Crisis Management Plan for Sports Club

This assignment requires creating an accurate crisis management system for a troubled sports club that has faced numerous issues, including player misconduct, coach dismissals, legal actions, and heavy penalties. The plan should effectively address these challenges, update media strategies, and ensure the club faces such conditions in a conductive manner.

MANAGING MEDIA
RELATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Essendon Football Club Supplement crisis............................................................................3
Crisis Management ................................................................................................................5
Crisis media management literature ......................................................................................5
Media Strategy .......................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The Essendon Football club is formulated for members playing in Australian Football
League(AFL) and come into existence on 1871. It is considered among the well established clubs
of football team. It is situated in Windy Hill, Essendon. The captain of this club is Dyson
Heppell. They have faced many crisis between 2013-2017. The investigation process is carried
for around four years. They have found that around thirty four participants have found fault in
the process (Howard, and Mathews, 2013). It is found that they have illegally used the peptide
Thymosin beta-4 which is banned for consumption and hence, they are indulged into big
problem. After investigation, club has been charged with many penalties that have to be faced by
club in order to face any risks. There are number of media strategy that are adopted by this
institution to represent their case in from of public, but there are some that have put impact in
their functioning therefore it have to be conducted properly.
MAIN BODY
Essendon Football Club Supplement crisis
It is a biggest scandal in history of football crisis that happened during mid 2010's. This
club have faced many quarrels related to it and have bear consequences in the form of various
penalties (Austin, and Pinkleton, 2015). The investigation of this case was started on 2013, and
was carried out in two stages which is discussed below:
The first stage: Under this they have concluded that there is no facts about supplements
and have underline that there is lots of shortfalls related to controlling factors and regulations.
After this the major setback they have faced was removal of senior coach James Hird and Danny
Corcoran (General manager).
The Second stage: In this part, it is a major turnover for the club that concluded that
maximum thirty four players have shown the reason notice from ASADA in 2014. They have
found using banned material which is illegal before law. But this matter was closed down after
hearing that happened in 2014-15 that announced that players were not consider guilty for their
action. This was not not accepted by World Anti-Doping Agency and they have approach to
court of Arbitration for sport on January,12 2016. finally, all these players were betrayed from
playing football for almost two years (Goetz, 2013).

The investigation that run from 2013 to 2016 by ASADA
This was started in 2013, the club was found with usage of illegal supplements that were
banned. It was also noted that plans or rules that were made for the club was not accurate or
correct (Black, 2013). In this they have to bear penalty for A$2 million, coaches were thrown out
from the team.
In 2014: Thirty four players were removed or rejected from the team as it was proved that
they were using banned material which is not acceptable.
In 2016: Arbitration court of sport have come into conclusion that 34 present or past
members have taken that illegal substance (Thymosin Beta-4). 12 contestants were not
terminated permanently but restricted for two years. This have proceeded only twelve members
to play in 2016 year under supervision. They have also acknowledged that in order to remain
competitive it is indispensable to hire new players to fill the gap of those who left the club. Five
rookies were also upgraded along with this.
In 2017: In this year, club has settled their issues and as finals were about to start. They
have make many changes and modification on their performance which were causing many
problems before them. They have worked so much on their performance level that they have
reached to finals. This time period was also highlighted with retirement of Jobe Watson, Brent
Stanton and James Kelly (Briones, Liu, and Jin, 2011).
Penalties imposed in this case is as follows:
They were not allowed to play any football match of any level and is restricted from
entering into premises or place where they used to play. In the other hand, players do not possess
the right to attend any training sessions for two months prior to banning process. But on the other
side they were allowed to perform certain actions which is as follows:
Accompanied AFL matches that consists of Essendon. They were still allowed to have
communication with their peer members and leaders at a social level. On the other side they can
work in media of AFL club. There are several repercussions related to this case which is as
follows:
There are several expenses which is included during this case, like presence of legal bills
and other actions. All these have to be managed very comely (Matos, and Silvestre, 2013).

Crisis Management
Crisis management refers to managing this scandal in expeditiously and effectual manner.
The manager have to be prepared themselves in such a way so that they can able to handle such
situations in exact and right mode. This is very important to manage these crisis in that time only
so that consequences associated with it does not remain for longer period of time. Essendon
Football Club have find out so many troubles in this time period (2013- 2017). If correct system
have been constituted they would not have come across so many issues that has been practically
occur in their club. The system should be framed in such a way so that they would have find out
key areas that need to be attended accurately. They can follow set standard that are developed in
order to remove any crisis that may arise in various fields related to management, working
process, operations and many more.
It is common to have some crisis on certain situations, the one way to remove it is to face
such conditions in such a way that does not pose many obstacles before them. Thus, it is
mandatory to build crisis management system that look after many aspects and help in removing
it in right time period (Dreher, 2014).
Crisis media management literature
There are various sources that broadcast various conditions that are highlighted below:
They have started using True Value Solar centres so that they can able to convey number
of matters to their public.
They have come up with “EFCListens” in result of investigation which was conducted by
ASADA in that time period. They have also change their team structures in such a style so that
they can hold this investigations with the use of social media.
They have introduced so many systems in precise and according to the need of an hour so
that they can come up from the problems very easily. Thus, crisis media management should be
in the hands of manager that manages all the issues related to it. There can be several
management systems that have to be examined and finally choose one out of many.
There are so many alternatives that have to be studied so that they can able to select the
best option that been able to execute in the system to achieve final outcomes and results in
proper time format.

Particular agencies are there that are established in this respect that make certain policies
and plans that have to be followed by every institution (Liu, and Kim, 2011).
Media Strategy
There are media strategy that can be adopted by club in order to bring some changes of all these
issues some are mentioned below:
There can be situation when people started protesting against such misshapen that occurs
during this time period. Hence in order to remove this the club can adopt certain policies, rules
so that problems can be met out effectively and efficiently.
The manager of the club should frame strategy so that the illegal rules that are not
beneficial for the agency should be consider while performing actions so that final functions can
be carried out in smooth manner.
In front of media the image should be presented that there are certain issues that are
related to health and safety aspects of players that are included in club. The Anti-Doping Code
agency have certain prohibition that has to be accepted by all sports club so that they do not face
any issues in future. Thus this process should be highlighted in accurate and correct mode.
Earlier there were inappropriate record keeping system therefore, efforts should be made
to alter these so that clear and transparent image of the system can be portrayed.
Human resource system should be updated so that proper hiring of players can be
performed in order to make the team best in the matches. The coaches were also trained properly
so that they can manage the team in accordance to current scenario.
The team culture should be drawn as per the set standards so that no consequences can be
raised that indulge the club into some charges that are against to their image and goodwill. As if
it is been shown to the public, the real image will fall down at significant level. Moreover,
revenues also fall because of these obstacles.
As club has faced the charge of huge amount that has to be beard hence, decorous system
of meeting unforeseen events must be drafted by the top level of management. It will help them
to prepare themselves for such situation that can arise in future time.
On the other hand, Media strategy should be revised in accordance to current time or
scenario so that they can made pace with the environment or world. They are able to maintain

competitive edge in the market. It is the duty of manager to conduct and frame such strategies in
proper format (Adams, and McCorkindale, 2013).
Proper management should be made that focuses on modifications that is required in
materials that must be consumed by players which are healthy for them. There are numerous
materials that are illegal and is banned hence, their consumption must be prohibited by the club.
There are some rules and regulations that are framed by government bodies and has to be
accepted by each club or agency related to any sports. This will aid in carrying out the activities
in legal manner.
There are can be possibility of scandals that can occur due to some reasons which are not
in favourable with the any particular entity. Thus, it is necessary to underline number of rules
and policies that are in favour of it so that no issues can be raised.
It is not easy to discover various damages that are causing number of effects on the
functioning of club hence, introduction of system that manages all such aspects of the club
system. These amendments can be of different types and nature all these have to be solved in
reference to these conditions (Waters, and Jones, 2011).
After such crisis it has become mandatory that products or materials should be checked
that are being consumed by each player. For example, the consumption of illegal material that
has been taken by candidates on 2013 which lead to so much of rising of issues. Therefore,
system must be executed in such a way so that club can work accordingly.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it can be concluded that Essendon Football club is a well
established club which plays for Australian Football League (AFL). During 2013 they have come
across with crisis that is related to usage of banned material namely, Thymosin Beta- 4 which is
consider illegal for the players to consume. This incident leads to facing of so many problems
which run from 2013 to 2016. It involves rejection of many players that are found guilty and
number of coaches were also dismissed for the same. Hence, this club have gone through with so
much of legal actions and restrictions that have posed many problems in front of them.
Therefore, it is essential to make crisis management system very accurately in order to face such
conditions in conducive way. They have faced so many penalties in such situation like they have
to pay huge amounts against these issues. Media strategy have also been updated to remove such
conditions.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adams, A. and McCorkindale, T., 2013. Dialogue and transparency: A content analysis of how
the 2012 presidential candidates used twitter. Public Relations Review. 39(4). pp.357-
359.
Austin, E. W. and Pinkleton, B. E., 2015. Strategic public relations management: Planning and
managing effective communication campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Black, S., 2013. Practice of public relations. Routledge.
Briones, R .L., Kuch, B., Liu, B. F. and Jin, Y., 2011. Keeping up with the digital age: How the
American Red Cross uses social media to build relationships. Public relations review.
37(1). pp.37-43.
Dreher, S., 2014. Social media and the world of work: A strategic approach to employees’
participation in social media. Corporate Communications: An International Journal.
19(4). pp.344-356.
Goetz, M., 2013. Invisible peril: Managing rate issues through public involvement. Journal-
American Water Works Association. 105(8). pp.34-37.
Howard, C. M. and Mathews, W. K., 2013. On deadline: Managing media relations. Waveland
Press.
Liu, B. F. and Kim, S., 2011. How organizations framed the 2009 H1N1 pandemic via social and
traditional media: Implications for US health communicators. Public Relations Review.
37(3). pp.233-244.
Matos, S. and Silvestre, B. S., 2013. Managing stakeholder relations when developing
sustainable business models: the case of the Brazilian energy sector. Journal of Cleaner
Production. 45. pp.61-73.
Waters, R. D. and Jones, P. M., 2011. Using video to build an organization's identity and brand:
A content analysis of nonprofit organizations' YouTube videos. Journal of Nonprofit &
Public Sector Marketing. 23(3). pp.248-268.