FFSL election campaign turns ugly
With just two months ahead of the election of office bearers for the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), the campaign has turned ugly with underhand moves to sack the heads of seven internal committees.
Sports Ministry guidelines say the polls should be held on or before May 31. But given that the Federation is yet to have their annual accounts examined by the Auditor General’s Department, the Ministry extended the incumbent Executive Committee’s mandate until July 1.
Yet, the Federation has now called an Emergency Council Meeting on Sunday (30) saying it wants to ratify the committee for 2015/2016 and also the appointment of the Committee Chairmen, much to the surprise of the Executive Committee Members.
When contacted, President Anura de Silva confirmed the scheduling of the Council Meeting but would not say why it was called.
“These are issues within the Federation which I would not like to share with the media,” he said. “We can call for an emergency meeting at any time if there’s a need.”
Despite his reticence, the Daily Mirror reliably learns the FFSL will seek a mandate to replace the chairs of seven committees: Finance Committee Chairman Ranjith Rodrigo; Disciplinary Committee Chairman Retired Air Vice Marshal R. A. Dayapala; Youth Development Chairman Retired Senior DIG Upali Hewage; Chairman Legal Chamath Jayasekera; Ethics Committee
Chairman Rahula Siriwardena; Women’s Committee Chairperson Sudharma Jayawardena; and Ex-co and Council Member - Lalith Boteju. While the date of the election hasn’t yet been announced, de Silva has declared he would stand against his longtime ally and supporter Rodrigo - who has also tossed his hat into the ring - to secure another term.
Rodrigo was behind de Silva’s accession to the top seat. But the pair fell out late last year and are now bitter enemies. Rodrigo has now threatened legal action if the unconstitutional act was proceeded, in an email to the President.
He is backed by several Executive Committee Members including Trevor Reckerman, Sagara Piyathilaka and Saman Kotage who have written to de Silva urging him to avoid manipulations that may lead to legal procedures.
“It is indeed sad that our beloved Federation has descended to such miserable depths. While it is true that we are in an election period, could we not do that with honour & dignity?” the respected Reckerman wrote in an email to the President and all Ex-co Members.
“This Ex-co worked as a team and we supported the President and all office bearers as best as we could,” he continues.
“Why is it that we must now dismember this Ex-co for whatever reason by looking for of justifications? At the end of the day, we must remember that these are honorary positions, not lifetime sentences!”
Rodrigo wrote: “This is an illegal act in my opinion as the term of each administration is two years. The Minister of Sports had extended the term to facilitate the next Annual General Meeting 2017 due to delays in the Annual Audit Report 2016. As such, the current Executive Committee should continue until the next Annual General Meeting 2017 at which the newly elected office bearers will take office and appoint a new Executive Committee”.
Football has suffered heavily under successive administrations as personal agendas have always superseded national interests.