Sports
Jelani Beckles
CHAIRMAN of the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago Douglas Camacho, has called out corporate TT on their lack of support for local sports. However, he said National Governing Bodies (NGBs) must do their part to encourage sponsorship by being transparent.
Camacho was speaking during a virtual media conference on Friday to recap TT’s performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
It was the first time TT did not medal at an Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona Games.
“I am a little disappointed in the extent to which corporate TT has stepped up to the plate. There are very notable examples from corporate TT who have come out and either sponsor directly athletes, sometimes athletes and NGBs, sometimes events,” Camacho said.
Camacho highlighted a few corporate sponsors that have been generous in supporting sports in TT. He named Atlantic LNG, the National Gas Company and National Lotteries Control Board. He said banks and insurance companies have also done their part.
He said, “But still for a country that has thousands of corporate citizens all of whom take so much pride when they see the red, white and black out there, whether it is at Olympics or at any other event where they represent the country, the response that we see I think is lacking.”
Camacho said when Hasely Crawford won TT’s first gold medal at the Olympics at the 1976 Montreal Games the entire public was excited. However, when the TT Olympic Committee set up a fund to honour Crawford, little help came forward.
“When they eventually closed the fund a few years later there was no more than half a dozen individuals who had contributed such a paltry sum that the bank charges nearly took all of it away.
“When we want to talk accountability it begins with the man in the mirror. We must all accept responsibility and be held accountable for our actions. It is easy to talk, it is easy to be critical, it is easy to say what cannot be done…I think it is important that all step up to the plate.”
Camacho, who is also the president of the TT Hockey Board (TTHB), said sporting organisations must do their part also.
“The first factor I think NGBs need to reflect upon is the issue of good governance and accountability,” Camacho said. “When sport is seen to be in confusion, corporate sectors are unlikely to want to participate in a greater and a more meaningful way…the NGBs have a role to play, they’ve got to get their act together in a better way.”
He added that sporting administrators must learn to get along.
Camacho said corporate TT wants to see their money put to good use. “Let me be very blunt. They will look for a return on dollar every time. That is their mandate, that is what they are there for and their corporate social responsibility surrounds that. They must be seeing that they getting value.”
Camacho said that corporate TT does not necessarily want to get medals in return.
