OPINION
Images : Reg Caldecott & Roger Sedres / Image SA compete , rather than regularly competing at a high level at home . Crowds also dwindled when someone in Johannesburg was trying to market an event in Durban , usually just a couple of days before it was to happen . It was easier to find out when rugby was on , and people went there instead .
Fast forward to 2021 and few people can remember the days of full athletics stadia for competitions that had full lanes , and which ran on time . Centralisation has also filtered down to regional level , and if you don ’ t believe me , then try to organise a competition and see how many hoops you have to jump through to get official approval , which all too often only comes a few days before your event . In contrast , your international compatriots ( and rivals ) had six months to organise sponsors and market their events .
One of the arguments in favour of restricting the number of events was that if not limited the athletes would over-race . That ’ s like saying that because you have too many shops and restaurants , people will overeat . We have a total population closing in on 60 million people , and most of our cities are large ( especially by European standards ). SA rugby has one of the strongest teams in the world because there are so many registered players , and hundreds if not thousands of competitive games played every weekend throughout the country , from primary school to senior level . Athletics will be lucky to have more than 50 track & field meets in total throughout the country throughout the entire year !
Finding Solutions
What is needed ? Again , this would need a thesis to cover all the bases properly , but here is a summary . Firstly , what is not needed ... We don ’ t need funding for the sake of it . Giving money to athletes is not the answer . Training camps , centres of excellence , national coaches , etc , merely perpetuate the centralisation problem . We don ’ t need to hold national series for the sake of holding them . If they don ’ t fit an overall plan , leave them , because they also entrench the centralisation problem . Don ’ t focus on a specific group , because as soon as you do , you are missing another star who hasn ’ t been identified yet .
What do we need to do ? We need to empower people to put on competitions and provide opportunities for athletes . We need to allow a professional system where it is attractive to make a living by providing professionally organised opportunities for athletes to compete and make money . We need to make sure that the sport is practised throughout the country , not just a few metros . We need coaches , and lots of them
Local track meets are often held with very few spectators
Ed ’ s Note : I Concur ! By Sean Falconer
This is a topic I have been giving a lot of thought to of late , and something I would also like to write more about . I have to agree with James about the problems of centralisation , with one massively important example being the fact that Athletics South Africa holds the broadcast rights for all athletics events in the country , meaning that only ASA can negotiate with potential broadcast partners , while the individual organisers of events have no control over the broadcast of their own event .
The obvious problem is that while a broadcaster may only be interested in a specific event , series or discipline , the national federation wants to sell a massive multi-million Rand package covering the entire sport to one broadcaster , instead of negotiating many smaller , individual deals . In the past ,
– as in thousands of them – who are properly trained and regularly upskilled . The same with technical officials . To cover the entire country , we need lots of people to be able to assist the athletes .
And this has to be done within a proper plan , so that the best athletes can be identified and assisted to get to the top level .
Of course , we do need funding to spread the sport that far and wide . We also need funding to assist the athletes who move to the top , with medical expenses , travel , accommodation , etc . ( I am not advocating cash in hand from federation or government funding , but rather subsidised or fully covered assistance .) Then , we need to separate
What Do You Think ?
individual organisers were able to negotiate their own broadcast deals , leading to a much higher standard of professional organisation and performances on the track , as James mentions above .
Now , with the rapidly expanding world of livestreaming via the Internet , this is a potential area of growth for the sport , but ASA is effectively holding back the sport through its centralised policy regarding broadcast rights , which is entrenched in the sport ’ s constitution . This holds back organisers , limits opportunities for sponsors , and thus negatively affects the athletes . So along with the need to restructure the regions and mechanisms of the sport , I believe the broadcast rights issues needs to be relooked as well , as part of a big update of the constitution and the way we do things in this sport .
Akani Simbine , one of the few SA talents to ‘ make it ’ on the world stage
the needs of the competitive athletics programme from social running . The needs of social / recreational athletes are different , and while they can fall under the same athletics body , they need to have separate structures within that body .
In summary …
So , to go back to the original question : Where to for Athletics South Africa ? It needs an overhaul to allow it to move away from obsessive centralisation , to instead focus on training , and co-ordination of athletics activities . This means that ASA ’ s power rests in its efficiency and competence , not coercion . The entire regional structure needs to be overhauled to ensure it can provide the support the sport needs rather than creating inefficient empires .
The author of this piece , James Evans , is the former President of ASA and of Western Province Athletics , and is an active middle and long distance coach based in the Cape . The views expressed in this opinion piece are his , and may not coincide with those of the editorial team at Modern Athlete , and are printed here to stimulate debate . All readers are welcome to respond to this piece by sending comments to letters @ modernathlete . co . za .
53