Sean Hamil
Sean Hamil graduated with a BA in Economics and Politics from Trinity College, Dublin, then proceeded to the London School of Economics where he took an MSc in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management. He worked as a business analyst with the Henley Centre for Forecasting, now part of the WPP international marketing and advertising services group;and then as a researcher for New Consumer, an educational charity focusing on corporate social and environmental responsibility, where he co-authored and authored two books on corporate social responsibility – Changing Corporate Values. London: Kogan Page, (1990); and Britain’s Best Employers. London: Kogan Page, (1991). Prior to joining Birkbeck College he was a Lecturer in Business Management, specialising in business strategy, at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Since joining Birkbeck, he has focused on his core interest - the corporate governance and regulation of sport on which he has written and co-edited an extensive range of articles (click here for full details of Sean Hamil's research and publications record) – notably the 2001-2003 editions of the State of the Game (London: Birkbeck College) corporate governance of English football review - and a number of books including: The Changing Face of the Football Business: Supporters Direct. London: Frank Cass, (2001); Football in the Digital Age: Whose Game Is It Anyway?. Edinburgh: Mainstream, (2000); and A Game of Two Halves? The Business of Football. Edinburgh: Mainstream, (1999). Most recently he is co-editor of Managing Football: An International Perspective. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, (2009); and author and co-editor of Who Owns Football?: The Governance and Management of the Club Game Worldwide. Oxford: Routledge, (2010).
Sean was invited to give oral evidence to the 2011 House of Commons Culture, Media & Sport Committee Enquiry into the Governance of Football and his contribution was quoted extensively in the final report.
He has recently been involved in reviewing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice in the Scottish Premier League (SPL), with some subsidiary analysis of CSR practice in English football.
Sean is the academic director of the MSc Sport Management & the Business of Football at Birkbeck College; and a Director of the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre.
He is a member of the academic scientific of the Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO) - www.mesgo.org - in which Birkbeck is a partner with four other leading European universities. The programme is a high level executive training programme supported by five of Europe's leading sport federations: CEV (the European Volleyball Confederation); EHF (the European Handball Association); FIBA Europe (International Basketball Confederation-Europe); FIFA-AER (European Rugby Association); and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations).
Sean is also a lecturer on the UEFA Certificate in Football Management (CFM) management development programme for executives in UEFA member national associations, focusing on the topic of the organisation and governance of world and European football.
Between 2003 and 2009 he was an elected director of Supporters Direct, the UK government-sponsored not-for-profit organisation established to assist football supporters to set up supporters' trusts (co-operatives) which then invest co-operatively controlled equity in their football club with the aim of securing the position of clubs in their historic role as key community assets, and to act as vehicles for the implementation of effective corporate social responsibility. Sean was responsible for establishing Supporters Direct activities in Scotland, where a number of clubs now have trusts as significant minority investors. Supporters Direct is currently extending its activities into Europe with the support of UEFA, the governing body of European football.
Sean is a frequent commentator in the media. Details of his more contributions can be viewed at: www.sportbusinesscentre.com/BSBCMedia.