THE BUSINESS OF WHITEWALL SPORT

What do we do?

Our team operates in the elite level of sport through to community based sports organisations, covering business strategy, broadcast and content, governance, brand, commercial/sponsorship, commercial, projects and much more.

Having worked across many parts of the world, we are specialists in leagues, events, sport franchise based sport properties. We combine our commercial experience with our experience in high performance environments to create outcomes for our clients.

Founded by experienced sports executive, Andy Crook, Whitewall Sport is built on the foundations of over 70 years that the Crook family have been in the business of sport all across the world. The name 'Whitewall' comes from Andy's well known white board sessions where he has developed many new strategies to drive sport organisations to new levels never before seen.

Football (Soccer), Cricket, Australian Rules (AFL), Basketball, Netball, Motor Racing, Squash, Hockey, Baseball, Tenpin Bowling are just a selection of sports we have worked with or led, and our methods are adaptable to all manner of sports organisations.

Whitewall Sport is made up of Whitewall Sport Creative, The Sportmaker, Whitewall Sport Management, Whitewall Sport Strategy and Special Projects.

In 2023, we worked with dozens of clients. Below is a selection of our work. Contact us to discuss your organisations needs, and we can discuss where we can help.

If you are from Australia, UK, New Zealand or other sports mad countries, we would love to hear from you.

A selection of our clients

SOuthside Flyers

Ahead of an all important 2023/24 WNBL season, the Gerry Ryan owned Southside Flyers engaged the Whitewall Sport team to develop and implement a strategy that would begin to build on their already strong sponsorship base. With one of the strongest brands in female sport to work with, Whitewall Sport connected with numerous businesses over the pre-season period and created great partnerships with brands who have a strong belief in the Flyers and the broader WNBL.

World Junior Squash Championships

Our team were engaged to created a new look and feel for the World Junior Squash Championships, as well as develop the revenue strategy and secure a broadcast partner. The result was an edgy new brand look and feel for the event, a number of sponsors secured for the event, a great investment and partnership with the Victorian Government and the event aired on 7Plus and numerous international broadcast networks.

Hockey One League

The Hockey One League, an independently operated league in the Australian market, hired Andy Crook and Whitewall Sport to create a strategy and deliver the 2022 season, its first in 3 years. The result was a significant increase in commercial metrics, including at match attendances, broadcast audiences and ancillary broadcast audiences.

SOUTH COAST BLAZE

One of the most innovative organisations in netball, South Coast Blaze in the NSW Premier League, has engaged Whitewall Sport until the end of their current license cycle of 2026. With a long term view to develop the value of the South Coast Blaze brand across the large stretch of NSW from St.George in Sydney through to Kiama on the mid-south coast, Whitewall Sport are designing and implementing a strategy to engage organisations equally as visionary to partner with the Blaze.

Tenpin Premier League

Engaged by Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) to development and deliver a new elite level entertainment product that positioned the sport differently and strategically positioned the sport for future growth. The result was the Tenpin Premier League (TPL). After the initial events portfolio review, the recommendations were made to Tenpin Bowling Australia for the Tenpin Premier League. Whitewall Sport then went about securing a broadcast deal for the TPL and a record financial investment in a TBA owned and operated event.

Australian Baseball League

Coming to the end of the COVID period, Baseball Australia engaged Whitewall Sport to develop and implement a strategy that would take the Australian Baseball League forward and attract investment in the league. This included commercial, broadcast and database outcomes from an operational component of the plan, as well as a go to market recommendations for investment in the ABL itself.

Squash Australia

One of Whitewall Sports original clients, Squash Australia have utilised the services of Whitewall Sport across numerous parts of their business. From re-branding and positioning projects, government strategy and pitches, to commercial strategy and implementation, Whitewall Sport act as commercial department for this visionary national sports organisation.

Melbourne Boomers

Engaged for a confidential project by the Melbourne Boomers and a number of other WNBL clubs, Whitewall Sport were able to complete a piece of work that ultimately will play a part in transformation.

WAVERLEY DISTRICT NETBALL ASSOCIATION

One of the biggest netball associations in Melbourne, WDNA engaged Whitewall Sport to complete a project that would see an application for the Victorian Netball League. The approach to this application required required an organisation to look at it with strong commercial lens, however with experience across the sport of netball, leagues generally and most importantly, how to build a new franchise organisation from scratch. WDNA remain a client of Whitewall Sport as our team work to find businesses to partner with this important netball association in Melbourne's south-east corridor.

Netball Australia

Following a decade of the ANZ Championship, the best netball league in the world, Andy Crook was engaged to work on the reinvention of the new Australian only netball league that would follow the end of the ANZ Championship (Trans-Tasman Netball League) that operated with 5 New Zealand based teams and 5 Australian based teams. Andy developed and delivered to the Netball Australia Board a 'netball re-imagined' project, with all recommendations being adopted in the league that was ultimately created and is a huge success today, Suncorp Super Netball.

TENPIN BOWLING AUSTRALIA

Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA), like many organisations, required an independent look at what was possible for the commercial side of the sport. With a number of challenges across the sport which meant the rights had never been optimised, the Whitewall Sport team provided a report for the TBA board to consider a way forward for their commercial assets.

SQUASH Australian Open

Dating back to 20-40 years, the Squash Australian Open was considered a significant event, not only on the World Squash Tour, but in the Australian market. However, with a seismic shift in the sport business market, in many ways Squash were one of the sports to miss out on the larger sponsorship and broadcast agreements that propelled the growth of the now top tier sports. However, with a number of significant investors fuelling the growth of the Professional Squash Associations World Tour, combined with the vision of Squash Australia's Board and Executive to return the Squash Australian Open back to the world stage, Whitewall Sport were engaged to support this transformation

YARRA JUNIOR FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The Yarra Junior Football League, based in Melbourne's Northern and Eastern suburbs, is Australia's largest junior football league. A visionary CEO and Board, the YJFL has engaged Whitewall Sport in a 'Commercial Department' service. This has allowed us to develop a new strategy for YJFL in the commercial and sponsorship space, and connect with businesses who would benefit from a relationship and partnership with a community of 30,000 football fans in the heartland of Australian Rules Football.

Lincolnshire Cricket

After a number of key strategic decisions made by the Board and Executive team in the last year that will drive the sport of cricket forward in the County of Lincolnshire, Whitewall Sport has been engaged by Lincolnshire Cricket to develop a strategy and engage with prospective partners to join with the sport on this exciting journey. With a community of 50,000 cricket fans, several leagues, an elite male and female program and a junior program producing talent, the opportunities to engage with Cricket in Lincolnshire is perfect for many types of businesses.

Basketball Victoria

Basketball Victoria is arguably one of the largest basketball organisations in the world. Basketball Victoria chose The Sportmaker product to develop a strategy and connect with businesses who may well be interest partnering with their flagship BigV and VJBL properties.

Carrum Downs CRICKET CLUB

An already successful community club from a sponsorship perspective, Carrum Downs Cricket Club engaged Whitewall Sport and were delighted with the results. Through a strategic review process, our Managing Director unlocked $20,000 in value in their sponsorship portfolio and our partnership manager connected Carrum Downs to a large number of businesses in the local suburbs to the cricket club. With a 60% increase in sponsorship from their engagement with Whitewall Sport, Carrum Downs have already indicated a further engagement ahead of their next season.

LUIS LEEDS RACING

Luis Leeds is a Melbourne born Indonesian racing driver. Most notably as a young driver, Luis was a member of the Red Bull Racing Academy based in England. As a teenager, and prior to COVID, Luis stood a top of the podium at Albert Park, during the Formula One weekend, after claiming victory in the Formula 4 event. Luis and his representatives engaged Whitewall Sport to work on commercial strategy as well as deliver a Luis Leeds brand refresh. This was a project that was conducted with the then Larry Kestelman owned Frankly, a high performing marketing agency.

WILLIAMSTOWN CYMS CRICKET CLUB

Heading into the 2023/2024 season, Williamstown CYMS Cricket Club had limited time to connect with their local community and seek sponsorship as they are a volunteer based organisation. They chose to use a Whitewall Sport service to connect with local businesses in a 5-day period. The results for them and the local businesses they connected with were fantastic.

COCKBURN COBRAS FOOTBALL CLUB

An Australian Rules Football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Engaged Whitewall Sport through The Sportmaker program to engage with businesses in their local community ahead of the 2024 season. With a progressive President and Committee, we worked with the club to develop a strategy to connect with businesses and provide value for new sponsors of the club.