Gasping for air

The government’s plan to minimise the role of the state in sports development has created anxiety in the sports fraternity. In the new system, whose real picture is yet to surface, most of the responsibility of handling sports financially will rest on the shoulders of the national federations. The federations will have to work together with the corporate sector to develop their respective disciplines. The government believes that there is no concept of state funding to the federations in the developed world. The government is also set to restructure the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). Can we have a corporate culture which could also support sports other than cricket? Two schools of thoughts have emerged on this issue among the national federations. One thinks that they could run their sports independently with the support of the private sector if they are given freedom from the PSB which is the main impediment in the way of promotion of their sports. These people are few. Most of the key officials of national federations believe that without state input sports cannot be developed. They think that the corporate culture is not so strong as to support sports other than cricket which is the main target of the private sector because of its amazing popularity.

Those who say that they can run their federations without the state funding want that the government should only provide them with the training infrastructure, and board and lodging for their athletes. They say the rest of the expenses will be met by the federations.

Most of the sports officials firmly believe that without government’s assistance it is not possible to administer and develop sports in Pakistan.

Having covered various events during the last 17 years I personally believe that the corporate culture of Pakistan is not that strong which could support the country’s sports and guide them to excellence at international level.

Unless a game or an athlete achieves high goals in international circuit sponsors cannot be attracted. The attitude of Pakistan’s corporate sector towards history-making professional boxer and two-time World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight world silver champion Mohammad Waseem and two-time beach wrestling world champion Mohammad Inam shows how much the private sector is interested in sports other than cricket.

There should be a strong corporate culture and the dependency of the federations on government’s grant should be minimum. But to reach to that level and enable a discipline to attract sponsors the state will have to play its role. Cricket did not become a darling in the eyes of corporate sector overnight. It was the government’s machinery that worked day and night for pulling the people to witness international matches on Pakistan’s soil. The state also helped cricket attract sponsors. And when a discipline creates its strong fan-base it starts attracting sponsors and media. We can see this in some regions of Pakistan in the case of kabaddi, wrestling, volleyball and football where good crowd is normally attracted. Keeping in view this attraction in these disciplines Strawberry Sports Management plans to exploit strong fan-base of these handful of disciplines by organising professional leagues. In kabaddi we saw a successful first season of the Super Kabaddi League (SKL) last year.

But the issue is if you want Pakistan to perform at the Olympics and world level then the government will have to put in its best and finance federations generously with a solid accountability system.

The government should note that even in the developed world federations get huge state funding for preparing their athletes for major international events, particularly, Olympics. At this stage in Pakistan where sports base is too weak state needs to heavily finance the sector both at the federal and provincial levels.

Look at England where the corporate culture is well developed. A Guardian report says that UK Sport, a government body that funds and manages Olympic sport, had to spend a £5.5 million ($ 7 million) per medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The UK, in general, spends $1.5 billion (Rs 90 billion) on sports infrastructure and training. The UK Sport spent about $350 million on Olympics preparation over four years (2013-17).

The UK, which finished second with 27 golds in Rio Games, spent $350 million on 374 athletes, which is about $1 million per athlete.

Specific spending on medal-winning athletes went up to $36,000 a year. The UK started specific or targeted spending only after 1997, in the run up to the 2000 games.

There appears to be a direct correlation between money spent by the UK and Olympic medals won. With a funding of 5 million pounds, it had won only one gold medal and finished 36th at the Atlanta Olympics. The UK finished second at Rio, its best after a century (it was first in 1908) with 27 gold medals.

India spent $500 million (Rs 32 billion) on youth affairs and sports through the Union budget and the states.

In India, Rs 7.5 billion was spent on sport-specific federations, training centres, coaches and other infrastructure over four years (2012-13 to 2015-16).

The spending on athletes is Rs 227 million through NSDF (109 athletes) and Rs 380 million thought the TOP programme (97 athletes for 2016 Olympics, excluding para Olympic athletes) over four years, the Guardian report says.

China, which came third at Rio with 26 golds, is known for aggressive state-sponsored promotion of sports. After a decade of effort, China — for the first time — topped the medals tally at Beijing 2008.

These were some examples. If we look at the whole history of the developed world we will find a major role of state in sports which is badly needed if a country wants to compete at the global level.

Unfortunately in Pakistan there is no such system. We always run after cricket and because of this inclination we destroyed our national sport hockey and squash in which Pakistan ruled the world for decades. It’s time for the federal government to devise a realistic strategy for sports development. There is a great need for infrastructure in every place of the country.

Before implementing any of the recommendations submitted by the Prime Minister’s task force on sports, they should be made public and further input be taken from sports experts in order to avert any future U-turn.

73.alam@gmail.com