By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

In a solidarity move, the Bahamas Olympic Committee headed a meeting with the national sporting bodies to voice their displeasure over the manner in which the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is handling their financial affairs.

The meeting was conducted by BOC president Rommel Knowles, who was flanked by some of his executives, including secretary general Derron Donaldson, vice presidents Joseph ‘Joe Mo’ Smith, Robert Butler and Dorian Roach as well as treasurer D’Arcy Rahming.

A number of sporting bodies were represented, including basketball, judo, golf, fencing, softball, baseball, gymnastics, track and field, boxing, taekwondo, swimming, soccer, volleyball, triathlon and tennis.

Knowles, in the meeting that took place yesterday at the National Tennis Centre, said it’s important that both the Department of Sports and the national federations are on the same page as it pertains to the development of sports in the country.

“We understand the minister with responsibility for sports is very new in her role and a newcomer to our environment,” he said.

“The sporting fraternity wishes for the minister to succeed but I should note, there are certain protocols and expectations we have as a community that she too should become familiar with and respect as we will not compromise and these norms we hold near and dear to us.”

Knowles said attempts have been made for his BOC executives to meet with Minister Lanisha Rolle to air their gripes and member associations have tried to have individual meetings in order to communicate their particular grievances with her.

He called on Rolle to reach out to the federations for advice and guidance and, when in doubt, the BOC stands ready to provide their expertise. He charged that the minister is being ill-advised by the personnel surrounding her.

Case in point. Knowles said that just recently the minister travelled to the IAAF World Relays in Japan, without notice to the BAAA, the governing body and official representative for the IAAF in the Bahamas.

“We admonished the good minister, once on government business, the normal procedure with respect would be to be accredited through the BAAA, not withstanding she might have been invited by a sitting member of the IAAF.

“In a letter, we wrote to her advising her of our protocols and expectations,” Knowles said. “We were advised, in writing, the good minister is not subject to our expectations and protocols.

“This is very disappointing to say the least. We are of the view the minister is not properly advised and respectfully ask of her to seek proper consultation and guidance as we know of persons in her ministry who knows better, including her director, who once served as secretary general of the BAAA.”

Knowles further revealed that the federation members were advised that they should not deal directly with their international and parent body, but should instead seek council from her and she would reach out to the international federation.

“Once again, this is very bad advice and we admonish our minister not to follow such advice as her office does not give her such authority,” Knowles said.

According to Knowles, there is the challenge with national federations receiving grants on a timely basis. “One federation was told and I paraphrase: ‘I’m busy, When I get around to approaching your grant, I’ll do so,” Knowles disclosed. “Whilst we respect the minister’s busy schedule, most certainly that isn’t the response we anticipated.

“We respectfully ask that grants that meets the test of the ministry be issued in a timely manner or a date be agreed when the grant be ready for collection.”

Too often, Knowles said federation presidents and executives spend weeks visiting the ministry in search of their grants with no degree of certainty when the grants would be approved and cheques ready for collection.

It has also been said that the grants to the federation continue to drop with some falling from around $40,000 per year to about $25-20,000.

With the new budget expected to be debated in parliament over the next few weeks, Knowles said they have heard reports of the ministry’s budget being chopped by millions of dollars.

“The sports fraternity took an enormous financial hit against our grants a few years ago. We can’t afford any further reduction,” Knowles stressed.

“Although we are off to a rough start, it is my hope that we can agree on the conditions of mutual respect and appreciation for our respective roles.”

The BOC, as they have done in the past, will continue to assist wherever there is a need.

But Knowles said they have an obligation to ensure that the teams are properly prepared to compete at the major global events like the Olympic, Commonwealth and Pan American Games, without any interruption.

He said all they want to do is meet with the minister on neutral grounds so that they can forge a better path for sports, the athletes and support staff in the future.