October
AugustFuture proofing
Great article, big Richie (16/8), re getting our future participants — the kids — on board.
Sure, racing needs to look after everyone’s interests, but in any long-term business the next generation is always absolutely vital.
We need to study what’s working in other sports. Example, cricket — 40 years ago it was dull, barely alive. Strop and Kerry, against the establishment’s bitter resistance, revolutionised it with one-dayers.
After 30 years at the top it eventually backslid. About seven years ago, again with no help from the establishment, India reinvented it with T20.
This phenomenon feeds off publicity, Free entry for kids, action-packed short programs, stars widely promoted, stats and apps everywhere.
Kids now don’t even want to be Australian captain Michael Clarke when they grow up, they want to be T20 stars like Glenn Maxwell.
So can we get a racing app targeting kids up and running? Punt-free but focusing stats of the heroes — horses, jockeys, trainers, strappers, stablehands, owners. Fantastic too if we could get schools on board.
Most race clubs let kids in free, and rightly so. Give the future customer a taste early.
I thought I read in Winning Post some time ago that some Queensland clubs were not letting under-18s in at all, because of licensing restrictions.
If true, how sadly misguided that is.
Gold Coast (Qld)