A few weeks ago, Anthony Chircop, former president of the Malta Amateur Athletic Association, wrote an article entitled ‘A brighter future for Sports’, dealing with proposed changes in the legislation governing the transfer of public property to sports entities.

The main thrust of the proposed changes is to allow sports entities to enter into commercial partnerships with third parties. This activity has been hitherto strictly forbidden by government by way of very restrictive clauses inserted into the lease agreements of contracts which it enters into with sports entities.

Nothing was heard for quite some time on this matter, however, the indications are now that the legislative amendments will be enacted very soon.

As one who has been involved in sports administration for over four decades, I welcome this news wholeheartedly. I am also quite certain that in general, sports clubs and associations will also welcome this change, as it will in effect permit them to engage in commercial activities which until today have been beyond their reach.

The club’s or organisation’s interests may become subsumed to the interests of private individuals

They will, of course, be more than happy to undertake commercial activities that will allow them to augment their generally meagre income with the aim of rendering their sports activities sustainable. Obviously, this is a much more professional and dignified manner of raising funds than begging, cap in hand, for sponsorships.

A guaranteed income from a legitimate commercial activity could help diminish the temptation for clubs to go for an utterly illicit activity namely corruption in the shape of match fixing and illegal betting.

Sadly enough, this latest phenomenon seems to have become quite a popular means of raising funds for cash-strapped clubs. However, with these amendments seemingly towards the end of the proverbial pipeline, it is important for the government to make sure safeguards are adopted to ensure that the ultimate beneficiary of the commercial activity is always the sports entity in question.

Therefore, when public property, which is generally of a substantial value, is transferred to a sports body, thorough scrutiny should be made of the statute and the whole administrative set-up of the transferee sports body.

Moreover, when the club or the association is a corporate body, the Memorandum and Articles of Association should be scrupulously vetted to establish who the shareholders are. It is imperative that the sports body always possesses the majority shareholding.

If these checks are not made the sports facility could end up being effectively owned by an individual or individuals in their personal capacity. Unfortunately, irregularities of this nature have happened in the not-so-distant past, and injustices were suffered by the clubs concerned sometimes even without their knowing that they had been double-crossed!

This is particularly important in the context of local sport, given that in several cases sports clubs and organisations are backed by private individuals, who often hold leading roles at the entity and who provide the clubs and organisations with substantial financial backing, frequently in the form of loans which are repayable, effectively, on demand.

This practice has the unwelcome and undesirable net effect of, at times, making a hostage of the club or organisation to the private individual in question. Clubs and organisation may find themselves in a position where they are unable to change their leadership – even if they wish to and it is in their best interests – as any change lead to the requests for immediate repayment of loans made.

In other words, the club’s or organisation’s interests – philanthropic, social or sportive – may become subsumed to the interests of private individuals. In the worst case scenario, the use of the same facilities which were supposedly transferred by government to that sports entity could even be put in jeopardy by the creditor in question.

I strongly believe that these serious irregularities perpetrated in the past should be rectified by rendering retroactive any new legislative provisions prohibiting individuals from obtaining personal majority shareholding in the companies in question.

Often, the clubs that suffered these injustices cannot seek remedial action from the courts as the legal costs to institute proceedings are prohibitive, not to mention the complex nature of such proceedings.

The proposed amendments in the Sports Act provide the perfect opportunity for justice to be done with the clubs concerned, obviating the need for them to go to court. Only in this manner, will sports have a brighter future in our islands.

Ronnie Calleja is the co-author of the publication ‘HIBS – the story of Hibernians Football Club’.

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