Romanian sports are going through a real financial crisis and several federations have had empty accounts for several months, relying on the support of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, on money from the private sector or even from the athletes' parents to be able to send them to international competitions.
"We are all finished. There are many federations, I think there are ten federations now that are at zero, and that for about 2-3 months. And the rest are in a bad situation, very bad. Athletics has been at zero for three months, they went to the World Championships in Tokyo with COSR money, shooting, archery, rugby for about two months, kayaking has been at zero for about four months, fencing has no money left, it is at zero, table tennis, the same, tennis, the same, even rowing is in the same situation. At zero, that is, there is no more money for representation, let alone salaries, because the federations also have employees", revealed one of the federation presidents, who wished to remain anonymous.
The leaders of the federations even had a meeting in this regard, to discuss the financial problems they face, but many do not want to publicly express their dissatisfaction, relying on a supplement to the budgets in the budget rectification expected from the Government.
"We had a meeting, we were all complaining about the lack of money, but when it came to doing something concrete to reach the government, they were silent. They probably think that money will come for rectification anyway, but I doubt it," another federation chairman told AGERPRES.
"They should still rectify the situation, because otherwise not all federations will end their activities. Because apart from those listed, there are many on the verge of subsistence. Things are not going well at all. There are federations that went to the world championships on COSR money, all federations are now riding on COSR. Maybe it will be unblocked, but now we can't find answers anywhere. Sport has always been a priority, for about 35 years, but now the situation is what I told you. I understood that the clubs also have financial blockages, Steaua, Dinamo, Rapid. There are problems everywhere, other clubs have no money, the poor, nor utilities", adds another president.
The clubs' financial problem is confirmed by another federation head, who explains that sports structures no longer have money to participate in competitions: "There are major problems with clubs too, during this period there are problems everywhere. They are trying to cut here and there, but it is no longer enough. The clubs, like the federations, are in a deep financial crisis. They no longer have money to prepare for competitions and so on."
One of the serious cases regarding the lack of funding is that of the Romanian Kayak-Canoe Federation, the institution appealing to parents this summer so that athletes can participate in the Junior and Youth World Championships in Portugal.
"We didn't even have money for salaries in August. We have absolutely no money for training. Only the training when we start, we will do with the goodwill of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. Now we are launching another request, a request for funding to the ANS. We had two times 300,000 in January-February and then when they gave us the budget they gave us 1,800,000 lei. We made another request for about 2,500,000 and they gave us 500,000. We went to the World Junior and Youth Championship with the money of our parents and sponsors. It's unique. I've been president for 20 years, but I've never encountered anything like this. I posted on the networks that we wouldn't go to Portugal, to the World Championships, where it was an expensive trip, and a "We had a sponsor, a pharmacy chain that gave us 30,000 euros and the rest was supplemented by the parents. But when parents put money in, you know how it is, not all rich parents are good athletes... We went with what we had. But this is not really sport, this is the beginning of the end," the president of the Romanian Kayaking Federation, Ion Bîrladeanu, declared to AGERPRES.
"The situation is serious, there is no money, we don't have any. Now hope is the last to die, although there are no positive signs so far. So in all the discussions, everyone is raising their voices. Let's say we have a little luck, that the athletes are on vacation now, but from October 15 we have to start. Maybe we can fix it by then. Our discipline cannot be sustained without the state budget. We had great, great luck with the COSR, which paid for our juniors, the youth. And now, just today, I have composed a request for funding from the committee for the senior team. I tell you, in the spring I will be doing kayaking and canoeing for 50 years and I have been president for 20 years, but something like this has never happened to me. It is difficult everywhere and I don't see that it could be easier. I don't see where they can break to give us more and something for us, even though we are as black as a fingernail," Bîrladeanu added.
The President of the Romanian Tennis Federation, George Cosac, says that the budget of the institution he leads is affected, in addition to the insufficient allocation, by the fact that in previous years the FRT did not benefit from state support.
"If other federations are in a bad situation, considering that they all received their money and had no problems in the last six, seven, eight years, we are in an even worse situation, because as is well known, we have had our funding suspended in the last four-five years. We have had a lot of lawsuits. It is true that we have won some of them and now we are trying, but very hard, to recover the money we won in court. It is not an easy procedure, but we are struggling. As a conclusion, if others who have had their budgets untouched for years are doing badly, we, who have been without a budget for the last many years, are doing even worse. We also made a request for a budget supplement to the ANS, like all the other federations, since June-July, and now everyone is waiting for the budget rectification," Cosac declared for AGERPRES.
Financial problems also affected the Davis Cup team's trip to El Salvador, at the last meeting of the first round of World Group II: "We had problems with the Davis Cup team's trip to El Salvador. We were also on the list, we entered the debate with the technical commission at COSR, but unfortunately we were denied. We did not receive money for the trip to the Davis Cup and we had to get sponsorships, from our own sources, to manage so that the national Davis Cup team could participate in this important event."
Table tennis is also facing financial difficulties, although the federation's president, Cristinel Romanescu, says that this year has been as frugal as possible, and the COSR has proven to be an "extraordinary firefighter who put out the fire when needed."
"We, the Romanian Table Tennis Federation, at the moment we are talking, are not at zero. We have the money necessary to ensure the salaries of employees, we have the money necessary to participate in the major championships that are including this month and in October, we have less money for the little ones, that is, we are still carrying out our activity, but that does not mean that there is no need. That is, we may have used the money we had more wisely, we were a little more frugal, I say. But of course there is a need for a supplement, because practically, the money that we have kept and redirected in the budget is strictly for the major championships, the European Championship that we have, the World Cup, the European Championship and so on. But we are waiting for a correction, which we do not know if it will come. There is hope, and we We talk almost daily, and there are promises, it's just that it takes longer. The idea is that it doesn't take very long, because otherwise we will have some problems. And we have always made requests and received support from COSR, whenever there was a super-urgency. And it helped us this year too, without any problems. COSR is an extraordinary firefighter, we just say that it is burning and immediately put out the fire", explained the FRTM president.
"I was perhaps more frugal, I cut in certain areas, but it doesn't mean that for us the budget we had at our disposal wasn't a disaster. We cut primarily from the national championships. In the sense that we cut the refereeing in half, we tried to condense the days, instead of four days we did three days, instead of two and a half days we did two, that is, we combined two championships so that we wouldn't have to travel and have the same rent. That is, all kinds of things like that that we saved money on. And that's how we were able to carry out our activity. But it doesn't mean that this is normal, because condensing a championship means killing the athletes. There are all kinds of tricks that we have done and once we didn't do, but now we have to do them, because otherwise we wouldn't be in the situation we are in. who we are. That is, we have problems, we are not far from my colleagues, maybe they, the poor ones, did the right thing and increased, did what was right and thought they would receive some money for a rectification. But here we are. And then they really are in trouble. I know, because I also talked to them, I raised alarm bells," added Cristinel Romanescu.
The Secretary General of the Romanian Shooting Federation, Sorin Matei, explained that the institution does not have funding covered for the last three months of the year and that it is facing a difficult situation in terms of budget, unprecedented in the last 30 years.
"October, November, December, according to the contract, the Romanian Shooting Federation has no funding from the agency, it ends in September. We have made a request, we have done so before. I think all the federations have made a request, but for now, as you can see, there is no rectification, we have to wait, probably, for October, we don't know. For us, the amount allocated was small and did not cover the expenses. I don't know what will happen if this rectification does not appear, we will see then, at the right time, what to do. It is just that it is a situation that I have not encountered in the thirty years I have been in sports. Not that the National Agency for Sports is at fault. It is a general situation in which, this time, I believe that all fields of activity are affected by this crisis, or how should I call it. Reason for who, in such a situation, realize that, compared to education, compared to health, I don't know how much of a priority sports should be. I am a realist, probably the system will be reset a bit for the end of the year in an extremely timid area in terms of the requirements or needs of the national sports federations. The second stage is coming, the beginning of next year, which is completely uncertain, what will happen and what future projects will exist with these private public utility organizations. It is difficult, there are also clubs... In other words, the only solution up to now, for several years, is and has been, and I think it will continue to be, I don't know how long, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, which supported, they were extremely generous, if I may use this term, in financing many actions of the national sports federations. But, you know how it is, the more people gather, the higher the expenses become, they are not bottomless pits either. It was an extremely favorable situation for us, in that both the president and the secretary general were very understanding of what high-performance sport means," said Sorin Matei.
Winter sports are not spared from the financial crisis either, as explained by the president of the Romanian Ski-Biathlon Federation, Puiu Gaspar, even though the season is just beginning.
"We had the chance because the winter season starts in November and it is the pre-Olympic season, and we benefit from a budget that is approximately what we need, plus the budget from the Olympic Committee, to cover about 75-80% of what is needed. We hope that we can ensure November and December in terms of preparation and participation in competitions, in order to maintain our qualifications for the Olympic Games, and from the last discussions we had at the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee for qualified athletes, they promised us that we would have it, because there is no more money at the ANS. So we understood that apart from the contract we signed, there would be nothing extra. We hope it will come, because we need it for November and December," Puiu Gaspar declared for AGERPRES.
According to several sources, most national sports federations have submitted budget refinancing requests to the National Agency for Sports, and the president of the ANS, Bogdan Matei, confirmed to AGERPRES that 12 of them will benefit from increases with the budget rectification.
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