Club Marine drop sponsorship of AMIF Awards

by John Heselwood - Boating BUSINESS on 21 Sep 2007 Powerboat-world publishes online, the important news article by Editor John Heselwood in the latest issue of Boating BUSINESS

Club Marine CEO Mark Bradley has confirmed that the company has withdrawn its sponsorship of the Australian Marine Industry Federation Boat of the Year Awards.

Says Mark Bradley, 'while a lot has been said and written about the AMIF Awards, there is now considerable doubt as to the virtue of the Awards. The matter in which AMIF decided to ignore advice that a boat which was to be named as a category winner was ineligible was unforgivable.

'There is no doubt that they knew the particular boat hadn't been tested, they knew the nomination was false and they knew the boat wasn't even built by the time the nominations closed.'

According to Mark Bradley, he had insisted on a crisis meeting with the AMIF Board at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show to discuss the issue. 'I said to the Board, ‘there are reputations at stake here’ and for them to essentially say that boat was the best in its category was to say the least, unforgivable.'

The loss of Club Marine, Australia’s largest marine insurer and publisher of the largest circulating recreational marine magazine, as the major sponsor, will no doubt reflect on the credibility of the Awards. Bradley was deeply upset at the handling of the 2007 AMIF Awards and says that Club Marine don’t need the reputation risk to remain as a major sponsor of a flawed Awards process.

Boating BUSINESS understands from industry sources that AMIF have set up a reference group to look at the debacle surrounding the non-allocation of awards in the Sailing categories of the 2007 Awards which must surely have caused red faces amongst AMIF Board members and judges.

Boating BUSINESS put a series of questions to AMIF President Barry Jenkins on 18 June asking AMIF to comment on a number of issues relating to the 2007 Awards. To date, no response has been received. As Mark Bradley says, 'I simply cannot understand why AMIF have ignored your letter. They have shot holes through the award process and I honestly believe the industry is entitled to an explanation. Their decisions have reflected badly on the awards throughout the industry and have potentially destroyed consumer confidence in the ‘Boat of the Year’ Awards.'

In an effort to be seen as broadening the nomination process, AMIF have added New Zealand marine magazine ‘Sea Spray’ as a media partner for the Australian awards, seemingly abandoning their earlier exclusive stance that only audited marine titles would be involved as media partners. It is unclear whether AMIF have invited other marine titles to join the small media partner group which includes the Yaffa Group, Modern Boating and Modern Fishing and the Gold Coast Bulletin. Of the 40 marine and fishing titles currently in circulation in Australia, only six or seven are involved in the AMIF Awards.

AMIF have asked Club Marine to remain as a media partner but as Mark Bradley says, 'AMIF must look to a broader church for support for the awards. Quite frankly, to suggest that to be nominated for an AMIF Awards, a boat must be tested by a particular group of publications is bollocks. AMIF must stop looking at circulations, whether audited or not, as a criteria for media partner selection. The true criteria, if they are to continue to use magazine editors and journalists as judges, is to determine what experience and skills a particular publication can bring to the awards,' says Bradley.

As experienced marine journalist Bob Wonders says in one of his articles - 'I believe the primary flaw is that which the Australian Marine Industries Federation refers to as its 'Media Partners'. Firstly, the reason I view the media link as a flaw is simple - only boats tested by one of the publications involved will figure in the judging and the company must advertise with the media partners. There is no way that can be absolutely fair.

'Unfortunately, dispensing with the media partners is no simple task, under the current structure; to put it bluntly, no media partners, no awards. The AMIF simply does not have the finance to fund the system. So a new structure will be needed to change the situation.'

The loss of Club Marine as a major sponsor must place further pressure on the continuing viability and credibility of an already tarnished award system.