Call for sports funds panel
An independent fund should be set up to support local sports, which stand to lose heavily from the ban on alcohol advertising, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation has suggested.
Vivat Vikrantanoros, Thai Health's adviser on promoting sport and physical exercise, said the government should set up the fund in line with the proposal to raise the excise tax on alcohol sales by 2 per cent."The additional excise tax could help subsidise local sport, which has received only limited funding from the state for a long time. That has forced local sports associations to go to the beverage companies to seek sponsorship," Vivat said. He said money raised from the increased tax should not be passed on to Thai Health because it was already overloaded with work. The additional money would be better spent by an independent unit that directly oversees local sport. Thai Health spends 10-15 per cent of its budget on local sport sponsorship. Vichit Khanuengsukkasem, president of the Thai Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, agreed a new fund should be overseen by a committee of sports experts and representatives from the Education, Tourism and Sports ministries and Sports Authority. - The Nation
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