SURVIVAL RACKET CENTRE

If you read Courtside, which is basically a PR magazine for Badminton England, you may have read about the astonishing increase in BE membership as described by Chief Executive Adrian Christy, an increase from 40,000 to 130,000 within the last four years. He tries to qualify this figure by implying he may have simply totalled all of the participation data from all of the recreational schemes together, instead of just comparing the usual BE club membership figures. Which have remained pretty static for the past decade at approximately 40,000 to 50,000.

Is there an independent assessment of how well badminton is doing under the management of the current BE board? Well yes there is. We have just started a new funding period 2013–2017, and all sports are assessed for their success or failure in performances at major championships and for increasing participation and growing talent in their respective sports. Badminton has received a combined funding allocation of 23.9 million from Sport England and UK Sport for the next four years. Which on paper looks a very healthy sum, until you compare it with the previous four years funding allocation of 27.7 million, leaving a shortfall of 3.8 million.

Whilst other sports have received more funding, some have seen even bigger reductions. But there is no doubt about it, when you look at the money, badminton has been a loser. Does this reduced funding represent a verdict on the leadership of Christy and the BE board?

How do you fill a Badminton black hole of 950,000 per year? It is difficult to attract new sponsors to badminton as it is rarely broadcast on TV. Increasing members will generate extra income but unlikely to make much of a dent in the deficit. Which is why the only game in town is to build a much larger badminton centre in Milton Keynes with new commercial partners such as the Lawn Tennis Association and with the potential to build extra revenue streams from holding other sporting / leisure events.
It could be described as a survival centre for Badminton England. They also know leisure centres are going to struggle for funding from local councils up and down the country, which may well have repercussions on future participation numbers as facilities become under pressure. So why not build your own leisure / racket centre?
The alternative would be to dramatically cut the staffing levels at Badminton England to reduce expenditure.

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JENNY WALLWORK WALKS OUT

Five times national champion, Commonwealth silver and bronze and European bronze medal winner Jenny Wallwork aged 26, resigns from Badminton England's GB performance programme.
Here's what she has to say..........

"insecure, untrusting and incapable - leadership at Badminton England"

"It was a case of jumping off what felt like a sinking ship"

"I think the sport is being led by people who have a vision and unfortunately have no interest in what the athletes think"

Heat of the moment remarks? Or do her parting shots hold any truths?
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RED ARMY

Will the Red Army change the image of badminton?

Forget nuclear missiles. Russia's military arsenal will soon be bristling with badminton rackets.

Hoping to keep soldiers and recruits in fighting form without great expense, the Defence Ministry plans to buy 10,000 badminton rackets and tens of thousands of shuttlecocks next year.

"Playing badminton uses the same muscles as throwing grenades, knives or other objects," says head of the ministry's physical preparation department, Colonel Alexander Shchepelev.

"That's why this sport is very good for all servicemen without exception."

"Watching the shuttle will be particularly good practice for snipers and riflemen."

"Following the shuttlecock trains the eye muscles, strengthens the cardiovascular system and develops reaction speed."

Sport complexes at seven facilities for Russian draftees have ten marked-out badminton courts each, and military bases will also receive rackets and shuttlecocks.

This is what badminton needs a tougher image. Where Badminton England and other governing bodies have failed for years, lets hope the Red Army can launch badminton in a new direction.
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WRONG BRANDING?

Did Adrian Christy get the branding for Badminton England wrong?

At the time, Adrian explained in articles written for Badminton England’s magazine and with e-mail correspondence to me explaining how he felt badminton had a ‘good image’ and wanted to communicate badminton as a friendly, fun and inexpensive game.

Badminton England developed a tag line – ‘play it, love it, live it’

I expressed my concerns to Adrian, saying how I believed Badminton had a very poor image and BE needed to say something specific, factual, about badminton that would start to address it’s image as a ‘soft – tip tap game’. Rather than use a vague marketing line.

My thinking was to use a line based around ‘badminton the world’s fastest racket sport’.

I had conducted some research whilst travelling in the UK and asked people how they would describe badminton and there reaction when I mentioned it was the world’s racket sport. I found most people were unaware of this and very surprised to learn abut badminton’s dynamic qualities.

Even after several discussions and a meeting with BE’s Commercial Director I couldn’t find a way to change their marketing strategy for badminton.

I developed a range of ideas which I initially used for t-shirts with various images all using ‘the World’s fastest racket sport’ line. These ideas were forwarded to Badminton England and Badminton Europe.

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MY TROPHIES

Look at these couple of beauties. I’d like to meet the person who designed them.

I wonder how the thought process began?

'Err we need a badminton trophy……well that’ll be shuttles, rackets, nets……...
why not stick in a medal too….arr problem there’s not enough room for two big rackets…….don’t worry just use a small one instead'

You’ll need the negotiating powers of the United Nations to get these displayed on the mantelpiece at home.

Fingers crossed for 'less is more' next season.

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TAXI FOR CHRISTY

This week Badminton England announced another internal re-shuffle.

Images of musical chairs and pass the parcel comes to mind.

In August Wembley will host the World Championships and then next summer there is the little matter of the London 2012 Olympics. A once in a lifetime opportunity for UK badminton to shine.

As Gail Emms, probably the best known badminton star in England reiterated to the BBC – ‘the sport is in a bit of a state now, which is sad. They should have had a complete overhaul after the Beijing Olympics and started from scratch.’

Even the thickest skinned BE mangers and board members should feel embarrassed by the current performance of badminton in England.

Over the past four years the current Chief Executive directives with board approval have resulted in badminton’s decline. The now infamous strategic ‘100 point plan’ with expectations of medals in major championships has proved to be a disaster and taken Badminton England in the wrong direction.

No amount of spin from BE can hide the facts.

Why should the current management who have overseen an increase in administrators and a fall in the number of funded badminton players be given another four years and millions of tax payer’s money to fail again.

They should be queuing at the nearest taxi rank.

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FASHION CONNOISSEURS

Here’s a picture of tennis star Serena Williams wearing a pair of shorts.
Hang on, those fashion connoisseur chiefs at the Badminton World Federation have decided that all female players should only wear skirts or dresses in Grand Prix tournaments from June 1 to help ‘sex-up’ badminton or ‘to ensure attractive presentation of badminton’.

You just know, without asking, that they are predominately old gits who run these sport governing bodies.

Apparently, this new dress code is a direct response to a report by sports consultants Octagon which found that badminton competitor’s attire was considered boring and unfashionable by potential television viewers.
Sponsors compared badminton unfavourably with tennis, where glamorous stars such as Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams attract as much attention for their outfits as their ground strokes.
Is it just me, but the obvious reason why Sharapova, Venus & Serena receive so much attention for their outfits is that they are all interested in fashion and work very closely with their apparel sponsors to design outfits which express their own tastes and personalities. Which makes it more interesting for viewers to watch.

Banning shorts for female badminton players is just a silly, simplistic answer to a more complicated issue of badminton’s poor image.
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