BSA grapples much of loaded in-basket
BOXING SA has embarked on a drive to bring its licensees on par with the good governance mechanism through a series of seminars.
This follows the two-day gathering the governing body held with boxers in East London last week.
The event was aimed at familiarising the boxers with the dos and don’ts of the sport including doping, rules and regulations, public image to mention but a few.
Boxing is one of the sporting codes battling to clean up its image due to its affliction by doping scandals.
Local boxing is still reeling from the shock of doping scandal involving former SA champion Aphiwe Mboyiya, which exploded on the beginning day of last week’s seminar.
Mboyiya’s fate is yet to be decided by SA Institute for Drug Free Sports (Saids) which had an official at the seminar.
BSA will now hold a two-day gathering for promoters at Auckland Park in Johannesburg, starting on Tuesday.
While the boxers’ gathering was almost one-sided the meeting with promoters is expected to produce fireworks as the two parties have been at loggerheads over a number of issues for a while.
This pertains to BSA insistence that it is entitled to 10% of every funding secured by promoters.
The promoters insist that the percentage should be deducted on profit and not on capital arguing that on many occasions the funding was a mere drop in the ocean in covering the tournament expenses.
The promoters are still not on par with BSA’s interpretation of the period in which purse monies should be deposited before a tournament.
BSA recently pulled the plug on a tournament in Cape Town when promoter Mzoli Tempi could not come up with funds.
This has left boxing with a bad reputation as the tournament had secured television coverage from SuperSport.
Another concern has been the sparring involvement of SABC-TV in boxing coverage with the tournaments being canned instead of being aired live.
This is stark contrast to the big promises made by the public broadcaster and national sports ministry that national television has returned to boxing broadcasting.
BSA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejaka confirmed that broadcasting would form part of the workshop.
“The workshop will also go beyond broadcasting and equally reflect on the overall dynamics that surround our tournament delivery practices and experience both as Boxing SA from a sanctioning and enforcement point of view and also as individual promoters from a planning, delivery and mop-up perspective of our tournaments,” Lejaka added.
Other issues to be covered by the gathering include:
● The state of professional boxing in South Africa from a perspective of boxing promotion and reflection on the challenges and opportunities (including a practical reflection on the 75 tournaments sanctioned in the previous financial year and 89 tournaments sanctioned in the preceding year, and lessons to be drawn from that);
● Reflection on Boxing South Africa strategic plan, how it reinforces the work of the promoters and the immediate priority programmes for the current financial year;
● The role and extent of Boxing South Africa support to promoters;
● Safety at Sport and Recreation Events Act (Sasrea), particularly an updated presentation on the recently promulgated Sasrea Regulations and how this affects boxing promoters;
● Training and capacity building interventions for promoters and how this can/should dovetail into eligibility criteria for admission as a promoters as well as grading criteria; and
● The state of provincial Promoters Associations and state of readiness to establish a fully fleshed national promoters association. — Boxing Mecca