Time for sports to grow beyond limits of government funding

ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL
23 Feb 2023 12:16pm
Malaysian Gymnastics Federation secretary general Afrita Ariani Nasril
Malaysian Gymnastics Federation secretary general Afrita Ariani Nasril
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SHAH ALAM - On moral obligations alone, there should be no reason why national sports associations (NSAs) should put the future of their sports in full dependence of the Budget 2023 retabling by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tomorrow.

At least one NSA, the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF), has initiated steps to move the sport away from the limits of government funding and MGF secretary general Afrita Ariani Nasril is urging their stakeholders to pull together and push forward with a plan to commercialise the sport towards independence.

"NSAs need to be smart in safeguarding and monetising their existing and acquired assets. The most evident assets to NSAs are their own athletes," said Afrita.

Afrita was responding to a Sinar Daily commentary which called for reforms in the funding structure and subsidised culture in Malaysian sports which now sees the majority of NSAs awaiting approval of government allocations in order to run programmes.

For some NSAs, this includes vital final preparations for the Sea Games in Cambodia in April, which have been put on hold, as the NSAs await budget approvals which they have been informed will only come after the Prime Minister retables the budget for the year in Parliament tomorrow.

"Yes, the subsidies from the Youth and Sports Ministry have helped a lot in the development of programmes and preparations of athletes. But issues such as the Sea Games preparations mentioned, must make NSAs realise that they have top wake up from this slumber and generate their own funding so that such issues do not arise," said Afrita, who was also the Deputy Chef-de-Mission for the Malaysian contingent to the Vietnam Sea Games two years ago.

"We need to get out of this comfort zone provided by government funding and look at how we can generate funding to ensure that the missions for our sports are accomplished. We can't just be sitting down and waiting for government funds to come before we can do simple things such as sending our athletes for competitions to prepare them for events such as the Sea Games," she added.

As far as MGF was concerned, Afrita said gymnastics already has a large pool of clubs which are developing talent at the grassroots level and this was a support structure which already forms the basis of an industry that can grow further.

"We are lucky as in gymnastics there is already a pool of independent clubs that are contributing to the development of the sport at grassroots level. But I can't deny that we are yet to expand the high performance level as it requires much bigger funding," said Afrita.
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She cited the need for stakeholders to realise the need to safeguard assets and ensure returns to the sport.

"For example, an athlete which has been nurtured and developed from the beginning, when they are yet to become stars, are assets to the sport and should be marketed to benefit both the athlete and the sport. These days there are even incidents such as unscrupulous people acting as agents, snatching these athletes away and destroying their futures and denying the sport a chance to grow," said Afrita.

"This is where athletes and the stakeholders too need to be educated on their rights. NSAs too need to realise that it is their moral obligation to ensure the future of their sports are secured.

"At the same time, the NSAs too need to develop their capacity to provide for these athletes and ensure they can grow together with the sport. This is where assets such as competitions that are marketable and an ecosystem that drives growth in the sport and its industry needs to be developed," she added.

She said NSAs should learn from the hardships faced during the Covid-19 pandemic and as they struggled to rebuild post-pandemic, and they should not allow their sports to fall victim to such circumstances.

"All that showed that we need to move out of this cocoon, where we simply just wait for funding to come from the government. We need to move with the times and develop our own industry, not only get moving when the government approves funding and otherwise live in hope, then point fingers, blame others when the funding does not come," said Afrita.