Dawood aspires to better the SA sporting industry
Dawood aspires to better the SA sporting industry.
For years, Thaakir Dawood, the public relations (PR) manager of Raiders Rugby Club has been sharing so many sports stories with us. This week we dive into his life and get to know him a little better.
Dawood admits that he can’t remember how old he was when he fell in love with sports but he does remember that his first toys were soccer, cricket, and rugby balls. “I did however take a liking to cricket at a young age to be a professional athlete. The sport didn’t matter I just wanted to be involved in professional sport,” added Dawood.
The PR manager completed his three-year national diploma in Sports Management at the University of Johannesburg and that is where he saw how broad the South African sports industry is.
Dawood tried his hand at some rugby representing Raiders for a few seasons, however, laughs now as he admits that he was not so good at it. He did not stop there but went on to do the administrative part of the sport where he finds his strength in. “My job description included important tasks like ensuring the smooth running of the club, working behind the scenes with the objective of the athletes bettering themselves. Sport is very much a team effort from the player on the pitch to the administration,” shared Dawood.
[also read] – Gauteng teams clash at a one-day tournament in Mapetla
When it comes to describing the grassroots level in sports in our communities, Dawood shared: “Grassroot sport in our community is doing well, very well for that matter. We have produced several professional athletes and administrators. The likes of former SARU president, Brian van Rooyen, current SARU president Mark Alexander and Golden Lions president Neville Jardine with the latter both coming from Raiders before stepping up into national and provincial roles respectively.”
Besides being the PR manager for Raiders Rugby Club, Dawood is also a radio host at a community station called ‘Salaamedia’ where he hosts a sports show paying homage to our legends and our current sports stars in South Africa. “I also do voluntary work for Futballing Girls non-profit organisation (NPO) where I handle all their media relations,” he added.
Dawood has been running with a campaign called ‘Getting Thaakir Dawood to Australasia’, we asked him about it and why he started it: “This campaign is for me to raise funds to go over to Australia and New Zealand to understand how our counterparts coordinate and manage their rugby media outlets. As a result, I would then be able to bring back new and insightful practices that may be implemented in the South African sector.
“In hopes that we too can take our vision and love of the game to new levels. The reason for me starting this is because I feel there is so much more to learn about media and more specifically in rugby media. One day I will fulfill a purposeful role in a South African professional club set up where I manage media and administration, the same like I do for our community organisations such as Raiders,” he shared.
This year, Dawood would like to work on taking his community radio show commercial and he would also like to take his platform to national TV or an online platform so that it can be accessed by the masses to educate the youth that there are role models from within their community.
Dawood concluded the interview by sharing what the most valuable lesson has been so far in his career: “A university qualification is not enough if you want to be great in the industry, you will need to engage in constant learning and gaining experience in the field so that you can confidently apply everything you learn in real-life scenarios.”
You can follow Thaakir Dawood on Facebook: Thaakir Dawood, Twitter and Instagram: _Thaakz_,
Follow Us Here:
Catch the latest news by visiting our other platforms:
