IT’S often said that sport is the lifeblood of a regional community. That’s why it’s so important that our national competitions give back to the regional areas that provide them with so many of their crowd-drawing stars.
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The AFL, National Basketball League, A-League and cricket, through its Big Bash league, are proactive in taking their brands outside city centres.
They must continue to do so – to reward country and regional fans, to attract new supporters and to allow athletes who honed their skills in regional areas to give something back to the towns that kick-started their careers.
These sporting bodies must not forget the large roles these communities play in keeping their brands alive.
The AFL has community camps, player visits and pre-season matches scattered throughout Australia.
And crowds have flocked to games in places like Wangaratta, Colac, Ballarat and Moe for JLT Community Series matches in recent years.
The AFL is the biggest sporting beast in the country and could probably ease off in these areas and just rely on its drawing power. Not that it should.
However, other competitions, such as the NBL and A-League, need to promote their brands as they wrestle for a slice of the limelight.
Basketball is enjoying a new lease on life at the moment, thanks to a Larry Kestelman-inspired NBL.
It wants to leave the herculean days of the 1990s behind and better them.
So far, things are going in the right direction.
Kestelman has secured TV deals with every game live on Foxtel, and has overseen a re-branding with an emphasis on social media and promotion.
The league – which has teams in smaller markets such as Cairns and Illawarra – has also embraced regional areas, taking its pre-season blitz competition to Bendigo and Ballarat this year.
A FIBA World Cup qualifier between Australia and Kazakhstan in Bendigo was also a way of inviting regional supporters to come along for the Boomers’ journey.
Moe, Traralgon, Mudgee and the like have welcomed A-League and Big Bash clashes.
Some of our nation’s biggest sporting stars have come from regional areas and we need to see them more in our backyards.
The current expansion of elite sport into regional areas must not be a fad. It needs to continue and grow sustainably.
Justine McCullagh-Beasy is a Fairfax journalist.
