Changing The World Of Sport- Nigel Rushman
February 8, 2012
RMEa™ was a hugely beneficial tool and it was a pleasure to see how the members of the Bid team engaged with it.
It was a real pleasure to be working with these, highly motivated, intelligent, well educated, linguistically and culturally flexible individuals all committed to a common goal. Because they started as outsiders they took nothing for granted and worked doubly hard because of that. They constantly learned – sometimes from the mistakes of competitors – and put their new knowledge to good use. 
The qualities of these individuals contributed to creating the tone of a Bid which was appropriately humble but immensely focused and determined to overcome every obstacle placed before it.
One of these was convincing the general football community of the merits of Qatar and the Bid, something which was done, in part by engaging at football community events including Soccerex and Leaders in Football. These events provided an opportunity for the Bid to show its public face and nobody who saw CEO Hassan Al-Thawadi or the other senior members of the team at a podium or an informal discussion failed to be impressed by their commitment, passion and sincerity.
In fact sincerity was one of the key elements of the overall strategy. We were under explicit instructions not to break the rules of Bidding and to play it by the book…not everybody approached the contest in the same way.
Qatar’s Bid was not based on spin or evasion but about identifying issues and finding creative and technically proven solutions. Nowhere was this more evident than in the development of cooling technologies which allow games to be played and enjoyed by players and fans alike, or in the development of fantastically designed but part-demountable stadia which will be used to promote football in other parts of the world when the World Cup is over.
But the campaign was also about culture and the place of the Arab world in global community.
Qatar 2022 presented a brilliant and creative Bid which ticked every technical box. But that alone does not necessarily win Bidding contests.
Throughout the campaign Qatar urged the world to ‘Expect Amazing’ as it introduced and proved its credentials, in the final presentation that afternoon in Zurich the power of the message was wrapped up in another single word…when?
The question put to FIFA Exco members by H. H. Sheikha Mozah was straight forward: “When do you think is the right time for the World Cup to come the Middle East?”
Going on to remind them of the impact FIFA created by taking the World Cup to South America (1930), North America (1994) Asia (2002) and Africa (2010), of the role of the World Cup in promoting understanding between the different cultures of East and West and of the vibrant youthfulness of The Gulf Region, Her Highness concluded by answering her own question.
“When? The time has come…the time is now.”
Nigel’s experience spans over 30 years with interests in various international trades and projects, including steel, infrastructure, equipment, manufacturing, hotels, catering, marketing, property, digital and sport. In addition, he has developed and implemented innovative programmes for over 500 events in 30 countries, including three Rugby World Cups and three Cricket World Cups amongst numerous other projects.
In addition to his role as Founder of Rushmans, Nigel was contracted as Event Director of the ICC CWC West Indies 2007 Inc with the responsibility of implementing the Event Management, Security, Media Management, Accreditation and Volunteer Programmes for the Cricket World Cup across the nine participating countries in the Caribbean region.
Most recently Nigel had the pleasure and privilege to be part of the innovative and highly professional team, which made history by winning Qatar the opportunity to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
