Angry protests in Brazil have a sobering message about public spending on elite sporting success and grandiose sporting events - and one that New Zealand should heed.
Brazilians resent billions of dollars being spent running World Cup soccer, in a country that suffers from poor education, limited medical facilities and a rundown public transport system. As well as being an extraordinary sight in a country commonly considered to be football mad, the protests are a signal to all governments, including our own, that they should more carefully consider the costs and benefits of putting money into sporting goals that achieve a limited outcome.
Making Olympic and Commonwealth gold medals the major priority for elite sport funding in New Zealand has been a hugely influential decision by Sport New Zealand (SNZ). It's also one that's gained government support, in the form of $60 million a year, with an expectation that this will be increased in the 2014 Budget.
That priority should be given to winning medals should not be seen as a fact of life. It is a choice of decision-makers and, as such, should be open for discussion and debate. Rather like the title of Bruce Jesson's 1999 book Only Their Purpose is Mad, if the winning of Olympic and Commonwealth medals becomes the Holy Grail then all decisions made to achieve that goal make sense. The problem is, however, that these decisions have real-life consequences for many New Zealanders and for many sports.
Take surf lifesaving. After winning a world title last year, the organisation lost $380,000 or 54 per cent of its funding because it is not an Olympic sport. At the same time, equestrian sport, which gained a single bronze medal at the London Olympics, was awarded an extra $4 million, increasing its funding to $7.2 million.