Sports Federations Face Possible Legislative Changes for Funding Accountability

Another area of focus for the Ministry of Youth and Sports is increased collaboration with sports federations. These federations play a critical role in the development of sporting disciplines and athletes in Belize, underscoring the need for greater networking. Minister Anthony Mahler says that the Ministry does offer support to federations, but that things cannot continue as they are, particularly in the area of solicitation of donations and other areas of funding. He notes that several initiatives are being looked at, including legislative changes aimed at making sure federations are held accountable for funds received.

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism, Youth and Sports: “We’ve also signaled to lot of the federations that hear what you can’t come to us two weeks before a tournament and say we need to go there. We need to help raise money. There has to be some discipline in this thing. We know what all international tournaments we want to go. And the federations play a crucial role in moving sports forward in any  country. And so we will hold them accountable. We are  looking at the legislation right now to ensure that we have the teeth and like we say, backative.  that we hold the federations accountable.  At the end of the day when they go out and say volleyball, but volleyball Belize, right? It’s not the Volleyball Federation it’s Belize going to play volleyball out there. So they’re representing Belize and they’re using the name Belize to raise money and they have to be accountable for that as well.”

Belize has numerous federations for specific sports. Some of the most prominent ones include the Football Federation of Belize (FFB); the Belize Athletic Association (BAA) which is the governing body for athletics (track and field) in Belize. There is also the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, the Belize Basketball Federation (BBF), and the Belize Cricket Association (BCA).