TASANOC Secretary General backs call for governance change Featured
Tonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee (TASANOC) Secretary General Takitoa Taumoepeau
27 November, 2019. Tonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee (TASANOC) secretary general Takitoa Taumoepeau has backed calls for a new approach to be taken up by those leading the country's national sporting bodies.
Earlier this month, former Tonga rugby union captain Inoke Afeaki claimed national sporting bodies lacked structure and policies and Board members' archaic attitudes were halting Tonga's progress in sport.
Taumoepeau agrees there is a major issue with governance and administration of sport in the Polynesian kingdom.
"We have about 36 National Federation members, and out of those 36, I would say about 30 per cent are quite active in their sport or National Federation," he was reported as saying by Radio New Zealand (RNZ).
"The rest are more or less drifting or floating and to me that comes down to the governance and administration of respective sports."
Tonga won 28 medals, including nine golds, at this year's Pacific Games, which took place in Samoa from July 7 to 20.
They ranked eighth in the medal table.
Taumoepeau believes the Government needs to have a good working relationship with sporting organisations in Tonga if their success is to continue.
