EU funding for Maltese sport

The topic of sport funding in Malta, which was the subject of a contribution I made to these columns some time ago, crept up again in a recent report which I received from the EC Representation in Malta about the second consultation that the Commission in Malta, together with Meusac, held last December with sectors of Maltese civil society.

In his summing up of the main findings and recommendations of the consultation, rapporteur Prof. Roderick Pace states that representatives of Maltese sports associations and organisations lamented during the consult-ation that they felt completely cut off from EU funding opportunities.

The Maltese sports sector, it results from the interventions made, feels it is still unable to place its finger on how the EU could be of benefit to it.

Then, in the summing up of part of the document, another interesting point is made in that while some local organisations' representatives claim that their European counterparts tell them that they had benefited from EU funding to improve facilities in their countries, they (the locals) could not state to the consultation meeting how this was done.

Further on, the report quotes one sport organisation's speaker clearly suggesting that "taking into consideration Malta's small size and consequent lack of resources" (one wonders, what with non-stop building everywhere, ODZ disputes the order of the day and ever less countryside to enjoy, whether proper cross-country races can still be held in Malta?) "the EU ought to provide small country associations with the necessary financial aid to help them cope with the preparations for sporting events."

Another speaker said that there were no funds which sports organisations could access and this could change if the government decided to make sports a priority axis. "Such a decision would enable sport organisations to access Structural Funds in order to improve sporting facilities and enhance preparatory programmes."

The report then says what some specific local sport organisations complained about at this EC-Meusac consultation. The Shooters Federation is rightly complaining that none of Malta's shooting ranges is of the required international standard. Doesn't that make our various Chetcutis and Vellas and several smart others coming up the line deserving of ever more help, seeing that they have to practise in sub-standard facilities and yet still manage to get the results that they do? Then there was the "cycling organis-ation" spokesman who - don't we all do so continuously? - lamented the inadequacy of our roads for his sport. There is currently much talk about increasing the number of foreign football clubs who might be attracted to have training camps here. We certainly cannot attempt anything similar with foreign amateur (let alone professional) cycling clubs.

It is beyond this point that one gets quite miffed. The point is again made that local sports organisations couldn't manage to drag out of their foreign counterparts substantial indications regarding how these obtain EU aid to improve their facilities. And then two things:

First "it is suggested" - not at all clear who is making the suggestion, the rapporteur, Meusac, or the local EC rep - that the local sport organisations "should be more proactive in learning how other European associations are managing to access funding".

And then it is reported that Joanna Drake, the EC rep in Malta, "remarked that the issue of sports and the EU and how local sporting associations could be affected by the EU, needed to be scrutinised closer". And that Maltese "sport associations should also strengthen their links with European associations in an effort to learn more on how the latter were benefiting from EU programmes".

At this point the fleeting thought in that old Maltese saying, "The donkey blames its tail", rushed past my mind. Yes, certainly Maltese associations should try to learn, glean, squeeze, steal, do whatever they can to learn how their foreign counterparts manage to benefit from EU funding. But shouldn't these associations also be getting much more direct hands-on assistance from either the EC delegation itself, or Meusac, or even some source in government, about what and how the foreigners are getting their "claimed" EU funding? Or is this area of activity (or should we now also start calling it a "specialisation" or "profession"?) also being left to those locals who have comfortably set themselves up in this area as "specialists" on EU funding and working on a "commission from whatever I'll get you" basis?

This means that whenever, and if ever, local sport bodies do manage to get anything from the EU they would have to share it with others who probably love and are genuinely interested in sports as much as I am in break dancing - and I hope that's the right name for that activity!