Softball: Black Sox feel bad as cash comes in

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The world-conquering Black Sox want to be seen with their hands up, not their hands out.

Some of the softballers who won the World Series in South Africa last weekend are a little embarrassed about a public appeal set up to raise money for the cash-strapped New Zealand team.

Chief executive Hadyn Smith said that while the team were humbled by the donations, they were also self-conscious about the fund.

"As one player said to me, 'we are putting our hand up not our hand out'," he said.

"We are grateful. But some of us are concerned that the very people handing the money across may be in a worse financial situation than our guys are.

"The guys don't want to speak on behalf of everyone, because some of the players have had extreme hardship."

Smith understood the fund, set up by a group of radio broadcasters, had raised more than $5000 after the first day.

But Smith said the sport's financial shortfalls should be filled by corporate backers, not dedicated fans.

Plans are already under way to cash in on the Black Sox' success by attracting a major sponsor. It has not been easy for softball since tobacco sponsorship laws ended their relationship with Winfield.

"We used to get a substantial amount from them, but that's all gone now. We don't gripe about that because it's law and you can't turn back history," he said.

"Now that we have a profile, I think we can do the business."

The Sports Foundation has copped flak this week - accused of not contributing enough to the World Series campaign - but Smith said the criticism was unfounded.

"We have no problem with them whatsoever. They gave us $132,000 towards this tour, which is a lot of money," he said.

"We know they don't have a bottomless bucket, and it's up to us as a sport to fill the gaps."

When the next round of Sports Foundation grants come out this afternoon, softball should be a happy recipient.

Sports Foundation chief executive Chris Ineson said yesterday that the grant would help towards building the team for the next World Series defence in 2004.

"For the next 12 months we're going to bring through the young people - the 18 to 20-year-olds - tomorrow's Black Sox," he said.

The White Sox, the women's team bound for the Olympics, will also receive a financial top-up before they go to Sydney.

Ineson said there was a misunderstanding that the Sports Foundation had not backed the Black Sox.

"We've worked with softball for the last 17 years, and we've been through the good and bad with them," he said.

"The last four years we granted $1.6 million to softball. That's a substantial amount of money. It's more than we ever give rugby. It's more than we gave to sports of a comparable profile, like basketball or the world champion surf lifesaving team.

"We asked softball what they wanted from us for the World Series campaign and we gave them 100 per cent of their request."

The Black Sox will not receive a bonus for winning - the old $50,000 world champions' prize from the foundation has been scrapped.