Project Management and the Development of Social Capital at Rally Ireland 2007

The WRC series Rally Ireland 2007 was the largest spectator volume sporting event ever held north or south of the border. This bi-annually recurring motor-sport offers opportunity for political and social showcasing, tourism generation, community involvement and revenue generation over and beyond the intrinsic event experience that it offers to organisers, participants and spectators. It also provides a discussion forum arguing for the incorporation of management disciplines associated with managed events including; project management, human resource management and the harnessing and harvesting of social capital. Research conducted under the aegis of WRC by the University of Ulster into the economic impact of Rally Ireland 2007, together with participant organiser recommendations for future practice provided by 13 leading operatives/organizers of Rally Ireland 2007 provide the data for examination of the extended theoretical basis of event management. The role of volunteers and melding a with salaried, permanent cohort in Toffler’s (1990) pulsating organisation capable of delivering an event that extends stakeholdership is examined, the macro and micro political‘value’ of the event and involvement in the event discussed and recommendations for further research provided.