Federations, clubs urged to apply for municipal sponsorship
Christmas came early for some Nelson Mandela Bay sport federations and clubs as they received equipment and gear from the metro’s department of sport, recreation, arts and culture at the Young Park Tennis Court yesterday.
This is the third year of municipal sponsorship but sport, recreation, arts and culture political head Helga van Staaden said she was disappointed with the lack of applications this year.
“As the municipality, we had budgeted R1.4m, knowing very well that there is a great need for sporting equipment,” Van Staaden said.
“We have more than 400 sports clubs in the metro.
“We know that this is just a drop in the ocean but we are trying.
“This is just a gesture from us to show that we are a caring city and that we are serious about the development of sport.
“We want to make this municipality a sporting destination of choice.
“So we are moving in the right direction.
“However, I was quite disappointed to see only a few clubs had applied for sponsorship knowing the need that is there and also knowing very well that there are more than 400 clubs out there.
“Even this time around, this financial year, less than 50 clubs applied and I am talking about all sporting codes.
“So we want to encourage clubs out there to apply. They are struggling — we know that they are struggling because they knock on our doors but when they have to do the application that is where they fail.”
She said the municipality would have to find new ways to reach out to clubs and federations and encourage them to apply because they might be despondent because their previous applications were unsuccessful.
The application for the new financial year closed on July 9.
Going forward, she hoped more clubs would apply so that the municipality was able to justify an increase in the budget. Nelson Mandela Bay Sport Confederation general secretary Sibongile Fondini said only five federations had applied this financial year.
“This time around I am not going to lie, it was quite very disappointing in terms of the numbers that applied.
“In terms of the federations alone, we had less than five that applied.
“We have identified some of the challenges that are causing that and some federations were still not compliant with the requirements of the process itself and it is something that we are looking into.”
One of the beneficiaries, Neville Nortje, of the BD Blues Rugby Club, from Kariega, thanked the municipality.
Though welcoming the gesture, another beneficiary, Wells Open Boxing Club president Andile Gege said: “Whenever things are handed out we [boxing] always get less, but we are the only sport code that sends athletes to the Commonwealth Games.
“However, we are grateful for equipment that we received today, at least it’s a start of a good thing,” Gege said.