Matt Finnis, CEO St Kilda FC, Sports Leadership & driving Brand Australia

Planting the flag in Shanghai, driving Brand Australia, the business and IP opportunities for our nation to collaborate with China and the world, the benefits to Chinese organisations wanting to engage Australia - join me Matt Finnish, CEO of the St Kilda Football club and Philip Bateman, direct from his presentation at the 2019 Australia-China Economic Trade & Investment Expo (ACETIE).

Matt would like to thank many folk for their ongoing support, including -

https://www.vic.gov.au
https://www.austrade.gov.au
https://www.australia.gov.au
http://www.tourism.australia.com

Find out more about the club and join the journey via
https://www.saints.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/stkfc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/st-k...

Transcript

- Philip Bateman, Bravo Charlie, filming down here at ACETIE with Matt Finnis, CEO of the St. Kilda Football Club, and Matt, you just gave a wonderful presentation, a very inspiring one about sport, and essentially the leverage business can access, and the relationship building between nations. You've just been on a 12 month journey to plant the flag in Shanghai. Could you elaborate on that?

- We've taken one of our premiership season games of Australian Rules football and played that in Shanghai, for premiership points, so it's a big venture for us to do that, ultimately, it's us putting the flag in the ground, and starting a conversation with Chinese Australians, also with businesses, and that's Chinese businesses coming to Australia, but also Australian businesses going up into China, and it's a wonderful opportunity for us to grow our football club, and to take our people with us on a new journey, into new shores.

- And when you say your people, which people are we referring to?

- Well, I'm talking about our players, and our coaches, and our staff. I'm talking about our fans. I'm talking about our sponsors, and our corporate partners as well. One of the great things about AFL football, it's Australia's game; so many people are passionate about it. It provides a wonderful platform to build relationships and ultimately to do business, and we think that we can expand that platform globally, and what better place to do it than in China, which is increasingly becoming Australia's most important trade and commerce partner

- As the CEO of the organisation, you have the remit of the board, you have the figurehead position where people are going to look to you when things go wrong or when things go right. How do you balance the need to deliver for the fans at home, with saying to everybody, "we're going to China?"

- Look, I think a part of any CEO's job is to ultimately grow the business. In order to be able to keep being competitive, you need to be able to invest in your football program, and for us, the China strategy is a way for us to grow our business. We're taking our brand globally. We're developing new partnerships with businesses here in Australia and overseas in China. That ultimately allows us to grow our organisation, and ultimately invests back into our football program, and that will make our football program more successful over time and deliver the premierships that our fans are so keen for us to deliver.

- Any time I see a picture, like the pictures that were on the screen behind you, essentially, the athleticism of the modern player is just phenomenal. You've got partnerships with Swisse. You talked about "Brand Australia", taking AFL to the world, well China in this case because one in five people are going to be Chinese on the planet, so we have a lot of Australians that are Chinese. What is Brand Australia to you and how does the AFL tie into that?

- Well, I think part of the appeal of Australia, in China; it's about being clean, and green, and healthy, and we think that when you think about the vitality, the fitness, the strength, these young Australian men and women who are playing AFL are amazing ambassadors for Brand Australia. They're living that lifestyle. We think that allows us to share that aspect of Australian culture, in China, which then grows the broader narrative around Australian business and tourism, and opportunities for all Australian businesses. The Victorian government has recognised that, and they're partnering with us on this enterprise. And then we also see Austrade, and the federal government, and Tourism Australia involved as well, because I think everyone can see the potential. It's about being brave and courageous enough to put your flag in the ground, and lead the way, and hope that others will come on that journey with us.

- And for leaders of other sporting organisations out there, what would you say to them?

- I would say we're very still young on our journey, so it's not really for me to preach with any expertise. We're still learning every day and we will make any number of mistakes, but I think that at the end of the day, the size of the prize is worth it, in the sense that if you want to be a game which reflects a changing face of Australian people, you have got to start a conversation, and you got to do some things which are symbolic of your willingness to open yourself up, to be inclusive, and to encourage people who might not have been traditional customers or participants of your sport to come in, and try it. That's what this is about, I think we're seeing that a number of sports are seeing the opportunities with that, and certainly at AFL level, we're committed to it.

- This might be a little out of the lanes from a question perspective, though going after one percent of the market is always an entrepreneurial thing. "If we get 1% of the market." ..there's definitely enough potential population to be interested in this, though I'd suggest socio-culturally, China hasn't invested in a lot of second and third tier sporting infrastructure, such as soccer stadiums, football stadiums, cricket pitches? Never really been up there, so maybe that's changing because they've gone on an economic miracle, really. Essentially, a humanitarian miracle as I heard it earlier today, forty years of transforming a billion people into the middle class is amazing.

- I think you just see that growing Chinese middle class, you're seeing the greater appetite for involvement in sport, and health, and fitness. It's my understanding that the Chinese government is now investing in infrastructure to support that. And from our point of view, that might not mean lots of AFL Ovals throughout China, but it may well be that there's some intellectual property in how you develop sporting infrastructure here in Australia which we can help to export to China, to assist in that. One of the great things about Australian rules football is we've done some terrific infrastructure developments, which cater for elite, top-end sport, but also serve the community, and if you can get that integration right, it's a terrific model. There's perhaps something that we can help the Chinese to develop for their sporting needs in-country.

- You touched on AFL being an opportunity for Chinese brands to introduce themselves to Australia. Could you say a little about that?

- Certainly, our game is the number one sport in Australia. It has enormous passion amongst people. You have great broadcast reach, so there's been any number of companies over the journey who have used AFL as a means to introduce their new brand, or to raise their profile, to open up a new market. There's no doubt with some great Chinese businesses coming into Australia, that AFL is a great way to help them to nationalise their brands in this market, and we're really excited about so many opportunities that are on the horizon in that regard.

- Can you touch on your relationship with Monash University?

- We've had a partnership with Monash University around our sports performance for a little while now. Our journey into China has allowed us to take that partnership into a completely new domain, both here and overseas. With the engagement - Monash University has got such an extensive alumni up in China, and this game provides opportunity for them to engage that alumni in a different way than they had in the past, also back in here in Melbourne, you got 10,000 Chinese international students here in Melbourne alone. And we've worked with Monash to give some of those students a taste of Australian rules football, in a way which is really inclusive, so it will help them to understand, learn about the game, and we think that helps with their cultural introduction into Australia, which will hopefully enrich their time here studying, and potentially working in this country down the track.

- The more people I interview, the more I hear the alumni network is the hidden gem that's out there, because it is. There's so many Chinese that came to study here, and so many who've studied here who go back home. If there was one thing in the world you wanted people to know about the opportunity for sport, with China, what would you tell them?

- We haven't even scratched the surface. Let's begin a conversation, and see where that can take us because St. Kilda is a partner that's invested in this journey, and we think we've got a lot to offer, like-minded organisations that are curious about what an engagement with China, with Chinese Australians, can mean to grow their businesses, and if you've got like-minded values and a curious mind, then we should put no boundaries on what can achieved. It's an exciting time to be looking to do business in and around China.

- Wonderful, thanks so much for your time.

- Thank you.