The South African Hockey Association Executive Board has responded in a written statement to the overwhelming concern shown for the sport of Hockey and its administration.

SAHA has been in the spotlight through various media channels, with specific reference to the following: the termination of contract of the Senior Women's coach, Ms Jenny King, the financial challenges facing the organisation, the retrenchment of staff, the loss of the Spar sponsorship, and a team programme for the women's team. To date you may have heard many discussions doing the rounds, whether informed or misinformed. SAHA would like to place on record the following:

Financial Situation

SAHA's financial difficulties were brought about by the non-funding of our 2008/2009 Lotto application. SAHA has, in the last 5 years, received a reliable income stream from the Lotto, with the only (ongoing) concern being the timing of payments. As usual, SAHA within its budgeting process, allocated an expected income from the Lotto, and coupled this with expenditure items. While the business of hockey continued along these lines, we were unaware that the funding would not be forthcoming until the second half of 2009. The reason given for the denial of the application was because we had allegedly failed to submit one of the required base documents, namely the SAHA Constitution.

We were fortunately able to secure a short term loan on extremely favourable terms, hence, among other operational necessities, the BDO Women's Champions Challenge (an 8 nation tournament hosted by SA), was able to go ahead. Measures were taken to ensure minimal expenditure by all concerned and we'd like to thank the Senior Women's Team for its co-operation in this regard.

Large amounts of time and energy have been spent lobbying various parties, including SRSA, SASCOC and the National Lottery itself. To SAHA's credit this has resulted in having the 2009/2010 application expedited - meaning that for the first time SAHA will be able to receive funding in the year of its expected expenditure.

We received our grant letter on Monday 02 November 2009 detailing allocations over a 2 year cycle i.e. 2009/2010 and 2010/2011. While some aspects of our application were not approved, the Lotto grant received means that specified Hockey programmes will continue, albeit with possible contributions required from players and provinces alike from time to time.

An example of this is that the Senior Men's team had to pay total costs for a training camp in October 2009 and, in addition, they had to pay R10 000-00 per player towards the BDO Men's Champions Challenge (where they improved their world ranking status from 15th to 13th). Furthermore, they were required to source an additional R220 000-00, which they managed to get funded by ex-national players. We extend our sincere gratitude to the Senior Men's team for their continued efforts and resilience in difficult times.

Spar Sponsorship

SAHA has enjoyed a mutually beneficial sponsorship relationship with Spar for more than 15 years. Our Senior National Women's team have been exceptional brand ambassadors for the retail group and we find it regrettable that Spar decided against renewing its sponsorship.

As was widely reported in the media, Spar wishes to focus its energies and resources on funding a humanitarian feeding scheme going forward. They informed us that this was purely a business decision and that Spar as a company in the retail space was compelled to respond to the growing concern surrounding the effects of the global recession on the poorer communities in the country.

SAHA did everything in its power to try and persuade Spar to continue as a sponsor, but to no avail. Whilst it was a financial blow to our organisation, we continue to reiterate that we have parted on good terms and are proud to have been associated with the Spar brand.

Operational Staffing Matters

At an Executive Indaba held in September 2009, SAHA was essentially left with two options, to declare the organisation insolvent, or to restructure SAHA by way of retrenchments and the cutting down of fixed costs. The former was out of the question because Hockey as a sport in SA would lose all credibility among the FIH, SRSA, SASCOC, the National Lottery, potential sponsors and the general public.

We could not afford for SAHA to suffer a reputation risk of this magnitude, hence the decision to restructure the office. While much criticism has been received in this regard, SAHA firmly believes that it has acted in the best interests of the game.

While we continued to engage the relevant stakeholders, it however meant that SAHA's operational requirements needed to be scrutinised. A restructuring process was embarked upon by the executive, taking into account legal advice. This resulted in certain positions becoming redundant or being redefined. SAHA initiated a formal process, engaging all staff on how the organisation would be restructured.

Retrenchment agreements were entered into with affected staff members. The position of coaches within SAHA was redefined, resulting in SAHA no longer making use of them on a full-time basis. Coaches for the women’s and men's teams will be appointed on an event specific basis. Whilst the position of Ms King has already been clarified, the full-time services of the men’s coach were retained until the conclusion of the BDO Men’s Champion’s Challenge in December 2009 as well as the Men’s World Cup in March 2010.

SAHA’s Executive Board remains committed to the delivery of quality Hockey at all levels in South Africa. We are about to host the inaugural African Youth Olympic Qualifier in East London (21-27 February), our senior men's team is currently preparing to feature in the upcoming Hero Honda Men's World Cup to be hosted in New Delhi, India (28 February to 13 March), the senior women's team will shortly be preparing for the upcoming BDO FIH World Cup in Rosario, Argentina (29 August - 11 September), as well as having qualified (according to SASCOC qualification criteria), for the Commonwealth Games in India (03 to 14 October).

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