Sports administrators must stop sporting with sports

Dear Editor,
Some administrators of national sports associations (NSAs) must stop sporting with the derivable benefits of national sports programmes.
It is a generally-accepted principle that the global sporting bodies’ policies limit Government’s role in the administrative management of NSAs. This principle allows elected administrators exclusionary freedom from intervention, and their performances are sometimes sub-optimal.
The situation realizes a thin line for intervention by Government Ministries which have fiduciary responsibility for promoting national policy benefits from induced budgetary contributions to support NSA programmes.
So, naturally, Government administrators would exercise caution and balance when associations’ officials do not comply with the basic accountability mechanisms, or when these officials prove incompetent, or are less than sufficiently diligent or prudent.
Repeated embarrassing events, such as the recent disastrous and catastrophic fiasco concerning the historic 50th CARIFTA Games, often drive the need for interventions. Similar occurrences must never be allowed repeat, and we must all ensure that sports administrators are men and women of integrity, who will also be held accountable.
Interviews on social media and other public reports confirm the shocking admission by the President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) that his oversight of affairs is below the required level. He established that the AAG was sufficiently funded, with financial support provided amounting to millions of dollars, perhaps far more than what was needed to take the national team to the Junior CARIFTA Games. Therefore, the explanations provided cannot justify why our precious athletes were humiliated with their preparation and participation at the Games.
The Sports Calendar is known to all sports administrators. The dates, times, venues and requirements are crystal clear to the relevant sports associations. However, it is public knowledge that many sports administrators are only sporting in their roles with sports.
Regarding the funding of sports programmes, for which administrators should report, they often treat this as a state secret, to which only the very privileged few have access. Long before any national or international ‘games,’ national associations must develop a checklist with all the details concerning what has to streamline the team’s preparation and compliance by all stakeholders.
Critically, responsible administrators must ensure that the best arrangements are in place for the team to succeed. Association officials have used arms-length excuses for too long, while abusing the system in regard to who should be the actual beneficiaries. The problem points to Associations holding Governments at bay with the notion that they are “independent and only answerable to the international body. Yet, simultaneously, they expect Government to provide all the facilities and much funding.
Sports associations often reach out to the business community to access funding, but are very recalcitrant in accounting within the legal timeframe. As a result, most national associations fail annually to satisfy the three essential requirements of the Government to get approval, and Government support tends to target corporate citizens’ support.
It is important to note that The National Sports Commission Act 23 of 1993 is instructive for obligatory compliance: that all National Associations must: (1) hold annual elections, (2) produce annual audited financial statements and (3) provide the NSC with their programme of activities for the respective calendar year.
Unfortunately, however, very few national associations are accountable and transparent in their activities. What seems evident in the public for compliance by the administrations’ officials is that the officials, passports, visas, and all travel documents are always available on one side. But on the other, the preparation of the athletes and teams is always done haphazardly. Further, in-fighting for selecting the officials to travel with the team is always more critical to some associations.
According to reports, the AAG President has mentioned that, for these CARIFTA Games, the GOA contributed three million dollars; the Government contributed three million dollars, and the businesses/sponsors contributed three million dollars. So then, we must have a good report on all aspects of the team that attended the 50th CARIFTA Games.
So, the Government is consistently leading in exposing our very young to sports. Our students are allowed to play sports at an early age in the communities and schools. So, the very young are given that vital exposure to sports disciplines, where they would create a positive altitude and then develop genuine interest in specific sports.
We must ask these questions: Where are the quality coaches, trainers, and the national associations’ developmental programme? Unfortunately, most associations only hang on to the best youths available, and then exploit the youths’ abilities for their benefit.
Since we have several world-class sports facilities and massive Government spending on developing sports facilities nationwide, national associations must get better and more responsible members to administrate the associations.
The time is apt for sports administrators to stop sporting with sports.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar