HCM – Herman Rutgers/IHFA – Ian Freeman

In 1970, in his early twenties, Herman Rutgers read a book by flamboyant intellectual Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, "Le Défi Americain” (“The American Challenge”), in which the author anticipated Europe's economic and cultural decline in the face of the overwhelming penetration of everything American. “I thought” Rutgers recalls “that I’d better get to know these Americans!”

A career launching major US brands such as Quaker Oats, Sheaffer Pens and Life Fitness into Europe resulted. And now, Rutgers has landed in the heart of the European community, spearheading a trade federation poised to, at last, bring unity of message and purpose to the EU’s health and fitness industry.

As we talk, tobacco smoke swirls around the lounge of the Sheraton hotel at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, an oddly unreconstructed atmosphere in which to discuss Europe’s health. Self-professed global citizen Rutgers will soon spend one day a week in Brussels, in the office of the European Health & Fitness Association (EHFA), of which he became executive director in August 2007. He will work the rest of the time from his home office, a half-hour from the airport, as he toils to grow what he describes as “the best kept secret in the industry”.

In much the same way as football has UEFA, EHFA is the umbrella organisation for fitness trade associations Europe-wide. “The industry has grown very fast across borders” says Rutgers. “When operators venture outside the UK where they know all the regulations, they come across issues they have never had to face. The EU is imposing regulation on the industry that we’re not necessarily happy with and, until now, no one was speaking up for us in Brussels. EHFA is changing that.”

Founded in 1996, when it focused purely on standardisation and accreditation of labour, the revivified EHFA will serve national health & fitness federations, with a mission to inform members of policy or legislation from Brussels and to raise the industry’s profile and lobby on its behalf in the corridors of influence.

“Politicians have no clue of the significanceof our industry in Europe” says Rutgers. “We cater for 40 million customers, have almost 40,000 separate facilities, 450 specialist suppliers and raise €20 billion in revenue, which is almost twice the value of the European professional football industry!”

Aided by his fluency in four languages, Rutgers is growing EHFA membership rapidly, with 3,300 individual clubs on board through the 12 of the 21 national federations who have, to date, signed up. The UK’s Fitness Industry Association (FIA) was the first to join, making all the 2,250 clubs it represents EHFA members. Rutgers notes “The FIA is a role model for the rest of the world in how they have established themselves as a serious industry body respected by central government.”

EHFA members pay fees on a sliding scale. Federations in the strongest economic zone pay €48 per club per year, with fees for smaller countries dropping to €36 or €24. “We made the pricing attractive” says Rutgers “because our success at government level will partly depend on having maximum representation.”

Funding issues are currently central to Rutgers’ efforts. “We’ve done well so far but still have a way to go with sponsorship, creating strategic partnerships and looking to the EU for project-based grants” he says. “We’ve submitted an number of projects to the EU which require €300,000 of funding - if we get half of that it’ll be a nice start, but we’ll do our darndest to get as much as we can!”

EHFA members will receive an electronic newsletter every two weeks, detailing news from the industry Europe-wide on health-related matters and country-specific directives. “We will sift through legislation and simplify it” says Rutgers.

Fitness training standards remain a cornerstone of EHFA’s aspirations and Rutgers is on the way to setting up EREPS, based on the UK’s Register of Exercise Professionals. “We want to ensure that if job applicants from overseas have an IHFA-accredited diploma, you’ll know exactly what they can and can’t do” Rutgers says. “There’s around 400,000 professionals in the industry in Europe who we hope will all eventually be on the register.”

EHFA will organise an annual congress - in association with the US-run International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) where Rutgers worked from 2004 to 2007 - and host educational events, lunches and dinners with MEPs, to enable the industry to interface with politicians and “prove that fitness professionals are not bodybuilders in tank-tops and girls in leotards” says Rutgers.”

IHRSA’s early attempts to recruit European membership was, not to put too fine a point on it, something of a disappointment. Rutgers is frank when I broach the subject. “I was involved with that exercise. We did grow European membership to an extent, but IHRSA can’t fulfil a European role or represent the industry in Brussels because it’s American, with American directors and working to American statutes.

“I know Hans Muench [Rutgers’ replacement at IHRSA as European director] very well and we already have a good working relationship.” A committee will be formed with two people from EHFA and two from IHRSA to formulate the affiliation. “It’ll take a few months to work it all out” says Rutgers, pensively.

EHFA’s Brussels office, at a modest rent of €5,000 a year thanks to Belgian government sponsorship, has just two full-time staff - a policy researcher and a chef de bureau experienced in running federations and dealing with the EU. “We’ve got our work cut out and it’s going to be an interesting ride” Rutgers says.

“Harm [Tegelaars, EHFA president] and I have had a positive reception and the companies that have signed up have given us a lot of financial, operational and moral support which has been heart-warming. The FIA has been very supportive and sent a good message to the rest of Europe. Within the next six months I know other federations will have come in.

“There is a financial commitment to membership, which is never easy, but we’re not asking for a lot of money. We can also help countries without a local federation to establish one, by assisting with statutes, by-laws, finance and organisation.”

Rutgers believes that EHFA growth will come through promoting fitness to the healthcare community as a wellness tool and, to do so, the industry needs to guarantee standards to ensure it is taken seriously by doctors.

“It will be vital to have standardised quality across Europe, which is where EREPS will be important” he says. “We need to establish a code of conduct and minimum levels of quality. Clubs will eventually be audited, and receive a seal of approval which will be vital for GP referral and to help professionals decide which fitness centres to sent their patients to for specific treatments.

“Obesity is, of course, a European and global crisis. An important role for EHFA is to make sure governments and healthcare professionals recognise clubs as serious healthcare providers. That will only happen when we have established and standardised education. The industry’s role is to prevent people becoming obese and to help everyone to lose a few kilos – your health benefits if you reduce your weight by just 10%.”

A sign of Brussels’ increasing awareness of the problem is a TV commercial, developed and funded by the EU and UEFA, with airtime provided free of charge by media owners. Shown during every Champions League football match, the advertisement promotes the concept of “More Europeans, more active, more often” and will reach up to 100 million people.

“The commercial is great, but there’s no call to action” Rutgers, a dedicated runner, ski-er and golfer, ruminates. “If we get funding again next year, the aim is that it will link to a website listing fitness and sports clubs by country and postcode. Aside of this, we also hope to have a pan-European consumer advertising campaign by the end of 2008.

“I would be extremely happy if, over the next three to five years, the fitness industry is seen as a serious partner to governments in helping to fight this dreadful lifestyle disease. There’s no doubt we have the tools and the infrastructure in place to help to deal with it.”

I tentatively broach a subject which has been nagging at the psyche of some industry insiders - that EHFA may eventually seek to become all-encompassing, rendering local trade associations redundant. Rutgers firmly refutes any such aspiration.

“We wouldn’t be funded or staffed correctly to do that and it is absolutely against our overall strategy and objectives. We can only be successful with local support. Each country’s organisation needs to be talking to their governments - we will give input only from Brussels. All the local organisations have national, pan-European and global roles to play. We will only help with local issues if we are asked, and we will never interfere.”

Rutgers sees industry self-regulation as crucial to avoid imposed legislation. “Some regulations are being discussed that we need to be careful of, particularly in relation to swimming pool supervision, chemicals and environmental issues, and issues surrounding the free movement of labour across Europe. We need to address these urgently.”

Operators have also asked EHFA about the perennial issue of value added tax (VAT) on fitness. “This a local government decision rather than a matter for the EU” says Rutgers. “We can, though, help countries to build a case – the Norwegian fitness industry is zero-rated for VAT and, five years ago, Holland’s local federation got VAT reduced from 19% to 6%. We can help national federations by giving them tools to take to their own governments.”

“EHFA is a broad church” Rutgers says. “Every stakeholder in the industry is welcome in our organisation – banks, insurance companies, suppliers. We have to do a PR job, to spread the word that we have this wealth of information. Everything is already in place – we just need to get the message out.

“It’s very early days yet, but what we have done so far is pretty staggering. I’m extremely excited about the future.”

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