Mini World Cup Project - Pilot release, June 2006 by Ricardo Arbelaez

MINI WORLD CUP 2006 - PILOT RELEASE - Debrief report
Ricardo Arbelaez - (July 2006)

After 4 years of research The Mini World Cup 2006 project finally delivered its initial objectives in summer 2006 in the City of Cambridge. The first pilot tournaments were run on Saturday the 9th & Saturday the 17th of June . The success of both days demonstrated the value of the research phase of the project. Nevertheless this is just the beginning of a promising future, as the research has also pointed out that the project needs modifying, molding and improving in connection with the community socio economic changes.

The project aims to continually learn from its experiences and to add improvements as the project progresses into the future. The points covered in this report are based on feedback from the general public, the community as beneficiaries and the data and multimedia material gathered during the planning and delivery of the pilot in June 2006.

General Feedback
Positive comments were recieved from all community members that participated in both Mini World Cup events. This feedback was collected orally, on written questionaires and through video interviews collected on both the 9 and 17 June 2006. The Mini World Cup team was complemented for their role and participation in this first pilot release. The event was deemed very successful from an organisational angle and also from a player's perspective.

The men and woman's event was agreed to be the biggest and most successful of the two events with an impressive number of participants. The playing members of the Mini World Cup team commented on the effective flow of information to the individual teams, with the event map singled out as particularly useful. In addition, the competitive atmosphere on the day made the matches very enjoyable.

The wide of range of nationalities represented in the adult competition was also highlighted. In particular, the involvement of cultural groups, such as the Chinese and Vietnamese Communities and the Cameroon entries were impressive. Furthermore, several teams were comprised of multiple nationalities; meeting one of the main Mini-World Cup objectives more effectively than the Kid's event. We can see the ethnic levels of participation in the images collected in each of the tournaments:

Link to the image library of the Kids (Mixed 9 to 10 years old) tournament
Link to the image library of the Womens' & Mens' Over 16 Tournament

The issue of competitors leaving early and not remaining for the final game was raised by several members of the team. This was true of both events but was more noticeable in the adult competition. It was agreed that a way of keeping interest until the conclusion would be useful for future tournaments. Suggestions included a ‘B Cup' for the losers, other activities and a beer tent or food stalls.

The Kid's event was also agreed to have worked well, although it was felt that the number of teams could be greatly improved upon in subsequent competitions. However, the large number of football events available to this age group in the Cambridgeshire area was discussed. School age children are currently well catered for and the future expansion of the Kid's event in this environment was questioned. However, removing the children's event was thought to reduce inclusion, which was in conflict with the Mini-World Cup ethos.

Overall, the potential for much larger tournaments was recognised by all team members. The idea behind the event and organisation structure was thought to have worked well. All members were confident a similar event would be even more successful in following years. Possibilities for greater inclusion and increased interaction between the teams were discussed along with opportunities to make money on the day from photography sales from a more organised service clearly evident on the day.

Planning
Although ultimately successful, the organisation during the initial Kid's Mini World Cup tournament was thought to appear quite chaotic. Mostly this was as expected running an event of this size for the first time. However several improvements to preceding event planning were suggested.

Confusion arose during the registration process with not all team captains recognising that they were required to register their team and members on the day. This could be rectified by passing on clearer instructions to the team before the event.
Late registrations introduced considerable chaos on the day, with non registered individual players arriving on the day and teams entering right up until the night before the competition. Despite the administrational problems caused by late registration it was decided this flexibility should remain in the future to include as many players as possible on the day.
The registration process for Children was discussed. The application form was felt to be too long and overly complicated. However, a large amount of data is legally required for minors under 16 and unfortunately unavoidable.
Common consensus was that earlier distribution of the Mini World Cup publicity to the Kid's target group would have resulted in greater team participation. A more organised approach to Kid's publicity was recommended.

The Adult Mini World Cup competition was perceived as much less chaotic despite a much larger number of participating teams. The improvement from the Kid's event was attributed to the experience of running the event with all team members more aware of their roles and responsibilities on the day. One area of improvement in the planning was discussed.

During the event, difficulties in identifying the teams were experienced, particularly by the photography and filming team. The coloured team tea-shirts often miss-matched the represented country. This was a particular problem in the Women's matches. This problem was admitted to have arisen from cost cutting with the tea-shirts and will be avoided in future events.

Planning issues common to both events were also discussed and are detailed below:

On-line registration proved to be the most effective way of recruiting entries from both the kid's and adults events. Although taking a long time and a lot of effort to set up the website turned out to be the easiest and most popular method of registration. We all agreed we need to seek proper funding to update and keep with the maintenance of the existing website. We hope to have a dedicated budget to keep the online strategy going.
The possibility of moving to only on-line applications was discussed, although concerns were raised about lack of computer access in some areas of the community, which may lead to exclusion.
Leaflet distribution was thought be very effective, and was visible throughout Cambridge. The leaflet was felt to be too long and would require shortening in future.
The Mini World Cup budget was a major issue for the team and should be planned better in future. Methods of generating much greater funding should be explored. However, the experience has mean that the group will have a much better idea of outgoing expenses in subsequent competitions.

Achievement
The uniqueness of the Mini-World Cup was highlighted, as this appears to be the only entirely free football tournament in the County. The project also managed to distribute the free footballs and tea-shirts to all participating teams, which is also a unique feature. In addition, the event may also be the only such event for adults in Cambridgeshire, which is a great achievement. Future funding methods are to be explored so that the event can be kept free in the future [raffle tickets, links to similar free events (although on a much larger scale) in Barcelona, private companies, media coverage were all suggested].

Marketing Strategy
In was generally felt that Mini-World Cup Publicity could have been much more effective and a person dedicated entirely to PR was strongly recommended in future years, to make the most of the available opportunities and to handle the large volume of work. A more realistic view of the huge time and effort involved in this role is now apparent. The PR post would cover the website, logos, t-shirts, medals and cups and publicity leaflets as well as dealing with the local press.

Several negative factors were felt to have worked against Mini-World Cup publicity during the events. The team were let down by the Cambridge Evening News who missed the opportunity to cover this community event. This lack in communication may be avoided in future by use of a dedicated PR person in the future. In addition, despite being an impressive concept, combining the Kid's event with the big screen televising the England World Cup match, the screen was felt to have overshadowed the Mini-World Cup, drawing competitors and possible crowds away from the action and the final. A huge opportunity of using the big screen and broadcasting technology was missed during the project, where the screen could have been utilised to display photographs and live action from the tournament. The possibility a big screen at the next event is to be discussed further.

On a more positive note, the leaflets, website and word of mouth were all felt to have worked effectively to publicise the event. The interest of the Cambridge mayor and of the local MP at the events was encouraging for the future and shows good potential for inviting celebrity guests (footballers a possibility).

Marketing to possible sponsors was another area of improvement suggested by several members of the group. It was felt that the Mini-World Cup project could aim for much larger funding in the future. Optional donations from parents, at the event and via the website were suggested.

The potential for marketing photos from the competition and for a DVD of action from the days were discussed and it was felt that these resources could be much better utilised in the future. It was recognised that these aspects were added to the project late and not included in the original budget. This would be rectified in future planning.

Resources
The need for a dedicated team in order to meet the future objectives of the project is essential. In particular, the PR/marketing and funding areas need more attention. It was mentioned that there is a need for revising roles and responsibilities among the team. It was suggested that team members provide CVs or a skills / experience summary to allow better allocation of responsibilities. This information will be also very valuable when applying for funding or when entering biddings. The need for reviewing the time that each team member can realistically deploy to the project is also essential. The team was asked to let Ricardo know how much time a week each team member can dedicate to the project, hopefully future tasks will be mapped to experience, qualifications and time that can be dedicated to the project.

It was agreed that more volunteers to help out on the day are required in the future, especially if the tournaments are to expand in size. It was suggested that participating competitors from this year could be contacted and perhaps recruited to help next year.

The giant flip charts used during the kid's competition were thought to be very effective, allowing participants to monitor the status of teams throughout the event. More of these in the future would be helpful. Unfortunately, giant flip charts were not used during the adult event, which was why we have very little data on the Men's and Women's tournament. Having giant flip charts will also provide the teams and the general public with scoring information and general information on the progression of the tournament(s).

The use of proper referees, from the FA contacts was acknowledged as invaluable, and looked very impressive on the day adding credibility and professionalism to the tournament.

The possibility of adding food to the event was also discussed as it was felt that this would encourage people to stay until the final, provide and opportunity for greater interaction between teams and also add another cultural dimension to the event, with different world foods represented. Barbeques were a popular proposal. The potential was making money from food sales was acknowledged. The health and safety implications of adding food stalls would need to be investigated.

It was proposed that adding music to the event, of global genres, would help to create a cultural atmosphere and encourage people to stay at the event for longer.

Supplement of the football event with other activities was also enthusiastically supported by all team members, with volleyball, handball, tug-of-war and six legged races all proposed. Activities that increase team building and team interaction were favoured.

Partnership
It was agreed that the current Mini World Cup partners or contributing sponsors would remain. These are the Cambridge FA, the Sports Partnership, Everyday sport, Cambridge United and the City Sports Council.

Several team members expressed concerns about the working partnership citing a loss in project control and restrictions on the event as the main problems. In particular, the use of Parker's Piece was very regulated and it was agreed that Coldham's Common was a venue much more suited to the Mini-World Cup. The existing working partnership model will need to be re-evaluated and to be improved in future planning and development work. It is very important to have clear roles and responsibilities of all the partners involved in the project.

	MINI WORLD CUP 2006 - PILOT RELEASE - Debrief report Ricardo Arbelaez - (July 2006) After 4 years of research The Mini World Cup 2006 project finally delivered its initial objectives in summer 2006 in the City of Cambridge. The first pilot tournaments were run on Saturday the 9th & Saturday the 17th of June . The success of both days demonstrated the value of the research phase of the project. Nevertheless this is just the beginning of a promising future, as the research has also pointed out that the project needs modifying, molding and improving in connection with the community socio economic changes. The project aims to continually learn from its experiences and to add improvements as the project progresses into the future. The points covered in this report are based on feedback from the general public, the community as beneficiaries and the data and multimedia material gathered during the planning and delivery of the pilot in June 2006. General Feedback Positive comments were recieved from all community members that participated in both Mini World Cup events. This feedback was collected orally, on written questionaires and through video interviews collected on both the 9 and 17 June 2006. The Mini World Cup team was complemented for their role and participation in this first pilot release. The event was deemed very successful from an organisational angle and also from a player's perspective. The men and woman's event was agreed to be the biggest and most successful of the two events with an impressive number of participants. The playing members of the Mini World Cup team commented on the effective flow of information to the individual teams, with the event map singled out as particularly useful. In addition, the competitive atmosphere on the day made the matches very enjoyable. The wide of range of nationalities represented in the adult competition was also highlighted. In particular, the involvement of cultural groups, such as the Chinese and Vietnamese Communities and the Cameroon entries were impressive. Furthermore, several teams were comprised of multiple nationalities; meeting one of the main Mini-World Cup objectives more effectively than the Kid's event. We can see the ethnic levels of participation in the images collected in each of the tournaments: Link to the image library of the Kids (Mixed 9 to 10 years old) tournament Link to the image library of the Womens' & Mens' Over 16 Tournament The issue of competitors leaving early and not remaining for the final game was raised by several members of the team. This was true of both events but was more noticeable in the adult competition. It was agreed that a way of keeping interest until the conclusion would be useful for future tournaments. Suggestions included a ‘B Cup' for the losers, other activities and a beer tent or food stalls. The Kid's event was also agreed to have worked well, although it was felt that the number of teams could be greatly improved upon in subsequent competitions. However, the large number of football events available to this age group in the Cambridgeshire area was discussed. School age children are currently well catered for and the future expansion of the Kid's event in this environment was questioned. However, removing the children's event was thought to reduce inclusion, which was in conflict with the Mini-World Cup ethos. Overall, the potential for much larger tournaments was recognised by all team members. The idea behind the event and organisation structure was thought to have worked well. All members were confident a similar event would be even more successful in following years. Possibilities for greater inclusion and increased interaction between the teams were discussed along with opportunities to make money on the day from photography sales from a more organised service clearly evident on the day. Planning Although ultimately successful, the organisation during the initial Kid's Mini World Cup tournament was thought to appear quite chaotic. Mostly this was as expected running an event of this size for the first time. However several improvements to preceding event planning were suggested. Confusion arose during the registration process with not all team captains recognising that they were required to register their team and members on the day. This could be rectified by passing on clearer instructions to the team before the event. Late registrations introduced considerable chaos on the day, with non registered individual players arriving on the day and teams entering right up until the night before the competition. Despite the administrational problems caused by late registration it was decided this flexibility should remain in the future to include as many players as possible on the day. The registration process for Children was discussed. The application form was felt to be too long and overly complicated. However, a large amount of data is legally required for minors under 16 and unfortunately unavoidable. Common consensus was that earlier distribution of the Mini World Cup publicity to the Kid's target group would have resulted in greater team participation. A more organised approach to Kid's publicity was recommended. The Adult Mini World Cup competition was perceived as much less chaotic despite a much larger number of participating teams. The improvement from the Kid's event was attributed to the experience of running the event with all team members more aware of their roles and responsibilities on the day. One area of improvement in the planning was discussed. During the event, difficulties in identifying the teams were experienced, particularly by the photography and filming team. The coloured team tea-shirts often miss-matched the represented country. This was a particular problem in the Women's matches. This problem was admitted to have arisen from cost cutting with the tea-shirts and will be avoided in future events. Planning issues common to both events were also discussed and are detailed below: On-line registration proved to be the most effective way of recruiting entries from both the kid's and adults events. Although taking a long time and a lot of effort to set up the website turned out to be the easiest and most popular method of registration. We all agreed we need to seek proper funding to update and keep with the maintenance of the existing website. We hope to have a dedicated budget to keep the online strategy going. The possibility of moving to only on-line applications was discussed, although concerns were raised about lack of computer access in some areas of the community, which may lead to exclusion. Leaflet distribution was thought be very effective, and was visible throughout Cambridge. The leaflet was felt to be too long and would require shortening in future. The Mini World Cup budget was a major issue for the team and should be planned better in future. Methods of generating much greater funding should be explored. However, the experience has mean that the group will have a much better idea of outgoing expenses in subsequent competitions. Achievement The uniqueness of the Mini-World Cup was highlighted, as this appears to be the only entirely free football tournament in the County. The project also managed to distribute the free footballs and tea-shirts to all participating teams, which is also a unique feature. In addition, the event may also be the only such event for adults in Cambridgeshire, which is a great achievement. Future funding methods are to be explored so that the event can be kept free in the future [raffle tickets, links to similar free events (although on a much larger scale) in Barcelona, private companies, media coverage were all suggested]. Marketing Strategy In was generally felt that Mini-World Cup Publicity could have been much more effective and a person dedicated entirely to PR was strongly recommended in future years, to make the most of the available opportunities and to handle the large volume of work. A more realistic view of the huge time and effort involved in this role is now apparent. The PR post would cover the website, logos, t-shirts, medals and cups and publicity leaflets as well as dealing with the local press. Several negative factors were felt to have worked against Mini-World Cup publicity during the events. The team were let down by the Cambridge Evening News who missed the opportunity to cover this community event. This lack in communication may be avoided in future by use of a dedicated PR person in the future. In addition, despite being an impressive concept, combining the Kid's event with the big screen televising the England World Cup match, the screen was felt to have overshadowed the Mini-World Cup, drawing competitors and possible crowds away from the action and the final. A huge opportunity of using the big screen and broadcasting technology was missed during the project, where the screen could have been utilised to display photographs and live action from the tournament. The possibility a big screen at the next event is to be discussed further. On a more positive note, the leaflets, website and word of mouth were all felt to have worked effectively to publicise the event. The interest of the Cambridge mayor and of the local MP at the events was encouraging for the future and shows good potential for inviting celebrity guests (footballers a possibility). Marketing to possible sponsors was another area of improvement suggested by several members of the group. It was felt that the Mini-World Cup project could aim for much larger funding in the future. Optional donations from parents, at the event and via the website were suggested. The potential for marketing photos from the competition and for a DVD of action from the days were discussed and it was felt that these resources could be much better utilised in the future. It was recognised that these aspects were added to the project late and not included in the original budget. This would be rectified in future planning. Resources The need for a dedicated team in order to meet the future objectives of the project is essential. In particular, the PR/marketing and funding areas need more attention. It was mentioned that there is a need for revising roles and responsibilities among the team. It was suggested that team members provide CVs or a skills / experience summary to allow better allocation of responsibilities. This information will be also very valuable when applying for funding or when entering biddings. The need for reviewing the time that each team member can realistically deploy to the project is also essential. The team was asked to let Ricardo know how much time a week each team member can dedicate to the project, hopefully future tasks will be mapped to experience, qualifications and time that can be dedicated to the project. It was agreed that more volunteers to help out on the day are required in the future, especially if the tournaments are to expand in size. It was suggested that participating competitors from this year could be contacted and perhaps recruited to help next year. The giant flip charts used during the kid's competition were thought to be very effective, allowing participants to monitor the status of teams throughout the event. More of these in the future would be helpful. Unfortunately, giant flip charts were not used during the adult event, which was why we have very little data on the Men's and Women's tournament. Having giant flip charts will also provide the teams and the general public with scoring information and general information on the progression of the tournament(s). The use of proper referees, from the FA contacts was acknowledged as invaluable, and looked very impressive on the day adding credibility and professionalism to the tournament. The possibility of adding food to the event was also discussed as it was felt that this would encourage people to stay until the final, provide and opportunity for greater interaction between teams and also add another cultural dimension to the event, with different world foods represented. Barbeques were a popular proposal. The potential was making money from food sales was acknowledged. The health and safety implications of adding food stalls would need to be investigated. It was proposed that adding music to the event, of global genres, would help to create a cultural atmosphere and encourage people to stay at the event for longer. Supplement of the football event with other activities was also enthusiastically supported by all team members, with volleyball, handball, tug-of-war and six legged races all proposed. Activities that increase team building and team interaction were favoured. Partnership It was agreed that the current Mini World Cup partners or contributing sponsors would remain. These are the Cambridge FA, the Sports Partnership, Everyday sport, Cambridge United and the City Sports Council. Several team members expressed concerns about the working partnership citing a loss in project control and restrictions on the event as the main problems. In particular, the use of Parker's Piece was very regulated and it was agreed that Coldham's Common was a venue much more suited to the Mini-World Cup. The existing working partnership model will need to be re-evaluated and to be improved in future planning and development work. It is very important to have clear roles and responsibilities of all the partners involved in the project.

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