Government will continue to support national teams

National teams will not be affected by the suspension of government support to sports federations and associations with no legal status, Times Sport has learnt. The federations in question failed to beat the December 31, 2013 deadline to get legal status and, according to officials, they will henceforth not receive any support from the government and the National Olympic Committee (RNOC) until they get legal status. “They (national teams) are not owned by federations. They will always be supported by the government,” the Director of Sports in Ministry of Sports and Culture (Minispoc), Emmanuel Bugingo clarified. Bugingo said that Minispoc will continue to support national teams for the some competitions they committed to before the deadline passed. “We have to know that national teams are for Rwanda and not federations, so as government we have to take responsibility for particular competitions, which the federations have applied for and we know that if the national teams fail to take part in those events, the country can be penalised,” Bugingo told Times Sport on Tuesday. He added: “We don’t want to be in a situation where the country faces a ban, so we will continue to support national teams for the events that federations requested for support before December 31”. He said the policies are implemented in interest of the federations. “We need them to exist legally, because right now, they are not. Our objective is to have them working well and legally.” Apart from football federations the other federations to be affected include Boxing, Ascoki, Badminton, Tennis, Rugby, Cricket, Athletics, Table Tennis, and Sports Scolaire. The federations/associations that have attained legal status include; Kung-fu, Karate, Volleyball, Basketball, Cycling (provisional), National Paralympics Committee, Association Rwandaise des Médecins de Sports and Chess. Meanwhile Ferwafa will only rely on grant money from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which amounts to US$250,000 per year (about Rwf170m) and other local sponsors to carry out their activities until they have sorted out their legal status.