Freo de Janeiro

As a lifelong Freo Dockers fan, it was an honour and privilege to chat with the club CEO Simon Garlick. He was open in talking about his career journey, sports leadership and strategy in the AFL.

A former CEO of the Western Bulldogs (2010-2015), Simon was appointed CEO of Fremantle effective November 18, 2019 after serving as CEO of Bastion EBA (2015-2019), a division of Bastion Collective, Australia’s leading independent marketing, communications and commercial agency.

Simon, who played a combined 181 games for Sydney and the Western Bulldogs (1994-2004), also has extensive experience as a director, with previous governance responsibility on the AFL Players’ Association board and as a Western Bulldogs board member.

He has expertise in complex stakeholder management and engagement experience across governing bodies, local, state and federal governments, media and the negotiation of major commercial/sponsorship contracts with multinational corporations.

Educated at St Kevin’s College in Melbourne, Simon has a BA Business Administration from the University of Western Sydney and an MBA from Victoria University.

Thanks to Evelina Palmiotti from the club for helping behind the scenes.

Natalie Burton is an Australian professional basketballer and Rio 2016 Olympian. Throughout her career, she’s played at a high level around the world. Natalie has constantly searched for the deeper meaning behind sport which makes her story very compelling.

It’s a must-listen, especially for younger athletes or those working with them.

Natalie has embarked on inspiring future generations through her Enriched Athletes Mentoring Program and the work she does with Olympics Unleashed throughout Western Australia.

It was a joy to dive deeper into the mindset of an athlete with Natalie on Freo de Janeiro.

Shownotes: abidimam.com/ps4l

An honour to speak to Tamara Awartani from Ramallah, Palestine about growing up and living there before creating a successful NGO to support her community through sport and education.

About Tamara Awartani:

Tamara is the founder and director of Palestine: Sport for Life (PS4L) - the only local Sports for Development (S4D) organization and member in several international S4D networks.

She is the first Palestinian to be a well-known international expert in sports for development and sports management. She planned, designed, implemented and evaluated several S4D programs and modules aligned to the SDGs, specifically in youth empowerment and social cohesion, quality education, gender equality and employment.

Tamara has a postgraduate degree in Sport Management from Royal Holloway, London, an MBA in Business and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Jordan.

She is currently doing her doctorate at the German Sport University Cologne (DSHS) in Sports for development as the first Palestinian Academic in the field.

Tamara represented Palestine as a speaker in several international conferences, workshops, webinars, and guest lectures. She is a researcher in the S4D field, she also

designed the first S4D academic BA program for a Palestinian university. She also co-wrote a curriculum on basketball for development that is being used in Jordan and Palestine.

Shownotes - http://abidimam.com/gilly/

A huge moment for the show. Legendary Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist joins Abid Imam for a wide ranging discussion covering life experiences, sport, inclusion, cultural diversity and much more.

About Adam Gilchrist

Many cricket fans believe that Adam Gilchrist is the greatest wicketkeeper/batsman to have played the game.

Adam’s aggressive batting style made him a fan favourite with Australian crowd, but it was his honesty that earned the respect of the cricket world as Gilly was known to walk regardless of the umpire’s decision.

He is the only wicketkeeper to have captained the Australian Test and One Day teams. Adam was universally acknowledged for his leadership and outstanding contribution to the Australian team in both forms of the game.

Gilchrist is now a well-respected and in demand commentator and host, lending his voice and insights to the game of cricket all over the world.

Career Statistics:

96 test match appearances

416 test dismissals

17 test centuries

Test average: 47.60

World Cup winner (1999, 2003, 2007)

Pursuits Outside of Cricket:

Chair of the Australia Day Council from (2008-2015)

Ambassador for Autism in Cricket Inclusive program

Ambassador for World Vision

Ambassador for Ronald MacDonald House

Ambassador for Jaguar Land Rover

Inaugural member of Fox Sports commentary team (2018)

Mary Harvey was a goalkeeper for the US Women's National Soccer team, winning both the World Cup and Olympic Gold.

A former Director of Development at FIFA, Mary did much to drive gender reforms, and the work she did still has huge global impact for the women’s game.

Mary also served on the board of US Soccer for 12 years and was COO for the US Women’s Professional Soccer league.

Mary is now Chief Executive of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.

Shownotes: abidimam.com/maryharvey

Nina Las Vegas is a music producer, NLV Records founder/boss, world-class DJ, former host of Triple J House Party and all round champion of Australian music.

Nina and I spoke about making music, DJ'ing, the intersection of sport and music plus some great cultural travel stories.

There was a bird chirping in the room for the first bit of the episode, it gives the sound some soothing character anyway!!

Thanks to Nina for being such a legend. Make sure to go listen to her tracks!

Show Notes: http://abidimam.com/ninalasvegas

Show Notes: https://abidimam.com/budapest

I am pumped for this episode because it's packed with firsts and has been a while in the making. It was as experimental as anything I've produced and rough around the edges. But you know what? that's the Freo de Janeiro way.

Once upon a time in the world of travel pre-COVID I was in Budapest, Hungary for the Sziget music festival, which on a side note is a great event. I was committed to not just visiting for the fun and disco dancing but to actually find out about whats happening in society. I researched some of whats going down in the human rights area and was dismayed.

So I thought it would be really wonderful to talk to sports leaders from minority groups at the coalface, voices you may never really hear on a podcast. So I visited the Mahatma Gandhi Human Rights Organisation to talk to their founder and president Gibril Deen, an inspiring man who is originally from Gambia in Africa and has lived in Budapest for over 30 years.

Later in this episode you'll also hear from and a social worker/boxing coach Pécsiné Lázár Melinda who is an incredible Romani woman inspiring Gypsy youth. That’s two guests for the price of one!

These sounds were captured in the office of the organisation, which is an apartment next to a noisy train station, so don’t mind the immersive Budapest background noise, it’s more authentic anyway.

Thank you to Ana-Maria who you will hear for her translating for Melinda, it's the first time I've tried a conversation for this show through an interpreter so it is very experimental. Hope you enjoy!

June 25, 2020 will be a day etched in Australia & New Zealand sporting folklore, both nations were awarded the rights to host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Jane Fernandez had the huge responsibility as General Manager of the Bid. You could only imagine how she felt in the lead up to this announcement.

Basking in the glory of victory, Jane was great enough to join me for a detailed discussion dissecting exactly how an excellent bid was formulated and won against worthy opponents in the world of high stakes international football politics.

A real interesting eye/ear opener for sports fans

Show Notes: https://abidimam.com/asone

Karishma Ali (@KarishmaAli22) of Chitral in remote north-west Pakistan is the first girl from her hometown to have played football and Australian rules football at a national and international level. She has represented Pakistan in football at the Jubilee Games in Dubai, and was part of the first women's team from Pakistan to participate in an AFL International Cup in 2017. Karishma is also the founder of the groundbreaking Chitral Women's Sports Club and Chitral Women's Handicrafts Centre.

For these pioneering exploits and her incredible leadership, Karishma has received deserved accolades which has seen her featured on Forbes Asia’s 30 under 30 list, Milan Fashion Week and FIFA.com among many others.

Karishma joins me for a wide-ranging discussion on the impact sport has played on her life, how she continues to be a driving force for her community and now on a much broader level.

Show Notes: https://www.abidimam.com/karishma

Tim Vickery (@Tim_Vickery) is the BBC's South American Football Correspondent based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Born and raised in London, Tim explains his remarkable journey leading him to Brazil and becoming one of the world’s finest football journalists covering the South American game for the BBC, World Soccer and ESPN, as well as being an analyst for SporTV.

Tim has a masterful and engaging style of explaining the game while fusing the social and cultural context. This is especially highlighted in his work on the world famous BBC World Football Phone-In podcast, where he’s known as the ‘Legendinho’.

This was a really fun conversation that encompasses culture, language, football and Brazil.

Thank you to Tim, the ‘Legendinho’ for joining me.

Enjoy!

Show Notes: http://www.abidimam.com/timvickery/