David Hassan

David Hassan, PhD (born 16 November 1972, Derry, Northern Ireland) is an academic, writer, and current Professor of Sport Policy and Management at the University of Ulster.^[1] He is known internationally for his collaborative work with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA),^[2] the world governing body of motorsport, and has a close working relationship with its President Jean Todt and Vice-President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

His research on motorsport in various parts of the work, specifically across the Middle East, has been widely cited.^[3] He has published 11 books and over 130 other research outputs, including 70+ peer reviewed articles in international journals and book chapters. A commissioned anthology of his foremost academic writings will be published by Taylor and Francis in 2015.^[4]

Hassan’s impactful research in the field of motorsport included a study he led on the viability (for the first time) of a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) being staged in Ireland, which was realised in 2007 and became the largest North-South sporting initiative ever undertaken. Hassan’s research revealed that hosting the 2007 WRC round was worth €46 million to the Irish economy.^[5] Rally Ireland 2007 had over 240,000 spectators and a TV audience in 180 markets and was attended by Princess Anne, a member of the British Royal family, as well as political leaders from both Britain and Ireland, including then British Secretary for State for Northern Ireland, RH Peter Hain MP.^[6]

Hassan is also well respected as Academic Editor of Sport in Society, one of the preeminent international academic journals in the field, a leadership role he has held for over a decade.^[7] In 2008 he was also appointed Series Editor of Foundations in Sport Management, by the academic publishers Routledge, a collection featuring many global academics working in this realm.^[8] During this same year he was invited to become an International Scholar with the International Football Institute, whilst he has delivered over 20 invited lectures, including at Oxford University during the Summer Olympic Games of 2012.^[9] His views on sport governance, specifically in Europe, are widely regarded; not least his observations on the efficacy of the sporting model employed by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ireland’s successful sports governing body.^[10] His sustained leadership role when promoting links between Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been supported by the First and Deputy First Ministers in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, and substantially by its investment arm, Invest NI.^[11] In 2007 Prof Hassan was appointed to the Irish Football Association’s (IFA) ‘Football for All’ Executive Advisory panel (regarded as a model of best practice by UEFA, Europe’s governing body for soccer), and remains a key advisor on policy to a range of international sporting associations, including Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs, based in Dubai.^[12] Prof Hassan was an expert witness at the high-profile UEFA investigation, held in January 2014, into events at the Champions League games played at the Amsterdam Arena in the Netherlands in November 2013, which was marred by racist and sectarian chanting on the part of Ajax fans towards their contemporaries from Glasgow Celtic FC.

He is also Founding Co-Director of the Special Olympics Regional Research Collaborating Centre for Europe-Eurasia based at Ulster. The facility was officially opened by Special Olympics Europe Eurasia CEO Mary Davis in April 2011 at the university’s Jordanstown campus.^[13] His work in this area, which has secured over £260k in external funding to date, has significantly enhanced the use of sport to aid levels of integration by young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across Europe and further afield, including in India. He is a member of the editorial board of numerous academic journals including Telesna Kultura, which is regarded as the leading non-English language journal dealing with sport in mainland Europe. He is also an established member of the European Federation of Adapted Physical Activity and delivered an address at its most recent conference in May 2012 in the Republic of Ireland.^[14] In 2009 Prof Hassan was awarded a U.S. Government grant to undertake further collaborative study with Boston College, Mass on sport and good relations whilst he remains Visiting Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney and Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.

Early Life and education

A native of Feeny, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and a former pupil of the famous St Columb’s College, Derry, (the alma mater of poet Seamus Heaney, playwright Brian Friel and politician John Hume) Hassan obtained a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997, a Master of Science degree in 1998 and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 2001.^[15] His thesis, examining the relationship between sport and nationalism in Ireland, was supervised by Professor Alan Bairner and drawn from research work he conducted during the late 1990s when sport in Northern Ireland was heavily infiltrated by political influences.^[16] He worked freelance for a number of established newspapers and magazines in his native Northern Ireland during his late teens and travelled widely, including to South America, Australia and Africa, researching and writing about sport in many parts of the world.

Sports career

Beyond his academic achievements, Hassan is also well known in sporting circles. He remains one of the few players to have represented his native county, Derry, at senior inter-county level in both Gaelic football and hurling, two sports indigenous to Ireland. Earlier he won Ulster championship medals with Derry in 1990 at minor (U-18) level and again in 1993 at U-21 level (both Gaelic football). He was part of the Derry senior squad which lost the Ulster Championship final to Cavan in 1997 and the National Football League Division 1 final to Offaly in 1998. He was one of the longest serving players for his club, St. Mary’s GAC, Banagher, in both Gaelic football and hurling having begun his career in 1988 before retiring in 2010.Previously, in 2002, he assumed a role as part of the coaching team which steered Derry minors (U-18) to the 2002 All Ireland and Ulster minor championships. Also in 2002 he was a coach with the Donegal senior football team that qualified for the quarter finals of that year’s All-Ireland senior football championships, losing to Dublin following a replay. The following year, 2003, he was promoted to assistant manager of the University of Ulster Jordanstown’s Sigerson cup team, alongside Derry All-Ireland winning medallist Damian Barton, reaching the semi-finals of the tournament.^[17] He is currently part of the Derry senior football management team, supporting Brian McIvor as the county returns to Division 1 of the National Football league. A well-qualified and respected coach, Hassan is viewed by many as a potential future Derry senior manager in light of the considerable experience he has amassed in a range of settings. Hassan’s achievements in association football are also well established. He was a member of the Cliftonville FC squad that won the Irish League championship during the 1997/98 season – the club’s first championship in 88 years. He also represented Northern Ireland universities in the British Home nation championships on two occasions (association football) including as part of the victorious side of 2001. He remains one of the few players to have played in two of Ireland’s old sporting competitions, the Collingwood and Sigerson Cups.

Broadcasting career

Hassan remains a regular commentator on sports research in the international media. His expert opinion has been utilised by Sky News Inc., BBC, Dubai TV, Al Jazeera, Abu Dhabi Sports, ITV, Setanta Sports and, in print and multi-media platforms, Irish Times, Belfast Telegraph and Al Bayan newspapers. Hassan has also appeared in many sports programmes for BBC radio and television, including the radio documentary ‘Does the Cap Fit?’, which won the Gold Award at the 2012 PPI awards ceremony,^[18] Setanta Sports’ acclaimed documentary series ‘Sport Matters’^[19] and Dubai Sports TV ‘Motorstar 2011’ series designed to find the next young driver from the FIA’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.^[20] He has also spoken publicly on a range of issues relating to Irish sport, notably on GAA governance and management and is seen as one of the leading authorities on these matters in Ireland.^[21]

Honours and Awards

Hassan has received many awards for his academic scholarship. In 2006 he was awarded a Distinguished Research Fellowship by the University of Ulster in recognition of his sustained contribution to research, defined by its quality, breadth and impact.^[22] He was an important contributor to the North American Society of Sports History Book Award Winner in the Anthology category in 2010 (Mike Cronin, William Murphy, and Paul Rouse (eds.)) The Gaelic Athletic Association, 1884-2009: A People’s History (Irish Academic Press)^[23] having been shortlisted in the 2009 Irish McNamee Awards in the Best GAA History Publication category for his edited work with Donal McAnallen and Roddy Hegarty entitled The Evolution of the GAA Pobal, Club, Contae agus Tir (Ulster Historical Foundation: Belfast).^[24] (Published 30 November 2009: ISBN 978-1903688830) .

In 2013 the FIA World Motor Sport Council appointed Prof Hassan, as its sole non-industry representative, to the federation’s Strategic Task Force in light of his sustained work on global motorsport. Previously, in 2009, he was honoured by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese at a reception to mark his academic research on the GAA, whilst his work examining sport management in the Middle East was publicly acknowledged by His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE Minister for Culture, Youth, and Social Development, in March 2013. Hassan previously worked as a consultant with Gleneagles Hotel in 1995/6, the setting for the 2014 Ryder Cup tournament, and is a keen golfer and motorsport enthusiast.

Bibliography

Hassan, D. and Mitra, S. (2014) The Olympic Games: Meeting New Global Challenges (Routledge, London). (Published 30 May 2014; ISBN 978-0-415-74176-7). 190 pages.

Hassan, D., McConkey, R. and Dowling, S. (2014) Sport, Coaching and Intellectual Disability (Routledge, London). (Published 31 January 2014; ISBN 978-0415735773). 232 pages.

Hassan, D. (2013) Ethnicity and Race in Association Football: Case Study analyses in Europe, Africa and the USA (Routledge, London). (Published 4 November 2013; ISBN 978-0415725224). 168 pages.

Ben Sulayem, M., O’Connor, S. and Hassan, D. (2013) Sport Management in the Middle East: A Case Study Analysis (Routledge, London). (Published 3 April 2013; ISBN 978-0415677301). 209 pages.

Hassan, D. and Lusted, J. (2012) Managing Sport: Social and Cultural Perspectives. (Routledge: London). (Published 22 October 2012; ISBN 978-0415572163). 344 pages.

Hassan, D. and Brown, S. (2012) Sport and the Community (Routledge: London). (Published 1 October 2012; ISBN 978-0415571654). 160 pages.

Hassan, D. (2011) The History of World Motor Sport (Routledge: London). (Published 12 July 2011; ISBN 978-0-415-67788-2). 144 pages.

Trenberth, L. and Hassan, D. (2011) Managing Sport Business: An Introduction (Routledge: London). (Published 2 September 2011: ISBN 978-0415570299).496 pages.

Hassan, D. and Hamil, S. (2010) Who Owns Football? Models of Football Governance and Management in International Sport: The Governance and Management of the Club Game Worldwide (Routledge: London). (Published 17 November 2010: Â ISBN 978-0415445702). 184 pages.

McAnallen, D. Hassan, D. and Hegarty, R. (2009) The Evolution of the GAA Pobal, Club, Contae agus Tir (Ulster Historical Foundation: Belfast). (Published 30 November 2009: ISBN 978-1903688830). 334 pages.

Darby, P. and Hassan, D. (2008) Emigrant Players: Sport and the Irish Diaspora (Routledge: London). (Published 25 June 2008; ISBN 978-0415464918). 232 pages

References