European Athletics U23 Championships
03-04-2007
Source: Sportfórum.hu
Author: Károly Jocha

Hard terms in Debrecen

Lajos Kósa, Mayor of Debrecen words clearly also in the questions of sports. It was also the case on Friday in Debrecen in the press conference of the European Athletics U23 Championships and in the talk afterwards.

• The city of Debrecen has given home for the eleventh considerable world event since 2001 without receiving any state subsidy since 2002 – emphasized the Mayor by way of introduction. – Each of our undertaking is a huge challenge which is more and more difficult to comply with.  
• The lack of money is really unpleasant, but it is well-known that today’s Hungarian sport life has other, also very serious problems. 
• Our sport life gets lower and lower on organizational and management level as in 2004 it still had an independent ministry, while now there is only a deputy under-secretary of state and thirty people should manage and supervise sport life of the country in every question. Organizational and financial crisis of sports has already arisen strikingly also in the life of our sport associations.
• Would you give a concrete example?
• In the past associations subsidized the events of their own sports. But as they have less and less money, instead of assistance they want to impose a duty on their own sport events too. In connection with the European Atheltics U23 Championships which is due in July, the Hungarian Athletics Association came forward with the impossible demand that the organizers of Debrecen, who raised funds alone for the 215 million budget competition in terribly hard terms, should give ten million Hungarian Forints to the association. But the Hungarian Atheltics Association does not have the right to it, thus they can do not more than try, but will get no money. Only the European Athletics Association (EAA) could have expectations, but they do not want to ask money, only to subsidize.
• The tendency clearly does not point ahead.
• Nowadays preparation differences between the best top Hungarian sportsmen and sportswomen, and the future Olympic athletes of the western countries are so big that a Hungarian competitor finishing in the sixth place would win a gold medal in the circumstances of the Sport Great Powers. According to it, it is a wonder that we still have athletes probably winning in the Olympic Games, but our choice in the given circumstances is clearly and continuously narrowing.    
• This is annoying because there are serious amounts of money in several spheres of Hungarian sport.
• For example for the sponsors – with whom it is extremely difficult to cooperate on business basis – it is more favourable in team games. But in some years we could develop self-hoax to a higher and higher level. Let’s see an actual example of Debrecen, Men’s „Vadkakasok” Basketball Team. This team received almost one hundred million subsidy from the self-government in one year, which we had enough of it, as neither the Hungarian basketball, nor Debrecen makes profit on it. Besides foreigners, the young talents could not sit even on the substitutes’ bench, while we had such an American player who cost twenty million Forints in a year for the club. From this amount two junior sections can work.   
• If we are now at basketball, let me ask you what your opinion is about the other clubs, which cost the similar huge amount of money. Why isn’t it so clear for them as it is clear here?
• A vicious circle has been developed. The personal interests of trainers, heads and managers are to register more and more foreigner players as they get money of it. In Hódmezővásárhely they did their utmost to have a good team with Hungarian players, but they came under fire and as they gave up their principles and began „to buy” foreigners, public opinion about them calmed down.

(Photo: JochaPress)