How to Make Orienteering Fashionable

[johnloguk]

I nearly added this to an existing thread, but then though "no, be brave and start a new one"

Lots of recent threads have been about how to increase participation at orienteering events, and thereby in some idealistic way save the future of the sport. People have suggested lower event fees, others have suggested higher fees to include a ring-fenced surcharge for development. BOF are offering free first year membership, many clubs are offering innovative schemes such as MADO (sorry Mrs H, you must be getting fed up of always being quoted in this sort of thread ), and to be fair there are areas of great success, and yet orienteering is still in a slow decline.

It seems to me that there is one big thing that would at a stroke increase participation, and that is if orienteering suddenly became fashionable! But how on earth do we do that? It is true that there are many other attractions competing for people's attention, so how to raise orienteering up the priority list?

Gyms and health clubs are now full of people who would never have been seen near them 10 years ago, and bizarrely they seem prepared to pay mad money for the privilege , how is this? Simply that going to gyms is now fashionable. 20 years ago I struggled to get on a squash court because they were always booked up, now I can nearly walk on any time I want because squash is no longer fashionable.

I know that orienteers can appear very middle class from the outside, it all seems a lot of impenetrable jargon, newcomers aren't always made welcome, we look weird in our strange "plumage", but orienteering remains the most wonderful sport in the world to us addicts. How can we make ourselves more attractive to the outside world, so that people actually want to join in?

Improved media profiles for top orienteers, and a positive public image to replace the anoraky one we have at present. Jumping on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon somehow? We all know the big idea stuff, but how to actually do it, answers on a postcard Because we've exhausted the local initiative stuff in other threads I really want the image changing stuff, not the "run events from sports centres" ideas, although they are valid tactics in a different way.

[NeilC]

Cricket was very fashionable following the Ashes series last Summer and there were several prominant role models (particularly Flintoff). Twenty-Twenty matches are packed - with a new spectator demographic. The effect all of this had on our cricket club (one of the biggest in the county with 200 registered colts) was not a lot.

Perhaps cricket has the wrong image too, but of couse I believe it to be the (second) most wonderful sport in the world.

[Darley]

Sadly this is what people picture when you mention orienteering:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/a ... 50x180.jpg

[SeanC]

Bring in Trinny and Suzanna!

Slightly more seriously we could improve the kit (not an original suggestion I know).

At my wife's hockey club the first team's kit is brand new, funded partly from club funds, partly from sponsorship.

[HOCOLITE]

I'd like to see good looking muscley men , who are personable and females who are not too skinny or too butch, wearing smart tidy sports clothes. It is crucial that these people are approachable and can sell the sport with their enthusiasm. No good bearded pyjama wearers using jargon.

Skinny model types are not good for the sport the punter has to believe they can do it and that dieting is not the major requirement. Enjoyment is the key. Also Prizes are attractive, not just for winners but for improvers and may be spot prizes. These don't need to be medals and not certificates (unless they are really classy). Clotted cream or other local delicacies donated by local businesses are good and also establish an association between the businesses and the sport.

[Becks]

I'm sorry, I know I should resist this but well, it's almost silly Friday.

How's about you get a group of our fittest, fastest, most attractive, snazziest bright red and blue lycra sporting athletes and run them at high speed round one of Britain's most picturesque capital cities on a beautiful November afternoon, taking lots of photos and getting all the local (and maybe some national) media involved?

Or how's about you stick them in a secluded army barracks for some team building games instead?

I know I know, point previously made and dismissed. But Johnloguk just tempted me a little too much.

[brooner]

How's about you get a group of our fittest, fastest, most attractive, snazziest bright red and blue lycra sporting athletes and run them at high speed round one of Britain's most picturesque capital cities on a beautiful November afternoon, taking lots of photos and getting all the local (and maybe some national) media involved?

i didn't realise edinburgh was having a sprint race in november?

[Kitch]

just what I thought Mr B


Fashionable
the whole point about fashion is that it is fickle, it changes.
I don't think its a very good direction.

your example of squash shows that.

How about we start with Understood,
progressto Respected
finally achieving Admired.

[graeme]

Never mind Becks, I'll be there - might not be the serious-athlete image we want but at least I hear there's a few pubs en route.

Graeme

[johnloguk]

I agree with what you say about fashions Kitch. But I just think that if orienteering were more fashionable, even for a few years, it would give us enough new blood to kickstart things to another level. It might be a forlorn hope, but a hope nonetheless.

[AndyO]

There was a discussion on increasing participation in the sport at an SOA workshop last year, and the group consensus was that it was important to improve the image of the sport by projecting the elite competitors as role models. They are the fittest, fastest, most attractive etc athletes, as Becks says, and present the best image of the sport for public consumption through press and broadcast media. Modern textile technology and better designs of clothing helps a lot, too.

Sure, orienteering is a great family sport that is enjoyed by all ages and abilities, but if you want mass appeal, then you have to present your best side for the public.

Look at the examples of other sports, and you find two common features: heroes, and equipment and clothing that young and old aspire to buy. Sports like football, rugby, golf and skiing are established, but compare our sport with downhill biking, triathalon, snowboarding and the like, sports that are not cheap to take part in with gear comparatively expensive at the top end. Yet they have higher media profiles than orienteering.

I believe that the general public has a clearer idea of what these sports are about, because they see them on the tele. They are more media-friendly because of their relative simplicity to explain, and because they can be covered by radio and television easily, and they are visually attractive with lots of movement. Because of all that, of course, they attract lots of money through sponsorship.

I also believe that orienteering would make an attractive "product" for television, but needs some risk taking by the TV companies. They can cover lots of sports with multiple camera positions, so there is no technical barrier, so what stops them?

the terrain? - park, or sprint races could become the "showcase" part of the sport if forests are seen as too remote

the time-trial format? - could we change that to a head-to-head race format for some races?

the lack of crowds? - is there enough atmosphere at the finish? does the sport generate a sense of excitement? - race commentary helps (nobody to touch Nopesport, though - best in the business )

I don't ever expect to see lots of coverage of orienteering on TV, but it would be great if they made a start with covering WOC, or World Cup races, over here. It might help us get over the walking boots and rucsac image, then we can work on the nylon pyjamas

[SeanC]

Two sports/pastimes that used to be unfashionable/unpopular and are more fashionable/popular now:

- ballroom dancing
- bingo

My conclusion is that if something is fundamentally an enjoyable experience, good publicity (ie in the case of ballroom dancing - Strictly Come Dancing) can bring the punters back. Failing that, you can always bribe them with cheap beer

[HOCOLITE]

Bring on the celebs for strictly orienteering. We can use trak trak as in the world champs and big screens that will make it high tech.... I wonder who could do the route choice critic, someone nasty, someone with razz matazz and someone irresistable. Then there is the compare.....Andy Monro?

[johnloguk]

Andy Monro or Graham Norton? Now that could be another whole new thread

Joking apart I think "Strictly Come Orienteering" could be a laugh if done in the right spirit. But we've seen orienteering used and abused in the very wrong spirit on TV so many times. It is exciting enough without having to hide kites and play silly tricks on competitors.

Having watched Ben Fogle's Extreme Dreams recently I also worry that it would be turned into some sort of sub-Big Brother voyeuristic thing, with the editing concentrating on conflict and selfish drama queen antics. But now I'm showing a personal bias against that type of show

[runnerbean]

How about blowing our entire annual publicity budget on a national cinema advertising campaign?

Something on the lines of...
frantic head-cam, being chased through the forest-style footage, followed by map/compass check, control being punched, then elite competitor emerging into sunlit run-in field, loads of cheering spectators, podium prize-giving etc.
"Orienteering - extreme navigation" kind of thing.

At least it might help shake off the rucksack-carrying, treasure hunting image.
Is it really budget-blowing? I've no idea.