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10 SUPER YEARS

This year marks the tenth year that Satinder Baj has promoted the Super Series Finals. It is a neat little event that has found its niche – nurtured by Satinder, commonly called Baj, and polished by the WSM management team.  It has come a long way since Baj took over the fallow event that was first held in Switzerland in 1992.

Now sponsored by Brit Insurance the Super Series Finals is one of the most established fixtures on the world calendar. The event is well situated, well presented, friendly and has a familiarity about it that leads to its eager anticipation. It is a meeting place where acquaintances get together and where the players can find that rare balance between competition and exhibition that makes for exciting spectating. The players are pleased to be situated in the centre of London and looked after in the best hotels.

Asked what makes it a super event Baj echoes Rocco Forte, the hotel baron, when he says, “Location, location, location.”

Certainly the outdoor location in the Broadgate Arena, a circular multi-level amphitheatre that doubles as an ice rink in the winter and is overlooked by skyscrapers, is spectacular. Transparent windows in the marquee draw crowds of passersby to marvel at the acrobatic contortionists pursuing the rubber ball. The location, a limited space, creates a sort of intimacy. The cafés and bars surrounding the Arena impinge on the event, the outside revelry disrupts through the thin walls of the marquee but the bustle adds liveliness to the occasion and the bars the opportunity to socialize.

But location is not the whole story of what has made a lapsed event into one of the most established fixtures on the world calendar. The credit must go the Satinder Bajwa for his enthusiasm and commitment – perhaps also persistence – and his ability to engage specialist partners that compliment his own abilities.

Following a coaching and playing career in the US Baj returned to the UK where he coached Mir Zaman Gul, from no.90 in the world to no.6.  He then took on the challenge of managing the affairs of world champion Jansher Khan.

The first Super Series Finals were if anything a showcase for Jansher. Baj staged them at the modern Galleria shopping complex in Hatfield north of London. It was a first for England.

"We established and then consolidated the event there. Then after three years we were faced with the decision  to grow the event  or move to the city," explained Baj.

Equitable Life, who sponsored the event then, were supportive of the move and so were the Sports Management company who had taken on the promotion of Jansher. Squash was infiltrated right into the heart of a main public thoroughfare in the financial capital of the world. Tony Braine of British Land, owners of Broadgate, was instrumental in making this happen.

The sports management company Baj had used to manage Jansher also provided their event management expertise.

“I had seen the benefits of using their marketing ability. It helped me put my expertise in squash to good value. Through them I met Andrew White, their head of golf, and when things changed at the company I moved the event to Andrew’s new sports marketing agency, WSM. One of the reasons we have been successful is that I have been able to work with industry experts to make the event commercially viable.

“I believe that more squash entrepreneurs should consider working with industry experts  – if there were more people out there doing this then I think we would have more commercially viable events. We need to develop these types of partnerships.  It’s a model we need big time in our sport.”

Putting on a squash event outdoors in the heart of the City of London has been a challenge but it has been rewarded with some exceptional squash. Jansher Khan won four of the first five titles played for and when the event moved to Broadgate Peter Nicol started his three title run. Perhaps the 1999 Final (played in 2000) was the most memorable in Super Series Finals history with Nicol finally edging out a rampant Simon Parke in a brilliant shot making spectacular that earned a standing ovation with Kate Hoey the Minister of Sport standing as well.

At the beginning of the 2002 Finals (played in 2003) the head-to-head rivalry between Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power stood at 16-all in matches. At the end of the week it was 16-all, two games all and 14-all. Then Power raised one finger. The match, the week, came down to one point. Power scored with a perfect paced shot that died to secure his first title to a standing ovation.

Power had raised one finger before against David Palmer in the 2000 semi-finals but famously lost that time in perhaps the most brilliant rally ever televised. The Super Series Finals have produced that type of squash – brilliant competition, brilliant exhibition play.

It is the type of play that provides an attractive proposition to broadcasters and the TV highlights of the Super Series Finals are now distributed to a sizeable global audience. Where there is TV, sponsors generally follow and Brit Insurance is now entering its third year of title sponsorship of the Finals.

This year they have made the shortlist for Best Sponsorship of a Sporting Event or Programme at the UK Sports Industry Awards for the second consecutive year. They have made the event work for them and have been recognized as having done this.

“The portability of the game has allowed us to sponsor the only sporting event on our doorstep – in the city’s square mile,” explains Philip Wolski of Brit Insurance. “In many sponsorships they just write a cheque and sit back and wait for the media value but what we work very hard at is activating the event. Creating standalone media opportunities during tournament week is one example, such as last year’s challenge match between Ellery Hanley and Alec Stewart.  We also work hard to engage employees and clients through coaching clinics and exhibition matches. This year we’re working with the  Lord’s Taverners on  the Celeb-Am charity event. Our association with WSM has allowed us to do things beyond the event itself. It has worked superbly for us. We have activated it from a charitable and corporate social responsibility viewpoint as well as engaging our suppliers and distributors.

The super little event at Broadgate works well for the players, spectators and sponsors. Agreement has been reached that it can continue for another five years in which time Baj will nurture it, aided by the experts of course.

 
Satinder Bajwa, known as Baj.

 

the Broadgate Arena surrounded by skyscrapers.

 

The Galleria in Hatfield, the shopping centre venue for the first Super Series Finals to be held in England.

 

Kate Hoey, then Minister of Sport meets Baj.