Source: www.trinidadexpress.com
By: Kern De Freitas
Tough times mean tough measures and the Ministry of Sport is advising national sporting organisations (NSOs) to get self-sufficient.
Many local sporting bodies are feeling the pinch of cutbacks trickling down from the massive budget cuts at the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SPORTT).
The Amateur Swimming Association of T&T (ASATT) may have to cancel its upcoming Goodwill Meet, while some NSOs have had problems raising funding to send national teams abroad to compete.
Even football's T&T Pro League and other sporting bodies have fallen on hard times.
Acting Permanent Secretary for the Sport Ministry Ashwin Creed yesterday acknowledged that funding has been a problem for sport this year, but said NSOs need to take some responsibility for their own fund-raising.
Creed is not shutting the door on financial support for sport organisations, but says the Ministry's policy of self-reliance will continue into the next fiscal year. "(NSOs) have no other choice," Creed told the Express yesterday. "Our approach in the new financial year is that. (Before we assist them) we want to know what is your revenue, we want to know how much you plan to raise, what the income is like. The days for just giving, giving, giving is over. That is not business."
Creed explained that the practice of the Ministry funding national teams in full started in 2004, but said times have changed and that neither the Ministry—nor its implementation arm, SPORTT—could afford to continue that practice.
"Before, when a national team was going away, the Olympic Committee said 'okay, we can (contribute) this (sum)', and they used to write the NSO and tell them they have to put so much."
SPORTT has been hampered by a 40 per cent budget cut earlier this year and, as a result, many projects have suffered, including their planned summer youth camps, funding to NSOs, and some planned facility construction and repair projects.
Elite athletes are also yet to receive funding, while various local leagues have also been affected.
Creed also called on the T&T Pro League to do some "introspection" as far as funding is concerned.
The practice of government funding sporting leagues does not happen in other countries, Creed reasoned, and said they should try and look at ways to support the sport on their own.
"I think its time that the Pro League itself starts taking a look at itself," he said. "If you have a (professional) league you're really supposed to be making your own money. We have been carrying the League for the last few years." Overall, Creed expects the tough times to continue.
"Before 2004, the NSOs used to have to get at least 50 per cent of the funding… If we continue to get budget cuts it means they will start looking for funding."