Bad sporting behaviour. Does reputation matter? Sports PR practitioners’ views.

A paper I wrote in 2009. Seems not much has changed.

The notion of the contemporary male sports star seems to span the spectrum between ‘bad boy’ and a supreme ‘god figure’ (Kell, 2005).

Abstract

Poor competitor behaviour in professional sports has been increasing for several years. Just when this trend took an upward turn is debatable. However, it seems to have increased in line with player salaries. The questions are: how seriously do clubs treat the problem, particularly from a reputation management perspective? Do clubs really care about reputation, or do they just say they do? What influence does public relations play in the process? This article attempts to explore these questions by focusing on the current state of play in Australia, through a review of literature, a survey and interviews with sports PR professionals. Unfortunately, despite the knowledge and good intentions of practitioners, players continue to transgress, and clubs seem either blind to the problem, or simply incapable of dealing with it.

Background

“One of the values that's often attributed to sport, and argued in its favour, is that sport builds 'character'. But what sort of character?” (A. Smith, 1999).

In gathering material for this Paper, I coded the articles with key words. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the key words (or should that be key offenders) that were predominant were rugby league, AFL, Ben Cousins, Manly, Bulldogs, sex, alcohol and assault.

The time span for this article takes place from 2004 to the present. In 2004 the Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league team became embroiled in a sex scandal that became a watershed for the code, and all other sports. I was teaching public relations at university in Perth, and used it as a case study in action. For me, it was the first time I consciously became aware of the problem, even though as a boy growing up in Sydney, and later as a rugby league reporter on the Daily Mirror, I was aware of player “shenanigans”.

However, this was confined (as far as I knew) to players like league international Johnny Raper running down a London street with nothing but a bowler hat, or teams just getting drunk. There were no incidents that shocked a nation. Players, after all, had jobs to go to the next day. The ABC’s 7.30 Report followed this line. “It's not the first time that a cocktail of sport, sex and alcohol has fuelled a spate of damaging headlines, but shocking allegations of sexual assault involving up to six first grade rugby league players has rocked the code” (Bannerman, 2004). Of interest, the ABC’s Radio National in 1999 produced a series titled The Sports Factor, which looked ethical factors in sport, including issues surrounding drug-taking, racial abuse, bribery scandals, match-fixing allegations.

Following the 2004 Canterbury scandal, the ABC’s PM program looked at rugby league and decided the sport had a problem.

“No professional sport is immune from high profile scandals, but Rugby League does seem to have more than its share. And while other codes are changing their culture and cleaning up their act, critics say the NRL is being left behind” (Knight, 2004).

The alarm bells were ringing then, and they still are. Fast forward to 2009, and the Manly, Brisbane, Newcastle, Easts and Cronulla clubs were regularly in the news. Australian Football wasn’t immune, either. As The Australian summed it up in a headline: “Players as stupid as ever”. The article, continued: “The evidence is now over-powering. The greatest collection of educated idiots is the pool of AFL players, which is close to 700 footballers deep” (P. Smith, 2009).

Among some of the incidents:

• Manly players expose themselves to TV cameras at an after-premiership party.
• WA cricketer Luke Pomersbach charged with assaulting a policeman.
• Easts rugby league player Willie Mason caught urinating in public.
• Matthew Johns sex scandal at Cronulla rugby league club.
• North Melbourne AFL club fined two players over chicken sex video.
• Panthers' rugby league hooker Masada Iosefa, charged over a wild pub brawl.
• Under-20 Australian soccer player charged with under-age sex.
• Canberra’s Todd Carney arrested for jumping on cars.
• Newcastle’s Ben Topou’s contract ends after being charged with assaulting a teenage girl.
• Melbourne rugby league player Greg Inglis charged by police for “glassing” his girlfriend. She declined to press charges.
• Manly player Anthony Watmough investigated for allegedly hitting a sponsor.
• Manly’s Brett Stewart charged with sexual assault.
• That was just in 2009. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Craig Sheehan listed 15 serious incidents (involving only rugby league players and women) from 2003 to 2008.
• Well known rugby league coach Phil Gould summed up most sports’ attitudes: “Well, that was a wake-up call, but no one wakes up" ("Rugby league's past comes back to haunt it," 2009).
• Of course, it’s not just the football codes that have their problems. Gofers John Daly and Tiger Woods’ had problems, as did Australian swimmer Nick D’Arcy, who was found guilty of assaulting another swimmer, Simon Cowley, in 2008. That incident came to a conclusion in 2012, with D’Arcy being found guilty, being ordered to pay compensation, declaring himself bankrupt, then being selected for the London Olympics. Allegations of secret deals between Swimming Australia and D’Arcy were floated. However, the incident did nothing for D’Arcy’s reputation, or that of Swimming Australia. Talkback radio and online forums overwhelmingly were vehemently opposed to the outcome.
• Clearly, most professional professional sports have problems, with these incidents clearly affecting a sport’s reputation, and players’ earnings. “The annual Sweeney Sports Report, released yesterday, provides the first hard evidence that being involved in controversy severely limits sportspeople's off-field earnings potential” (Schultz, 2009). The effect on clubs was reflected by leading company directors who are involved in sponsoring rugby league.
• “From John Symond, boss of Aussie Home Loans: ‘The reason you sponsor a sport or an athlete is to enhance your brand. At the moment rugby league isn’t enhancing our brand. If our contract was up next week, we wouldn’t renew it.’ Toyota’s GM of marketing Peter Webster threatened a rethink unless poor player behaviour is eliminated or almost eliminated” ("Sponsors warn NRL over sex scandal," 2009).
• While sponsors may be expressing disquiet, little is said by the clubs, or parent organisations, other than mostly motherhood statements along the lines of: “We treat an incident like this seriously, and if a player is found to have breached our code of conduct they will be disciplined”. That’s a standard response straight from the PR crisis management handbook.

Sports PR and reputation

One of public relations’ key functions is to drive reputation, which is: “... arguably the single most valued organizational asset” (Gibson, Gonzales, & Castanon, 2006). If that is the case, then where do sports PR practitioners stand on the issue? What are they contributing to their employer? Are they being listened to? That, as it transpired, proved somewhat difficult to discover.

In academic circles, the area of sports PR has been somewhat neglected. To my knowledge there is only one book on the subject. (L'Etang & Hopwood, 2008) acknowledge this. “Public relations is a fundamental part of the sports media complex, yet attention to sports public relations has been somewhat sporadic” (p. 87). So maybe it’s time to focus on just what sports PR practitioners do.

Perhaps part of the reason for sports PR’s lack of profile is because they have been “neglected” (not treated as part of mainstream practice). That said, it does not help when you survey the PR managers of 93 of Australia’s leading sports clubs and organisations and you only receive 17 replies (response rate of 18 per cent), despite an high initial interest shown during phone conversations.

Methodology

Initially, 93 PR practitioners were contacted. The list included PR/communications practitioners from the following competitions: national netball, soccer, AFL, NRL, Super 12 (rugby union), WBL, NBL and State Cricket Associations. Additional organisations included swimming, golf, tennis, surf life saving. Most organisations were contacted by phone, with all those contacted indicating they would respond. Eventually only 17 did. Responses came from rugby league (3), surf life saving (2), golf (1), soccer (4), AFL (3), cricket (2), basketball (1).

Survey summary

• Of these sports, all but one were conducted in a national-level competition.
• There was a reasonably equal gender mix, with nine of the sports (53%)
• played by males, and eight (47%) played by females.
• While the survey was directed to “communications” practitioners, the people that responded to the surveys had a range of titles. The most common title included the words “media” and/or communications (i.e, media manager, media officer, communications manager).
• The type of function these managers performed was predominantly PR- focused, with 41 per cent of them concentrating only on PR, 53 per cent working on a mix of marketing and PR, and only one respondent working on marketing only.
• The average time spent in communications roles was equally divided among the four choices: 0-3 years (24%), 3-5 years (29%), 5-10 years (24%), 10-plus years (24%).
• Tertiary qualifications featured prominently, with 77 per cents of the respondents having a university education (nine had undergraduate degrees, and four had post-graduate qualifications. Two had TAFE-level and Year 12 level education).
• Of those at university, six (38%) had studied journalism. Other areas studied included communications (three), PR (two) and marketing (two).
• In their studies, the most commonly taught subjects were media relations and writing media releases (at 70%). Reputation management was not prominent, with only two people having studied it.
• While not many had studied reputation management, 16 respondents said they had either a thorough (6) or reasonable (10) understanding of it. Only one person did not.
• All practitioners agreed that reputation management should be part of an organisation’s strategy.
• Most organisations treated reputation management seriously, with 12 organisations making it a priority, four treating it as “quite important” and one rating it as “slightly important”.
• All practitioners believed PR had a role to play in sports organisations’ business strategies.
• Public relations was integral to all but one organisation’s business strategy.
• A little more than half the respondents (53%) had not always worked in
• communications-related roles. The area these people came from included journalism (4) and fields as diverse as retail, sports management, marketing, politics and “electrician”.
• The most commonly-performed activity was media relations (94%), followed by stakeholders relations and issues management (88%), writing media releases (76%), branding (71%) and ethics (65%).
• Most people (82%) considered themselves part of their organisation’s management team. Three people said they didn’t feel that way. This correlated with whether or not the CEO asked them for advice during times of crisis.
• Most respondents (65%, or 11 people) said their CEOs consulted them in times of crisis.. Three said “sometimes”, three said “rarely”. No one was ignored by the CEO in this regard.
• All but one respondent agreed that Australian sports (in general) have an image problem. Eleven “strongly agreed” with the statement, and five “mildlyagreed”.
• Eleven respondents believe some sports need to be more aware of their reputation.
• It is interesting to note that the PR person from a sport which has a poor reputation, says their organisation only places “slight importance” on reputation, and that the CEO only sometimes asks for advice during a crisis.
• Some questions were open-ended. One asked what practitioners thought communications contributed to an organisation. Common answers included references to brand, revenue and as a linkage tool. Only one respondent touched on building reputation. In the same vein, only 24 per cent of respondents believed that social responsibility was important to an organisation.
• Based on the results, few practitioners seem well equipped to deal with reputation management, despite the fact they acknowledge its importance.
• Clearly, PR practitioners are aware of those sports with image/reputation problem, with rugby league and Australian Football at the top of the list, with a ‘dishonourable’ mention to rugby union. The comments made were as succinct as any that have appeared in the media on the subject. As one practitioner said: “The average sporting body is pretty arrogant in its approach to its publics.”

On rugby league: “I actually think they are aware, but perhaps sometimes don't seem to be as aware as they should be. It's an easy target. I think sometimes they come across as dismissive of certain issues.”

On Australian Football: “Tends to come across as arrogant and occasionally aloof. Not sure if they are as aware of this as they should be.”

Conclusion

It seems that sports marketers and PR practitioners do not place much store in reputation, until something goes wrong. While clubs “talk the talk” regarding reputation, it seems in practice little has been achieved. The notion of reputation seems difficult to implement in clubs (particularly professional ones), where the only objective is winning. Bad behaviour is a distraction and the memory dissipates over time. Constant reports of poor player behaviour indicate sportsmen do not see the value of protecting reputation. This could be linked to the clubs’ inability to implement structured programs to managed the issue, or simply a lack of interest.

References:

Bannerman, M. (Writer). (2004). Canterbury sex assault claims rock NRL, ABC TV, 7.30 Report.

Gibson, D., Gonzales, J. L., & Castanon, J. (2008). The Importance of Reputation and the Role of Public Relations. Public Relations Quarterly, 51(3), 4.

Kell, P. (2005). Bad boys and the cult of celebrity. On Line Opinion.

Knight, B. (Writer). (2004). Rugby League: a sport dogged by scandal [Radio], ABC Radio, PM.

L'Etang, J., & Hopwood, M. (2008). Editorial: sports public relations. Public Relations Review(June 2008), 87-89.

Rugby league's past comes back to haunt it. (2009, 16 May). Sydney Morning Herald. Schultz, J. (2009, 28 May). Sponsors steering clear of controversy. The Australian.

Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25547965-7582,00.html

Smith, A. (Writer). (1999). Ethical dilemmas in sport. In A. Smith (Producer), ABC Radio National: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio National.

Smith, P. (2009, 11 April). Players as stupid as ever. The Australian. Retrieved fromhttps://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25318388- 12270,00.html

Sponsors warn NRL over sex scandal. (2009, 20 May). Australian Financial Review.