The influence of the event and why it matters
Running a successful international sporting event year after year and gaining increasing plaudits each time we do it indicates dedication and professionalism of a high order. Outsiders appreciate it and react accordingly.
Wirral Borough Council
WBC is a serial supporter of the Wilson Trophy which it sees as a supplier of visitors to the peninsular and as an advertisement for the area.
The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2006 was obviously an international showcase without parallel but the resources and investment made by WBC in that event showed how valuable international sporting events are to local economies.
The Wilson Trophy may be dwarfed by the size and importance of the Open as one of sport’s giant events but its relative size is compensated by its repetition. We stage it every year; it is Wirral’s only annual international sporting event. WBC recognises this and has consistently given help and resources and regularly makes grants to the club, the recent highlight being £5,000 in 2005.
New York Yacht Club
Which is the greatest of them all? Sailing club, that is.
Which is the most prestigious, the best-known, the most-respected, the most exclusive club on the planet? There probably isn’t an answer and there could easily be different answers for each heading particularly round a bar late at night. GBR would throw the Royal Thames, the Royal Yacht Squadron and RORC into the discussion but no-one could have that debate without strong representation from New York Yacht Club.
Apart from being “one of the world's most distinguished and influential yachting institutions”, it also famously held on to the America’s Cup, the oldest active trophy in international sport, for well over a hundred years before the Australians famously won it from them in 1985.
The Wilson Trophy has attracted entries from NYYC for many years. And now it has attracted active and specific support. The friends of NYYC has sponsored three boats in the club’s Wilson fleet and sponsored £1,500 of advertising space for the Diamond Jubilee event in 2009.
Government
A good example of the influence the Wilson Trophy gives the club is the club’s bid to host the 2005 World team-racing championships. (This is about the original bid the club made when sentiment rather than good sense on the ISAF sub-committee originally awarded the event to India, not the subsequent ISAF botch-up when India withdrew and a substitute had to be found in a hurry and ISAF turned to West Kirby.)
Backing from central government as part of the club’s bid would obviously boost the credentials of the bid. Help was sought from the local MP, Stephen Hesford, who laid on a meeting with the appropriate Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell. Three of the organising committee went to London and the meeting concluded with an appropriately-worded letter of support and a photo of the trio with Stephen Hesford and Tessa Jowell, both of which were used in the final bid document.
The point is that Hesford obviously thought it was worth his while spending some of his political capital in arranging the meeting. The club, through its ability to run international events, is obviously an important organisation with the constituency and could rely on his help in times of need. Many of us remember the RSPB proposal to ban sailing boats within a mile of Hilbre. It didn't come to anything but say it had?
Twiname Trust
The Twiname Trust is a foundation for the encouragement of youth and junior sailing set up by Eric Twiname’s father in his son’s memory.
Eric Twiname was brilliant in all he did and died sadly at an early age. He was a musician, author, aviator and sailor. One of his favourite events was the Wilson Trophy.
It is therefore fitting that the Trust should recently have provided the finance for the provision of six Feva dingies based at West Kirby Sailing Club for the use of junior sailors and a perpetual trophy in his name for the best Under-21 team in the Wilson Trophy.
Website
The modern Wilson is run by its website. Since 2001 the only way to enter has been online. The Wilson website is now legendary.
Each year the event is announced through the updated site and this year (2009 – the Diamond Jubilee special event) the launch was on 18th December. These are the site’s statistics between then and 4th April, supplied by Google:
There were 3,941 visits from 36 countries, with a total of 38,607 pages viewed. Each visitor viewed an average of 9.8 pages on each visit and stayed on the site an average of 4 minutes 50 seconds.
Well, you may say, bully for us but, in the end, so what?
This is what. Sponsors look for a commercial return on their investment and they measure it by footfall. How many people visit the event, how much coverage does it get in the press and how many visitors are attracted to the website. Sponsors and would-be sponsors – the ones who do and will pump money into the club’s coffers – will be very impressed by those figures.