Families of the Lakua Sports Club have decided to take a step forward to try to alleviate the “unsustainable” economic and sports situation that the city is going through. … entity. As ELCORREO has been able to confirm, the parents of several teams, some of them school teams, have totally improvisedly promoted a collection to pay the coaches’ salaries out of their own pockets. The preparers accumulate several months of non-payments. In some cases, the debt exceeds a thousand euros. The discomfort is widespread. Some technicians continue for the simple reason of not harming children. Others have thrown in the towel and decided to stop managing teams without a return date. They are resignations that aggravate the situation of the entity, with palpable consequences on Monday, when it was time to resume training.
After the tense meeting held on Friday between the club and the families, which required police presence, and the protests at several games over the weekend, the focus was on how the teams would resume activity this Monday. That the match ended without an agreement left Lakua’s entire sports program up in the air, agreed with Athletic and with 800 kids in the structure. That “uncertainty” that surrounded the parents turned this Monday into “concern.” “Who is going to take care of my son?” was the question most heard in the groups in the Lakua countryside.
It’s 5:30 p.m. The players from the different Benjamín teams (8 and 9 years old) rush onto the field of play. However, luck was not the same for everyone. Some were able to train and others were left without the tutelage of a coach. «The coach hasn’t come. He already told us on the WhatsApp group that he would not come, but the club promised us that there would be a coach and that is why we came. And there is no one here,” denounced Ainhoa Moya. The anger was widespread, while the kids carried out exercises completely autonomously. Faced with this scenario, the parents decided to contact the police.
“We have called the Ertzaintza to file a complaint, because if we were not there, the children would be completely helpless, with no one to supervise them,” said David Manzanera after hanging up the phone. “They have told me that the police can’t do anything, that I should call the Federation. The Federation has told me that, since it’s not in a competition, they can’t do anything either.” So, like their children, the parents also self-organized to find a solution. “We have asked a kid we know who is in the facilities to please try to do some exercises with the kids,” commented Olatz Fernández.
The Provincial Council takes action
In parallel, the parents tried to contact the club board to demand a solution. The vice president of Lakua went to the facilities to attend to the families and the conversation turned into an impromptu meeting. The leader acknowledged tensions and disagreements within the leadership, but assured the families that they will find a solution to clean up the accounts. However, it has already been announced that the economic report, which President Mohamed Akbache promised to deliver throughout the day this Monday, will be delayed and they hope to make it public this week.
For its part, the Alava Provincial Council, which protects school sports, will thoroughly analyze the content of that document, while in parallel it will launch an audit to examine the club’s accounts, as this newspaper reported. However, the regional Government will go further. Aside from the financial situation, he will also ask for information about the structure of the club and the workers that make it up, as well as those who have left the entity. The institution that oversees school sports seeks to obtain a general photograph before deciding whether to adopt severe measures.
What is guaranteed for the moment is that Lakua will continue competing. He already did it last weekend and will repeat it next weekend, barring an unforeseen twist. However, the future is unknown given the magnitude of a debt that could affect him in the competition.
The directive delays the delivery of the economic report
The Lakua Board of Directors and the families of the 800 players that make up the structure met on Friday to try to find a way out of the conflict that surrounds the club. The president, Mohamed Akbache, promised to deliver an economic report throughout the day this Monday to publicly show the movements in the club’s accounts. However, neither the families nor the institutions received that document. In fact, in the afternoon training this Monday, the vice president of the entity told the parents that the report is not yet finished and that they hope to be able to present it throughout this week. A delay that generated discomfort among families.
