The Ministry of Culture and Sports has promised to reform the method of distributing funds in Israeli sports, as first revealed in ONE, but the major sports in Israel are outraged by the simulation presented to them, which reduces the money they are supposed to receive and transfers more to small industries.
Today (Wednesday) a meeting of the National Sports Council was scheduled to take place, which was supposed to convene and approve the reform, but the heads of sports associations and associations announced in advance that they opposed it so council chairman Eric Pinto was forced to postpone the meeting to next week.
The unions claim that they were presented with only a partial simulation of the support money, without the budget for the Olympic preparations and the base of favorites. According to the simulation, the support budgets of the strong sports industries will be cut by the new distribution method, with those who will be hit being the most popular and successful industries.
The sports bodies have a majority in the National Sports Council and the support tests must pass its approval, which has been postponed for about three months. Israeli sports claim that the division tests are still under discussion and cannot be approved at this stage due to discrepancies between the criteria and the actual simulation results, so the wording of the test has not yet been approved and the simulations have not yet been approved. “The simulation is not good and there is a feeling that they are ostensibly trying to do a snatch here. Until we see all the data, we will not confirm anything,” said senior Israeli sports officials.
The one that is most likely to be harmed is the largest sports industry in Israel, football, which will receive NIS 40.8 million in 2021 and will actually be cut by NIS 10 million compared to the one it received last year, which stood at NIS 50.6 million. On the other hand, the basketball industry will receive NIS 55.2 million in the coming year, and that is precisely where the increase is NIS 2.1 million. Both of these industries are defined under the new support tests as “super-industries” and will therefore receive the highest budgets.
According to data from the latest simulation, the three leading and preferred disciplines in Olympic sports are expected to be judo, gymnastics and sailing. The Judo Association, which is recording tremendous achievements, is expected to receive NIS 8.1 million in support starting next year, but this is a decrease compared to the NIS 9.5 million it received in 2020. The successful gymnastics association will also receive less support money from the state, with a budget of NIS 7.9 million. For 2021, compared to NIS 14 million in the past year.
On the other hand, the sailing association will actually upgrade its support money, as in the coming year it is expected to receive support money in the amount of NIS 4.6 million, compared to the 2.8 million it received last year. In addition, according to the simulation, the Athletics Association is expected to be in favorites B, but it is expected to receive support funds in the amount of NIS 4.4 million in 2021, compared to the NIS 4.2 million it received in support last year. The swimming association will receive support money of about NIS 6 million and will actually be cut by NIS 1.2 million.
Among the ball industries, according to the new standards, the handball association’s support money will be cut by NIS 600,000 and the volleyball support money will be reduced by NIS 2.3 million. The tennis industry will decrease from NIS 3.9 million to NIS 2.9 million, while table tennis will have a higher budget of NIS 2.4 compared to NIS 1.5 million.
The fencing budget will also increase from NIS 500,000 to NIS 1.6 million, while the support money for the shooting industry will be cut in half. The rugby budget jumped from NIS 828,000 to NIS 2 million and the Frisbee industry, which received NIS 100,000 last year, is expected to receive NIS 342,000 in 2021. As stated, senior officials in Israeli sports claim that the numbers are illogical and do not match the support tests presented by the Ministry of Sports.