Volleyball players continue the “fight” for funding. Why does the state give 100% to some and not to some? A personal showdown?

For a long time now, the issue of state co-financing of the qualification tournament for the Olympic Games in beach volleyball – the final tournament of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) Nations Cup – has been raised in the backroom – but also in the public space. The state co-financing directed through the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) is expected to be almost twice less than the requested amount. Jānis Celminņš tried to explain the nature of the situation on the Sportacentrs.com portal.

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LVF Secretary General Arnis Tunte, in a conversation with the Sportacentrs.com portal, does not hide his confusion about how the state money is currently distributed. How subjective or objective are such decisions, and whether we can use the words “political reckoning and revenge” in this story, Juris Zīvarts, acting head of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Interior, tried to explain.

The total amount mentioned in the estimate for the tournament (the competition is planned in Jurmala from June 13 to 16) is 694,000 EUR, of which 400,000 LVF is asking the Ministry of the Interior to co-finance. 120,000 was allocated from the Jūrmala City Council (previously 100 thousand euros were promised), the rest of the costs are planned to be covered from the money of private sponsors, Tunte reveals.

He expresses dissatisfaction that other sports are fully supported for similar competitions, but volleyball is not. Under “other types of sports” we mean Olympic qualification tournaments in basketball (July) and hockey (September), which are fully supported, while EUR 230,000 is planned for volleyball. The Latvian Basketball Association has already been allocated less than EUR 4.8 million, while the Latvian Hockey Federation will receive EUR 500,000. It should be mentioned that for hockey, these costs include not only the costs of organizing the OS qualification tournament, but also the costs of organizing the Women’s World Hockey Championship (currently underway). In all the mentioned cases, funds are allocated from contingency funds. It is worth mentioning that the last time when one or another sports federation was only partially supported (out of the requested amount) from contingency funds, it was in 2022, when only a part of the requested amount was received by luge riders and tennis.

“If the state does not have enough money for everyone, then it is necessary to act economically. Everyone must fasten their belts! Let’s say that everyone will have 20% less, instead of supporting some fully, others not… This is not fair. We will build smaller stands, reduce something else and organize everything, but not so spectacularly,” Tunte expresses, not hiding the opinion that it is probably a personal reckoning or revenge.

How much subjectivity or objectivity is there in making such decisions, we asked Juris Zīvarts, acting head of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Interior. “Undoubtedly, we would like the money to be distributed based on certain criteria. One or the other federation submits an estimate and we, the sports department, prepare the justification. As the head of the department, I cannot say that I like one sport more and another less. Not so! There is still a story about the justification, because we have to write an annotation for each measure and estimate. Unfortunately, I will not be able to comment on the making of political decisions. I am a civil servant, there will always be political decisions. We must not forget the story of attracting private sponsors, one does it better, the other worse. In sports, there is currently an example with “Rīgas Zeļliai” – an example that sets an example for others,” says Zīvarts, at the same time agreeing with the statement of the author of these lines that it is not really fair to compare private clubs and national teams whose athletes are fighting for tickets to the Olympic Games.

However, he points out that it is about “contingency funds”. “This is not a contest where there is a specific amount of money that is being shared. These are funds for unforeseen cases, so I wouldn’t really want to compare sports or the funds they require here either. At the same time, I agree that it is necessary to move towards specific criteria,” explains Zīvarts.

On the sidelines, it is difficult not to hear speeches in which it is assumed that this whole case is a “political reckoning and revenge” for the LVF and personally for Tuntem for his active participation in the election of Jānis Bukas (previously he was the president of the LVF) as the president of the Latvian Olympic Committee (LOK), as well as for personal antipathies in the corridors of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Is it so? Seewarth, who has only been in his current position since January, is probably not the one to answer that question, but he does not hide that he hears all kinds of rumors. “I am not a politician, I am not in any party, I am a civil servant. Various information is brought to me, but I am a person who tries not to let this information into me. We live in a small country, you have to expect that someone likes someone more, someone less. Let’s hope we can finally start talking and change all that. In my previous job, I did things where there was no place for rumours, but I feel that there are too many of them in sports,” said Seevarts.

If a “reckoning” is invoked, and a “personal one” at that, then a logical question follows, who will carry out this reckoning. The answer to this question is not given publicly, but in conversations with the recorder turned off, the heads of several sports federations called the author of these lines Raivi Berga, adviser to the Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša (policies and process management issues), as a person they see as a principle opponent of their industry in the ministry. When asked why it is not talked about publicly, the answer is most often – fear. Fear that it will be difficult to negotiate something later, because there are still no exact criteria for the distribution of state money… Everything can be negotiated if you are obedient.

It is clear that the decision on the allocation of money (including its amount) for the organization of the beach volleyball tournament will be political, so it will be doubly interesting to watch how the situation will be resolved. LVF currently has certain commitments with CEV that must be fulfilled, but the tournament in Jurmala is already planned for mid-June.

It should be reminded that in a similar tournament the duo Anastasija Samoilova/Tīna Graudiņa and Mārtiņš Pļaviņš/Edgars Točs qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games, both pairs winning fourth place in Tokyo. If the hopes of our women’s team to get another ticket (Graudiņa and Samoilova have already done it) to the Olympic Games in Paris are very small, then it is much more realistic for the men to do it.

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