Publications
Partners
SA Tourism’s proposed deal to sponsor UK soccer giants Tottenham Hotspur, worth nearly R1 billion, would be better used on national teams touring overseas, as this is an ideal billboard for the country, instead of the English Premier League club.
This is the view of the SA Sports Confederation Olympic Committee (Sascoc), which has weighed in on the debate that has divided opinion, with many in the country arguing that the money should be invested in local sports development.
Sascoc noted that “the magnitude of the investment is not only disproportional to the investment our government is making in sport in our country, but also to what SA Tourism is investing to support sports events taking place in our country”.
Barry Hendricks, the national Olympic governing body’s president, said yesterday:
“Our members have expressed absolute outrage at and disagreement with SA Tourism’s stance on the matter.
“We are of the firm view that SA Tourism should be promoting and funding international sports events within the country and supporting Team SA to fly our flag on international platforms, instead of sponsoring an English football club,” Hendricks added.
He said that the major international sports events that South Africa will be hosting this year should have been considered as opportunities to promote tourism in the country.
Among the upcoming tournaments are the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which starts on Friday in Cape Town, as well as the Netball World Cup, which runs from July 28 to August 6 in the Mother City.
“We are of the view that a fraction of this investment, if channelled towards these events, could help bring more visitors and promote our country better as a sports destination of choice,” noted Hendricks.
The proposed deal came to light after the leaked details of the agreement were published by online news outlet Daily Maverick this week.
READ: Team SA’s Commonwealth Games medallists finally get R3.1 million in bonuses
Amid the public outcry, three SA Tourism board members resigned with immediate effect on Friday as the entity scrambled to justify the propose sponsorship deal.
Its acting CEO Themba Khumalo maintained that the proposed deal was aboveboard and that it was not about the football, but rather the audiences.
“The board made a conditional approval [of the sponsorship deal] because it commercially makes sense, but it needs communication with the stakeholders to make sure they’re aligned,” Khumalo told journalists on Thursday.
“The money that is invested in tourism isn’t money that’s required for other needs in the country. There are departments that are dedicated to that.
“Our deal has nothing to do with football because [we want] to access the viewers who watch football to have them become part of the travelling market to South Africa.
Khumalo said:
Hendricks said Sascoc would seek an audience with SA Tourism to “constructively engage with other stakeholders on how sport can be best used as a vehicle to increase tourist numbers to our country”.
“Sascoc firmly believes that sports tourism is a critical vehicle for promoting our country, as well as attracting visitors to our shores.
“Our view is that a collaborative effort that seeks to invest in events in our country to attract more visitors, while at the same time investing to improve infrastructure, alongside using all our national teams touring outside of the country, among other things, would be a better way to achieve the intended objectives and provide much broader returns,” Hendricks added.
