Sports• 26 January 2003

Sports - the way forward

By Ray Abdilla
In the bars and cafes throughout Malta’s towns and villages there is much talk about how Maltese sports can be improved. Undoubtedly there have been improvements but, compared to other countries, we still lag far behind – simply because other countries are moving at a faster pace.
So what can we do? The new Cottonera Sports Complex, the complexes earmarked for Safi and St Paul’s Bay and the works underway at Marsa and Tal-Qroqq are all steps in the right direction.
The funding from the Super 5 lottery for such projects is also of positive value and is a concept we would like to see more of in future.
In England sport has been assisted by the lottery on many occasions, following are a few examples of the benefits of the strategy.
The Welsh example
Since the 1993 National Lottery Act, the Sports Council for Wales has had a statutory responsibility to allocate lottery grants to sport in Wales. In 1995 the Sports Council for Wales kicked off the role with the formation of "SPORTLOT".
The initial scheme started with the allocation of capital grants. Other schemes, such as Elite Cymru, were formed as the programme evolved further. In 1998 a second National Lottery Act was passed. This required each of the lottery fund distributing bodies to prepare a strategic plan containing their policies for the distribution of lottery funds into the millennium. The Sports Council for Wales published its SPORTLOT Strategy in 1999 setting out its intentions, both in terms of practical delivery, strategic operations and performance monitoring.
To date the Sports Council for Wales has supported 349 capital projects totalling in excess of GBP43 million, 121 athletes through Elite Cymru, and 22 Welsh athletes via the UK scheme since fund allocation began in 1995.
Almost 75 per cent of capital awards have been granted to projects under GBP100,000. In total, 71 per cent of awards have gone to the voluntary sector, 12 per cent to projects on school sites and the remaining 17 per cent to community facilities sponsored by local authorities.
Included within the awards programme have been two major national awards, one of GBP3.2 million going toward the development of a national centre of excellence for cricket and another GBP5.6 million for the construction of a national indoor athletics training and competition centre.
Dragon Sport
Dragon Sport is similar to Kiwi Sport in New Zealand and focuses on the recruitment of volunteers to provide extra-curricular sports sessions for children. The aims of Dragon Sport include:
• Introducing seven to 11 year olds to an enjoyable and well-organised range of sports with clearly identified opportunities to feed into and progress through sports development programmes in clubs and the community.
• Engaging resources, both paid and voluntary, in implementing child-centred programmes for a range of sports activities to be delivered through out of school clubs.
• Proactively recruiting more parents, teachers and others into sports leadership and provide them with pathways into coaching, officiating or administration.
• Supporting sports clubs in developing junior sections suitable for children aged seven-11 years and to develop links between clubs and schools through after school activities.
Coach Cymru
Investment in the employment of coaches through Coach Cymru will improve competitor performance and raise coaching standards. The Sports Council for Wales will provide support for a minimum of 30 coaches per annum. The Coach Cymru programme will focus on investment at two levels:
• National Performance Coach Programme - to recruit national coaches to work with academies of sport, national teams and squads, including individuals and groups and/or the training of other coaches in the practical coaching situation. Awards will often be linked to the appropriate competition cycles
• Regional Performance Coach Programme - to provide additional financial support for the employment of regional and county coaches, who will work primarily with teams and competitors at a centre of excellence/second tier of Elite level (usually juniors) for a specified number of contracted hours. Other work might include the training of other coaches either in a formal or informal way. In particular, it might be appropriate to work with coaches of the clubs from whom the young county and regional players are emerging.
The criteria the Sports Council for Wales is utilising for Coach Cymru will ensure that:
• The main focus will be directed to the practical elements of coaching competitors and coaches.
• Paid coaches enhance (and do not duplicate or substitute) work already delivered.
• Volunteer coaches are not made to feel less valued.
• Partnership agreements are workable.
• Coaching is of the highest possible standard by agreeing minimum qualifications and a commitment to ongoing training.
Turkish Delight
Football is beyond any doubt the most followed sport in Malta. So how could we improve a sport of such standing? The talk of changing the league format may make sense. But will this be the answer to everything? Let’s make a comparison with Turkey, a nation that, in football terms, 20somed years ago were not better than we were and just recently finished third in the World Cup Finals. How did they do it?
It was 14 October 1987. Football result: England-8, Turkey-0. A game that was so one-sided that much of the crowd had left well before the final whistle. Taking into account that England had fielded a less than impressive squad tells you something about the ability of the visitors during this period.
How times have changed! The recent draw in Italy, against a team that were in desperate need of a win (despite it being a mere friendly), was further proof of how far Turkish football has progressed over the past decade or so. Surely no other European country could surpass the vast improvement demonstrated by the Turks over such a short time frame.
Hakan Sukur might have been little more than a passenger at the World Cup (his continued selection being based more on reputation and popularity than performance), but he was undoubtedly a key factor in the rapid rise of Turkish football at both club and international level.
The performances of Ilhan Mansiz (available on a Bosman from Besiktas at the end of the season) at the aforementioned finals and the emergence of Nihat Kahveci as a regular goal-scorer at table-topping Real Sociedad in Spain, suggests that coach Senol Gunes won’t be lacking firepower, especially with the likes of Hasan Sas, Arif Erdem, Umit Karan and Serhat Akin also in contention.
The real strength of the Turks though is surely in the midfield. Emre Belozoglu is excellent, if volatile, with a reputation for powerful shooting. Okan Buruk, Tugay Kerimoglu, Umit Davala, Ergun Penbe, Hakan Unsal, Tayfun Korkut, Sergen Yalcin and the wonderful creativity and dribbling skills of Bayer Leverkusen’s Yildiray Basturk provide a midfield that is ominously strong when compared to the woefully unbalanced look of the English quartet.
The defence is solid rather than spectacular, with no-nonsense players like Aston Villa’s transfer-seeking Alpay Ozalan, the veteran Bulent Korkmaz, Umit Omat, Fatih Akyel and Ogun Temizkanoglu. Rustu Recber has established himself as one of the best keepers in the world, frequently linked with a move away from the Turkish league.
The Turkish game has undoubtedly benefited from the number of German-born Turks who have been plying their trade in the Bundesliga in recent years, as well as the influx of foreign coaches and players into the domestic game. In recent seasons, Galatasaray have emerged as regular contenders in the latter stages of European competitions, although their UEFA Cup triumph in 2000 was marred by violence that resulted in the deaths of two Leeds United fans in Istanbul.
Having already gained the initiative in Group 7 of the Euro 2004 qualifiers, Turkey, the seeded nation of course, are now well placed to secure automatic qualification ahead of England. Whether Sven-Goran Eriksson can inspire his men to take at least four points from the games between the two could go a long way to deciding the Swede’s future - the omens don’t look terribly promising.