Making Sport Happen

Soccer fans
are eagerly anticipating the arrival of English giants, Manchester United, for another
thrilling edition of the Vodacom Challenge 2008, which also features South Africa’s
two archrivals, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Off the field, there will be
a team of women holding it all together operationally, headed by Karen
Lightfoot, Executive of Corporate Projects at SAIL Sport & Entertainment.

The Vodacom Challenge
kicks off with Kaizer Chiefs taking on Manchester United at the Newlands
stadium in the Western Cape
on Saturday, 19 July. The action will then move to the ABSA Stadium in KwaZulu-Natal on
Tuesday, 22 July for the showdown between Orlando Pirates and the visiting
English club.

On Thursday, 24 July, the
EPRU stadium in the Eastern Cape
will once again be the scene of the ‘Soweto Derby’ between Orlando Pirates and
Kaizer Chiefs to decide which team will qualify to play Manchester United in
the final of this year’s tournament.

The showpiece final is
expected to be played in front of a sell-out crowd at the Loftus stadium in Gauteng, the Home of
Champions on Saturday, 26 July.

Karen, who
also played a big role in the staging of the 1995 IRB Rugby World Cup and the
2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, is responsible for ensuring that South Africans
have a good time at this year’s Vodacom Challenge, and that means ensuring that
everything from parking to ticketing, to the staging of the event itself, is
nothing less than world class.

It’s a
massive operation, but thankfully Karen has a strong team to lean on, including
Jessica Motaung from Kaizer Chiefs and Maggie Sekoto from Forever Marketing.
She also has an operations team of an additional seven women and four men.

One of the
major focuses of this year’s Vodacom Challenge 2008 is to make the soccer
environment family-friendly, and to this end, Karen and her team have
introduced a no alcohol policy at the stadia.

Ahead of South Africa
staging the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it’s great to know we have strong women
capable of staging a tournament that meets international standards.

gsport caught up with
Karen and asked her about being involved in such a high profile tournament and
about her career in the fast paced world of professional sport.

Karen, what role do you play in the Vodacom
Challenge?

I am Operations
and Logistics Director for the Vodacom Challenge 2008

Who are the other women that work with you on this
project?

Karen Poole – SAIL Sport & Entertainment

Maggie Sekoto – Forever Marketing

Jessica Motaung – Kaizer Chiefs

Kimmy Motaung – Jakes Productions

Zoe Mobeng – Orlando
Pirates

Tenza Mbombo – Orlando
Pirates

And an operations team of an additional seven women
and four men

What does it mean to your career to be involved in
such a high profile project?

Being involved with a tournament of this calibre and
international recognition, prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup taking place in South Africa,
is a privilege.

The Vodacom Challenge has proven to be one of the most
popular events during the Soccer off-season in South Africa and we are fortunate
that we have consistently produced an incident free tournament. I believe that
through our efforts we are proving to the international Soccer fraternity that South Africa is
able to host secure and well organised sporting events.

It has been a rewarding experience to also work with
the international teams that SAIL, as promoter, has brought out. One does not
often get a chance to work with international brands such as Manchester United
and Tottenham Hotspur.

How do the men react to you and what you do?

Men tend to be very supportive of women in the
industry. They acknowledge that women are good organisers and multi-taskers and
have a tendency to see the bigger picture.

What have been the biggest highlights of your career
to date?

My involvement in both the IRB Rugby World Cup in 1995
and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003, being part of the logistical teams for
these events and having the opportunity to learn and observe from those
tournament committees. It placed a global perspective on international
standards and practices, which I have managed to pull through to events, such
as the Vodacom Challenge.

What challenges have you faced and what lessons have
you learnt along the way?

The biggest challenge with the event has been SAIL’s
introduction of international standards, such as reserved seating at stadia and
the challenge of communicating these standards to prospective spectators.

It is also a creative challenge to consistently
produce ideas that bring a fresh look and feel to the tournament on an annual
basis. In addition, coming up with new sponsorship leveraging opportunities for
our loyal sponsors and hosting provinces is an exciting opportunity for us and
we normally brainstorm these months prior to the event.

Aside from the Vodacom Challenge, what are your
other projects?

I am also Executive of Corporate Projects at SAIL. This
role requires me to oversee a team of event and project managers who handle
events on a broader project level for various clients. My average day can
involve working on a sport event, corporate social investment activation or any
number of major corporate functions.

What advice do you have for women keen to do what
you do?

You must have a passion for event management, a
passion for the industry and have the organisational skills that go with the
job. You must be prepared to get your hands dirty and start right at the
bottom, in the so-called mail room.

The best learning school for event and project
management is to do it over and over again, to learn from your mistakes and to
invent new and innovative processes that will continually improve your own
organisation skills, but also that of the industry.

What do you have planned for this year’s Vodacom
Challenge?

Each year we incorporate an additional element into
the organisation of the Vodacom Challenge. From a visual and entertainment
perspective, we hope to create another spectator spectacular and in keeping
with the theme of the Vodacom Challenge, creating a family atmosphere. To
encourage families to come to the games, we have adopted a no alcohol policy in
all stadia.

In addition we have concentrated on improving even
more, on the security and seating arrangements within the stadia. We have
introduced a concentric circle approach at stadia, in order to regulate
vehicular and pedestrian traffic flow into these stadia.

In another bid for safety, we have done away with
tickets sales at stadiums on the day of the games.

Where can
fans purchase tickets?

Tickets are available at
Computicket, Checkers, Checkers-Hyper and Shoprite outlets. For all group
bookings (9 tickets or more) supporters are urged to contact Computicket
Corporate Bookings on (011) 340 8128, corporate hospitality packages are
available from Circa Hospitality on 086 112 4722.