Men’s floorball team hit by association’s woes
The Singapore men’s floorball team at their successful debut in last year’s SEA Games. Now they may have no money to compete. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The Singapore Floorball Association’s (SFA) woes have hit the national men’s team hard, with the players’ participation at the 11th Men’s World Floorball Championships now at risk after news emerged last week that floorball chief Sani Mohamed Salim is assisting police with investigations into alleged funds misappropriation.
The 2015 SEA Games gold medallists had earned their coveted tickets to December’s World Floorball Championships via the Asia-Oceania zone qualifiers three months ago, and the players were looking forward to their fourth outing at the world tournament’s top division.
With SFA unable to fund the team’s trip to Latvia, they had hoped to raise S$80,000 for the 20-strong squad and five coaching staff through fund-raising activities and sponsorship.
However, news of the SFA’s woes has seen sponsors pulling out or shying away from the team. Although the SFA announced in a media statement on Tuesday night (May 17) that Sani had resigned and that the national body will be holding an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting at the end of the month to elect an interim president, the news has come a bit too late for the national men’s team who said in a media release on Tuesday that “sponsorship and fundraising activities have ground to a halt”. Said assistant coach Mark Song: "All our sponsorship leads have dried up since the news first broke regarding the allegations.
“We feel that this may be due to the negative association arising out of this saga, and we’ve lost all but one of our sponsors. The public feels that the national team has somehow been involved in and misused taxpayers money, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The team makes so many sacrifices — paying for trainings on and off-court, funding their way to tournaments, and using vacation days to represent the country.”
Without the sponsorship funds and donations, each player will have to fork out S$3,000 of their own money. With the team comprising working professionals, students and volunteers, they may have to miss the biennial event if they are unable to raise the money required for air tickets, accommodation and meals.
The sport’s misfortunes are a sad contrast to 11 months ago, when the men’s and women’s teams celebrated floorball’s debut at the SEA Games with a clean sweep of two gold medals on home soil.
Despite the challenges, national defender Gary Wong stressed that the team will press on. “Whatever happens, the players are just focused on training and doing well in competitions. It’s not easy … I may have to take a loan from my parents to go,” said the UniSIM student.
“It’s sad for the sport ... that this negative news outweighs the positive results from the sport.”
National women’s team goalkeeper Fariza Begum is hopeful that the sport will recover from the fallout.
“As much as we can, we are spreading the word (on the men’s team fundraising efforts),” said the 27-year-old teacher on the sidelines of the One Team Singapore roadshow for the Olympics and Paralympics at Zhonghua Primary School on Tuesday.
“This is something for us to learn from ... we are very passionate about the sport, and I believe floorball can definitely overcome and get through this.”
Tuesday’s One Team Singapore roadshow saw Zhonghua alumna Fariza and Paralympian swimmer Yip Pin Xiu meeting with some 1,000 primary school pupils for a session of interactive games and activities. The roadshow is part of Sport Singapore’s outreach efforts to create awareness and interest in Team Singapore’s campaign at the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as to rally Singaporeans’ support for athletes competing in Rio.
* Email the national men’s floorball team at singaporefloorball [at] gmail.com if you wish to make a contribution.
