Ignoring minor sports isn’t among best ideas

Sponsorship is the lifeblood of any sports club or national team in a modern nation. If it is not available or it is in short supply, the prospects of a club will inevitably be compromised, regardless of the talent in hand.

It is also a marketing tool that companies frequently use to reach wide audiences on a national or global basis. Through this platform, specific audiences--including potential customers--are easily reached and persuaded to offer much-needed backing.

This is not the case for Tanzania, unfortunately. For years, lack of sponsorship has been the major drawback to our national teams, leading to failure to honour international championships that take place abroad.

Early this week, for instance, the national men and women’s basketball teams had to skip the ongoing 2014 FIBA Africa Zone 5 basketball championship qualifiers in Uganda due to this perennial bane. The Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) needed at least Sh35 million to facilitate the two teams’ preparations and participation in the tournament, which started on Monday.

This came only days after the national netball team pulled out of the 2015 World Cup qualifiers in Botswana. They needed over Sh45m for the event, which decided Africa’s envoys to the world showpiece to be hosted by Australia next year. The National Netball Association and TBF may be well-run associations, but their appeals for government funding have always fallen on deaf ears.

Football has traditionally enjoyed the lion’s share of sponsorship and funding.  Still, supposedly small sports like netball, basketball, athletics, boxing, cricket, golf and cycling can bring fame to the country if they were to get the same attention.

As long as the government does not take a keen interest in supporting these sports, disciplines like netball, squash and cycling will never realise their full potential.

SOURCE: The Citizen