Athletics
SA athletics may lose sponsor
2012-08-17 07:45
Cape Town - South African track and field athletics looks likely to be without a sponsor from next year,
Beeld reports.
Yellow Pages, who have sponsored the local athletics series and the South African championships for the last few years, decided not to renew their sponsorship.
Talks are that Yellow Pages will host only "one big meet" next year.
However, Jean Verster, a coach at the North West University, does not believe it's the death sentence for South African athletics.
"It's not a national federation like Athletics South Africa's (ASA) responsibility to organise all the events. We have all become accustomed to it and started to sit back and expect ASA to do all the work.
"Just go and look how things are done overseas. The federations organise the national championships and nothing else.
"All the other events are organised and hosted by individuals and institutions with a passion for athletics. It's a way for people to generate income."
He believes more private entrepreneurs should be targeted to host the events.