Another year, another SA Sports Awards event – where the country rolls its eyes in unison at the ridiculousness of it all. On Sunday night, the three-hour propaganda ceremony, masquerading as a sports award event, rolled across the television screens of the nation.

The snollygosters in charge insist that they want to use this event to give recognition to deserving sportsmen and -women who do not usually get it. That’s a noble notion if there ever was one, but does the ceremony really have to be so crassly “glamorous”? Last year’s awards caused a stir, with over R50 million wasted on a super event, which included hiring of the Sun City Super Bowl and luxury suites. This year’s event was downgraded to the Sandton convention centre, but even that seemed over the top. With four presenters and a half-empty hall, would the ceremony not be suited to a more modest setting?

It’s not that the sports stars honoured do not deserve ceremony – they do – it’s just that the money that is being spent on these sorts of things could be used so much better.

Portia Modise, who incidentally won the Sports Star of the Year Award, revealed last week that she lives on a modest income. She has to make use of public transport to attend interviews and had times where she could not even afford toiletries. That Modise, the only South African soccer player to score 100 goals in national colours, is not honoured enough is nothing short of a disgrace. The award will stand her in good stead and Mbalula and his cronies will argue that this is exactly why they exist, but what of the other sportspeople who are in similar situations? South Africa’s top swimmers often have to pay their own way to events around the world and, if they do not win, they make a loss.

Shaun Le Roux, a South African squash player ranked 42nd in the world, who pays all his own bills, did not even get the opportunity to play at the Commonwealth Games this year. There was no South African squash team at the event due to funding restrictions. The examples of athletes having to look after themselves are endless.

Of course sport is based on economics and nobody expects a bowls player to earn what a Test cricket player earns, but to host such a “glamorous” event when so many sporting codes are struggling is galling. Equally, with schools and clubs struggling for access to facilities, the big-budget events such as this one ring hollow.

In a recent interview with IOL, Minister Fikile Mbalula staunchly defended the awards and the related expenditure. When the question was put to the Minister that, perhaps, the event should be taken to the people and hosted elsewhere, he said:

“The question of venue is not what we are married to. We can even have it in heaven. The most important thing is how we make it bigger and better. But over and above, we have asked the media to look at its value. Talk about a youngster who has been nominated, who they are, where are they from and building the nation. How much we spent is not really the essence.”

Let’s assess that answer just for a second. Ignoring the fact that the event cannot be held in heaven, how much is spent on an awards ceremony is of the essence when schools are struggling for facilities and national athletes have to pay their own way. Expenditure is of the essence when national women’s players still have to use public transport to get around and cannot even afford basic essentials. Mbalula went on, however, saying:

“We have given back so much to the nation in terms of social cohesion through this initiative, yet we are expected to organise a small baby shower in some corner and call it sports awards. No! The sports awards cannot be measured in terms of financial resources. We have always asked the media to say look, for us the value is, talk about the youngster who has been nominated, where are they from, who they are. Talk about nation building.”

Sure, the department might have given some assistance, but there are still cases where schools have access to less than one facility per school. Until those basic inequalities are rectified, the focus will forever be on the expenditure because the contrast is so stark.

While the awards have the right idea, the impression is far too often simply amateurish, and at one stage on Sunday night, descended into mild propaganda where those who were honoured were seemingly more interested in tooting Mbalula’s horn rather than just saying thanks for the award.

If the purpose of the awards is to recognise all outstanding achievements, across the board and through all sporting codes, then we can say simply that the event has failed. The judging process, the nomination process and the way the event is run needs a serious relook. It has the potential to be great, but for that to happen, self-interest needs to be removed from the equation first. DM

Photo: Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula briefs journalists on the international friendly between Bafana Bafana and Brazil during a news conference, Thursday, 6 March 2014. Picture: GCIS/SAPA