We were fortunate to attend two significant business events in Dublin yesterday. The annual lunch of the Ireland France Chamber of Commerce took place at the Aviva Stadium and the Annual Dinner of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce at the National Convention Centre. It is a measure of the intrinsic role which sport plays in every aspect of Irish life that it featured prominently in both.
At the French event the guest speaker was Irish Rugby Manager Joe Schmidt. He came from New Zealand to Europe in 2007 and cut his teeth in the northern hemisphere as coach of Clermont Auvergne before coming to Leinster in 2010 and leading the greatest comeback in Heineken Cup history against Northampton in the 2011 final.
He spoke with humour and humility about the roles he played within rugby and then with great feeling when talking about the challenges his family has faced since his youngest son developed epilepsy.
Schmidt was introduced and then brought through a question and answer session by former Dublin football manager and CEO of Dalkia, the French owned services company that has been a sponsor within Dublin GAA over many years.
The two men are friends and represent the cross sport culture that exists within Ireland and is particularly evident at this time of year when the inter county highs of the All Ireland Championships give way to the inter provincial efforts of Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connaught in rugby and the overwhelming presence of the Premier League and Champions’ League in soccer.
Irish sports fans in the main slide seamlessly between their sports in a way that is rare in other countries.
Sport for Business will host a special seminar on Sports Tourism at the GAA Museum in Croke Park on November 7th. Click here if you would like to join us for the morning of debate and delivery of ideas in this important economic area where sport has a vital role.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny was guest of honour at the Dublin event later in the evening but had to share the room with the Sam Maguire trophy which had been brought along by Dublin players Paul Flynn and Darren Ryan.
The talk and buzz there was also of comebacks, of challenging adversity and the language was once more that of sport.
Liam Kavanagh of the Irish Times and Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Bloomberg spoke either side of Enda Kenny and highlighted the ability to innovate, to adjust and to re-invent as being core elements of how business can succeed and is doing so again in Dublin.
We were guests yesterday of Sport for Business members Pembroke Communications and Ulster Bank and are grateful to both for their kind hospitality.
Sports Analytics Round Table – Oct 24
Sports Tourism Seminar – Nov 07
Irish Sponsorship Awards
Sports Philanthropy Round Table
Youth Sports Conference
Sport for Business 20/20 for 2015 – Oct 07 2014
