2019/20 Joint Chair Report

Our report to the membership for the 2019/20 season is unprecedented in both its form and substance.

Transition of Chair

In early 2020, after almost 3 years as Chair of ANSW, Peter Higgins decided to take up a professional opportunity in the United Kingdom and therefore step down as Chair of ANSW. Matt Whitbread was subsequently unanimously elected to the Chair in February 2020 in a seamless transition to ensure continuity and stability for the sport in NSW. While the occupant of the Chair may have changed, the underlying strategy and continuity of the Board has not. We have worked together, both inside and outside the boardroom, for the better part of a decade and we are in lockstep as to the future direction of our sport. It is for that reason that we deliver the first joint Chair’s report for the 2019/20 season.

Over the past five months or so, both our sport and the world at large have been confronted with a challenge the likes of which we have not seen since the Second World War. That challenge has necessitated ANSW taking early and decisive action to ensure the long-term survival and strength of the sport in NSW.

COVID-19 and Our Team

The financials presented in this Annual Report show a significant financial loss for the 2019/20 year. That result is almost entirely attributable to the effects of COVID-19 which had its most significant impact on the ANSW business in the final month of our financial year, long before the welcome injection of both Commonwealth and NSW Government assistance which complemented decisive actions taken by the Board and management to stabilise the business. Those actions included very difficult decisions which had to be taken impacting the ANSW staff.
It is not lost on either of us the very real impact these decisions have had on the lives of the people who work day in and day out to make our sport what it is. It is precisely because of that very real impact that we and the Board were so impressed by and appreciative of the approach taken by the ANSW team towards the decisions taken by the Board and CEO during this period. Those necessary changes were accepted in the spirit in which they were intended – that is, to ensure the long-term survival of the business. The entire team is to be commended for their attitude and effort during what has been a period of unprecedented adversity.

We would also like to make particular mention of our CEO, Kirin Lindop. Barely more than a year into her tenure as CEO, Kirin navigated us through the most difficult conditions either of us have seen in the sport. Her professionalism, innovative mindset and ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances has left ANSW in a position where it is poised to rebound strongly out of what has been an unquestionably difficult period. The swift implementation of initiatives such as the Virtual Run Series and the staging of the universally praised Short Course Cross Country Championships at the Kembla Joggers facility in Dapto are just two instances of the fruits of Kirin’s leadership of the ANSW team.

Our Community

We said at the start of this outbreak that we must never forget that to participate in our sport is a privilege which must never be taken for granted. Even in the best of times, there are any number of members of the broader community who are not afforded the opportunities to participate in a fun, safe and welcoming environment that we are given as a matter of course. Never has there been such a poignant reminder of that fact than the last few months.

We are proud of the fact that, like our team at ANSW, the broader athletics community has rallied together to support each other through what have been common challenges and emotions. We are all incredibly frustrated at being unable to do what we love – whether that be competing ourselves, watching our loved ones participate, volunteering at our local clubs, coaching or officiating. We are nothing without the people who make up our community – athletes, officials, coaches, club volunteers and fans. Each of you have a fundamental and critical role to play in our sport and none can survive in isolation. We thank you for both the support you have provided each other and the patience you have afforded us during this time. As we continue to work our way back from this crisis, we ask that you all continue to adopt the same attitude towards the return to play as you have to its shutdown.  

The Year Ahead

Outside of COVID-19, our sport is on the precipice of profound change for the better which has been years in the making.

We are each committed to two principal strategic objectives for our sport in the next 12 months. First, the unification of athletics in NSW by finally achieving a coming together of Little Athletics, open athletics and masters athletics in NSW. And second, the reinvigoration of our core track and field competition product offering which will both serve our existing membership better and also bring our sport to an entirely new audience.

OneAthletics

The unification of athletics in NSW and indeed Australia has been the better part of a decade in the making. It has been the subject of extensive scrutiny and analysis which has produced any number of expert reports and recommendations. The outcome of that analysis and independent expert advice is express and unequivocal. While there undoubtedly remains work to be done on the precise mechanics of unification, there can no longer be any rational basis to deny that the underlying principle of coming together is in the best interests of the sport as a whole.

We must end the culture of ‘us’ and ‘them’. We are not Little Athletics, opens and masters. We are all here because we love the same sport and we want it to be as successful as it can be for those who come after us. The unification of athletics in NSW will be ANSW’s single most important strategic focus in 2020/21 and represents the single biggest opportunity for our sport to take a quantum leap forward to the benefit of the entire athletics community.

Our Competition Offering

The second major strategic initiative of the Board in 2020/21 is the reinvigoration of our track and field competition product offering. For too long we have done things because that’s the way they have always been done – tinkering at the edges without addressing the fundamental limitations of how we deliver our sport. With a number of notable exceptions where members of our community have attempted to drive innovation, that complacency has seen the sport stagnate in NSW and that must change.

At the Board’s direction, the ANSW team have begun work on developing a track and field competition product offering which both serves our existing membership and participation base better, while also opening up our sport to an entirely new audience. While the operational details of that revamp remain a work in progress, a number of fundamental principles have been agreed by the Board to guide the revamp.

First, there will be an increased focus on meets being held within specialised event groups so that athletes can participate in meets tailored to the events they want to compete in – rather than at meets trying to be everything to everyone. Second, there will be an increased focus on delivering events closer to the entirety of our membership and participation base, in recognition of the fact that we have at times drifted into becoming ‘Athletics SOPAC’ and ‘Athletics Sydney’. Third, we will endeavour to decentralise competition delivery away from ANSW and towards empowering our member clubs which will assist in both expanding the number of competition opportunities for athletes while also ensuring the long-term viability and growth of our member clubs.

The reinvigoration of that competition product offering will not be a quick process. We will not get it entirely right the first time around. In that regard, we ask our community to be patient and work with us to continually improve the way we do things, in the same way you have done over the past few months. If we work together, are prepared to be innovative and find a better way of doing things, we are confident that we can both improve what we already do and also open up our sport to an entirely new audience which will bring with it untold opportunities.
 
We understand and appreciate that in order to achieve these priorities we will need to step outside of our comfort zone. However, we must be prepared to do that if we are to take our sport to the next level. To stand still is to watch the world pass us by. We as a sport must be better than that. We must be bold and prepared to fail in order to reach for success. This sport, our sport, has enormous potential. We have to be brave enough to chase it.

Yours in Athletics,

Dr Peter Higgins and Matthew Whitbread