Sports Fund throws counterpunch after accusation of budget delay
The National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) has batted away accusations it is failing to support sports associations by delaying budget disbursement this year.
“The NSDF has no authority to grant budget for sports associations at either provincial or national level. All such decisions are made by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT),” NSDF manager Supranee Guptasa told reporters on Monday.
Supranee said all associations seeking financial support from the fund must send their application to the SAT, which will consider granting budget based on four factors: Timeliness, transparency, budget management, and leftover budget from previous years.
If the SAT approves the application, it is forwarded to the NSDF, which ensures that all details comply with regulations. The applicant then signs a memo of understanding with the SAT and the budget is disbursed to the NSDF, Supranee explained.
She added that in her three years as NSDF manager, money requested by associations has exceeded the budget allocated to the fund.
“In 2022 the NSDF was allocated a total of 4 billion baht, but sports associations nationwide asked for a total of 10.8 billion baht,” she said.
This often resulted in SAT rejecting applications or asking the associations to revise their budget requests, which caused delays.
The SAT’s Preecha Lalun, who is tasked with considering budgets for associations, revealed he has sent back several applications because they are missing necessary documents and details, or did not show how the money will be used.
“I have told associations to make necessary fixes before they can be considered. This is what caused the delay,” said Preecha, who is director of the SAT’s Elite Sports Development Department.
He said the SAT aims to disburse the money to all approved associations within the first six months of fiscal 2023 (October 2022-March 2023). Meanwhile, any leftover budget from fiscal year 2022 should be disbursed to all associations within the third quarter of this year.
