S P O RT Monday March 24 | 2014 The Times 19 Stars robbed of excellence B r i ef s Stuart’s broadside WHILE South Africans this past our medal haul of six, on only 2% of Africa must weep at these figures. at T20 umpires week debated R246-million spent the funding, implies that we’re ath- Our Olympic sports have seen on a residence upgrade, sports role- letically better endowed as a funding cut to R2-million a ye a r STUART Broad accused the players in Great Britain were n at i o n . Imagine what another R100- since London 2012. There is no umpires of putting players’ engaged in their own questions of million would do. The cynic in me needs analysis, which would, for safety at risk after lightning funding allocations. feels it points to just how much example, show that rowing, such an struck England’s opening Their “problems” offer tragi- unrealised potential exists in SA incredible success story of what game of the World Twenty20 comedic insights into our own Olympic sport. can be done when an elite system is on Saturday night. sports funding situation. Nevertheless, even the most pas- put together, should receive more England lost by nine runs on In 1996, Great Britain finished sionate sports fan cannot justify funding than say, table tennis and the Duckworth-Lewis method 36th on the Olympic medal table the kind of money spent on winning volleyball. There’s certainly no per- after a rainstorm brought an (SA were 27th). Sufficiently chas- medals in the UK. When people live Our self-created formance evaluation or merit- end to play with New Zealand tened, it initiated policy changes in poverty without employment, based audit either. 52/1 after 5.2 overs, in pursuit that would steeply increase the healthcare and education, it is funding crisis Current funding scarcity has of England’s 172/6. amount of public funding invested obscene to make direct compar- meant that SA teams will increas- That was enough for New in elite sport. isons to infer that similar money should prepare ingly be denied opportunities to Zealand to be declared the Delivered by UK Sport through should be spent here. us for more compete internationally. SA hock- winners, but Broad believed their national lottery, then ignited This is a minefield through which ‘ ey, athletics and aquatics have all that the umpires should have by a successful bid to host the 2012 Brazil currently walks, having disappointment experienced this recently. taken the players off when Olympic Games, Great Britain spent billions on football and the Ultimately, our self-created lightning first struck minutes spent £264-million (R4.7-billion) in Olympic Games over the next two scarcity of funding means that our earlier. But they allowed play the four-year cycle between Beijing years, despite similar socio- historical strategy for medal suc- to continue, after which and London. economic circumstances to those 2016 cycle. The unfunded sports cess, which relies on pockets of Brendon McCullum hit a six to The result was spectacular: 65 faced here. argue that this method is killing excellent individuals rather than a put New Zealand ahead on the medals, 29 of which were gold. Even in the UK, less troubled by their chances of revival. cohesive system, will become even scoring tables. The rain came Our investment over the same such concerns, controversy exists. If you’re feeling sympathetic to more entrenched by 2016. two balls later. — © The Daily period, while difficult to quantify A recent source of angst is their their plea, consider this: in the UK, Expect disappointment. Te l e g ra p h with accuracy, was reported at R80- “n o - c o mp r o m i s e ” policy towards a second source of funding, Sport In a week dominated by discus- million. That’s less than 2% of what the allocation of funding — if you England, allocates £300-million for sions of improper spending, it M at f i e l d ’s return was spent in Great Britain. are not a viable potential medalist, the purpose of coach education, would be inappropriate to want the In fact, the amount allocated to you receive literally no funding. mass participation and grassroots billions spent in the UK. But one gets mixed reviews UK rowing each year is the equiv- Th at ’s why basketball, handball development. Every sport, however can’t help but wonder how sport alent of what we spent on our entire and volleyball receive not a cent of “poor”, receives millions each would benefit from more efficient VICTOR Matfield is not the 26-sport Olympic campaign over lottery money, while cycling, row- ye a r . spending of what is already there. player he used to be, said Jake eight years. ing, athletics and sailing receive Sports administrators and high- And an extra R100-million would White. The optimist in me suggests that ove r R450-million each for the Rio performance managers in South not go to waste! Matfield, 36, captained the Bulls on Saturday night for the first time since retiring and inspired their come-from- FEATHERING THE THROTTLE behind 23-19 win over White’s Sharks side in a Super rugby clash at Loftus Versfeld. Rampant “He’s not close to the Victor I coached as a 30-year-old. But there’s no doubting what he’s Fiji too worth to a team,” said White. “Victor [Matfield] made a good for SA few smart adjustments to our attack in the week [before the game], which paid off,” said SWASHBUCKLING Fiji upset Bulls coach Frans Ludeke. South Africa 33-26 in yesterday’s — Chumani Bambani Tokyo final to capture their second title of the IRB World Sevens. Rising star Waisea Nacuqu Stormers not giving sprinted 70m to win it at the death for the Pacific islanders, settling a up on title race yet roller-coaster game which served as a wonderful advert for the THE Stormers are on the sp o r t ’s Olympic debut in 2016. ropes after suffering a fourth loss in five matches, but SA at least had the consolation of ’ regaining top spot above New t h ey re not conceding the Zealand in the season’s standings Super rugby title race just yet. after reaching their fifth straight Pressure is mounting on final, the “B l i t z b o k ke ” moving to coach Allister Coetzee, 116 points, two ahead of the Kiwis despite the fact the side has with three of the nine rounds left. only played one home game. Dubai winners Fiji have 95 while But his squad is also England’s third-place play-off win growing thinner by the week. over defending series champions Flank Schalk Burger is back New Zealand left them on 85. home after tearing a quad “We ’ll keep working hard and if muscle in the warm-up on we can knock over more trophies Saturday. He will be out for a then it will give us momentum for month. . ” “We ’re not about to give next year, said Fiji coach Ben Ryan ” after his side’s smash-and-grab up, Coetzee said from triumph. — AFP Canberra following the Stormers’ 25-15 defeat by the Brumbies. — Craig Ray Vlad denies Fifa apologises for humour backfire Moloi split FIFA performed an embarrassing U-turn on MARK GLEESON Saturday and apologised, saying it had withdrawn ORLANDO Pirates coach Vladimir publicity material for the Vermezovic has moved to quell a ny World Cup in Brazil that rumour of a split after assistant poked fun at local customs. Tebogo Moloi was left off the bench Just weeks after sports at the weekend. merchandiser Adidas pulled Vermezovic, who saw his side from the market two shirts through to the quarterfinals of the which Brazil viewed as sexist, Nedbank Cup with a 2-0 win over Fifa has now removed Santos in Cape Town on Friday material which depicted night, said Moloi had not travelled Brazilians as unpunctual, because he needed to stay behind to impatient and even chaotic. take charge of training the p l aye r s Having regularly who did not make the trip. He was complained to Brazil about assisted only by Eric Tinkler. the slow pace of construction Moloi has been a figure on the of stadiums for the June-July bench for many seasons, but his World Cup, fo o t b a l l ’s world influence seems to have wa n e d governing body felt moved to since the new coach arrived. add: “In Brazil, things are Vermezovic has set out to put his largely done last-minute.” Fifa stamp on the team and already Honda MotoGP rider Marc Marquez of Spain gets lift-off during the MotoGP meeting at the Losail International admitted its attempts at looks to be imposing a demanding circuit in Doha yesterday Picture: MOHAMMED DABBOUS/REUTERS humour had backfired. — AFP regime on his new players.