Do we just dismantle national association? . Yes, I know. Question: Do we just dismantle National Associations? Answer: No, we do not dismantle National Sports Associations. They are still very useful/valuable for new sportspersons coming into Badminton (or other sports). Have a read of this thread, located at; http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/93949-Professional-Players-going-Professional .
What I meant by that is: 1. Number of active participants: how many of the population are actually play badminton? 2. Number of active spectators: how many of the population are actually watch/follow badminton matches? 3. Widespread of organisation involvements eg school, universities, local councils, training academy/centre, clubs. How many parents send their kids to train badminton? How many badminton coaches are available? Does school provide proper badminton training? (I had my first badminton training from school sport teacher). Does the rest of population knows/aware that badminton as competitive sport exist? or do they even know that badminton is not a backyard game? I think in most of western countries there is very limited link between clubs/badminton association/coaches to the rest of the population eg. Govt, school, parents, media and so on. I think this lack of link/knowledge has led the rest of population precieve badminton as less attractive sport to be involved with. Plus you can throw strong competition in there to make it even more difficult for badminton to grow. In the west (or at least in Asutralia) most players are from Asian countries, although the number is big enough in comparison to other sports, it takes more than that to break into the main stream. As for Denmark, I dont know much about Denmark, But I think for a country such as Denmark where I believe the grass root support is suffiicient, and therefore it wont be as relatively difficult to put foward a selling case to big corporate such as Carlsberg that badminton is avery good venue for them to advertise. On this specific issue its also important to select the right sponsor for example does Carlsberg like to be associated with badminton? And does badminton want to be associated with this company? and why? There is got to be an answer to that, maybe despite the large population playing badminton in Denmark, badminton is still preceive as a backyard old lady sport and hence getting sponsor from big companies seems impossible. Honestly Im not too optimistic about the growth of badminton in the western countries. How many sports have change the mind of the main stream and media in the last 5 decaces? Maybe less than hand full. Plus also badminton is not new like UFC or something. So IMO the main thing is to be innovative, agressive, growing or maintaining the popularity in Asia and Denmark (and few other European countries) and then the rest of the world will follow or at least it will be easier task.
Sorry Chris, I dont find much of answer to my questions there. Fair enough there are many facts or example how tennis players were developed by national associations at very young age and then become independent. But as I said, I think as badminton grow in the popularity, that switch (from dependent to independent) will come naturally. Lets look at 20 - 30 yrs ago there was not a single independent player, ALL must go along with national association, but today we already see the likes of TH and many others independent from PBSI or their repective national association. So lets focus on growing the popularity and that will be the biggest help we can do to allow players/pros become independent.
I can't agree more. Support and cooperate with those who are helping badminton to grow, especially the NSAs and BWF, not to oppose them at every opportunity. If I remember, it took Li Na at the French Open to achieve fame and she broke away from her national association in 1999, more than a decade ago! It must be very difficult for her as a rookie "independent pro". Imagine what a professional has to go through to become independent - no more financial handouts from the NSA, he has to arrange his own sponsorship, his tournament schedule, his travel arrangements on top of engaging a coach to train him, etc. Just how many current badminton professionals can afford to do this on his own when badminton has not reach that stage of worldwide popularity to attract big corporations to readily come forward with financial and related support? So you still need the NSAs and BWF to optimise their resources to make badminton more popular, especially in the West.
I think we should separate "the West" into anglo-saxon and non- countries. The schools system like in the UK and US, etc. Aus? is non-prevalent in the rest of the west (well certainly the majority). Nor is the badminton population mainly Asian there, far from it in fact. As for the Carlsberg example, I'm sure the DBF would be jumping for joy to have them aboard. They didn't have such a small team at the Sudirman for nothing ... There are of course a few more big corporations there like Maersk and even they don't sponsor any of them. Even Gade has trouble finding sponsors nowadays as mentioned in one of the news items in his thread. If you go up to them and they ask "how much media exposure do you get?" I'm sure it pales in comparison to the likes of football or for individual sports, tennis. Now I don't know if Maersk does any sponsorship at all (edit: I see they do at least in yachting) but the pitifull sum badminton needs apparently isn't even worth it. I mean we have all seen at the time reigning world champion Laybourn struggle to get a sponsor going as far as to print "I need a sponsor" on his gameshirt. Even with strong grassroots and some sort of old boys network on the corporate level, sponsoring individuals seems a tough ask. In contrast the fieldhockey over here thrives on it with sponsors like Shell and Rabobank ... go figure . I'm sure badminton get's much more airtime worldwide ....
But in contrast there are Jorgensen and Axelsen, the rising stars (both charismatic not to forget ). One with Blue Water and the other sponsored by Red Bull. And of course the pricetag Gade has on sponsoring him on the jersey might be a lot higher and perhaps unrealistic in this current economic climate where sports sponsorship is an obvious target for cost cutting ...
Match fixing occurs in many sports and in a variety of ways and forms I think. Even in the very popular game of soccer, corruption pervades from the lowest to the highest levels involving even the FIFA management committee it seems. In comparison, misdeeds in badminton must be considered mild.
Some food for thought. Why do I always love to search on Youtube for matches played at the Indonesia Open, or at any tournaments in Indonesia? I love to watch the energy of the crowd. I can't really remember when I last saw an empty seat on a single frame of video, if it is a match in Indonesia. Obviously the people there love the game to death. But the carnival atmosphere they bring to the screen, is so much of what makes the viewing experience so much more alive. Even the normally staid and somnolent commentators wake up! So: carnival atmosphere. Exciting commentators (I love listening to Gillan but there needs to be more to bring the shock value.) Creative camera work (generally no complaints here.) Inventive and engrossing pre-game packages with enough research and background and off-court juicy tit-bits thrown in. (TOTALLY MISSING! HUGE VOID! BIG PITY.) FLAGS!! Everywhere! Think Glastonbury music festival. More inventive and dramatic lighting in the arena. That other keyword: dramatic. Every sequence needs to be dramatic. Bring in 3 or 4-point powerplays (surely someone can think up something on these lines?)
Are you sure you meant that? Or is that a Freudian slip? Or did you mean tidbits? What you typed also would work to increase media attention!
If the pros are independent, they would have to market themselves, brand themselves, create their own personality. They can also get advertisers that the national association would never touch. Lastly, they will be free to voice their opinion, complains, and talking up the rivalry. That would create more controversies for the fan to talk about
I second that cobalt. Badminton needs more Indonesia, the die hard fans really understand what badminton is all about. But unfortunately this war needs to be won one battle at a time, first hold the line and then attack. Its a mountain to climb to replicate the popularity of badminton in a country like Indonesia or China around the world. So perhaps guys like you and me can try what we can at where we life, shall we?
At the moment there is no restriction per se to prevent any player becoming independent, although we can spend a lifetime talking about the politic thats going on behind closed door, but the bottom line is still any player is free to decide their own fate. But first of all I think it will be much harder for an independent player to get sponsor. And if lets say all players are independent, can sponsor companies like YY and Victor etc etc can afford to pay them all? Maybe yes maybe no, but my guess thats not likely. The income/economy generated from badminton currently is just simply way below in comparison to for eg Tennis, Golf, Basket ball, Football, F1, etc etc even for those sports I still often hear players are complaining about the lack of funding. Pro player will be starved to death before they can increase the badminton profile, and the controvercies that comes out will be: What the hell is national association doing??
I think more importantly, what is BWF doing? They're responsible for marketing the sport and evolving it. They're responsible for expanding media involvement so that sponsors see badminton as a viable vehicle to park their advertising $$. Without the big $$ (a la tennis), there will never be true professionalism in badminton. Big companies must be involved long term to legitimize the sport. The US$1.2m Korean Open is a good start and that's all it must be–a good start. It must be sustained and built upon. It must reach a point where youngsters can see it as a viable career choice.
Well, who's in charge of handing out TV coverage and broadcasting contracts for every SS or SSP? Is it BWF, or is it the individual national associations? This is important: the channels will only bid/pay as much as they evaluate the worth of the revenue they can get. If indeed it is the national associations who handle the contracts, then it becomes doubly important for them to hire or contract some very high-powered PR consultants or PR/event/fundraising specialists. Firstly to evaluate the potential target, then to convert the potential target into real target by proposing a series of steps to make the game more visually appealing, more interactive, more captivating. That brings in the big sponsors (white goods, automobiles, beauty products, edibles, pharmaceuticals etc) who can then bid for presentation rights etc. How to capture new territory especially in the "rich" and western countries? Unfortunately we cannot enlist the services of Paul Newman... but the associations can make the effort to involve international celebrities. The game also needs to be promoted as a lifestyle thing. Again for this to be successful, infrastructure needs to be made available. Not an easy task; it requires hard work, cooperation and persistence. There is no single or certain set of solutions or plans that will obtain the objective. But IMO the national associations would do well to involve some high-powered and high-profile PR people on a long-term basis with specific mandates and goals.
Hehehe, you should come to Asia one day to experience it yourself. Some of the BCers from Canada & US came to Msia for 2010 TC. On another note, I wonder how much BWF paid that consulting company on the marketing advise on the skirt issue. I'm in marketing, I sure heck would NOT give that kind of advise, lol.
Of course lah, Eagles don't wear skirts. But they have beautiful feathers (however, not suitable as shuttlecock feathers). I think the proposal was suggested by a sub-committee within BWF. Yes maybe it's high time for cobalt to visit Asia again. I think he must have Indonesian blood in him since his instincts naturally take him to Indonesia.
What a refreshing look compared to the boyish-looking shorts worn by the Chinese players I saw on TV today during the Thailand Open.
