A number of national sports associations currently at loggerheads with the management of the Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) have accused the body of spying on them by writing to their international federations enquiring if they are affiliated with them. The group, going by the name National Sports Associations (NSA), has been at war with the GNOC over the latter’s decision to delay elections due since 2020. The GNOC said it acted on an IOC advice backed by the majority of its members to delay the election until after the Olympic games but the NSA said the process was flawed and demanded elections now.
“It has come to the attention of the National Sports Associations (NSAs) that the GNOC has been secretly writing to their respective international federations on the pretext of seeking clarification on the NSA’s affiliation statutes in order to update their records. The NSA see this as another attempt by the GNOC to marginalise the representation of NSAs with the GNOC. We want to advise the GNOC to desist from such unethical practices by keeping them informed when such inquests are conducted,” Peter Prom, the president of table tennis complained. He further wondered why the GNOC should write to the international federations when the information they are looking for is available on their websites anyway.
The Standard contacted the GNOC president Dodou Joof who said both the Olympic Charter and the recent GNOC Position Paper provided that ”The GNOC board will update all the files of recognized National Federations/Associations, including their status with the International Federations by writing to both National and International Federations”.
Mr Joof said it is a regular and legal process for the GNOC to always ensure that status of national associations are regularised with their respective international federations because that is the only way they could be seen to be viable and deserving of any recognition or support or their continuing membership and benefits in the GNOC.” I think all national associations are familiar with that. Their international federations have replied to our enquiries and this information is what we need to update the file of national associations. This is routine and so I cannot understand why anyone should have problem with that,” Mr Joof concluded.
