The suspension of the Samoa Triathlon Federation (S.T.F.) will directly impact the federation's fundraising drive for future events such as the 2023 Pacific Games in November.

The country's sports governing body, the Samoa Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (SASNOC) suspended the S.T.F. in a letter dated 19 July 2023 and cited its deregistration by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Labour (MCIL) as being in breach of Article 4(b) of the SASNOC Constitution.

When contacted by Samoa Observer last Friday to comment on the long-term implications of their federation's suspension, S.T.F. Team Manager Lani Young said their training and organising of events have continued nonetheless.

"We are continuing with training and organising events. We had already planned to take a team to the Fiji Invitational Races in September and are on track for that," Mrs. Young said in an email reply. "The federation being suspended doesn't affect our activities drastically because we were already doing all the work and paying for it all ourselves. 

"Plus all of our executive board are athletes, coaches and team officials anyway."

However, she indicated that the federation's fundraising program for future events could be impacted as they don't have an official bank account due to their suspension as a sporting entity.

"We don't have an official bank account for triathlon. This makes fundraising challenging as we want to be financially accountable in all our activities moving forward. 

"Previously, we just paid out of our pockets as we went. But a trip like Fiji, and then taking the team to Pacific Games will need fundraising done. We also plan to take a team in February to the Peoples Triathlon Series in Auckland, and to the World Champs in Australia in August 2024."

The suspension of the federation also means STF athletes cannot officially represent Samoa, which Mrs. Young says is why they have asked SASNOC if their banner covering the team can also be extended to other international events, besides the upcoming Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

"Our athletes cannot officially represent Samoa as we are suspended. We are asking SASNOC if they can extend their banner over our team to other international events besides Pacific Games. Like Fiji races. That way our athletes can compete as Samoa reps and their results can be recognised by World Triathlon."

The SASNOC in its letter dated 19 July 2023 to the S.T.F. executive (Seti Afoa and Arthur Mulitalo) advised that it will advise World Triathlon of its decision to suspend the federation. The letter was signed by the SASNOC Vice President Leasi John Galuvao. 

Mrs. Young – when asked by this newspaper how the STF members were taking the suspension – referred to a post on their official Facebook page last week that expressed disappointment at the decision by the SASNOC to disregard the decision by their members to vote out the old executive headed by Seti Afoa.

"We are disappointed SASNOC has chosen to ignore the voices of members who voted 46 to 1 to remove the previous Executive and then voted unanimously for new leadership," read the Facebook post. "This federation had been a mess for a long time, with no AGM [annual general meeting] since 2015, no financial accountability for eight years, and an absent and inactive executive - which all led to the Federation being deregistered by the government (MCIL) in 2020. 

"SASNOC enabled this poor leadership by failing to do its job and actually check whether sports federations are fulfilling their obligations to members.

"So as athletes, parents, and coaches, dedicated to the sport we love, we tried our best to fix the Federation, by following our constitution to elect new leadership who are active in triathlon here in Samoa. 

"People who have been doing all the work and paying for everything, volunteering and organising all the events. But the previous Executive of Seti Afoa, Mike Webster and Rajendra Singh refused to let go."