Previous Seminars 2011
Rugby League and the Impact of Introducing a Licensing System to the Sport: What can English Football Learn?
Thursday 24th November 2011
Given by: Blake Solly (RFL) and Matt Segal (Leeds Metropolitan University and the RFL
Since its breakaway from the Rugby Football Union in 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union, the sport of Rugby League has been famous for its innovative approach to sport. It was the first football code to allow the use of substitutes in 1964, the first major British sport to allow shirt sponsorship in 1974, and also the first major British sport to introduce video referees and technology in 1996. Following the creation of The Super League in 1996, the sport moved from the winter to the summer season, introduced a salary cap, and most recently adopting a licensing system in 2009, removing both traditional promotion and relegation to the competition. In light of the recent recommendation from the House of Commons Culture, Media & Sport Committee inquiry into the governance of English football, which recommended that English football should too adopt a licensing system, this presentation will look to evaluate the reasoning behind the introduction of licensing in Rugby League and the impact it has had on the sport thus far. The presenters will conclude by making some observations as to how a licensing system might be successfully applied in English football
Arsènal: The Making of a Modern Superclub
Thursday 17th November, 2011
Alex Fynn
To mark the occasion of the launch of the highly acclaimed Arsènal: the Making of a Modern Superclub (September 2011) (co-authored with Kevin Whitcher), the updated paperback edition of the best-selling book first published in October 2009, Alex Fynn will present an assessment of the current health of the Premier League, and of one of its most successful members, Arsenal Football Club, just as its totemic manager, Arsène Wenger, enters his 16th year as the manager of the club.
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Has Mrs Murphy changed the face of Football Broadcasting?
Thursday 10th November 2011
Daniel Geey, Associate in Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP's Competition and EU Regulatory Law Group.
Mrs Karen Murphy is a pub owner who used decoder cards imported from Greece to show Premier League (PL) games. QC Leisure is a stockist and supplier of foreign decoders to pubs and the general public in the UK. Mrs Murphy was prosecuted by Media Protection Services Limited for the use of an “illicit” Greek decoder card. QC Leisure was sued for copyright infringement by the PL. In their defences Mrs Murphy and QC Leisure both raised important questions about the relationship between the EU principles of free movement of goods and services and highly lucrative European broadcasting rights. This led to a series of questions being referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by the English courts. The CJEU made its ruling in the case in October 2011, holding that national law which prohibits the import, use or sale of foreign decoder cards is contrary to the fundamental EU freedom to provide services. This therefore cannot be justified by the objective either of protecting intellectual property rights or of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums. The CJEU did however make reference to a number of copyright issues. One issue in particular would require a publican to receive consent from a rights holder (i.e. the PL) to broadcast PL branded logos and graphics. In this seminar Daniel Geey outlines the wider implications of the judgement for the sports broadcasting market.
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Using the Iconic Status of Charlton Athletic to Combat Knife Crime and Street Violence in South London and Kent
Thursday 27th October 2011
Nick Davill, Sally Knox, Steve Sutherland (Charlton Athletic Community Trust – CACT)
In this seminar three representatives from the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) explain how the iconic status of a football club, Charlton Athletic, can be utilised to address a pressing social problem - knife crime and street violence - which has wreaked untold tragedy and devastation on so many families and communities across London in recent years, through the CACT Street Violence Ruins Lives (SVRL) campaign and the CACT Crime Reduction Programme. In particular Birkbeck would like to welcome as part of the CACT speaker team, Mrs Sally Knox, mother of actor Rob Knox who was tragically stabbed to death in Sidcup, South London in 2008. Sally, and Rob’s father Colin, founded the Rob Knox Foundation in honour of their son Rob, and through the Foundation have since worked closely with CACT as tireless and courageous campaigners to educate young people about the scourge of knife crime.
The Transformation of Football: A Case of Europeanisation?
Thursday 20th October 2011
Borja García (Loughborough University), Wyn Grant (Warwick University)
This seminar will present some of the results of a 4 year international collaborative project on the transformation of national football structures. Coinciding with the publication of the book The transformation of European football by Manchester University Press, Borja Garcia and Wyn Grant, two of the editors of this collective volume will present a summary of the project as a whole. They will then explain in more detail two of the 10 case studies contained in the book: Spain and England. Finally the seminar will discuss some wider conclusions on the Europeanisation of football.
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"The NFL’s Rooney Rule – A project to emulate in English football? A Debate”
Thursday 13th October 2011
KickItOut, football’s equality and inclusion campaign, and the Professional Footballers Association (PFA)
The Rooney Rule is a code of conduct initiated by America’s NFL American football league which ensures that there is always at least one black and ethnic minority candidate on the interview panel for head coach positions in the NFL. The Rooney Rule is named after Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who persuaded other NFL clubs to expand their interviewing process in 2003, offering at least a chance for black candidates to present their credentials. To mark the launch of KickItOut’s One Game, One Community weeks of action campaign (KickItoOut, 2011), a panel of special guests will debate the pros and cons of introducing the Rooney Rule into English football, and what the game can do more widely to increase the number of black managers at professional level...
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Football Governance Debate
The Future of the Governance of English Football: where now after the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Enquiry Report into the Governance of English Football?
We would like to invite you to a debate on Football Governance which will take place on Thursday 15 September 2011, at One Drummond Gate, Victoria, London from 9.30-11.30am.
Chaired by Sean Hamil from the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre, the panel will include: Damian Collins (MP), member of the recent House of Commons cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee enquiry into the Governance of Football in England; Erik Samuelson, CEO of AFC Wimbledon, the supporter-owned club who have just been promoted into the Football League; and Danny Davis, of leading law firm Mishcon de Reya, who have recently produced a research report examining key issues in football governance - the Kick-Off Review in particular examines the Fit & Proper Persons Test and the Financial Fair Play proposals. The panel will discuss the findings of the Committee’s final report and their likely implications. Click here for details of the House of Commons Report, and of the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre’s submission of evidence.
The following key questions will be addressed in the debate. How will the new proposed new Board structure for the Football Association improve governance? How will the proposed new club licensing system work? How will the proposed new ‘Fit and Proper Test’ be applied? How might approaches to grassroots football and youth development be enhanced?
Read more about the Football Governance Debate.
Olympism & Value Legacies in London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Wednesday 11th May 2011
Dr Dikaia Chatziefstathiou, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Sport and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University
The term ‘Olympism’ was first coined by the founder of the modern Olympic Games, the French aristocrat Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin understood, towards the end of the nineteenth century, that sport would become a central point of popular culture and was working towards the definition of a universal philosophy that would have sport and physical activity at its core. This presentation will explore the different meanings of Olympism and how the Olympic and Paralympic values can be captured in practice in varying ways which extend beyond the somewhat narrow scope of sport, exercise and physical activity.
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Competitive Balance and Concentration Ratios in Economic Terms in Liga BBVA
Wednesday 18th May 2011 at 6pm
Dr Ángel Barajas, University of Vigo, Observatorio Económico del Deporte.
Neale (1964) pointed that economy of professional sports is ‘peculiar’. Traditional economic analysis stands that a market without competitors will be the best case scenario for a firm. Nevertheless, in professional sports, competitors are necessary to offer the product (league, tournaments, etc.). Uncertainty in the output of a competition is part of its appeal. Leagues will be better off if they present a higher competitive balance. This paper searches the differences in competitive balance and concentration ratios in economic terms in the Liga BBVA. The idea is to compare if income inequality is related to and increase competitive imbalance.
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Squad management and sporting success: a benchmarking approach for English football
Thursday 19th May 2011
Dr Raffaele Poli
In this seminar, drawing on data from both publications and the work of the Professional Football Players Observatory (PFPO) at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Dr Raffaele Poli, head and co-founder of this research group, presents the latest results regarding the link between the demographic composition of rosters and performance in football clubs in the major European markets. Since 2005, the PFPO has developed statistical indicators on squad characteristics of professional football clubs, allowing for a comparative and longitudinal analysis of teams throughout Europe. The presentation adopts a benchmarking approach for the English case. More specifically, it compares strategies followed from the season 2006/07 onwards by the current five best-ranked Premier League clubs (Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham), highlights the best practices, and presents the most important squad management principles to achieve success from a long term perspective.
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Heroes and Villains: the inside story of the commercial revolutions of Arsenal and Tottenham
Wednesday 30th March 2011
Alex Fynn
As a Director of the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency in the 1980s and 1990s Alex Fynn, the well-known football industry consultant and media commentator, helped produce the first advertising campaign ever for a football club. He has advised both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal on media and marketing strategies. However, in this presentation Alex argues that whilst both clubs deserve due credit for operating sustainable business models over many years in an environment where chronic loss-making is the norm, nevertheless they have both significantly underperformed in terms of the scale and effectiveness of their commercial activities, and that this has handicapped their ability to compete with other leading clubs notably Manchester United. In this presentation Alex assesses how Arsenal and Tottenham might go about closing the revenue “gap” with Manchester United.
British Olympic Football
Wednesday 23rd March 2011
Steve Menary, Writer and Journalist
In this presentation author and journalist Steve Menary draws on his newly published book on the history of the British Olympic football team to look at the implications for the return of the team next year in London. He will cover the team from its origins and success at the 1908 Olympics in London through the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, to the team’s performance at the last London Olympics in 1948 under Matt Busby, its subsequent decline and disappearance after the 1972 Munich Olympics. Finally he will discuss how the return of the team prompted the withdrawal of Scotland and Wales and what this will all mean for the Team GB XI competing at the 2012 Olympics Games in London.
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Winners & Losers in Football Broadcasting: Some Interesting Implications
Wednesday 2nd March 2011
Daniel Geey, Associate in Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP's Competition and EU Regulatory Law Group.
There are three current football broadcasting matters the resolution of which will go some way to shaping the way football broadcasting rights will be sold in the UK and throughout Europe in the future. Whilst the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has given her opinion in the Murphy/QC Leisure case, the General Court has also expressed its view regarding the listing of events of national importance. Also on the horizon is the outcome of the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal bundle of cases relating to Ofcom’s investigation into the pay-TV market in the UK which reported in March 2010. In this presentation sport lawyer Daniel Geey explains the inter-linkages between these three matters and outlines some possible implications for sports rights holders and sports broadcasters going forward
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The Prospects for the Further Development of Women’s Football in England: A Time for Optimism
A Roundtable Discussion
Wednesday 16th February 2011 at 6pm
- Rachel Pavlou, National Women’s Football Development Manager at the Football Association.
- Chair – Eric Golding, FA Registered Supply League Referee Assessor, Referee Assessor on the FA Women’s Premier League, Referee Co-ordinator at the Arsenal Ladies Centre of Excellence, Hon. Mentoring Officer at the London FA, Retired Referee and FA Registered Referee Tutor.
- Natalie Huntley, Women’s & Girls’ Football Development Officer (North London) at the London Football Association. Responsible for developing women’s and girls’ football in North London, from grassroots level upwards. This includes developing new teams, supporting existing clubs and providing opportunities for females to get involved in refereeing and coaching.
Synopsis
This roundtable event brings together a number of distinguished figures from English women’s football to discuss the prospects for the women’s game after a decade of successful expansion in grassroots participation and significant improvement in the quality of the elite women’s game. In particular, the panel will focus on the challenges ahead for the women’s game at a time of great optimism as the FA passes the halfway point in the delivery of the FA Women's & Girls’ Football Strategy 2008-12
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What is the Optimal Method to Value a Football Club? & Are Parachute Payments Distorting Competitive Balance within the Championship?
Wednesday 2nd February 2011
Tom Markham, PhD in Football Finance Candidate at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
In this presentation Tom Markham examines two distinct subject areas, both of which are extremely pertinent to the world of football, but remain surprisingly under scrutinised in the public domain. The subject areas in question are; Football Club Valuation and Premier League Parachute Payments.
Striking a balance in regulatory frameworks in football – the Case of Non-League Football in England
Wednesday 19th January 2011 at 6pm
Erik Samuelson, Chief Executive, AFC Wimbledon
In 2002 AFC Wimbledon became one of the first supporter-owned clubs in England under the ownership of the Dons Trust based on the Supporters Direct industrial & provident society (co-operative) model. The club was formed after the businessmen owners of Wimbledon FC (then in League 1 of the Football League) moved the club to Milton Keynes in the English midlands, far away from its South London roots, and re-named it Milton Keynes Dons. When the club’s supporters were unable to prevent the move they formed their own club vowing that only through supporter ownership could they control the destiny of their club in the future. Since then the club has prospered and AFC Wimbledon are currently occupying the top spot in the fifth level of English football – the Blue Square Bet Premier Conference league.