Singapore floorball begins road to recovery

SINGAPORE — The road to recovery has begun for the beleaguered Singapore Floorball Association (SFA), which was recently hit by news of its former president being investigated for alleged misappropriation of funds.

At its Extraordinary General Meeting (EOGM) at Sport Singapore (SportSG) on Monday (May 30), which was attended by some 50 members of the SFA management committee and affiliates, current SFA management committee member Kenneth Ho was named its interim president.

It was also announced that SportSG staff Todd Vladich will be seconded to the SFA for six months as interim general manager to resolve its issues, and focus on putting in robust administrative and financial systems and processes.

Ho was a former player and committee member at Ngee Ann Polytechnic (2003—2006) and the Singapore Institute of Management (2008-2011). The 29-year-old, who works in the insurance sector, has been a SFA committee member since 2011.

“We are looking at a new slate for a new season, and everything will be clear and transparent,” said Ho. “We will be focusing our efforts on stabilising the association, caring for our athletes and developing the sport to the level it should be.

“We are now targeting to get the house in order and prepare for charity status to resume funding.”

Vladich, who was attached to the Singapore Hockey Federation in a similar capacity in 2012, said: “We are trying to rebuild the trust with the fraternity. Six months secondment (to sort out the issues) is optimistic and it will also depend on other factors.

“I will be sitting down with the management committee to put in the proposed timelines.

While sorting out the SFA’s accounts will be key, the SFA’s task list will include amending its constitution to install best practices, and running its national Floorball league. They also plan to work with the Centre for Non-profit Leadership to get professional executives involved with the SFA.

These latest developments will come as a relief to the floorball fraternity. Last month, TODAY reported that the SFA was facing financial woes just 11 months after the men’s and women’s teams clinched gold at the SEA Games.

The SFA did not receive annual funding from SportSG after failing to submit audited accounts. It also owed the International Floorball Federation 23,000 Swiss francs (S$32,300).

On May 14, SportSG lodged a police report against then-president Sani Mohamed Salim on the suspicion that he had misappropriated SFA funds. The SportSG staff was suspended from his duties as centre manager of the Hougang Sports Centre. He has since stepped down from his post, and is assisting police with investigations.

The SFA’s financial woes have hurt the national men’s team’s fund-raising efforts for their participation at the 11th Men’s World Floorball Championships in Latvia. They had set a target of S$80,000 but news of the SFA’s problems drove sponsors away.

Vladich said on Monday that they will seek potential sponsors, and look into setting up a trust fund — which will have a bank account that is separate from the SFA — for the national team to manage donations.

National player Brandon Cheong said: “There is no point dwelling on the past. We welcome these changes at the SFA and I am happy that SportSG is helping us get things in order. I am relieved that the sport is getting back on track.”