focus is to help push for these sort of initiatives.”

Global recognition has come for Grant, who was also named among the winners of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Climate Action Awards 2024.

Winning the Award alongside Bulgarian beach volleyball player Lina Taylor – Grant was honoured for her role in the launch of the Clean Water Sport Alliance to improve river health and water quality.

She played a key role in implementing new initiatives to enhance the sustainability of British Rowing’s National Training Centre in Caversham, such as composting food waste, recycling plastic, and conducting regular water quality tests, as well as inspiring people to participate in water-testing campaigns and initiatives.

She explained: “Sport is such a team effort, and so is sustainability. I am so grateful to the amazing people and organisations who have helped me speak up and use my athlete's voice for more than just sport. I hope to continue inspiring others to take action, both on and off the field of play.”

IOC President Thomas Bach added: “This year’s winners of the IOC Climate Action Awards show that the Olympic Movement is taking its responsibilities seriously: reducing our impact, while inspiring others to take action.

“We hope these efforts inspire others – in sport and beyond – to join the collective effort to address one of the toughest challenges our world is facing today.”

Addressing those issues requires a blend of coverage in traditional and social media and Grant told Calacus: “Media is more fragmented than before, and it is not just traditional media that holds sway any more. I think that sometimes the media prefers to focus on the shock stories, the negatives, and it can be frustrating to try to bring attention to issues that are actually improving because of the dedication of many. I would love to see more reporting of athletes doing the right thing, not just when they win or lose big.

“My social media was the main way I started testing the waters (excuse the pun) to see how my opinions and actions would land. It built my confidence up to a level where I now feel like I rely on it less to try and make change because I now have the connections that I formed taken into conferences, meetings, marches and more.”

One of those opportunities came at the Labour Party Conference  earlier this autumn, where Grant told delegates how important exercise can be for the health of the nation.

She said: “Too many people are like me. They think sport isn’t for them for one reason or another.

“Maybe they try the sports that are available in their schools or their local clubs and it just doesn’t quite light that spark. For some it’s the cost, the petrol to drive to practice. Maybe their nearest facilities are too far away. Maybe the facilities have been run down and there aren’t enough volunteers to coach.

“And for some of them, there isn’t the pathway either. They can’t see what they want to achieve, even if they’re dreaming of it. We need to make sure that that miracle cure is available to as many people, adults and children across the nation.

“Almost 40% of adults in this country don’t meet the bare minimum standards for physical activity. Just 30 minutes of walking or equivalent, five times a week – almost 40%.

“If physical activity were a drug, it would be called a miracle cure for how effective it is and we need to make sure that that miracle cure is available to as many people, adults and children across the nation.

“So that’s why sport transforms. It’s good for our physical health, it’s good for our mental health, and it’s good for our communities as well. It’s why grassroots facilities are so vital to be a place where children and adults can go to do something other than stress or study or work.”

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Five ways PGMOL could improve its reputation

Public relations often gets a bad reputation. Why did an organisation do something? Why did they let something happen in the way it did? Why are their communications team not doing a better job?

The fact is that senior communications staff should be trusted advisers to senior leadership within any organisation, identifying potential problems and guiding the organisation in a direction which enhances rather than damages reputations.

Everyone makes mistakes. Every organisation gets things wrong sometimes. It’s how you learn from them that determines how you are perceived and how your reputation endures.

Refereeing, from grassroots level to the highest echelons of the game, is beset by criticism with disagreements over decisions a naturally partisan pastime.

But the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the English professional football governing body, does not help itself with a strategy and narrative that seems to change according to the circumstances.

When Howard Webb took over in 2022, replacing Mike Riley, he talked about an improvement in standards, particularly in reference to the video assistant referees (VAR) .

In stark contrast to Champions League games, where referees appear to let the game flow without fanfare, there is a perception that referees are becoming the main talking point after many of the Premier League’s most high profile games.

So how can Webb and PGMOL improve their reputation? The list is long, but here are some pointers to improve perceptions and reality quickly.

1.      Honest dialogue

Currently, Howard Webb does a regular show on Sky Sports where he dissects some of the contentious decisions made over the course of the previous week or two. Webb is articulate and likeable, but his explanations seem adapted to justify why the majority of decisions that have been made are correct.

Rarely is there the necessary push-back from interviewers to scrutinise how and why referees and VAR made certain decisions.

Webb’s profile has grown with appearances on The Overlap as well, where other Sky pundits chummily discussed the challenges that referees face and some of the decisions made. He used soundbites about the high level of correct decisions being made, ignoring the call sheet of inconsistency or where no action was taken for offences that have resulted in game-changing actions, even just this season.

For the PGMOL to garner more respect, Webb must be open to more robust scrutiny and accept that the inconsistencies are becoming an uncomfortable sideshow that undermine the competition. Only when he accepts the issues that exist and makes clear and measurable efforts to address them can he really be judged for making positive change, rather than just accepting the status quo.

2.     Consistency

PGMOL has also been supported by an ESPN journalist who tries to explain officiating decisions that often contradict his earlier statements.

When fans are told that there will be a higher bar for VAR interventions, but this is not applied universally, it raises unhelpful questions about integrity that PGMOL could well do without.

While every game situation has an element of variance to it, claiming one decision is based on certain parameters and then an almost-identical situation does not cause distraction and frustration.

While referees remain front and centre of the narrative around Premier League match days, the scrutiny and criticism – and by extension the lack of confidence in officials – will endure.

3.     Diversity

The majority of the top referees in Select Group 1, the top tier of refereeing in England, is concentrated in the north of England and all of them are white men. Only three referees come from south of Birmingham.

With PGMOL facing financial challenges, there have been reports that the organisation may have to cut its training programmes, which would add to the problems developing a new generation of top referees and improving diversity.

4.     Meritocracy

While the quality of refereeing could certainly be improved, raising standards should come not only through investment in training and education, but in accountability for bad performances.

There is a steady stream of ambitious young referees in Select Group 2 and beyond who should be given the opportunities to prove themselves more readily when mistakes occur.

Currently, there is little in the way of meaningful consequence for referees making what can be egregious, season-defining errors, and therefore standards remain mediocre.

A rising tide lifts all boats and by cutting out the errors by a more fluid process of demotions and promotions, accountability is fundamental to rebuilding trust with fans and clubs alike.

5.    Conflicts of interest

Integrity is fundamental in sport at any level, but particularly in high profile elite competition.

The VAR team for Tottenham’s win against Liverpool last season made a major error but when it transpired that they had worked in the UAE the day before, accusations that they were fatigued did little to calm emotions.

The fact that any officials would have been permitted to accept jobs in nations with strong links to Premier League teams also prompts unhelpful concerns about neutrality and while there have been reports that this has now been banned, it has done little to raise confidence in PGMOL, particularly when statistics suggest at least the possibility of bias, conscious or otherwise.

Likewise, while referees are not permitted to officiate games involving their own teams, giving them matchday roles in games that precede their teams facing one of the clubs taking part on any given matchday weekend is also unhelpful. A red card to a key player could be construed as a way of influencing or benefiting an opposing side for the next weekend’s match and could so easily be avoided with proper planning.

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Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Gareth Southgate

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

GARETH SOUTHGATE

It has often been said that being the England men’s football manager is ‘the impossible job’ given the levels of expectation that come with the role.

The England men’s team have only won a solitary international tournament – the 1966 FIFA World Cup staged on home soil, with that legendary 4-2 win in the final at Wembley against arch rivals West Germany a rare triumph.

Since then, ‘It’s coming home!’ is a regular theme for England teams who reach the latter stages of tournaments, the groundswell of expectation giving way to despair and heartache when defeat ultimately occurs.

While the influence of the mainstream media may have waned in recent years from the lamentable era when managers such as Graham Taylor had his head super-imposed on a turnip, the pressure still weighs heavy on whoever takes the job.

Big name coaches such as Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello came and went without lifting trophies, the success of the Premier League adding undue hope that this time, things will be different.

After England’s disappointing exit at the hands of Iceland at EURO 2016 and the short-lived tenure of Sam Allardyce after a scandal, what England needed was a safe pair of hands, someone to give the pride back to the Three Lions.

Former international Gareth Southgate, a quiet and under-stated former international defender, was promoted to coach the senior men’s team after a spell in charge of the England under-21 team.

Seen at the time as an underwhelming appointment, especially after his young charges finished bottom of their group in the 2015 European Championship, Southgate inherited a national team who appeared to need dynamic re-invention.

Perhaps his greatest achievement has been to make the team a success without the swashbuckling pizazz that many demanded.

Seen as a light touch, particularly given some of his reactions in-game, Southgate did far more to reinvigorate the men’s team than he is often given credit for.

Football management is a results game, and Southgate took England to the FIFA World Cup semi-final, which they lost against Croatia; before two Euro finals, losing first to Italy on penalties and then to Spain earlier this summer.

It’s important to note that Southgate won nine tournament knockout games during his tenure, as many as England had ever won in major men’s tournaments before his reign.

Some might argue that having worked with one of the more talented of England squads, he should have won a major trophy, but there was far more to his success than just winning games.

Southgate oversaw the England job during a turbulent period in England’s history, with the nation having to endure the drama of Brexit, five Prime Ministers, rising living costs and culture wars which stoked division among society.

That’s where Southgate’s strength lay, acting as a calming influence but also one who was not afraid to take a stand and do what he considered to be the right thing.

During his tenure, there was little to no scandal, such were the standards Southgate expected and secured from his charges.

But he was also brave enough to face down criticisms for the sake of social causes, encouraging his players to take the knee before games as a protest against racism, despite criticism from some of the fanbase, who had found themselves stoked up by populism.

It was fitting that the first game where this took place was an England match in Middlesbrough, where Southgate had played for many years, steadfast despite the mixed reaction from fans before the game.

He was not afraid, either, to address issues such as the rainbow captain’s armband when the decision was made not to wear it under threat of sanctions in Qatar, a conservative state where the FIFA 2022 World Cup took place.

Southgate explained: “I think we are supportive of the LGBT+ community. A large number of the team on the staff have either relatives or friends from that community, so it’s a relationship and a situation that we’re very conscious of.

“We have tried to be supportive, but I also accept that members of that community felt let down by the World Cup, but I think you have to live your life as you see it.

“I do know that we’re in a position where there might be a feeling we haven’t done enough in certain situations and if that’s the case we have to accept that criticism, but it’s not intentional that we would let down any of our fans, but these are all very complex situations that we’re trying to do our best at navigate.”

Qatar was a rare case of Southgate being caught in external political crossfire, but within the camp, he was a master of creating harmony.

Mindful of the factions that had hampered England before, during and after his player career, Southgate had also set about creating unity where there had previously been division, removing ego and selfishness for the selflessness which came naturally to him.

Players reported a good atmosphere during training camps and call-ups, the pressure of representing England being replaced by a calm environment in Southgate’s image, which allowed players to thrive.

That ability to manage egos, to meld players who spent the majority of their lives competing against each other, is one of his greatest legacies. It helped that he brought through players from different clubs who had played together at youth level for England, the bonds of camaraderie already established.

For example, Phil Foden, Marc Guéhi, Conor Gallagher and Jadon Sancho were all part of the England side that lifted the under-17 World Cup in 2017, while Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer played in the winning England under-21 Euros team in 2023. Having come up through the England ranks together, these footballers had an existing relationship that made them likely to form better bonds in the senior team, despite spending most of the year with their different clubs.

When three black England players, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bakayo Saka, received racist abuse online after missing penalties which contributed to England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final against Italy, something Southgate experienced himself in 1996, the coach was a reassuring figure looking to protect the youngsters from the bellowing external criticism.

He said: "For some of them to be abused is unforgivable really. It's just not what we stand for. We have been a beacon of light in bringing people together in people being able to relate to the national team, and the national team stands for everybody and so that togetherness has to continue.

"We have shown the power our country has when it does come together and has that energy and positivity together.”

The decency and kindness which Southgate exhibited so often has been such an contrast to the aggression and petulance many other coaches show on the sidelines.

It felt like a bond had been built between England players and fans that hadn’t existed for a generation.

Even when ‘fans’ were throwing plastic beer glasses onto the field after a dour 1-1 draw against Denmark, Southgate retained his dignity and humility and faced down his critics, proving that decency is something to invoke inspiration; a strength, not a weakness.

There were criticisms, based around his tactical approach, that he was often too cautious and lacked a clear style of play.

But instead of being seen as the kiss of death, England became adept at winning penalty shootouts, not to mention the progress he made at the business end of tournaments.

Regardless of his failure to lift that elusive trophy, Southgate made the England men’s team contenders again. Where fans often crowed with misplaced pride, he gave them something to be proud of – not only becoming a football force again, but as ambassadors for the English game.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Southgate’s last act as England manager was to publish a letter on the Football Association website confirming that the defeat in Berlin was his last in the role.

“As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to manage England. It has meant everything to me, and I have given it my all.

“We have the best fans in the world, and their support has meant the world to me. I’m an England fan and I always will be.

“I look forward to watching and celebrating as the players go on to create more special memories and to connect and inspire the nation as we know they can.

“Thank you, England – for everything.”

As Rory Smith says in the New York Times: “No other England manager has spoken as much or as convincingly as Southgate. No other England manager has so successfully articulated a sense of what the England team is meant to be about, what it stands for and why it matters.”

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Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Khelif & IBA

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

IMANE KHELIF & IBA

Gender has become a huge issue in sport as well as society.

Ever since South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya underwent tests to prove her gender back in 2009, and the LGBTQ+ community has found a voice in mainstream society, there have been questions raised about fairness and eligibility.

The issue was thrown back into the limelight during the Paris 2024 boxing competition when Italian boxer Angela Carini broke down in tears and quit her bout against the Algerian Imane Khelif after 46 seconds in a fight that sparked huge controversy at the Olympics.

Khelif is one of two boxers permitted to fight at the Games despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships last year for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.

The International Boxing Association, (IBA) has had a difficult few years, with concerns over governance and integrity ultimately seeing it removed as boxing’s Olympic governing body by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)  in 2023.

Former President Gafur Rakhimov was said to by the U.S. Treasury Department to have strong links to organised crime, which led the IOC to launch an inquiry and suspend IBA initially in 2019.

Rakhimov’s successor, Russian Umar Kremlev, is said to have strong links to state President Vladimir Putin while the governing body has been backed by Russian state energy firm Gazprom, which Kremlev said had ceased to be the case since 2023.

Concerns over the integrity of bouts and judging were underlined by report by sports investigator Richard McLaren which said “corruption abounded” when he concluded his report into IBA’s governance.

IBA is also under threat from the newly-formed World Boxing, which was set up by former IBA presidential candidate Boris van der Vorst, who have already held talks with the IOC about leading the boxing at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and have almost three dozen nations supporting them.

So it’s fair to say that IBA’s credibility continues to be stretched.

Last year, Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan were disqualified from the World Boxing Championships.

“Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women,” the Association’s president, Umar Kremlev, told Russia’s Tass news agency at the time. “According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition.”

It was a pure coincidence that Khelif had beaten Russian opponent Azalia Amineva in the semi-final, her disqualification ensuring that Amineva’s unbeaten record was restored.

Fast forward to Paris and Khelif, who was born and raised a woman, and does not identify as either transgender or intersex.

The controversy over her inclusion in the women’s 66kg boxing event prompted everyone from author JK Rowling, Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss to pour scorn over Khelif’s inclusion.

Carini, meanwhile, expressed regret over her actions in the ring. "All this controversy makes me sad," Carini told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. "I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision. It wasn't something I intended to do.

"Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke."

The IOC made a statement criticising IBA’s governance and later IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed that the boxers were not transgender.

He confirmed: “We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women. Some want to own a definition of who is a women.”

He went on to underline the IOC’s position while referring to the wider and politically motivated campaign by Russian interests against the IOC and the Paris Olympics.

He added: “What we have seen from the Russian side and in particular from the (IBA),” Bach said, “they have undertaken already way before these Games with a defamation campaign against France, against the Games, against the IOC.”

IOC Director of Communications, Mark Adams, dismissed the legitimacy of IBA’s testing and the frenzy it was attempting to capitalise on.

He said: “The whole process is flawed. From the conception of the test, to the way the test was shared with us, to the way the tests were made public, it's so flawed that it's impossible to engage with it.

“I'm not going to discuss the individual intimate details of athletes in public, which I think is quite disgraceful for those who leaked that material. Frankly, it must be terrible to be put in that position. On top of all the social media harassment these athletes have had to endure.”

Despite their lack of involvement from Paris 2024, IBA called a press conference to build upon the controversy and explain why they had banned Khelif from their own event last year.

Given their reputation as an organisation, and despite of the facts as laid out by the IOC, what IBA needed to do was show leadership, authority and professionalism.

That would send a message to the world that they are a serious organisation capable of representing the diverse boxing family and acting with integrity.

What transpired was quite the opposite.

Reporters were kept waiting for the press conference for over an hour amid technical difficulties which were to affect the translations, the live feed to Kremlev in Russia and the sound system.

One reporter described the event as “the most extraordinary, chaotic, shambolic and badly organised international sporting press conference I have ever attended,” and it was perhaps a fatal blow to IBA’s hopes of regaining Olympic Programme control for boxing.

The speakers rambled, avoided answering direct questions and there was no coherent messaging to convince the attendant media that IBA, and by extension its point of view, was credible.

IBA Chief Executive, Chris Roberts, a former British Army officer, revealed that blood tests carried out by a laboratory in Istanbul during the 2022 World Championship came up as inconsistent for Khelif and another boxer, with a similar test the next year leading to her disqualification.

He added that Roberts the controversy “wasn’t anything that we wanted. We delivered the test information to the IOC and they haven’t done anything with it because they believe in their own criteria, which is the passport. We never intended to raise any issues because this is not our event. We are now here because the media has questions.”

Kremlev used the opportunity to attack the IOC and President Bach again, claiming that he was standing up for women’s sport, despite all the speakers being men.

In a rambling tirade that prompted journalists to leave or ask him to stop talking, Kremlev said; “As a Christian, the Olympic opening ceremony was something horrible. Today we are destroying sport, especially feminine sport.

“We have genetic tests showing that these are men. We have not checked what’s between their legs. There are doctors and medics who can verify these things. We don’t know whether they were born like that or changes were made.

"Today we are witnessing the death of women's boxing, the corruption of judges. All this is happening while Mr Bach is president (of the IOC). Under no circumstances should we allow women's boxing to be destroyed. Today not only is women's boxing being destroyed, but I believe that in the future they will also try to destroy women's sport.”

Several journalists and other people who were attending left in disgust, at not just the language, but the tone of the answers from the IBA participants.

Nothing is ever off the record with journalists and it was laughable that Roberts then contradicted his President by confirming that Gazprom was still a sponsor and also undermining the validity of the 2023 tests by saying that there was no independent presence when they took place.

No wonder the IOC’s Mark Adams responded: “It was a chaotic farce. The organization and the content of this press conference tells you everything you need to know about their governance and credibility.

"It clearly demonstrates that the sport of boxing needs a new federation to run boxing. If you ever needed any evidence at all that the IBA is unfit to run boxing just look at the key members of the IBA who took part in that travesty yesterday.

"We would love to see boxing, we want to see boxing on the programme in LA. Now it is up to the boxing community to organise themselves for the sport and for the athletes." 

It wasn’t just Carini who came to Khelif’s defence.

Amy Broadhurst, who competed for Team GB at this summer's Games, recently spoke out on Khelif competing in Paris, having previously fought and beaten the Algerian in the final of the 2022 World Championships.

"Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif," she posted on X. "Personally I don't think she has done anything to 'cheat'. "I thinks it's the way she was born and that's out of her control. The fact that she has been [beaten] by nine females before says it all."

Beyond the confusion, the chaos and the shambles that was IBA’s press conference, not once did any of the speakers show any sympathy for the online bullying and abuse that Khelif has faced.

Khelif (above in red) had earlier said the furore was having “massive effects” as she called for restraint. “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects,” she said.

After winning gold by beating Chinese world champion Yang Liu by a unanimous decision over five rounds to win welterweight gold, Khelif said: “I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman.

"For eight years, this has been my dream, and I'm now the Olympic champion and gold medalist. That also gives my success a special taste because of those attacks.

"We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, and I hope that we will not see any similar attacks in future Olympics.

 “I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.

“As for the IBA, since 2018 I have been boxing under their umbrella. They know me very well, they know what I’m capable of, they know how I’ve developed over the years but now they are not recognised any more. They hate me and I don’t know why. I send them a single message: with this gold medal, my dignity, my honour is above everything else.”

Paris 2024 will go down as one of the greatest Olympiad of all time, with the Khelif affair a rare controversy which raised questions of fairness and safety. But Khelif has struggled in other competitions, her Olympic gold surely the peak of her career which has never been characterised by overly powerful punching.

Sadly for IBA, their communications and their shambolic Paris press conference end any hope they had of regaining the hearts and minds of the boxing community, or, more importantly, the support of the IOC.

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Bellingham wants to be a role model off the pitch as well as on it

It’s already been an amazing year for Jude Bellingham.

Soon after his Borussia Dortmund side lost the Bundesliga title to rivals Bayern Munich on the last day of the 2022-23 season, he joined Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Since then, he has helped Los Blancos to win La Liga and the Champions League and been named La Liga Player of the Year for a season where he scored 19 goals in 28 games, from midfield.

In the second El Clasico of the season at the newly refurbished Bernabeu, the Englishmen wrote his name in Madrid folklore by scoring a late winner to put Madrid 11 points clear in La Liga and ultimately seal their title win.

So it was no surprise when, a day later, Bellingham won the prestigious Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award, which was presented to him at the Palacio de Cibeles.

“I’m delighted,” said Bellingham. “Simply being here was already an honour. Being named Laureus Breakthrough is a privilege and I have to thank many people, my family, friends and above all the people at Real Madrid who have helped me this year.

“Being here is a privilege, alongside incredible athletes. I hope I can learn something from them tonight before I go home.

“It’s been a good week for the club and on a personal level. When the team wins, I’m always happy. I feel a bit tired after the Clásico and the 120 minutes in Manchester and this award gives me a bit more energy.

“This club is special. Signing for Real Madrid is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It’s the highlight of 2023. I’m grateful to be able to play here every day and to be surrounded by very special people.“

Unsurprisingly, Bellingham understands that with his profile and meteoric rise, he is seen as a role model and an inspiration to others.

Speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards evening he added: “I got into football because I love it and there is a responsibility that comes with that, the impact that you can have on kids.

"It's important that I try to be a good role model. I'm not perfect but I want to have a lasting impact on youth growing up.

"It's important as athletes that as we become more popular we end up having a platform and we understand our responsibility for the next generation

"I want to help people along the way and give people the opportunity to get to get to where I have got to, because other people have given me that chance.”

Unsurprisingly, Bellingham started doing charity work soon after he made his debit for Birmingham, at just 16, supporting The Mustard Seed Project which provides food, education and health care to deprived children in Kenya.

He still supports that initiative today, but said at the time: ”It’s something I’m really passionate about. Some friends of the family have set up a charity that helps students in Kenya. It’s not a very wealthy country and a lot of people go into a school without good facilities.

“It’s important to me to help that kind of community when I can. I want to be remembered, not just for football but for my actions off the pitch. The only way I can do that is by carrying on doing what I’ve started to set in motion.

The ultimate aim is to make as much positive impact as I can,” he added. “The project currently is to build as many classrooms as possible and I think as I grow, the charity will grow as well.

“The more attention I get from doing good things on the pitch, hopefully that will crossover to the charity, so it’s definitely at the back of my mind as a driving factor for me to keep working hard and performing well so that the charity can benefit too.

“We recently sent some kit out for the football team. I saw a picture and it gave me a great feeling seeing how happy they were and knowing how much it will help them going forward.

“From an off the pitch point of view, it’s one of the best things I think I can do, so I’m just really excited to continue with that work.”

Regular Calacus readers will know that we firmly believe that sport has the power to change the world, as Nelson Mandela said at the inaugral Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000.

High profile athletes also have a responsibility to use their platform positively and it’s a credit to Bellingham that he recognised from an early age that, with his profile, he can make a huge difference to disadvantaged communities.

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London Youth Games set to unearth Olympic stars of tomorrow

The London Youth Games Finals Festival takes place at the end of June, inspiring the next generation of young athletes to have a more active lifestyle

Coming just a few weeks ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Finals Festival takes place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the culmination of a season of grassroots competition featuring 30 different sports

In addition to the great sports, there’s a host of exciting activities at London Marathon Community Track and Copper Box Arena, providing a truly diverse and inclusive reflection of the London 2012 Olympic Games legacy.

LYG Foundation Chair Prof. Geoff Thompson MBE said: “The Finals Festival will provide an opportunity to engage, motivate and inspire young Londoners and their communities this Olympic and Paralympic year.

“The 2024 London Youth Games Finals Festival marks the culmination of months of intense competition by tens of thousands of young Londoners in over thirty sports. We're thrilled to host the Finals Festival at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, aiming to leave a lasting impression on participants and sustain the Olympic legacy.”

Encouraging young people to be active is fundamental, with research by Sported finding that 60% of young people surveyed had issues affording activity costs, exacerbating widening gaps in children’s activity levels.

Dina Asher-Smith, Raheem Sterling, David Weir and Alex Yee are some of the sporting legends who have achieved great things having previously taken part in the London Youth Games.

Alex Yee, Olympic gold medallist in the Mixed Relay Triathlon and former London Youth Games participant, said: ”Taking part in the London Youth Games was a special memory when I was younger and made me fall in love with sport even more than I already did.

“It was such a memorable competition, where I made lifelong friendships, learned valuable life lessons and really built my confidence to continue in sport and see how far I could go.”

Yee and Sir Mo Farah are two household names to have competed in London Youth Games’ Cross Country events in the past. More than 1,800 runners took part in the first series event on November 18, a Cross Country event on Hampstead Heath, featuring four age groups  contesting individual, team and overall medals.

LYG CEO, Andy Dalby-Welsh, underlined why the Games are so important for the capital’s kids: “At the London Youth Games, we passionately believe that sport should be accessible to all young Londoners, of all genders, ethnicities, beliefs, disabilities and backgrounds. 

“Our research shows that more than 90% of LYG participants are inspired to continue with their love of sport for the rest of their lives and that’s something we are incredibly proud of.

“With the Olympic Games just around the corner, we’re excited about the opportunity to encourage more young people to take part in sport in the months to come.”

The London Youth Games Finals Festival takes place on June 28-30.

For more information, please visit https://www.londonyouthgames.org/finals-festival/

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Townsend leaves a lasting legacy after leaving Kick It Out

When England drew with Iceland in their final match before the start of EURO 2024, the back pages and online news portals mostly featured images of Bukayo Saka, the Arsenal winger who has only been on the pitch in the latter stages of the game.

After being vilified when he missed England’s last penalty that ultimately handed Italy the EURO 2020 title, Saka has shown dignity and talent consistently to underline his status as both a fine footballer and a great role model.

There was understandable uproar at the use of his image after such a negligible role in the Iceland defeat from the likes of Ian Wright and Kick It Out, the anti-discrimination charity, who called on the media to remember their responsibilities and not make England’s black players scapegoats when results do not go well.

One man synonymous with Kick it Out is Troy Townsend, who in his role as Head of Player Engagement has spent more than a decade fighting prejudice and working to educate players, coaches and clubs of their responsibilities and how to address the ongoing issue of discrimination within the game.

After failing to make the grade as a professional after spells with Millwall and Crystal Palace, Troy started working as a volunteer for the charity in 2011 having a sports development company for schools and running his own football academy.

When former Manchester City and Aston Villa defender Earl Barrett moved on from the charity, Troy was offered the chance to take over his role and explained: “As I learned and understood the organisation, I really felt I could make a difference. We had a program that people would request, called ‘Leading the Way,’ which was trying to get more people from under-represented backgrounds into the game.

“Because of my background in education and my understanding of young people, I connected very closely with Earl and I worked on that project with him to deliver it.

“I have delivered a series of events called ‘Raise Your Game’ which is the new name for the ‘Leading the Way’ when I took over the mentoring element from Earl.

“We’ve had so many great people at these events, whether it's from media, refereeing, sports science, the business of football and coaches. Every time I put on an event like that, I feel that the engagement and the outcomes are massive and the rewards are there.

“So many people have gone on to work in the industry and it’s proof that football does give back. I'm very grateful to have headed up that program for such a long time.” 

“I've delivered 100 plus sessions this season alone, called ‘Equality Inspires’, going into clubs from the ages of nine all the way through to under-21s. As well as the players, I educate staff and the parents.

Kick It Out was established in 1993 and relies on funding from the stakeholders that it often holds to account, such as the Football Association (FA) and the Premier League, amid increasing abuse for players on social media as well as on the terraces.

Troy has become a regular spokesperson on the challenges that remain. He added: “As I've grown in the organisation, I've become more prominent as someone that speaks out on these issues.

“The media would always come to me and want to know my opinion. Every single time that I can support somebody, whether they be in the professional arena, the grassroots arena, whether it's parents, or people that work in the game, I lend my support right across the board.

“This season alone has seen some pretty horrible comments and I'm there all the time being the supportive figure to an individual that has been discriminated against.

“It's making sure that things are being dealt with in the right way. I also have to hold authority figures accountable, and there have been incidents where we don't think that the authorities have dealt with them in the correct way.

“It's led to some very dark days. It's led to some questions of why would I even continue?“

One such incident revolved the court case brought by QPR defender Anton Ferdinand amid accusations of racism by Chelsea captain John Terry and comments Troy made in a documentary revolving the controversy.

“When the Anton Ferdinand documentary came out in 2020, the FA accused me of almost faking information,” Troy explained.

“The wealth support I've got at that time was unbelievable. There were a couple of other situations  where clubs threatened to sue me just because I got the information right and held people to account.

“There are still those critical voices, the people that don't want to understand, that don't want to appreciate the amount of work that we do, that don't want to understand the amount of funding we get as a small resource organisation.

“The journey has been a proper roller coaster. I seem to be the buffer for a lot of people's anger in this space. There's people out there that think that  we should have eliminated racism and discrimination by now despite what happens in society.”

Troy was awarded the MBE for services to ‘diversity and inclusion in association football’ last year and will now be taking a step back from the front line after announcing his decision to depart at the end of June.

“I will continue to deliver the education into clubs and I'm very grateful to be able to still have a connection to game. But now I need to detangle and become a little bit freer. I'm not getting any younger and we all have to look after that space upstairs, don't we?”

After working tirelessly for the good of others, Troy certainly deserves a rest.

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Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Sir Jim Ratcliffe & Manchester Utd

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

SIR JIM RATCLIFFE & MANCHESTER UNITED

There was a time when Manchester United set the standards by which other clubs were compared.

The era of Sir Alex Ferguson saw the club win 38 titles including 13 Premier Leagues, five FA Cups and two Champions Leagues. Off the field, the club capitalised on the Red Devils’ global profile to accumulate a raft of commercial partnership which ensured the club remained competitive.

But when Sir Alex retired in 2013, the club encountered an inevitable decline, failing to win the Premier League or the Champions League again and, at last count, giving eight different coaches control of the first team.

United’s demise has coincided with the club’s sale to the Glazer family in 2005, the American family enjoying a honeymoon period purely down to Sir Alex’s brilliance.

Patriarch Malcom Glazer, an American billionaire and owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, acquired an initial 2.9% stake in the club in 2003, which he later increased to 15%, before increasing his stake in the club to 75% and ending its status as a publicly listed company, before taking full control in June of 2005.

Takeovers in football undeniably garner huge attention from fans whose primary concerns relate to the wellbeing and competitiveness of their clubs. Glazer was quick to isolate himself from United’s fanbase when it became clear that the deal was primarily funded through loans secured against United’s assets – landing the club in the red by hundreds of millions.

Understandably the Glazers’ tumultuous relationship with United’s fanbase has endured, even since Malcom Glazer’s death in 2014, when his six children took control of the club.

A series of public relations issues ensued, further fracturing the relationship between the Glazer family and United’s fanbase. In 2015, it transpired that the Glazer children were receiving shareholder dividends that would pay them £15million a year. Fans suggested this was an unjustifiably large sum considering their lack of day-to-day engagement with the club.

Sean Bones, Manchester United Supporter Trust’s (MUST) vice-chairman, told Sky Sports: “We feel it would have been more justified to take a chunk of the debt rather than to extract money from the club.

“They have turned United into a cash cow and they are starting to milk it. It is obviously now a mechanism for the profits of United to leave the club and make its way to Florida.”

Perhaps most drastically in 2021 the Glazer family, among other top-flight European clubs, agreed to join the European Super League with six English clubs, before all of them withdrew their support for the breakaway organisation.

Joel Glazer, co-chairman of the club, latterly apologised in an open letter to United fans, writing “You made very clear your opposition to the European Super League, and we have listened. We got it wrong, and we want to show that we can put things right.”

Despite fewer trophies over the past decade, United have secured record breaking sponsorship deals around the globe, with the club propelling its commercial revenue from £44m in 2005 to over £300m in 2023.

According to Deloitte’s Football Money League, they remain among the most commercially viable clubs around, an achievement that largely goes under the radar.

The MUST have described the Glazer’s running of the organisation as “slow and opaque,” and after a prolonged period of negotiation billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe acquired a 27.7% minority stake in the club in February this year for £1.25bn through his company Trawlers Limited, an amusing nod to United’s beloved Eric Cantona.

With his business success through the INEOS company, Ratcliffe has already shown his passion for sport, backing the former Team Sky cycling team and backing the British America’s Cup bid as well as Ligue 1 club Nice and one-third of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

At the time of the purchase, Sir Jim stated: “Whilst the commercial success of the Club has ensured there have always been available funds to win trophies at the highest level, this potential has not been fully unlocked in recent times.

“We will bring the global knowledge, expertise and talent from the wider INEOS Sport group to help drive further improvement at the Club, while also providing funds intended to enable future investment into Old Trafford.

“We are here for the long term and recognise that a lot of challenges and hard work lie ahead, which we will approach with rigour, professionalism and passion.”

During a BBC interview with Dan Roan, he further set out his aspirations for the club: “We have to walk to the right solution not run to the wrong one. Short term issue is we want to get into the Champions League for FFP. Real challenge is it’s a two-to-three season challenge to get the organisation and environment right to get the performances on the field right and winning football matches.

“It will be intense from time to time but equally it needs to be friendly, supportive, you need to create a combination of the organisation, right people, right environment, and then my belief is the results follow.”

Regardless of his minority stake, Sir Jim’s influence is clearly extensive, and it’s hardly a surprise that he wants to change so many aspects of the club to make it competitive for the top prizes again.

A quick win was to announce among his initial reforms that he would instigate a three-year freeze on dividend payments, bucking the controversial trend set by the Glazers.

A central part of this journey, says Ratcliffe, is investing in the right people to ensure success can flourish, leading to changes in the club’s leadership team including the inclusion of Dave Brailsford, the director of sport at INEOS.

Brailsford is a veteran in the world of competitive sports, having supercharged British Cycling to unprecedented heights during his role as director of performance. Team GB  cyclists won eight Olympic golds at the London 2012 games under his guardianship, with his scrupulous attention to detail yielding his ‘marginal gains’ philosophy tremendous success.

Brailsford went on to achieve similar accolades in the world of road cycling with Team Sky, rebranded INEOS Grenadiers in 2019, winning the Tour de France in the team’s third year under their new name.

There can be no doubt that Brailsford’s appointment is emblematic of Ratcliffe’s impressive ambition for United and demonstrates the Glazers’ willingness to cede operational control of the club, a move most welcomed by the fans.

Former Manchester City Commercial Director and Chief Football Operations Officer Omar Berrada was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the club in January as a precursor to Sir Jim’s official arrival the following month, a post he will most likely assume this summer after his gardening leave.

Berrada has an extensive background in football, particularly when it comes to player contracts and transfers, which will be crucial for United in the coming months and years.

Having bolstered City’s revenue to £712m in 22/23, overtaking United, Berrada is keen to stress that successful commerciality  is underpinned by success on the pitch.

Berrada will seek to reinvigorate United’s commercial footprint in tandem with improved playing performances and stated: “The commercial growth of the clubs is predicted or underpinned by success on the pitch. If you have a really good business strategy alongside it, then it just turbocharges the growth off the pitch.”

Some cynics have argued that Berrada’s exit from City shows he’s not indispensable, but his track record is certainly impressive.

Under his predecessor, Ed Woodward, United accumulated a net spend of more than £1.13bn since Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, the highest in the League, with fans having had little to cheer about.

Given that United finished eighth in the Premier League in the 2023-24 season, their worst finish since 1990, and with a goal difference of minus one, the future of manager Erik ten-Hag has been under scrutiny.

But it is not just on the field that United have struggled, since Sir Jim finalised his investment.

The proposed appointment of Dan Ashworth and United’s poaching of Technical Director Jason Wilcox from Southampton, further underlines Sir Jim’s intention to transform the club.

The pursuit of Ashworth has been controversial, especially after details of his covert email negotiations with Berrada were discovered, highlighting the fact that Ashworth was being tapped up, breaching Premier League guidelines and confidentiality agreements.

Equally, an audit of United staff and the club’s facilities has led to some clumsy communications that further underline the need for expert PR support.

In late April, Sir Jim made the decision to cut staff perks as part of his money-saving measures ahead of the men’s FA Cup final. A company-wide email outlined that while staff would be given a free ticket to the final, employees would have to pay for their own travel to and from the stadium.

Other perks such as the pre-match party, hotel accommodation and the ability for employees to bring friends and family to the match have also been scrapped.

This email, as revealed by The Times, said: “In recognition of your ongoing support this season, we will organise a colleague trip to Wembley for the final on 25 May.

“This year, the trip will be a little different. We will still provide you with a complimentary ticket to the game. However, we’ll ask you to contribute towards coach travel, and lunch will not be provided.

“While we appreciate this is a change from previous trips, you will be aware of the need for us to spend the club’s money effectively, with a focus on performance and outcomes.”

The i Columnist Kevin Garside wrote: “Almost six months since his Christmas Eve declaration of purchase, Ratcliffe’s motive is revealed for what it always was, a business opportunity aimed at deriving value from a fading asset even more than the hated Glazer regime he diluted.” It’s hard to disagree.

This was just one of many announcements Ratcliffe made to staff, detailing his cost-cutting programme and general displeasure at the way the club was being run

In early May, after a tour of the Trafford Training Centre, Sir Jim sent another email to staff condemning the state of the training ground: “I had a good tour around some of the facilities. I am afraid I was struck in many places by a high degree of untidiness. In particular the IT department which frankly was a disgrace and the dressing rooms of the U18 and U21 were not much better. These standards would not come close to what we would expect at INEOS and we are a chemical company.”

Sir Jim also cited email traffic statistics to Manchester United staff as the basis for a ban on working from home and told them to seek ­“alternative employment” if they are not willing to come to club premises.

Sir Jim made his edict despite United’s lack of sufficient office space and some consultants on contracts whose terms do not require them to be in the club’s Manchester or London business complexes.

According to the Sun, these communiques have turned the atmosphere at the Carrington training centre ‘toxic,’ although it is understandable that Sir Jim wants to get the basics right and fix United’s organisational challenges.

Shortly after these disciplinary measures, Ratcliffe attended United’s Premier League clash against Arsenal instead of the women’s FA Cup final at Wembley, when United’s women’s team won 4-0 against Tottenham to earn their first major trophy.

Many disgruntled fans took to social media voicing their concerns over this alleged favouritism, presenting Ratcliffe with a further communications set-back, this time with the fans, despite INEOS representation at Wembley.  

On X, @TheUnitedWayyyy posted: “Zero excuses for INEOS, Ratcliffe & his representatives not attending the Women’s FA cup final at Wembley.

“The game against Arsenal is not going to decide anything for us. The men’s team’s fate has been decided & is done for. Think it reeks of biased priorities. Not a good sign.”

Ratcliffe was keen to right this wrong, sending a message of congratulations to the women’s team later that day calling it a “wonderful achievement” and a “historic moment” for the club.

For many, this was compared to the Glazers’ reign of operational disinterest, but Marc Skinner, Manchester United’s women’s head coach, was quick to jump to Sir Jim’s defence, insisting that words of encouragement were repeatedly passed on to the players before the final.

But when it was later revealed that the women’s end-of-season awards dinner was to be cancelled, it gave further credibility to concerns that the women’s team is not an INEOS priority.

Once again, Skinner defended his paymaster, saying in a news conference: “I sit in a position of celebration rather than worrying about what has and hasn’t happened. I understand the decision, I respect it and our girls will be presented at the appropriate time with the successes that a club will celebrate.”

Sir Jim may argue that he had to be at Old Trafford for the Arsenal game, given that Labour leader and Arsenal fan, Sir Keir Starmer, and Lord Sebastian Coe, chair of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, were also in attendance.

The regeneration of Old Trafford is a pressing issue with its leaky roof again garnering attention towards the end of United’s 1-0 defeat to the Gunners, that saw 41mm of water cascade through the roof, later dubbed the ‘Old Trafford waterfall.’

Ratcliffe has made his plans for Old Trafford clear from the start, with a vision to create the ‘Wembley of the North’ and provide a stadium that the club can be proud of.

Along with the £237m he has pledged to boosting the club’s infrastructure, Ratcliffe’s close ties with the Labour leader suggests government levelling up funds may account for the difference. Although this remains an obscure longshot, it may explain why Ratcliffe attended Old Trafford in favour of Wembley that day. Whether or not this decision was borne out of political necessity, it seems a poor lapse of judgement.

Ratcliffe has certainly made an impact during his early leadership, with executive appointments, cost-cutting measures and his overall strategy for Manchester United’s governance.

A club of United’s size will always receive significant media attention, so every mis-step has been pored over with results as indifferent to some of Sir Jim’s early initiatives.

These drastic measures demonstrate an unwavering commitment to getting Manchester United back on track in the long-term, and any attempt to instil a degree of vigour should be welcomed with open arms.

But it’s also a reminder that senior leaders, however successful they have been in their professional lives, would do well to work closely with their communications teams.

So often we see that the best intentions, clumsily delivered, can do more harm than good that undermines credibility, trust and the support of those key audiences that leaders seek to engage.

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Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – World Athletics and Sebastian Coe

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

WORLD ATHLETICS & SEBASTIAN COE

The Olympic Games is considered to be the pinnacle of sporting achievement for most sports.

The opportunity, every four years, to represent your country and compete against the world’s best underlines the importance of Pierre de Coubertin’s vision for the modern Games.

De Coubertin was committed to Olympic athletes being amateurs, with professionalism considered a risk to sport’s integrity.

There have been reports that  athletics and cycling events provided cash prizes as far back as 1900, with Britain’s Edgar Bredin receiving 250 francs  for his victory in the 100m.

Conversely, in 1912, Jim Thorpe was stripped of his track and field medals for taking money for expenses when playing baseball.

It would be a further 60 years before the strict rules on amateurism were relaxed, due in no small part to athletes in the Communist Eastern bloc bypassing the rules through their state-controlled ‘employment’ while training for sport full-time.

By the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, when Team USA fielded NBA all stars that swept to gold in the basketball, any hint at amateurism was over.

Athletes could secure lucrative sponsorships and endorsement deals, with national governing bodies providing financial assistance where they could, with 60% of National Olympic Committees giving bonuses to their athletes too.

But unlike other sporting competitions, the Olympic Games remained free of prize money until World Athletics made their surprise announcement in early April.

Starting at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this summer, gold medallists in 48 athletic events will walk away with US$50,000 in prize money, with the rewards being extended to podium medallists from Los Angeles 2028 onwards.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medallists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games.

“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport.

“We started with the Olympic dividend payments to our Member Federations, which saw us distribute an extra US$5m a year on top of existing grants aimed at athletics growth projects, and we are now in a position to also fund gold medal performances for athletes in Paris, with a commitment to reward all three medallists at the LA28 Olympic Games.

“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”

Sport is nothing without its athletes, so rewarding them financially, when some are not attracting huge sponsorships and endorsement deals, could be seen as a positive step.

But when making such a momentous announcement in the history of the Olympic Games, World Athletics made a basic error which they could and should have avoided: they had not discussed or even informed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or other stakeholders ahead of making their statement.

“The one thing the International Olympic Committee has consistently recognised – and they’re right to – is the primacy of international federations to fashion their own futures,” explained Coe.

“I don’t believe this is remotely at variance with the concept that the International Olympic Committee often talks about, which is recognising the efforts that our competitors make.

“I am hoping the IOC would share in this principle, given their avowed commitment to make sure that revenues raised through the Olympic Movement find their way back onto the front line. I think they make the point that 80 or 90 per cent of that goes back.”

The IOC made a statement of its own, explaining how it spends the $7.6bn it made between 2017 and 2021 in revenues from the Olympic Games.

It has also provided training grants of up to $1500 through an IOC division called Solidarity, awarding over 1800 grants worldwide on an original budget of $32 million ahead of the Tokyo Games.

It said: “The IOC redistributes 90% of all its income, in particular to the National Olympic Committees and International Federations. This means that, every day, the equivalent of $4.2m goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world. It is up to each IF and NOC to determine how to best serve their athletes and the global development of their sport.”

That is where some of the problems lie – track and field is one of the highlights of the Olympic Games, but if other sports cannot afford to match the prize money, it could create conflict between the haves and the have nots.

The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) voiced their concern about the process as well as the context of the announcement.

The stated: “ASOIF was neither informed nor consulted in advance of the announcement, which was made one day after the ASOIF General Assembly and during SportAccord. As a matter of principle, ASOIF respects and defends the autonomy of each and every member federation. However, when a decision of one IF has a direct impact on the collective interests of the Summer Olympic IFs, it is important and fair to discuss the matter at stake with the other federations in advance. This is precisely why ASOIF was created more than 40 years ago, with the mission to unite, promote and support its members, while advocating for their common interests and goals.

“ASOIF has historically taken a close interest in the general issue of athlete compensation, particularly within the context of Olympic Agenda 2020 and vis a vis the professional leagues since 2014.

“During the last days, ASOIF’s membership has expressed several concerns about World Athletics’ announcement. First, for many, this move undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the Games. One cannot and should not put a price on an Olympic gold medal and, in many cases, Olympic medallists indirectly benefit from commercial endorsements. This disregards the less privileged athletes lower down the final standings.

“Second, not all sports could or should replicate this move, even if they wanted to. Paying prize money in a multi-sport environment goes against the principle of solidarity, reinforces a different set of values across the sports and opens up many questions.

“If the Olympic Games are considered as the pinnacle of each sport, then the prize money should be comparable to, and commensurate with, the prizes given in the respective top competitions of each sport. This is technically and financially unfeasible.

“Furthermore, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the owner and primary rights holder of the Olympic Games. IFs establish and enforce the competition rules at the Games.

“ASOIF fully agrees that athletes are at the centre of the Olympic Movement, and play a critical role in the success of any Olympic Games. However, it appears that World Athletics’ latest initiative opens rather than solves a number of complex issues.

“ASOIF will raise these concerns with World Athletics and will continue to promote dialogue amongst its members and the IOC. Unity and solidarity among ASOIF’s membership will remain crucial to ensure a healthy future of sports governance and the Olympic Movement at large.”

That was a fairly damning response to the news.

The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) released a statement following consultation with athlete representatives.

“Some athlete representatives expressed concerns about the fairness of the proposal, which would result in only gold medallists from one sport being rewarded for their achievements. Concerns were also raised on the issue of clean sport, as by increasing the incentive to win even more, athletes may be at risk of betting, manipulation or pressure to turn to doping," the organisation said.

"Athletes' representatives welcomed the idea of rewarding athletes for their efforts and achievements as elite athletes, but this should not be at the expense of the solidarity model that supports and develops athletes at all levels of sport."

Coe was Chair of the British Olympic Association until 2016, but its current chief executive, Andy Anson, criticised the announcement.

"What wasn't great about the announcement last week is when one sport goes off and does something on their own, doesn't include the sports, doesn't include the IOC, doesn't include the National Olympic Committees," Anson told Sky News.

"They create a problem because now other sports are clearly going to get some scrutiny or even pressure from athletes saying, 'Well what about us? How can this sport do it and not others?'.

"I don't think it's particularly appropriate or helpful for one sport just to announce that. We've got to look at it holistically and make sure that we don't create a two tier system.”

Head of World Rowing, Jean-Christophe Rolland, was concerned about the lack of consultation before World Athletics made their announcement and commented: “I fully respect the WA decision as long it concerns athletes from their sport but at the Olympic Games it is not about your sport but all sports.

"I would appreciate if we had the discussion between us. This decision impacts not only athletes. It has other implications."

There were some supporters when the news broke, though.

Team GB’s most decorated Olympic swimmer. Duncan Scott, is all in favour of payments for Olympic medals.

He said: “I definitely think it would be welcomed within swimming. It's taxing so much on the body in terms of 20-plus hours a week in the pool and so many gym sessions. It can be really tough being a swimmer in GB but Aquatics GB seem like they're wanting to move it in a positive direction."

Coe is a seasoned politician, having become a Lord after a spell as a Member of Parliament in Britain and helping London win the 2012 Olympic Games before his positions in sports administration.

Putting the athletes at the heart of his strategy appears admirable, and he explained that not all elite athletes are thriving, with their finances often “precarious.”

To make such an aggressive move, without collaborating with the IOC and other stakeholders, might appear naïve and foolhardy but equally could be a shot across the bows amid speculation that he wants to become the next IOC President.

Rather than adhering to the status quo, Coe has proved himself to be an alternative, positioning himself firmly against Russian athletes competing at the Olympic Games as neutrals.

And the prize money issue comes ahead of the Friendship Games, to be held in Russia in September, offering $100m in total prize money and run by Umar Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association which has been excluded from running Olympic boxing due to governance issues.

The first Friendship Games is expected to attract up to 6,000 athletes from more than 70 nations amid the backdrop of its invasion of Ukraine and punishments for state-sponsored doping.

When launched, the IOC issued a powerful communique which it accused of being a “cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicize sport,” noting a “disrespect for the athletes and the integrity of sports competitions.

“The commission even sees the risk of athletes being forced by their governments into participating in such a fully politicized sports event, thereby being exploited as part of a political propaganda campaign.”

With such significant prize money available, despite a lack of sports governance recognition, the Friendship Games represent a real threat to the IOC.

Could the World Athletics announcement be the start of more serious discussions to award all Olympic victors a cash prize, even if it costs up to $100m each Games? And would that see off the threat the Friendship Games poses?

Or should competing for glory be reward enough when the value of winning Olympic gold is so immeasurable?

Coe thinks not and said: “This fits very much with a contemporary template that we should do everything we can to recognise the performance and primacy of athletes.

“As a president who was a double Olympic champion, the largest part of my life has been involved with the Olympic movement. The world has changed. I don’t believe this is at variance with any deeply held philosophical commitment to the Olympic movement which, as a sport, we clearly have.

“It is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes … are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is. And as we grow as a sport I want to increase that pot.

“I have to accept the world has changed. If you had asked me that question 30 or 40 years ago,” whether paying athletes for winning was in line with what Scott called the Olympic ‘ethos, I might have given you a different answer.”

The key learning here is to ensure collaboration and discussion with stakeholders to gain support and understanding.

By blindsiding the IOC, ASOIF and other governing bodies, World Athletics very much set its stall out as a renegade, making a rogue decision regardless of the wider consequences for other sports federations and their athletes.

Coupled with the Friendship Games, the developments threaten the IOC’s authority just ahead of Paris 2024, which will no doubt serve as a reminder of the excellence and inspiration the Olympic Games continue to provide.

[calacuspr]

Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Sell Before We Dai & Red Bull Racing

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

HIT - SELL BEFORE WE DAI

Languishing towards the bottom of the Sky Bet League One table, Reading FC are a club in turmoil.

Having been in the Premier League as recently as 2012, it is the Royals’ problems off the pitch are causing greater concern. 

Owner Dai Yongge, whose takeover was announced on the night of Reading’s triumphant Championship play-off semi-final in May 2017, has been told by the English Football League (EFL) that he must “fund the club adequately” or “make immediate arrangements to sell.”

During his reign, the club has been relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in 22 years; staff have not been paid; they have been deducted a total of 18 points; and given a five- year transfer embargo due to financial issues. Yongge’s tenure has also seen extreme cost-cutting, including redundancies and the CEO selling their most valuable player assets behind the back of their manager.

Yongge had previously failed in his bid to take over Hull City in September 2017 after reportedly not meeting the Football Association's fit and proper persons test. The Premier League were also said to be concerned about the takeover at the time.

At first he did make significant investment into the club, twice breaking the club’s transfer record. He also turned down large sums of money for their star players and tied them down to new contracts, funding the club through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite this, the result was only one top-half Championship finish and the EFL’s Profit and Sustainability regulations charged the club in 2021/22 with breaches due to the increased salary spending, leading to a six-point deduction.

Towards the end of 2022, further scandal followed when staff were not paid on time for November and December. With the club failing to stick to the business plan imposed by the EFL that stipulated maximum loses, they were deducted a further six-points in April of that year and would ultimately be relegated from the second tier.

Another tumultuous summer ensued and July saw the club hit with a winding-up order by HMRC for non-payment of tax. Pre-season preparation was hardly ideal given the club was without a manager or enough players to field a team, late into the summer.

The club have been deducted a total of six points so far this season, with another two point-deduction (with a further two points suspended) handed out in February after the club failed to meet HMRC payment obligations, in accordance with EFL Regulations.

By late 2021, the club’s annual £32mn wage bill was more than double total revenue and Reading have been barred from buying new players almost ever since with £220mn net debt being the biggest in English football outside the Premier League.

During this turbulent period, Yongge undertook little to no media interviews or fans’ forums where he could explain his strategy or plans to raise new funding or sell the club.

It defies belief that Yongge is financially struggling given that The Daily Mail recently revealed that he has purchased a multi-million pound mansion by Buckingham Palace.

This silence gives the impression that he has lost interest in the club and appears content to see it collapse, ignoring the importance of the Royals to its community of fans and stakeholders.

One of the oldest clubs in the Football League and rich with history, the fans have not taken the problems lightly.

Their continued campaigning against the regime, keeping the issue in the public eye, while increasing the pressure on the EFL and Yongge, has provoked widespread sympathy and support from clubs and fans from far and wide.

They have mobilised and ensured consistent communication and messaging through the Sell Before We Dai group.  Since they were set up in June 2023 they have gained a significant social media following, secured vital regular media coverage and organised various high-profile protests in a dignified and progressive manner.

They describe themselves as ‘a fan-led pressure group pushing to encourage Reading FC owner Dai Yongge to sell up to a new owner before more damage is done to the club we know and love’ with a clear objective to ‘secure a sustainable future for Reading FC.’

The group has received support from a coalition of MPs, including former Prime Minister, Theresa May, and James Sutherland, who recently said: “As a fan what’s happening here is devastating. It’s clear that we need to better protect football from rogue owners — and if you want the perfect test case this it, right here.”

They also were instrumental in the council’s decision to list the stadium as an asset of community value, symbolising its importance. That means the local community will be informed if the venue is listed for sale within the five year listing period. The community can then enact the Community Right to Bid, which gives them a moratorium period of six months to determine if they can raise the finance to purchase the asset.

Tennis-ball disruption in the 16th minute of home games (marking the number of points deducted under Dai’s ownership) started at the Bolton Wanderers game and has largely continued since.

The most dramatic protest saw Reading’s League One match against Port Vale in January abandoned, when tennis balls were again thrown, before around 1,000 home fans invaded the pitch to protest against the ownership.

Sell Before We Dai urged no more invasions and said in a statement: “We should always be prepared to be bold with our actions. That was made clear on 13th January. Fed up of being lied to and seeing their club slowly die, fans felt they were left with no other option than to run on to the pitch and force the game to be abandoned.

“That action was a desperate attempt to bring attention of our plight to the nation, and to pressure Dai Yongge to do the right thing and stop delaying the sale of the club.

“We also need to come together as a football community and consider our next actions very carefully.

“We do not want to throw away all we’ve achieved over the past week. We received overwhelming backing from across the football community and media for our actions. We may lose that support if there is another pitch invasion in the short term.

“We also do not want to give anyone at Reading FC an excuse to put the blame on us for what is ultimately the fault of one man and his associates who have left us with a shell of a club.

“As we say, no action is off the table, at least in the long term. Fans have shown that they will do whatever it takes to force this regime out of our club. But right now is not the time to get the match abandoned again.”

Sell Before We Dai have not only met with the EFL, local politicians, fan-led review chair Tracy Crouch as well as elusive Royals CEO Dayong Pang.

They helped fund a truck bearing Yongge’s face to drive outside the House of Commons leading calls for the independent football regulator and another ahead of England’s match against Belgium in late March.

That same month, a club statement confirmed that Yongge was in talks with Wycombe Wanderers Football Club regarding the sale of Bearwood Park — Reading’s state-of-the-art training facility that only opened in 2019, sparking further outrage.

Sell Before We Dai organised a protest outside Wycombe's Adams Park stadium on Friday evening and said: "Selling one of the club's key assets makes the club even less attractive to a new owner".

Wycombe quickly made a statement confirming that the plans were on hold: "Wycombe Wanderers Football Club are putting on hold provision for funding to Reading Football Club and the acquisition of the Bearwood Park training facility from its owners.

"Importantly, it was agreed that while the details were being finalised and due diligence carried out, Feliciana would provide sufficient financing to Reading to allow it to pay its tax obligations and operating expenses, including payroll for the staff and players.

"It was Wycombe and Feliciana’s belief that they were helping Reading and professional football with the offer to assist its neighbour in a manner that had historically been used in the past by many football clubs. Indeed, Wycombe’s own training ground had been sold over a decade ago to reduce operating expenses and fund the club when the club had its own financial issues.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Berkshire, former chairman, Sir John Madejski, said: “I’m always an optimistic person and I think things will ratify in the near future and the club will be sold.

“If, as I think there are some very wealthy owners lining up, about three of them as I understand it, they’ve got incredibly deep pockets and if they can keep the training ground that would be wonderful because it’s state of the art.

“If there are any business people out there listening , I think reading could be a tremendous opportunity for somebody out there with deep pockets, I really do.”

Hopefully, Sir John is correct and The Royal’s supporters will soon have reason for optimism. They have shown what can be achieved by holding power to account, and refusing to let injustice slide.

It says so much for the club’s troubled finances that a fundraiser was set up by fans to support Reading staff who have not been paid while the Tilehurst End blog assessed what has gone wrong for the Royals and wrote: “This is now a club fighting to stay in League One, let alone get back into the Championship, following a chaotic pre-season and yet more points deductions.

“This is now a club with an owner who struggles to pay his own staff and the tax man, is in constant trouble with the authorities, and has been the subject of open revolt from fans who’ve had enough and are desperate to force him out. This is now a club that sent redundancy letters to 17-20 staff members right before Christmas.

“It all goes back to one man: Dai Yongge. He’s been the agent of destruction in Reading’s 2023, through both callousness and incompetence, leaving everyone else to suffer the consequences of his actions. Managers, staff members, players and fans - he’s mistreated, angered, undermined and disrespected them all. 2023 is the year Reading Football Club paid the price.”

In late March, there were positive developments when the club announced that they had “committed to a letter of intent with a potential purchaser of Reading Football Club. The parties will now enter a period of exclusive negotiation.”

According to the Telegraph, “It has now emerged that the mystery consortium from North America are the preferred bidders, appearing to have secured a deal ahead of hedge fund company Genevra Associates.

The party are understood to have advanced funds ahead of approval by the Football League to enable Reading to pay their liabilities and avoid another points deduction.”

Understandably, Sell Before We Dai were not getting carried away, especially without the identity of the bidder being made public and said: ““We implore the potential buyer to reach out to STAR and the wider fanbase as soon as possible to provide some reassurances.

“We also need to stress that ‘exclusivity’ does not mean ‘done deal’ and as outlined in the statement, there is still some way to go before we can truly celebrate the end of the Dai regime.

“This may be the beginning of the end, but it is still just the beginning. However, though we are preaching caution, there is clear reason to be optimistic.”

What happens next remains to be seen, but the dignified and determined actions of the fans at least give some hope that Yongge will sell and the club will rise once again.

MISS – RED BULL RACING

The controversial first title win for Max Verstappen at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a watershed moment for Formula One.

With Lewis Hamilton seemingly on his way to a record eighth Drivers’ Championship, the safety car was deployed after Nicholas Latifi crashed five laps from the end.

Amid a muddling of the official rules, that gave Max Verstappen the opportunity to overtake Hamilton on the final lap and earn his first world title, signalling a change in dominance from Hamilton’s Mercedes AMG team to Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing.

Formula One competition has been rather dull since then, with Mercedes struggling to adapt to new regulations and Red Bull Racing dominating.

After winning the Bahrain Grand Prix at the start of the current season, Verstappen’s fourth Drivers’ Championship appears to be a procession, with little of the jeopardy such a high-profile sporting competition deserves.

By the time he triumphed at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix a few weeks later, Verstappen had won nine races in a row, and his 29th out of the past 34 races since mid-2022.

Literally and figuratively, Red Bull is a well-oiled machine, with the company thriving on the track and tightly controlling what information is released into the public domain.

That approach has been threatened since early February, when news broke that Red Bull was undertaking an internal investigation into allegations of ‘inappropriate, controlling behaviour’ by Team Principal Christian Horner.

"After being made aware of certain recent allegations, the company launched an independent investigation," Red Bull said in a statement.

"This process, which is already under way, is being carried out by an external specialist barrister. The company takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."

Horner is something of a pantomime villain in Formula One, unafraid to push technical boundaries and happy to clash with his rivals in search of success.

While acknowledging that an investigation was going on, Red Bull failed to follow a basic rule of crisis communications – do not leave a big information void that can lead to speculation and make the situation worse.

It took two weeks for Formula One and governing body the FIA to make statements, which said little other than that they would be monitoring developments, while Ford, who will become Red Bull’s engine partner in 2026, were more assertive in their demands for a prompt resolution.

In a letter to the Red Bull team, CEO Jim Farley expressed his displeasure with “the unresolved allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Red Bull Racing leadership.”

He said: “As we have indicated previously, without satisfactory response, Ford’s values are non-negotiable. It is imperative that our racing partners share and demonstrate a genuine commitment to those same values. My team and I are available at any time to discuss this matter. We remain insistent on, and hopeful, for a resolution we can all stand behind.”

On the eve of the new F1 season, Red Bull's investigation dismissed the case against Horner and said in a statement: “The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed.

“The complainant has a right of appeal. Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial. The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation, and therefore we will not be commenting further out of respect for all concerned. Red Bull will continue striving to meet the highest workplace standards."

Strangely, no details of the inquiry were made public. While it was to be expected that the complainant and incident specifics remained anonymous, no information about the process, the legal team who undertook the investigation, nor Horner’s defence and the investigation’s conclusions were forthcoming.

Not even the identity of the lawyer who undertook the investigation was made public, let alone the scope of the undertaking or whether it made any recommendations.

For such a high-profile case to lack transparency inevitably gave rise to accusations of a whitewash aimed at moving on as swiftly as possible, when all the pithy statements did were raise more questions than were answered.

If Red Bull thought that the new Formula One season would see the investigation forgotten about as fans and media moved on, they were very much mistaken.

After the investigation, an anonymous whistleblower leaked a file of unverified emails, images and messages, purported to be from Horner to a female third party, to a wide range of media, Formula One, the FIA, and the sport’s nine other team leaders.

Horner, having previously refused to comment beyond protesting his innocence and confidence that the investigation would confirm as much, went on the offensive.

He said: “The only reason this has gained so much attention is because of the leakage and the attention that there has been drawn in the media. What has happened then after that is that others have looked to take advantage of it. F1 is a competitive business and elements have looked to benefit from it and that is perhaps the not so pretty side of out industry.”

Could Horner expect his rivals to remain silent, when he as previously been so forthright about other issues that have arisen? And do other team principals such as Mercedes’ Toto Wolff and the McLaren CEO Zak Brown not have a right to comment, particularly given that the tawdry episode has dragged their sport into the gutter?

No wonder that they have urged more transparency, while Formula One and the FIA have requested to see the findings of the investigation.

What the crisis also exposed was the fractious divisions within Red Bull which threaten to hinder its dominance just when it looked as if an era of supremacy was inevitable.

Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who died last year, left his 49% share to his family, while Thai pharmacist Chaleo Yoovidhya owns a controlling 51%, with Horner’s future very much a point of conflict between them.

Yoovidhya, who some suggested has been trying to extend his powerbase by removing those he does not consider his allies, backs Horner, no doubt convinced by the Englishman’s track record of building a dominant race team that he has led since 2005, while Mateschitz’s family are said to want him out.

Matters took another turn when Red Bull’s long-term special adviser Helmut Marko, known for his indiscretion towards media and other Formula One stakeholders, came under the spotlight with initial reports suggesting he may be suspended.

That triggered emphatic vocal support from ally Max Verstappen, who warned that his future was closely linked with that of Marko.

After qualifying, Verstappen was asked what he thought about the threats to Marko and responded: "My loyalty to [Marko] is very big. It's very important that he stays within the team. If such an important pillar falls away, that's not good for my situation as well. So, for me, Helmut has to stay, for sure.”

Not only was that a clear threat to the Red Bull senior leadership, it was also in stark contrast to Verstappen's carefully worded answer when asked about Horner’s position.

Whether he was speaking as a proxy for his son or not, Jos Verstappen then made it clear that he saw Horner’s position as untenable.

Verstappen Snr made it clear that Horner has to go, that the Horner controversy was "driving people apart" and that the team would "explode" if their principal remained.

“I sympathise with the woman, with all that she went through, but we will see what happens.

“In the press conference Horner gave the other day it was all about him and his problems when we should be talking about Max, the car, his performance and the race. I've already said I think it is causing problems if he stays.

"There is tension here while he remains in position. The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can't go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems.

"I think it's too late for Christian to say 'leave me alone' but he has the support of the Thai owner so I think he will stay for the rest of the season. I said it would bad if he stayed, it really isn't good for the team, this whole situation.

“But the most important thing for me is that Max is happy. That's what counts for me. I just want him to be happy.”

It can’t have helped Red Bull fans that Verstappen was linked with a move to Mercedes amid the in-fighting within the team, with Horner admitting that they could not force an unhappy driver to remain regardless of a long contract.

To make matters worse for Red Bull, they chose International Women’s Day to suspend the woman at the centre of the controversy, with the team again offering no detail for the grounds of her suspension.

Could there be a more effective way to remind women in motor sport that they need to stay in their lane?

Unsurprisingly, the accuser then lodged an official complaint about Horner’s behaviour with the FIA’s ethics committee, which the BBC reported was not the first complaint made to the governing body amid concerns that Red Bull might try to cover the story up.

It was left to Hamilton, who has urged more diversity and better governance within the sport, to underline the problems the Horner crisis has caused.

He said: “As someone who loves the sport it's definitely disappointing to see what's going on right now. I think transparency is really key and I'm really, really hoping to see some progress moving forwards.

“We always have to do more to try to make the sport and the environment people work in feel safe and inclusive. It will be really interesting to see how it’s dealt with in terms of the effect it may or may not have on the sport moving forwards. It’s a really important moment for the sport to make sure that we stand true to our values.”

Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen tried to play down the controversy, backing Red Bull’s investigation process, while lamenting the lack of focus on the team’s on-track success and focus.

The information vacuum, coupled with a lack of leadership from the sport’s governance serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of reputation in top-level sport and Red Bull’s apparent lack of preparation for an internal issue when it has previously been readied for external issues combat.

The lack of transparency and suspension of the complainant reflect badly on the values Red Bull want to transmit.

The somewhat tone-deaf investigation and communications strategy has raised questions about the team's integrity and damaged Red Bull's reputation with its partners and fans which extends way beyond motorsport.

[calacuspr]

Could algorithms be the future of football's transfer market?

FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino recently reaffirmed his position as a proponent of technology in football, re-floating the prospect of using algorithms to determine transfer fees for players in an attempt to refurbish the current model with greater transparency and regulation.

FFP regulations have not been able to keep up with the soaring levels of activity and investment in the annual windows. The past decade has produced transfer fees previously thought unimaginable. Neymar’s transfer fee of €220m upon his move to PSG in 2017 perfectly embodied this frenzy.

Part of the problem lies with the unsynchronised and dis-jointed means with which clubs value players. Many factors contribute towards unpredictable transfer prices with projected image rights, current form, performance data, and even agent’s fees muddying the waters. Despite FIFA capping the commission fee for agents at 6%, uncertainty regarding the process of player valuation remains a constant headache.

It is not, then, a surprise to see Infantino exploring methods to somewhat modulate the transfer market through unwavering algorithms. Integrity must be restored.

Technological advances in recent years, driven by AI developments, offer bountiful opportunities across the game. Time and money can be saved in scouting, for example, by using algorithms and data analysts to extract grassroot talent from the wider pool based on a club’s favoured preferences. This hurdles the tedium of endless in-person scouting sorties.

New algorithms like these may serve as regulators for the international transfer market with an automated pricing model levelling the playing field, reducing the perpetual randomness of player valuations. These steps echo the 2018 FIFA Council’s pledge to deliver a reformed transfer system package.

FIFA’s Clearing House in Paris (FCH) is aiming to develop such a system whereby it becomes the centralised authority through which all transfers are processed. If successful, we could see a stabilised transfer market built off a structured pricing strategy based on years of data. In addition, a training compensation scheme would incentivise clubs to foster young talent, further restoring integrity to football and increasing profitability across the board.

The necessity for reliable data to underwrite these algorithms, however, is central to their success. Accurate data input is the all-important ingredient for any algorithm looking to generate unprejudiced transfer values. The monopolisation of this programme by a singular body, like FCH, would ensure that such a criterion is met.

Founded by Moussa Ezzeddine, Melon Coin, an analytical company that uses data to inform decision making in sport, does just this. Melon Coin relies on a store of data that’s been collected over the past decade to give the most precise transfer valuations possible.

The algorithm relies on transfer fees, performance indicators, media visibility and characteristics to generate its findings.

Melon Coin works with sporting directors at professional clubs to advise them of market value and ensure that, working alongside their scouts and coaches, the club can use its transfer budget efficiently, without over-paying inflated transfer fees.

Infantino’s desire to move in this direction requires similar tactfulness. If done correctly, we could see the resurgence of sustainable football.

[calacuspr]

Chelsea is only the beginning – Infinite Athlete™

BY CHARLIE EBERSOL

There was a lot of noise when Infinite Athlete™ was first linked with becoming the front-of-shirt sponsor for Chelsea FC.

I’ve known Todd Boehly for many years, and he has always been eager to support technology advancements across sports so it was only natural when we became a long-term tech partner for Chelsea FC.

Todd was impressed by what we have been doing with the NFL and some of our other partners and wanted to explore ways we could collaborate.

The sponsorship was just a natural progression and way for us to propel our new brand – after Tempus Ex Machina acquired Biocore and merged, to the world. 

We were excited to be working with one of the most successful Premier League teams over the past 20 years and their global profile is a perfect platform to showcase our technology to the wider football family.

Our partnership has included revitilizing the club’s Official app, digital and mobile fan engagement, in-stadium fan enhancements, and sponsor activations, as well as coaching, training, player health and safety, and match preparation. We are honoured that Chelsea have recognised the value our technology provides.

Chelsea’s Women’s team is the most successful in England over recent years, so we’ve been working with them, using data, for instance, to find ways of reducing the serious injuries elite women footballers have been experiencing far too often over the past few seasons.

Under the Infinite Athlete brand, we believe we can help to enhance, and even transform sports by synchronising data – on player tracking or fan sentiment, for instance – captured by otherwise disconnected platforms, allowing leagues, teams and developers to glean new insights and develop new products.

There are several apps being built now with our various partners that are iterations on our wildly successful MVX product that we launched with Chelsea last summer.

MVX, which is available inside the Chelsea app, is an AI platform on top of the broadcast which breaks down every single event in the game. You can click on the event, see the highlight, every piece of data that is being generated, the fastest player and more.

On the other side, what could ultimately be one of the most interesting parts of this  partnership will be how fans can build what they want very easily on top of the platform.

Instead of dictating to them what we think they want, we give them the ability to actually build what they want which is really the thing that makes us different to everyone else in the space.

Our process is largely focused on reaching the largest audience of the most passionate fans, because we believe that will attract the best developers. The NFL, Chelsea, Colorado and others are just a few of our blue-chip brand partners with the best fans in the world.

We see ourselves as the operating system for sports, creating a single technological foundation, upon which innovative sports technology and media products can be built.

What we have done with Chelsea is only the beginning.

To find out more, please click HERE

[calacuspr]

Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Sebastien Haller & Enhanced games february 2024

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

HIT - SEBASTIEN HALLER

The late, great Daily Mail sport columnist Ian Wooldridge once wrote: “There are days when sport reaches the sublime heights of unscripted theatre and draws from men and women performers resources of nerve and skill beyond human comprehension.”

The magic of sporting contest is that it can be so unpredictable that it is often said that no one would believe it if you made a movie about what you’ve just witnessed.

This month’s African Cup of Nations (AFCON) certainly fits that description, with striker Sebastien Haller front and centre in the drama.

Ivory Coast, the hosts, looked set to exit the competition after a disastrous group stage, when they lost twice, including a heaviest ever home – and Nations Cup finals – defeat when losing 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea.

Manager Jean-Louis Gasset was promptly sacked, but the team got a reprieve when Zambia failed to get the result they needed to finish above the hosts as a best third-placed side.

Haller had not featured in those first few matches due to an ankle injury, but his comeback is far more dramatic than a typical footballer’s injury.

A former France youth international, Haller made his name at Eintracht Frankfurt before joining Premier League side West Ham for a then club-record fee of £45million in July 2019.

He failed to replicate his Bundesliga form, scoring only 10 goals in a year and a half before moving to Ajax.

Haller twice helped the Dutch giants win the Eredivisie and became only the second player, after one Cristiano Ronaldo, to score in all six of his club’s group-stage Champions League games, and the fourth, with Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, to reach double figures in the competition’s group phase.

This prompted Borussia Dortmund to sign him to replace Erling Haaland, where his impressive form was stopped in its track by a tragic turn of events.

In July 2022, just two weeks after signing, the forward complained of abdominal discomfort and during a consultation with a urologist, a testicular tumour was discovered.

Haller promptly underwent surgery to remove it and within the week, he had started receiving chemotherapy.

In a Canal+ documentary called ‘Fight’, Haller’s wife Priscilla described the news Haller had a tumour as a “nightmare.”

“When (he) told me on the phone, I didn’t believe it — it’s a joke,” she said. “Until he got upset because he takes the blow and on top of that has to convince me. I understood what it was to be really afraid. I was scared and had the fear of my life.”

Haller was determined to play football again as quickly as possible and had a personal trainer devising tailored exercise programmes for him in hospital.

When Haller attended the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris with Priscilla, the extent of his illness was clear for all to see, his hair loss as a result of chemotherapy a stark reminder of how gravely unwellhe had been.

Haller was voted the 13th best player in the world for his achievements with Ajax, and also went up on stage to present an award.

He was encouraged by his idol, former Ivory Coast captain and fellow striker Didier Drogba, to provide an update on his condition and said: “Everything is fine. I’m here because everything is going as well as it can. It’s important to be involved at such events to show that you’re strong.”

That turned out not to be the case.

A month after the Paris ceremony, he needed a second, more dangerous  procedure, to remove the residual findings from the tumour, which took over four hours.

When Haller was eventually given the all-clear, he flew with his team-mates to Dortmund’s winter training camp in Marbella, telling reporters that “(retiring) was never on my mind.”

On January 10 2023 Haller was greeted with applause from his team-mates, club staff, opposition players and supporters as he finally stepped onto the pitch for the first time in a Dortmund shirt for a friendly against Fortuna Dusseldorf.

“It’s been a dream to play with my team-mates, certainly more fun than doing runs through forests,” he said afterwards.

Two weeks later, he made his official debut for Dortmund, and first competitive appearance since recovering from cancer, coming off the bench in a 4-3 victory over Augsburg.

The words “F*CK CANCER” were inscribed on his boots.

It was fitting that on World Cancer Day, in early February 2023, Haller scored his first goal for Borussia Dortmund, heading into the net against Freiburg in front of 80,000 supporters at Signal Iduna Park and subsequently swamped by a horde of yellow-clad team-mates.

He pointed to that message on his boots as part of his celebration and he said afterwards: “To score today was a great message to everyone who is fighting today or will fight later.

“It gives some hope, some courage. The days after will always be better. You only want to score another goal, to have that feeling again. It’s the best feeling.

“You’re flying. You’re on a cloud. The whole stadium is on fire. Your team-mates, the staff, everyone is as one. It’s a big boost. There’s still a long way to go, but we will walk down that path.

"Of course, you realise it is something really serious that is happening, that a lot of things can change. It's important to tell it straight about cancer.

“But the urologist helped me not to be scared. He said I could heal well. I took all his words for granted.”

With Ivory Coast struggling and scoring just twice in the AFCON group stages, Haller’s recovery from his ankle injury took on added significance.

"After the big defeat against Equatorial Guinea, we had no choice," Haller said.

"We've come back from a long way. There were words, moments, which were not easy for the players, staff and everybody [but] which were necessary."

Haller’s teammate Seko Fofana said that Haller's struggles with health and fitness inspired squad unity, especially after their coach was sacked in the group stage.

"He was a benefit to others in the team, always giving something else to this group," Fofana mused. “[Consequently] we're now a unit, a collective, and we can be very happy about it.”

Losing against defending champions Senegal, Haller was thrown on late in normal time to help save the game, and his perfect through ball to Nicolas Pepe saw the former Arsenal winger fouled in the penalty area.

Franck Kessie equalised from the spot to take the game into extra time with Haller scoring in the penalty shootout, with the Ivorians knocking out the holders 5-4.

Still not fit enough to start games, Haller was brought on against Mali in the quarter-final with the team down to 10 men, hitting the bar before Oumar Diakite scored in the 122nd minute to see the hosts through 2-1.

In the semi-final against DR Congo, Haller scored the only goal with a volley into the ground, which bounced over goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi and into the net.

That gave Haller the chance to put his health problems behind him, and looking forward to the final, he said: “The last 18 months have been quite challenging for myself and the family. I just take everything step by step and I just try to enjoy the moment. I don't want to have any regrets.

“It’s a great moment to be here in front of you, talking about the final of AFCON in my own country. It will take a few months, or a few years, to really realise what happened (to me).”

Hollywood scriptwriters would have ensured Haller scored the winning goal in front of his home fans, a scenario which looked unlikely when William Troost-Ekong had put Nigeria ahead seven minutes before half-time.

Kessie equalised with just over an hour gone before Haller seized his moment, flicking the ball into the net from Simon Adingra's cross in front of 60,000 fans at Abidjan's Alassane Ouattara Stadium.

An emotional Haller broke down in tears after the final whistle, the reality of his achievement hitting home.

"We dreamed of this moment so many times," Haller said. "We hoped to get to this point and once again the match wasn't an easy one. The joyous scenes we see now, what's happening in the country, they deserve it too. I really hope it does a lot of people good."

Haller was congratulated by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara after picking up his winners' medal, perhaps in recognition of the impact his return had on Ivory Coast's Éléphants. 

Understandably, Haller was front and centre of the team's trophy parade through the centre of Abidjan the following day, the victory a show of unity coming only 13 years since the end of Ivory Coast’s second civil war.

But victory was about more than just lifting the AFCON trophy for the first time since 2015.

Thousands of Ivory Coast fans came to celebrate on the streets of Abidjan, adorning the team’s orange and white colours, a national holiday called to celebrate the championship success.

Haller’s dignified and determined fight against cancer, his impact on the team and the entire nation underlined how sporting prowess can have a positive impact on society.

It’s a reminder not only of the importance of sport, but how its impact transcends the field, bringing joy, hope and inspiration to millions.

MISS – ENHANCED GAMES

With the recent backing of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel and other tech businessmen, it looks like the controversial Enhanced Games has the financial backing to take place in 2024.

The Enhanced Games is a proposed international athletic competition, not unlike the Olympic Games, but with one major difference: they explicitly do not test for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). This is not to say that athletes are forced to dope, but rather than doping is perfectly permissible in the eyes of the organisers.

Their stated goal is to see how far humans can go, using a combination of chemical and technological doping; the former including anabolic steroids and hormone therapy, the latter technology like ’super trainers’ and swimsuits based on sharkskin.

The main philosophy of the Enhanced Games is that PED use should be seen as a ‘demonstration of science’ rather than as cheating.

Is this philosophy legitimate? It is true that no athlete succeeds on their own, and that every Olympic champion has a team of nutritionists, coaches and trainers, equipment designers, physiotherapists, friends, and family behind them. Why not add a pharmacist to the list?

The point could be made that high-altitude training could count as an unfair advantage, given that it is only available to athletes from countries that can either afford to fly them there, or who happen by chance to host training facilities in the mountains. It certainly gives athletes a clear and measurable edge over those that don’t have the option.

From a different perspective, a world-class swimmer like Michael Phelps has longer-than-average arms and a torso that is proportionally longer compared to his legs, as well as size 14 feet and a body that produces half the lactic acid of an average swimmer, but he is celebrated as a natural superhuman.

Meanwhile, women such as champion runner Caster Semenya, whose bodies produce higher than average testosterone levels, are punished and forced to take supplements to bring their hormone levels back down to average.

Clearly, there are grey areas when it comes to genetic and competitive advantages, so it could be argued that any and all enhancements should be allowed. That way, an athlete’s performance on the international stage would represent the combined scientific and sporting abilities of their nation to achieve victory as well as any genetic gifts they have.

Given the allegations of the Russian state-sponsored doping program that saw the state formally expelled from the Olympic Movement, forcing the nation’s athletes to compete as independents, this could be more endemic than we currently think.

The Enhanced Games also claim to have a vastly improved pay structure compared to the Olympic Games, including a stipend for all athletes that compete, as well as substantial prizes for the most successful – including up to and above $1m for gold medallists.

Olympic Games silver medallist James Magnussen has indicated he’d be more than happy to come out of retirement and take steroids if it meant a large payday.

He said: “They [Enhanced Games] have said they have a billion-dollar person backing them.

“If they put up a million dollars for the freestyle world record, I’ll come on board as the first athlete. I’ll juice to the gills and break it in six months.”

Three-time swimming gold medal winner Leisel Jones has argued that the Enhanced Games might actually benefit the Olympic Games.

“It might actually keep the clean sport, clean,” she said. “If this clears out people who genuinely want to [take PEDs] and are doing illegal things in sport, if that clears them out of clean sport, that would be wonderful.”

However, she has said that while she might be interested in commentating, she wouldn’t be interested in coming out of retirement to take part herself.

“I don’t want to participate in it myself, I’m not in a position to do that. The risks are too big for me I think for the side effects and whatnot.

“But I am happy to see other people do this. I would watch it for sure. I just want to know how fast they can go.”

There is some truth in the argument that traditional athletics has been afflicted by illicit drug use. Beyond Russia, a 2017 study carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suggested that as many of half of tested athletes had used PEDs in the last year.

Two parallel Games, one ‘natural’ and one ‘Enhanced’ could, properly enacted, result in fairer competition for all.

However, the Enhanced Games has understandably been strongly criticised by anti-doping agencies all over the world.

Travis Tygart, CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, described the Enhanced Games as ”farcical… likely illegal in many states” and “a dangerous clown show, not real sport”

In a release, WADA further condemned the new Games, calling it “a dangerous and irresponsible concept.”

“WADA warns athletes and support personnel, who wish to participate in clean sport, that if they were to take part in the 'Enhanced Games', they would risk committing anti-doping rule violations under the World Anti-Doping Code,

"Athletes serve as role models and we believe this proposed event would send the wrong signal to young people around the world.”

Australian Olympic Committee chief Matt Carroll added that: “The Australian Olympic Committee believes the concept of a drug-enhanced games is dangerous.

“We know next to nothing about this organisation but sport needs to be clean and it needs to be safe for all athletes,

“The Olympic Movement is devoted to clean sport and athletic excellence, celebrating the best in humanity, excellence, friendship and respect.”

A spokesperson from UK Anti-Doping has described the Games as ”‘unsafe, dangerous to athletes’ health and wellbeing [and flying] in the face of fair play.  

"We believe competing is about respect, hard work and determination, not a dangerous game of endorsing drug use to enhance performance. We are committed to working with athletes to champion their rights, their health and their wellbeing.”

Even cyclist Joseph Papp, who was suspended in 2006 for PED use, has come out against the Enhanced Games.

“A doping free-for-all just invites the most ambitious person to be the most reckless person, and to take the most drugs possible without literally killing themselves.”

Athlete safety should be paramount in any sporting competition, and it is unclear how PEDs that are illegal in many countries would be regulated to ensure fair access for all competitors.

The condemnation that the Enhanced Games has received is also not limited to the world of sports: their messaging appears to be mimicking that of other, serious, political movements.

One of the Enhanced Games website slogans is: ‘My body, my choice,’ clearly attempting to echo the pro-choice slogans of pro-abortion activists.

Aron D’Souza, President of the Enhanced Games, said: “Fifty years ago, being a gay man was like being enhanced today. It’s stigmatised, it’s illegal in some sense and it’s done in a dark alley.”

In referencing a picture on the Enhanced Games website of an athlete holding up a flag bearing the event’s stylised “E+” logo, he added: “What changed for the LGBT community was pride — there was a flag to rally around and if you look at our website, it is intentional. What’s our first picture? A flag. Maybe this was our Stonewall moment.”

That is a bold claim even for a gay man like D’Souza to make, given the long and deeply oppressive experiences that LGBT+ communities have undergone throughout history.

There’s clearly a shock value aspect to the Enhanced Games’s communications strategy.

A further slogan of the Enhanced Games is ‘Science is real,’ echoing pro-vaccination arguments during the Covid Pandemic. These attempts to co-opt major worldwide political issues for the gain of the Enhanced Games organisers and investors is unlikely to improve the organisation’s credibility.

Whether or not they can attract sufficient athletes remains to be seen. At the time of writing, very few have publicly supported the new competition.

D’Souza claimed that 500 ‘sleeper’ athletes had privately agreed to take part, but so far none have spoken publicly, raising doubts about whether the Enhanced Games can go ahead.

With the very real safety concerns, the question remains: who will actually benefit from the Enhanced Games? It may certainly garner some initial attention, but what sponsors would want to be associated with such a controversial competition which would potentially undermine their own ethics and ethos?

D'Souza claims that he has no need for further investment, and that this is simply a project to see what humanity is capable of. But the financial incentives offered to attract athletes will need funding if the Enhanced Games are to ensure.

There is so much that the Enhanced Games have got wrong from a communications perspective.

Instead of demonstrating an understanding of the concerns and addressing them in a sensitive way, the approach has been one of aggressive belligerence.

Whether more athletes will sign up for the Enhanced Games in the fullness of time remains to be seen.

The risks to athlete safety alone will ensure continued widespread condemnation from the sports world and beyond.