Everything has a price tag. Even sports. Since I was appointed chairman of the Malta Sports Council (KMS), I could appreciate more the importance of sports in our everyday life. I also realised that to maintain sports, we need finacial resources.

Leading a healthy lifestyle, with some involvement in any kind of sports, will decrease the number of people who make use of medical services. Medical services are free, but they still come at a charge to the taxpayer!

The KMS is the local sport regulator. It acts on behalf of the government in managing resources utilised to help sport clubs and associations. These resources vary, from financial assistances to the grant of land for sport use.

Both money and land are very limited. The financial situation at KMS is very dire. With a deficit of almost €2m and with no more cost cuttings possible, it is very difficult to meet all the demands made by clubs and associations.

KMS is trying to save more funds by investing in energy friendly projects. With the aid of EU funds, KMS has embarked in an ambitious project, changing the way water is heated in our National Swimming Pool. This €1m project, half of which will be financed by EU funds, will save KMS around €200,000 annually in energy savings. When we consider that we spend 800,000 yearly to run the National Pool, half of which we spend in purchasing diesel to heat the pools, the savings are considerable. 

What we save, we invest. Assistance to clubs and federations is the life line for the majority of them. Last year we received assistance demands amounting to more that €6m and KMS was able to meet only one sixth of this amount. 

Together with the assistances granted, one cannot forget to mention the assistance that KMS gives to the Malta Olympic Commitee. Last year KMS signed a three-year contract, guaranteeing assistance to MOC and elite athletes until the next Olympic Games. Help to MOC amounts to more than a million euros.

However, the biggest assistance goes to sport clubs and associations from direct concession of land. Sport clubs and association which have a legal title over a piece of land, pay rent to KMS at a highly subsidised rate of 95%. The rent paid is nominal to the actual commercial value of the land. 

Most of the sports clubs and associations lease out part of the conceded land to the private sector for catering purposes. This is obviously done for income purposes. However, it is not acceptable that sport clubs and associations pay a subsidised rent on a property that has been subletted for commerical purposes. The rent has to reflect the true commercial value of that part of property used for commercial purposes. Such a transition in this policy could happen on a transition period, giving sport clubs and associations time to adapt to the change.

There is, however, a bigger cost in sports. The cost of not practising sport or doing any kind of movement whatsoever. Leading a sedentary life will surely lead to obesity and consequently illness. 

In countries like the United Kingdom, obesity costs the taxpayer some £5m. The cost in Malta is not yet calculated, but I am sure it is a price we cannot afford to pay anymore.

KMS has to maximise all efforts to promote a healthier way of living and to provide facilities accessible to all those who want to change their life style.

Lack of funds and having a €2m deficit makes it very difficult to find direct methods of investment to provide a comprehensive information package on how to lead a healthy life style. Above all we lack funds to invest in facilities in various localities that can actually attract people who until now had never engaged in sporting activities.

The challenge we are facing is dual. Besides maximising our resources to make them more available to everyone, we have to create more with the limited funds available. The biggest challenge, however, remains to change the mentality of the majority of the population. To make people conscious that lack of sporting activities can have a higher price than the actual price of investing in sports itself.

The biggest cost we face is not from sports itself, but from the lack of it!

Dr Luciano Busuttil is a member of parliamanet