Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 118, May 2019 | Page 17

establishment bodies had to find unity to form one
national body, which would administer all aspects of
the sport under one umbrella. Thus ASA was born in
1994.
Prior to unification, the events owned their own
broadcast rights, i.e. the Comrades Marathon spoke
directly to SABC, as did the Two Oceans Marathon,
and the different track and field meets. However, at
the time that the ASA Constitution was drafted, it
included one very particular clause that states, “All
broadcast rights of the sport of athletics lie with ASA,
and only ASA can negotiate with broadcasters to
have the sport aired on television.” Over the years this
clause grew to include digital rights and social media
rights, and it is this clause that is now the big bone of
contention.
The ASA Structure
So there is one very easy way to change the
constitution, and that is by changing the structure
of the Federation. Here is how the office of ASA
is elected: Clubs in the provinces elect the board
of their province, which in turn elects the National
Board. It is that simple. So, in theory, it should be
easy to change the constitution right? Wrong... and
here is the problem. ASA administers the entire sport.
It is responsible for looking after the likes of Caster
Semenya, Wayde van Niekerk and Akani Simbine,
just as much as it is responsible to cater to the needs
of Bongmusa Mthembu, Gerda Steyn and Stephen
Mokoka. It is also responsible for ensuring that road
running rules are followed in accordance with the IAAF
rules. This responsibility is delegated to the provinces,
and hence you have race referees.
And here is the nub. More than 90% of the athletics
clubs that vote for the provincial bodies, are road
running clubs, whose biggest concern is their weekly
time trial and the races they want to put on in the year.
Hardly anything that is of national importance. What
is of national importance, though, is the broadcasting
of the big events, i.e. Comrades, Two Oceans, Cape
Town Marathon, as well as the National Track and
Field Championships.
For this SABC paid ASA a fee, and from this fee,
ASA sends national teams abroad for international
competition, pays salaries and runs the office.
The sending of national teams abroad is costly,
and runs into a couple of million Rands. Flights,
accommodation, subsistence and local travel, etc.
(Here is where some will throw in the argument that
too many administrators go on these trips, but that is
a different debate.)
The Contract with the SABC
In the past, Supersport did not want to pay for rights
fees and ASA felt that the sport should be on the
national broadcaster, SABC, to expose the sport
to the whole population of the country, instead of a
much smaller Supersport audience. Again, we can
debate the validity of these arguments, but that is how
it stood up till recently.
The three-year contract between ASA and SABC
came to an end on 28 February this year, and the
two parties have been in negotiations for some time
about a possible renewal. Meanwhile, ASA was also
in discussions with Supersport about a possible deal,
until ICASA came along with the incredibly clever
idea that all athletics (and other sports, mind you)
should be aired by the national broadcaster only.
Well, this would just cripple the likes of the PSL,
CSA and SA Rugby. So, not the cleverest of ideas,
and due to ICASA entering the fray, Supersport quite
understandably hung back, and were therefore even
less of a player in the broadcast rights negotiations
this year.
So when it came down to it regarding the broadcast
of the Two Oceans Marathon, ASA and SABC were
deadlocked in negotiations and Two Oceans was on
the verge of not being broadcast for the first time in
decades. Remember, Two Oceans, or any other athletics
or running event, are not allowed to negotiate airtime
with any broadcaster until a deal for broadcast rights has
been signed with the national federation, ASA.
Fortunately, at the proverbial eleventh hour, Two
Oceans was able to obtain the digital rights from ASA,
and in just two days, a live stream production of the
race was put together in time to broadcast the race
via the internet. This was a revolutionary step in the
history of athletics in South Africa, and a step in which
I am proud to say I played a significant role.
The Future
This was a once-off decision, however, and does not
mean that ASA has lost or relinquished the broadcast
rights to the sport. Therefore, if broadcasters air any
athletics event without the express permission of
ASA, they still stand to be sued by the federation.
So, if events or clubs want to be able to take their
events directly to broadcasters, the ASA Constitution
still needs to change... and that will only happen if
the clubs start seeing a bigger picture. Until then, the
status quo will remain.
Manfred Seidler and
Cuan Walker doing
commentary for the
2019 Two Oceans
livestream broadcast
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Manfred Seidler has been a freelance Olympic sport journalist since 1994, in
both print media and broadcasting, covering four Olympic Games for SABC Radio, and producing various
athletics shows for the SABC. Follow him on Twitter: @sportmansa; Facebook: Sport Man SA;
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sportman_sa/, and check out his weekly podcast on RunnersGuideRadio:
https://soundcloud.com/sportmansa.
17