Estonian hockey left without money

" I reminded them dozens of times that, in order to obtain the money, they need to report their activities to the state" said disconsolate Tõnu Seili, Vice-Chancellor of the Ministry of Culture, referring to the Estonian Hockey Federation and the clubs. "I love hockey, I've been playing amateurish for 12 years, but I have to admit that hockey is the worst-managed Estonian sport federation" 

Estonian hockey in 2012 received from the state a budget of 65.000 euro.This year, this amount will be much lower, ranging from at best 40 000 euros - more than 10 percent less, as the Federation has not submitted a timely report on its activities. The Commission of the Ministry of Culture, which distributes funds between sports leagues and organizations, made ​​a proposal to exclude icehockey of the recipients of national funds: thus If the annual report isn't provided in time, the organization have no right to receive public support. Hockey Association did not submit an annual report within the time limit, like so none of the six clubs members of the Hockey League in the last year submitted reports on their activities. 

Hockey Federation President Jaan Molder said theat the decision of the Ministry is unprecedented and disproportionate: "Someone wants to show that everything is bad - said Molder - "of course, we have our problems, but who doesn't?! Public money is still a very big part of our budget. We are negotiating with the Ministry of Culture, because we think there isn't a basis for a such decision "

The troubles for Estonian hockey began in last August, when long-time General Secretary Riho Soonik resigned and the new President Molder discovered a shortfall of almost 14 000 euro without cheques in the accounting department, which confirm the costs were. Melder Sooniku proposed a requirement to repay, but the proposal wasn't approved

"We are ready for dialogue with the hockey Fedration - said Seili. - "But our pre-condition would be the guidance of the people actually playing hockey. In the current situation, we simply can not trust in the Hockey Federation "

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