"Clubs with a Future" - Leadership and Society in Amateur
and Semi-Professional Sports
A conference was held yesterday at the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management GGFBM at BGU: "Clubs with a Future", a unique collaboration of the GGFBM's Department of Management and Mandel Institute for Social Leadership, the Israfans (the Association of Sports Fans in Israel), Beitar Nordia Jerusalem and Maccabi Beer Sheva. The focus of the conference was on social leadership in Amateur and Semi-Professional Sports. The conference was attended by representatives of amateur soccer clubs and semi-professionals, including club managers, fans, entrepreneurs, academics, and students of the GGFBM's Department of Management Sport Business Management study track.
The conference dealt with topics such as community leadership, fan involvement in group management and education for children and youth, budget building and the future of sports clubs.
Shai Golub from Israfan lectured on management and leadership on game day; Nir Hazut from Maccabi Beer Sheva and Dr. Shlomit Guy from Maccabi Beer Sheva, who also teaches sports management in the GGFBM track, spoke about leadership and vision in amateur clubs. Aviv Sharfstein lectured on the reasons for the establishment of Beitar Nordia Jerusalem and the budget-making process of the club; Niv Nahlieli, a GGFBM PhD student as well as lecturer in sports management, spoke about the management of learning processes and the value of the professionalism of youth groups, but also the professionalism of coaches.
The last lecture was given by Chief Superintendent Yaron Aram and Chief Superintendent Shir Golus of the Israel Police, who presented the role of the Violence Prevention Unit in Sports and explained the police activity and cooperation between the Unit and the clubs.
Dr. Stav Rosenzweig, academic head of the GGFBM Sports Business Management study track, said: "The large and rich groups receive a lot of advertising, but in the field, the small clubs, both in social involvement and entrepreneurial spirit, are of central importance. The lesson learned is that in order to make a real change, there is no choice but to get up and do, even if there is no budget, and even if it is difficult."
The Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management GGFBM at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is the most dynamic management faculty in Israel with the largest variety of management degrees. GGFBM graduates come out with a significant added value in leadership and social responsibility, in connecting to practice and in impacting on the solution of management and social issues. The tools acquired, the interaction in innovative teaching and mentoring with leading senior executives, the relevant research environment, all address the growing need for managers who are also leaders and who have a broad vision.
