Sporting Associations

It seems as if one of my pet peeves is to hear the various different sporting bodies begging the government for money.  There is also no doubt that leading the pack is the Jamaica Football Federation headed by Captain Horace Burrell.

It is one thing to ask for assistance but to act as if you are somehow entitled to it is another matter.  The problem arises because these bodies believe that the government has free money to give away to them.  The reality of the situation is that any assistance provided is funded by the taxpayers. In that regard, we ought to have a say in how our tax dollars are used especially at a time when so many government services are in need of funds.

Sporting associations have not moved forward with the times and are still operating as if sports were just for pleasure.  In this day and age, a sporting body has to seek financing through sponsorship, sale of image rights, television rights and spectator gate receipts.  Unfortunately, most of these bodies do not even have someone on their board who is experienced in fund raising and marketing.  In fact, the quality of the boards leaves a lot to be desired as most are simply made of friends of the chairman and very few bring quality skills to the table.

This is evidenced by the fact that most of our sporting associations have great difficulties producing financial statements.  When they are produced most bodies are operating at a loss and have huge debts owing to third parties.  I have noticed recently that several of our bodies are offering to host qualifying tournaments without realising that to do so will place a serious financial strain on their resources.  Worldwide experiences have often demonstrated that there is a large deficit after hosting major events.  If major events have shortfalls then how much more so will minor qualifying tournaments suffer.

Now there are cases where it is vital for the government to support financially some sporting events.  These might highlight Jamaica to other countries or it may be a sport that they wish to develop further because they see great future potential.  I am not opposed to some sponsorship because we all certainly want to share in the glory of the success of our sportsmen and women.  However, I do think that once we are giving support to a sporting association then they should publish their financials in the newspaper so that all can see to what use the funds were put.

Sports are seen as being important to Jamaica but remember that this is just one of many such items.  My call is not to stop sponsoring sports but just to ensure that there is a balance in how we spend the limited resources that we have.