President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised to improve the scandal-plagued professional baseball environment and help develop the national sport.
Ma said the government would work toward saving professional baseball by making it free of gambling fraud.
“Professional baseball is not at fault,” he said. “It is those who abuse the sport that are wrong.”
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma made the remarks in Taichung while attending a sports event held by National Chung Hsing University to mark the 90th anniversary of its founding yesterday.
Ma said because baseball was the national sport, his government would do whatever it could to support the development of professional baseball and protect it from being corrupted by “external forces.”
Ma also urged athletes to be honest, saying that it was a pity if professional baseball players were involved in betting scandals because if they are found guilty, they would likely never play again.
The nation’s first professional league was inaugurated in 1989. The joy was short-lived, however, after a major betting scandal and the creation of another league resulted in fewer fans.
In April this year, the Executive Yuan approved a four-year, NT$1.26 billion (US$38.6 million) proposal to boost the sport. Under the proposal, each of the four teams in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) will be subsidized NT$10 million a year to set up lower league teams that play at least 60 games in a regular season.
The government will gradually establish an amateur baseball league, lifting the number of amateur teams from two to 12, the proposal said. Nine more amateur teams would be formed by local governments and state-owned businesses. The government will also offer colleges and high schools NT$10 million each to hold competitions every year to cultivate athletic skills, the proposal said.
The government plan at the time was made under public pressure following the lackluster performance of Taiwan’s baseball team at the World Baseball Classic.
Taiwan’s baseball team returned home after they were eliminated from the competition following losses to South Korea and China. The team’s loss to China marked the second defeat to the country in a year.
At a separate setting yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government would not sit by and watch baseball weaken or disappear because it is the national sport.
Promising to hold those who fix games legally responsible, Wu said the government would work to create a clean environment for baseball development.
“Cronies will not be eliminated without their masterminds being hunted down,” Wu said when approached by reporters for comment.
Wu did not propose any concrete measures yesterday, except saying that granting tax breaks to companies to encourage their sponsorship of baseball teams could be one measure.
On Tuesday, the Sports Affairs Council will meet with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Education and the four baseball teams to map out a recovery plan.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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