Toomas Annus, Merko and Kapitel will stop sponsoring competitive sports in Estonia

The article “New materials in the Alaver file:  Tammjärv and Annus were more involved” published on the err.ee news portal on 27 January 2021 and the “Pealtnägija” television programme on the same date claim that “additionally disclosed parts of Mati Alaver’s file show that athlete Karel Tammjärv and major sponsor Toomas Annus were much more involved in the doping affair than previously reported”. This is a malicious allegation linking me to a doping case solely because I was a long-time sponsor of the skiers and Team Haanja.

It is public information that both I personally and Merko sponsored Estonian skiing through the Estonian Ski Association (1996–2015) and then Team Haanja, as well as athletes directly. According to the documents presented to me, the annual budget of Team Haanja was between 400,000 and 450,000 euros, half of which came from us, including 30,000 euros under the Merko contract and 170,000 euros as my personal sponsorship every year. It has long been publicly known that, since the Estonian Ski Association did not offer any support to skiers since 2015, Team Haanja’s athletes managed their finances themselves. Karel Tammjärv was responsible for finances and accounting, Raido Ränkel for clothing, etc. As a supporter, we relied on trust and we had no doubts that the budget presented to us was correct. We have had hundreds of support projects over the years, and in none of them have we taken on the role of an auditor, neither is it likely that the other sponsors did that.

Karel Tammjärv has publicly answered the question of who was aware of the athletes doping case, and his answer has been published on the ERR portal. My name is not among them. I confirmed in a text message to the Pealtnägija journalist on 25 January 2021 that I was not aware of the use of sponsorship money to finance doping, but nevertheless on the morning of 27 January 2021 ERR published an article with a misleading title and content that links me to the doping affair. This news was carried by almost all media channels and even illuminated advertisements in the streets.

In the case of positive news, it is not the practice of the media to mention sponsors, much less to praise or thank them. However, sponsors are associated with negative events concerning athletes and sports. Given that athletes are just people, mistakes or violations can occur, and unfortunately, this is not something that a sponsor can prevent or control. There is doping, drugs, abusive behaviour, hooliganism and so on. In addition to my disappointment over the fact that Team Haanja’s athletes used some of the sponsorship money I personally transferred to them to allegedly finance doping, I have to endure media accusations and the false impression that as a sponsor of Team Haanja, I must be aware of the use of doping.

While in Western and Northern European countries, the sponsor of a sport or athlete would be a victim in such a situation, in Estonia the treatment received from the “free media” and “investigative journalism” is the opposite and the sponsor is made out to be a co-perpetrator in the use of doping. Therefore, I and probably many other sponsors are not willing to support any athlete or sport anymore.

In 2019, we stopped supporting Estonian professional skiing after a doping scandal, and now, due to the above, we are inevitably forced to stop supporting all competitive sports in Estonia. Beginning from 2021, neither I personally, nor Merko, nor Kapitel will sponsor competitive sports in Estonia. I sincerely apologise to all our good friends and partners, to whom we previously promised a total grant of around half a million euros this year and who had been counting on this. The Estonian Tennis Association and tennis players, organisers of the Merko Cup and Merko Estonian Open tennis tournaments, the Estonian Cyclists’ Union and Ampler Team cyclists, the Erki Nool Athletics School and young rally divers, I am asking for your understanding. Unfortunately, I do not consider it sensible or possible to continue sponsoring sport in an environment where the wrongdoings of athletes are also blamed on sponsors by the media, which damages the reputation of the sponsors and runs counter to the principles of sponsorship.

As one of the founders of the Estonian Health Trails Foundation, Merko will continue to support the Estonian Health Trails project, and we will also continue to support culture and education at the current level.

I hope that the state, as the owner of the erroneous ERR in this case, will increase its support for sports.

Toomas Annus