Grim grants message

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 64

Grim grants message

PA Wellington The Sports Foundation had a grim message for promising. sportsmen and women yesterday. In presenting the annual report to the foundation, the chairman, Graham Davy, said priority this year would be given to athletes who had genuine medal-winning prospects ‘ at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. With a budget of about $400,000 to March 31 next year, Mr Davy said it would be necessary to reduce grants given in recent years. In some cases athletes would miss out altogether. “We don’t like turning people down, but we ha?e to

operate within our budget,” Mr Davy said. “In the first quarter this year we received applications for over $1 million.

“The priority this year will be given to medalwinning prospects in the Olympics and that will put a burden on our funds. “Even in that area we may not be able to do so as much as we would like.”

After the meeting, the foundation’s executive director, Keith Hancox, said there was no other option but to concentrate on the one area: “The $400,000 we have budgeted for hasn’t been raised yet,” Mr Hancox said. He said that unless the

foundation increased its revenue many sports would not get grants this year. “We are fully committed to helping those athletes at the very top level. This means we won’t be able to assist the lesser-performed kids, even if they are showing tremendous potential. “Really it is a tragedy. To give an example, somebody who may have received $6OOO last year could easily be reduced to $2OOO this year. “It is an area we should be putting more money into to secure our sporting future, but we can’t do everything,” Mr Hancox said. <