NSC turns 50 today. Should it be around for another 50 years?



The National Sports Council (NSC) turns 50 today. Happy anniversary!

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican was quoted by Harian Metro as saying: 

"Sementara kita berbangga dengan sejarah lalu, kita perlu mencipta lebih banyak cerita kejayaan dan nama-nama baru di tinta emas dalam bidang sukan.

"Perencana dan pencetus 'prime mover' kepada keseluruhan ini tentu sekali terletak di bahu MSN (NSC)."
 
So what exactly is NSC's role? Has it evolved for the better or worse? And more importantly, do we really need such a government agency?

If you are at NSC's site, make sure you click next to Maklumat Am (general information) and slide to the left. Otherwise, you'd see an "Oops! Nothing Found". If I was NSC, I'd actually rectify that.

If you click on Sejarah (history), I believe some paragraphs are missing. Or perhaps it's my machine is not high tech enough to read the fonts. Oh well. 



And more importantly, let's look at NSC's objectives.




To me, objectives two (2) and four (4) should rest with the national sports associations (NSAs).

But here's the thing, NSAs in Malaysia seem to be overly dependent on the NSC - for money, to manage the sport and some to the extent of helping them structure programmes.

If they actually stood on their own feet, they wouldn't really need NSC's support now, would they?

As such, NSC needs a whole lot of money to operate. 

It receives funding from government and annual contribution from a lottery company (Berjaya Sports Toto contributes an average of RM30 to RM40 million) to fund athletes, fund programmes, fund experts and maintain facilities.

This is where the problem lies. 

In 2012, this blog highlighted 'A study of two successful Australian Sports: Swimming and Basketball as a model for developing and building Malaysia’s national sports associations' which was compiled by  Dr John Williams and Peter de Souza.  

The Australians said NSC is seen to be “generous” in funding and is too fixated on winning medals.

2012 was also the year where I spent seven days in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne and met sports and tourism officials there.

Speaking about funds, I am reminded me of the legal issue with regards to the three-stripe national jersey. I wonder how much was spent, if any, on legal fees?

Ironically, after plenty of drama, the jersey was replaced with a new one. I still wonder till today if the whole effort was worthwhile.

So do we need NSC? If things remain the same, NSC will be around for another 50 years. If that's to be, I I hope it will also start thinking about sports for all.

Otherwise, NSC can start encouraging NSAs to take lead and slowly work its way towards playing a more supporting role behind the scenes.

Will that ever happen? Well ... I have my doubts. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pelepasan cukai tambahan untuk pembelian alatan sukan, sewaan fasiliti sukan antara cadangan untuk Bajet 2024

Image
Berikut merupakan antara cadangan-cadangan Kementerian Belia dan Sukan untuk Bajet 2024 yang akan dibentangkan bulan hadapan. 1. Pengasingan sukan daripada kategori gaya hidup 2. Meneruskan dan memperluaskan inisiatif pelepasan cukai tambahan bagi aktiviti sukan berdasarkan senarai baharu 103 sukan berkuatkuasa Mac 2023 seperti berikut: 3. Pelepasan cukai tambahan sebanyak RM5,000 khusus berkaitan dengan aktiviti sukan yang dibelanjakan oleh individu bagi: • pembelian peralatan sukan untuk aktiviti sukan mengikut Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. • bayaran sewaan atau fi kemasukan ke mana-mana fasiliti sukan. • bayaran fi pendaftaran bagi penyertaan pertandingan sukan yang diluluskan di bawah Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. • Bayaran jurulatih/latihan/kelas untuk aktiviti sukan mengikut Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997. Justifikasi: Impak kepada negara 1. Pembudayaan gaya hidup sihat dan aktif melalui aktiviti bersukan kepada semua peringkat sebagai pelaburan  kepada negara bagi mengurangkan be...
Read more

Papa win, papa win.

Image
Those were the words of three-year-old Dasha Ong. National coach Ong Kim Swee has not seen his wife Alodle Donna Derick, Dasha and his seven month old baby Dashie for almost a month. And the words of Dasha just hours prior the kick off between Indonesia and Malaysia in the final certainly motivated Kim Swee. In return, Kim Swee motivated the lads and they won. Read more in today's Mailsport. As expected members of the Press - even those not from the Sports Desk - had numerous questions for Kim Swee. Some wanted Kim Swee to share his experience in Jakarta, others were penning down every word of his when he slammed the organisers for their antics which certainly disturbed him and the boys. But the celebrations must come to an end as Kim Swee and the Olympic lads will now face Syria in the Asia zone Olympic qualifiers tonight (8.45pm). And Kim Swee had this to say: "The players are tired but with the support of the fans, if they come in full force, perhaps that will motivate our...
Read more

From 'Mr P' to 'Kemelut Dalaman BAM': Four chapters of 'mesej Whatsapp layang'

Image
Surat layang , or rather ' mesej Whatsapp (or some will pronounce as Wasup) layang '. That was what I received this afternoon from a number that is not registered on my phone. The sender identified him/herself as " ahli yg memerhati tingkah laku BAM " (Badminton Association of Malaysia). The four chapters were titled as:  'Siapa dia Tan Sri BAM "Mr P"' Perletakan Jawatan Presiden BAM 'Siapa Tengku Zafrul' Kemelut Dalaman BAM There were many allegations to which the sender justified as not " fitnah " but " hakikat apa yg berlaku ". The four chapters highlights Mr P's "connection kuat ", goes into why Tengku Zafrul was named as the incoming BAM president, and takes issue with the establishment of 'Yayasan Badminton Nasional' and Akademi Badminton Malaysia. The writer (unsure if the sender is also the writer) also wrote that ' majority in the Council dalam BAM semua tak berani buat laporan sebab tak...
Read more