Anonymous
Years ago

Government Funding for Sports

Had an interesting conversation last night with an ex-State Government employee regarding the distribution of State and Federal funding for sport.

Interesting to hear how all major sporting codes receive significant funding from both State and Federal Governments. I asked about basketball and the response was that it isn't considered a major sporting code and therefore wasn't considered when allocating funds. Also that the structure of the NBL and the obvious instability meant that no government was willing to invest, as the money would be wasted on "spending over the realistic means of the sport".

He felt that Governments would be supportive of the move by BA to take back control of the National League but that until BA had proven that it was in control and that the sport, and in particular the NBL clubs weren't throwing money away then the Federal Government wouldn't invest.

This is after telling me the State & Federal Governments have propped up both AFL clubs, all 9 SANFL clubs, Netball SA and through them the Thunderbirds and Adelaide United and the State Soccer Federation.

I know the State Government took a $10m hit on the sale of the old BASA assets but surely the sport deserves more funding for facilities and the development of grass roots basketball. Also if the Crows and Power can get millions in funding and Hindmarsh can have over $40m spent on it over 5 years, the $10m the State Government lost is pretty insignificant.

I hope the SOS can structure the club in a way that is sustainable and can source Government funding for things such as Development staff, club facilities etc like every other sport appears to get for nothing.

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Positive  
Years ago

Great POST!

Without going into detail as to why, I know that you hit the nail right on the head.

Reply #236513 | Report this post


playtime  
Years ago

they need ta win a medal in the Olympics !! any color will do

Reply #236517 | Report this post


Positive  
Years ago

The Women have won medals. Medals help sure but the structure is the first step.

Reply #236521 | Report this post


2nd in the world!  
Years ago

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/even/rank/p/openNodeIDs/1001/selNodeID/1001/rankComb.html

Reply #236523 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

AFL Men ranked 1 of 1 in the world.
Women ranked 1 of 1 in the world.

Isn't even played to any significant level outside this country. Isn't played to any significant level in this country by Women. Aussie Rules is completely self sufficant. They really do not require any funding. If the Crows and Power want to build state of the art facilities every 3 years let them, with their own money!

Soccer Men ranked 32 in the world, Women ranked 14 in the world. Both Men's and Women's leagues are funded by one man. Individual clubs all lose big money and over spend significant amounts of money.

Netball Women ranked 1 out of 22 in the world. 22! With India the only Country with a large population and they're ranked 22 in the world.

No official Men's rankings are available. And men's Netball is only played in 4 countries that I am aware of and at not much more then a social level.

Basketball Men ranked 9 in the world, Women ranked 3 in the world and are current World Champions. Also Australia can boast the best Female Basketballer (and one of the best female atheletes) in the world in Jackson and Taylor wouldn't be far behind.

Basketball is played in 213 Countries around the world.

Reply #236527 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Fe govt certainly puts significant funs into basketball through the Australian Sports Commission. Funding is based on participation rates, Olympic status, and world ranking - and basketball has big ticks in all boxes.

Dont know about SA State Gov, but in Victoria the Gov would put as much money into basketball as any other sport,, if not more, thorugh grants to build new facilities.

The overall review of the sport was initiated largely because the Fed Govt felt the sport was being inefficiently run. The brief was to create a structure that linked the grassroots with the elite and create a sustainable elite competition etc or else not only risk not having funding increased, but being reduced significantly.

Once BA can show it has achieved those goals, it is likely to receive a significant boost in govt funding. The community linkages in Cairns, Townsville and Wollongong have helped in that regard, but the withdrawal of Melbourne and South, opening the door for a Basketball Vic aligned team that creates the linkage in the sports biggest market.

With BA aiming to introduce similar models in Sydney and Brisbane the following year, this has opened the door for BA to achieve their required goals and get the funding boost.

Reply #236528 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Paul the federal government funds the Olympic teams through the ASC. The Federal government supply funds based on their financial model.

They do not provide the sport or BA with significant funds outside of that. Funds yes, but not significant and not anywhere near the funds it gives to other major sports.

The State Government provide some development funding but nothing in comparision to what it gives (both publicly and secretly) the other high participation sports.

Reply #236529 | Report this post


Panther  
Years ago

I know the Messenger is currently putting together a story which covers this discussion to a point. Since Hubbard has come out and said that there would be at least 6 stadiums in SA that need upgrading it has generated interest and discussion about State level Government funding. I believe that Morphett Vale has received some funding to do some renovations to their stadium and I believe that currently Marion Stadium managers are trying to do the same.
From a Health and Safety aspect, I think the distance of the fixed seating around the courts is way too close, if you look at both Wayville and Pasadena's design the fixed seating is at least 2 metres from the sideline. At Marion currently we are having issues with Nails coming up through the floorboards and are currently having to hammer them down before games and practices.
The sport at a local level is in dire strait of some funding and I just hope something can be done soon before any incidents occur.

Reply #236554 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

I guess it depends on your definition of significant. For me, being a major source of funding is significant.

It is true that basketball hasnt received the boost funding netball and soccer have received, that is probably to do with the fact that those sports have reviewed their operations and basketball hasnt.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Paul I'll look forward to basketball receiving $50m + over 5 years once BA has completed its restructure like Netball and the ANZ Championship (which is 50% Australian 50% New Zealand) did.

I appreciate the funding basketball receives.

I just think the Government needs a kick in the butt for the unfair distrubution of funding it currently dishes out.

Reply #236560 | Report this post


HO  
Years ago

show me the press release where anything like 50m was allocated to netball....

Even FFA, the federal government's sport love child (abd for good reason), only got 32 million over four years and a significant proportion of that was to establish the new w-league

netball receives signifcantly less FG funding than basketball does.

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Ostrich 99  
Years ago

Netball just use their money more wisely.

Reply #236584 | Report this post


HO  
Years ago

paul. FYI the Victorian State government is a non-generous funder of BV as an entity and while it announced two weeks ago it was giving 7 million to thje ill-conceived but electorally pleasing knox development, it has not funded facilities generously in recent times.

It has lavished $ on AFL club training facilities, jointly funded the country football/netball grants with the AFL and poured (pun intended) a lot of money into swimming pools recently.

Reply #236585 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

I believe youll find that basketball and soccer receive the most money for local facility grants of any sports in Victoria.

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leopard  
Years ago

Burnside Council survey said last week most people there wanted an indoor sports stadium, because there's nothing in the east. Mars is private, CLC is dodgy, Unley is school.
Trouble is, SA Government has no policy, literally no policy, much less funding to support it, to provide community facilities for any sport. Feds do elite sport and peak bodies, but the rec and sport office can onl y hand out up to $300,000, which may help with a car park/storage shed, but won't build a knox/Wayville etc. If only Martin H-Sm wanted to build basketball stadiums instead of whatever it is he does want to build...

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NBL_in_Guam  
Years ago

They don't fund basketball because it doesn't win votes. If the NBL were to show plans for expansion into Asia i'm sure it'd get funding along the lines of soccer.

Reply #236630 | Report this post


leopard  
Years ago

So why wouldn't people vote for community sports buildings? I wouldn't vote for an NBL jaunt into Asia, but would most definitely vote for a sports stadium for my kids. The pollies just haven't discovered the deep support for this issue, as revealed in the Burnside survey. When they do find out that there's votes in it, then we'll get some action.

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NBL_in_Guam  
Years ago

If foxtel was behind aussie bball then the murdoch press wouldn't bag out funding for it, if it isn't then if it was funded the murdoch press would jump on the story negatively, it's a lose/lose situation.

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HO  
Years ago

NBL in Guam, thats just silly. While the Australian Government did the deal for Australia to move into Asia for football, it was nothing to do with their national league, its about the sheilaroos. No one in football is yet convinced that the Asian champions league is good for football, as it adds massive costs to particpate above and beyond the a-league costs and as yet there is not return.

Why does everyone think Asia is a saviour for australian basketball and the nbl? The vast majority of asia, bar China, a little of korea and Japan is neither good at basketball or well funded for it.

A look to asia is a very very long term strategy - maybe 20-30 years down the track.

Reply #236714 | Report this post


Camel 31  
Years ago

I guess we think Basketball is popular in Asia , more than here.
What's it like in the Phillipines , these days ?

About 6 months ago BA announced it would take expressions of interest for a new league, replacing the old NBL, increase Opals and Boomers games played in Australia, against quality opposition.
And work with International Basketball for participation in an Asian champions league for 2011.

Reply #236715 | Report this post


HO  
Years ago

and Paul, the Vic government has dedicated funding programs for football/netball (600k in 2009 and 2010, but 6 million over a 5 year period), for football (as in the world game - 5 million over 4 years), for minor facilities (around 5 mill per year), for major facilities (around 5 mill per year) and for aquatics (up to 8 facilities per year at up to 2.5 mill).

To give you an idea of how much that funding is skewed, there have been three maor funding announcements involving basketball in the last 3 years.

a) the two year, 7 million commiment announced recently for the knox basketball AND football centre
b) 500k for kilsyth late last year (major facilities)
c) 500k for eltham about 18 mths ago (major facilities)

Other than that, its been minor grants funding for feasibibilities and the like....around 60k per time and occasionally (but not often) for high ball stadiums.

Two aquatics announcements per year blow the basketball funding stuff out of the water. The country football grant stuff easily exceeds what basketball has been given - especially because councils can also apply for minor facilities funding for football grounds.

They are spending 5 million this year on a master plan for melbourne park alone (for the Australian open) and last year gave 5.7 million in one hit to redeveloping arden street for the Kangaroos.

They've given Geelong at least 15 million for Skilled Stadium in the last 5 years, and offered money to st kilda, melbourne, etc etc. each of the victorian football clubs has enjoyed a generous funds input from the vic government in the last 5-6 years, normally in the multiple millions.

Sorry, basketball, considering its participation base in Victoria, is not well funded at all compared to these other sports. Participation for basketball in Vic is on a par with footy and netball, and comfortably exceeds soccer.

Reply #236716 | Report this post


Ryan  
Years ago

Basketball is not a national sport in Australia! It does not deserve the funding! It is an American game and should stay in America! Basketball makes arise so many social issues! Basketball is only for the TALL players! Its boring to watch compared to the likes of Australian games!
Overall its a sh*# game!

Reply #286629 | Report this post




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