Brisbane responds to Al Sheahen

Dear Editor: 

The Local Organising Committee of the 14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships were deeply disappointed with the editorial viewpoint of Mr. Al Sheahen and asks respectfully that the National Masters News allow us to respond to his allegations.

Mr. Sheahen never formally approached Mr. David Lloyd, general manager of the 14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships, for an interview. As such, we question the integrity of his article and ask if it is more the chosen personal opinion of Mr. Sheahen rather than a true reflection of the facts of the event. His article does not reflect the opinion of the Local Organising Committee of the 14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships, the Brisbane City Council and the State Government of Queensland and we must strongly express our disappointment and anger at the allegations made.

Queensland Events Corporation, representing the Queensland State Government, bid for the rights to host the 14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships in the city of Brisbane. Whilst a major reason to bid for this event was to generate an economic benefit for the state (and is the main reason that most cities bid for major events), the Local Organising Committee’s charter was to ensure that it delivered an event, as contracted that was acceptable to the WAVA Council and the athletes who attended the Championships and to conduct the event in a professional manner and in “friendly competition, equality and fairness.”

Mr. Sheahen has raised a series of concerns regarding this event and we have addressed these herewith. 

Mr. Sheahen stated “there is no way to make money on these games.” It was not the intent of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the 14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships to make money on the games. The LOC was a non-for-profit entity that worked as part of the Queensland Government efforts to bring the games to the City of Brisbane.

Mr. Sheahen’s inference that “the event lost up to $500,000 Australian dollars” was completely incorrect. The final board meeting of the LOC was presented final statements showing that the event made budget.  Did the Local Organising Committee cut costs as Mr. Sheahen inferred?

(Sheahen wrote:)  “Transport -- The Local Organising Committee has promised frequent free shuttle bus services from the hotel to the venues, as in Gateshead in 1999, and as specified in the WAVA contract. But it reneged without WAVA’s OK.”

The Local Organising Committee has worked closely with the WAVA Council in the lead-up to the Championships and consulted them extensively on all aspects of competition, transport, ceremonies, protocol and athlete services. The discussions between the WAVA Council and the Local Organising Committee were open and upfront with no hidden agendas. The Local Organising Committee spent considerable time liaising with each member of the Council in particular with  Vice Presidents Ron Bell and Jim Blair on the competition aspects and with Rex Harvey on scheduling and technical aspects of the Championships.

At no stage did the Local Organising Committee deliberately seek to mislead the Council on how the event was being conducted. Such an inference is slanderous to the integrity and professionalism of the staff and Board of the Brisbane Local Organising Committee.

As far as the LOC is aware, Mr. Sheahen was not privy to our contract to WAVA as negotiated and signed by both parties in 1999. In this contract, the LOC stated that it would provide free bus transportation from all agreed accommodation precincts to all venues. This was further confirmed in all promotional literature provided by the Brisbane Committee to all athletes and national governing bodies. At no stage did the LOC state that it would provide the transport from the hotels to the venues as was provided in Gateshead in 1999.

The transport schedules were developed in conjunction with Brisbane Transport who provide the public transport system for the City of Brisbane and who have provided similar services to major events for the city including the World Masters Games in 1994 and the Goodwill Games conducted in September 2001. The Brisbane City Council agreed to provide the transport system through Brisbane Transport for the WAVA Championships in the initial bid in 1997. The WAVA bus pass, provided free to all registered persons, enabled the athletes and accompanying persons to choose their bus service using a comprehensive transport service which was backed up with an intricate communications and operations procedure. The schedule was developed so that athletes would be able to travel to the stadia in an efficient manner. They would have the option to choose to travel to both stadia venues via a city hub and to not have to travel out to one stadia to transfer back to the other stadia, as occurred in Gateshead, thus adding another 40 minutes to their journey.

We are curious as to why Mr. Sheahen has stated that the services decreased from two and a half hours on week one to one hour on Week Two when the schedule for the buses did not change during the Championships. Utilising an existing Brisbane service meant that all schedules were adhered to as per every day of the year. Buses departed the city every 8 to 15 minutes (dependant on the time of day) to the main venue with the capability to transfer 1,500 persons an hour on these services.

A shuttle service departed the Bus Station located closest to the QEII Sports Service bringing passengers directly into the venue. This service was added to the schedule in the last stages of the plan for following reasons. Firstly the existing service to ANZ Stadium dropped participants on the roadside on Mains Road opposite the stadium. However, Mains Road is one of the busiest four-lane roads in Brisbane, and this caused concern amongst the transport planners as to the dangers of participants crossing the road at this point. In addition, with Australian driving being on the left side, there was concern for those athletes from Europe and America looking the wrong way when crossing the road. Whilst the above service may have added up to 20 minutes to the transport times, the LOC felt that providing this shuttle was vital to athletes’ well being and safety.

We had anticipated that there may be long waits on specific occasions, especially after the Opening Ceremony and International Party, however all athletes and spectators were cleared from ANZ Stadium after the Welcoming Ceremony within forty-five minutes of the close of the ceremony. A regular bus service departed from the International Party night starting from 10 p.m. until midnight. All taxi services were fully briefed on the Championships and when needed were quick to respond to athlete bookings and to our Transport Manager.

(Sheahen wrote:)  “The International Party cost US$28 for some chicken and burgers. Drinks were extra.” 

Which event did Mr. Sheahan actually go to? There were ten different types of food available, including two versions of oysters, scallops, chicken skewers, crocodile sausages, soups, stir-fried vegetables and the abovementioned chicken and burgers. There was no limit to how much you could eat. The food service commenced at 7 p.m. with the last food station closing just after 10 p.m.  In addition, a selection of gourmet biscuits and tartlets were available at the coffee station. The catering was conducted by Caxton Street Catering, an award-winning Queensland establishment.

Two stages were used for entertainment during the event, which enabled one side of the hall quiet time between the “loud and raucous” music whilst the other side partied. Whilst certain party styles are not to everyone’s liking, at least half of the attendees were there until the close of the function at midnight.

In 1999, the equivalent price of the ticket was US $33 for one plate (only) of roast meat, salad and some vegetables followed by a frozen packaged dessert -- drinks were extra.

Mr. Sheahen commented that “the LOC, in an apparent effort to garner even more tourist dollars, completed each day’s events in the midafternoon so athletes could go into town at night and spend more money.”

The scheduling of events was planned for the following reason only. The WAVA Championships were conducted in Brisbane’s winter, which means that the sun is usually set by 5:30 p.m., and at this time the temperature drops from 20 degrees to below 15 degrees Celsius. Concerns were raised shortly after Gateshead as to these temperature conditions being detrimental to athletes’ well being, performances and health. The scheduling of events to finish before or around 5 p.m. (not midafternoon) was not to garner more “tourist dollars” as Mr. Sheahen stated. In future events, does Mr. Sheahen wish for LOCs to extend an already tight event schedule into the early evening to alleviate his concerns that athletes may have a good time and want to spend the evenings with friends exploring the city that they have traveled thousands of miles to visit?

Two to three announcers worked each venue on a daily basis and the LOC never considered announcing a low priority. The USA official who was originally assigned to work the vertical jumps volunteered to undertake announcing and when given the chance to be relieved of this duty to return to the field, declined as he was “having a great time.”

Whilst initially there was only one hip number given out to distance runners from 800m events and up (a requirement if there is only one camera in photo finish), two hip numbers were then given out to alleviate concerns by lap counters. Two hip numbers would not have made a difference to the reading of a close race since only one camera was used for photo finish in both stadia at QEII Sports Complex. It is hard to photograph a competitor from the other side if there is no camera!

The LOC conducted an intensive signage audit prior to the Championships for all venues. Over 400 signs were allocated throughout all venues during the Championships directing athletes and spectators to various areas. At least half of these were in four languages -- English, French, Spanish and German. If the other half were not in English, we can only apologise to Mr Sheahen  for not understanding “Australian.”

For a “nonmedia” event, the LOC was very happy with the coverage of the Championships. The local media was outstanding in its coverage of the event with both the local suburban newspaper and the city / state newspaper providing coverage on the event every day of the Championshis. News was also broadcast on television locally and nationally. This has continued throughout Australia with many local suburban newspapers producing stories about their athletes on their return home.

The Welcoming (Opening) Ceremony, after consultation with the WAVA Council, focused the entertainment to the athletes, with the seating of the athletes in the stands so that they were the audience for the formal part of the ceremony. This included the welcoming speeches, a performance by a local band, a presentation by the local indigenous theatre and dance group and concluded with a fireworks theatrical display not conducted in Brisbane before. From our accounts, we did not see any of the athletes depart during the ceremony which was kept to a minimum to ensure that the athletes were not seated in the cold for an extensive period of time.

We acknowledge that VIP functions were conducted throughout the event for the sponsors and stakeholders who combined contributed over AUD $1 million to the event. These functions were informal, conducted in a business environment, and some athletes were invited to attend. They were also conducted during competition so that the sponsors and stakeholders had the opportunity to witness firsthand the spectacle of the Championships.

In addition, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane conducted a civic reception for those athletes who have participated in every World Championships conducted with an additional list of athletes invited to attend. It is noted that Mr. Sheahen, as a guest of the Sacramento bidding team, had no problem attending the dinner held in one of Brisbane’s five-star restaurants conducted for a select list of VIPs.

The Closing Ceremony has never altered from its original plan. A band commenced in the Piazza to entertain athletes from 6 p.m., followed by the formal closing of the WAVA Championships at 7 p.m. with a fireworks spectacular over the river at 7.30 p.m. Music continued in the Piazza after the spectacular. The fireworks display was dedicated to the conclusion of the Championships and was a public display to allow all residents of Brisbane to farewell the event. Mr. Sheahen’s statement that the “Closing Ceremonies were, in effect, cancelled” was completely false and the “promised singing of  “Waltzing Matilda’ didn’t happen because it wasn’t promised in the first place!

(Sheahen wrote:)  “Volunteers and staffers did much of the work.”

 Mr. Sheahen must have been privy to all contracts including employment contracts. With a full-time staff of 13 and additional part time staff of 8 -- who were the others that were supposed to do the work? 

Mr. Sheahen, your comments “that the event succeeded at all was remarkable” is both distressing to the staff and volunteers who worked hard to make this event a success. This is the largest IAAF athletics event in the world and unfortunately due to its nature does not achieve the large amounts of sponsorship or media attention that other higher profile sporting events achieve. As such, the World Veterans Athletics Championships have always relied on its officials and volunteers to ensure that each event runs as smoothly as possible. The dedication and effort of these volunteers cannot be underestimated nor can the work that was conducted by our staff in the months leading into the Championships. Your comments have demeaned the effort that our entire team put into ensuring that the athletes truly enjoyed competing in Brisbane.

On behalf of the Board and the staff of the 14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships, I would like to thank each and every athlete, accompanying person, official and volunteer who participated in the Brisbane Championships and wish Puerto Rico and San Sebastian every success in conducting this event which we were extremely proud to host.  

KERRY WATSON
Chairman
Local Organising Committee
14th WAVA World Veterans Athletics Championships
Brisbane, Australia