Football beyond the graves that Channa digs!

Sri Lanka Football (SLF) got a 2-page spread in the Sunday Times of August 21. Whenever SLF gets big coverage in the media, it is either a scandal or, the national team has been drubbed mercilessly! However, the Sunday reading once again brought the abysmal depths that this sport has descended to in spite of the grandstanding by its big guns.

Ex. National Football Captain E.B. Channa for starters, resembles the state of SLF, which is certainly close to the grave! As for Channa himself, this is a pathetic specimen of a once delightful Player and a National Captain. While the article is very partisan and gives a distorted picture of what really transpired, my belief is that Channa’s plight is of his own making.

The match-fixing scandal still hangs on him and demeans SLF to the system it adopts. Fortunately for him, he has been released and is presently an important cog playing for Blue Star SC of Kalutara. The team is also paying him for his services, is what I heard. The scenario that has sparked, shows the future of a Football player having toiled so hard for mother Lanka, ending with a cheque which has no cash.

But Cricket and Rugger, for example, are on a flattering platter. The sweat the players shed on them are lucrative for both the administrators and the players. Not so in Football. As rightly said, economically, there is a huge disparity between the administrators and the players. Any youngster who opts to play the game has to face the same consequences. This is one reason why Football has lost its seekers and the prestige it once had. A novice has to come through a biased school system or a Division 3 Amateur Club. Both, hardly has sponsors and need to be played by their own effort. The administrators have failed to look into this strategic point which is the nursery and thus, whole system remains buckled. Even at National level, Footballers are hardly paid respectable wages, no fruitful contracts are signed, promised pay packets are never met and job offers are not on the cards. Instead, they receive a paltry sum only for the time being.

Now that the AFC and FIFA are spoonfeeding the National Association, even better than in the past, It is paramount, that a rewarding scheme should be put in place to support and honour the services of past National players and those connected who have done so much for the game. Such a scheme will encourage the younger generation in the pipeline. Instead, trying to exploit an individual issue for the benefit of some who are born media maniacs will further ruin the image of the game.

Channa is a victim of this calamitous system as few other players, who are paid an allowance on the whims of their ‘mudalali’ club owners. This is not what SLF should have. Football should be a product marketed by the clubs. When what is offered on the field becomes legendary, the following of the game will be overwhelming. It is through a crushing spectator base that we could attract sponsors. Instead of embarking on making the game grow, the present administrators are living on beggar's wound, blaming the past on a daily basis. Football talents are readily available on our soil; to exploit them is what is needed. Does the FFSL have a productive plan in place to achieve this? The present administration should change, it should be a complete overhaul without baby sitters sitting on the job. Professional administrators who have Football and the social backing, along with the best technical men, should be called to fire the shots, and not with mushrooms that have grown in the recent past.

The present administration is run by proxy of the immediate past president, who has never played the game, while those who have played the game, have to surrender to his dictates. Thus the once popular poor man’s game, has fallen from its pedestal to disdain, due to inefficient, selfish administrators, squatting and taking turns, as they directly and indirectly enjoy the fabulous dividend that flows from the AFC and FIFA. These men have no vision for the nation. They have failed to make the game demanding which is the basic step towards professionalism. Truthfully, a professional league has not emerged, instead, a makeshift Semi Professional league is in existence with a few Nigerians who hardly have a place elsewhere, are paid for their performance in Sri Lanka. They are, in other words, Football mercenaries. Their presence does not give any kind of value addition to the Country in the present circumstances.

Subhani Hassimdeen’s eternal lament is hard to beat. He has, over several years, written extensively about the game. No one bothers to take a cue or any remedies. My hat's off to the Sunday Times which at least is devoting space to a subject that no other media cares about. “Thank God for that”. He rightly points out that, the visa stamps on some privileged officials’ passports, speaks for itself. They are more interested in jaunts and international Football, than about our National team. These officials make a mockery of the ranking which now sticks at around 193, from 183 two years ago. We are first when it comes to voting at the AFC and FIFA, exploiting these sessions to the fullest. Those, by virtue of their office, who are qualified to attend these sessions, are cut and chopped to accommodate power-brokers. That is the mantra they exploit shamelessly. If you see the photos of these poor souls with Football’s greatest legends, it makes you wonder how much a charade the game has become.

The President and his sponsor, the Immediate Past President (IPP) for the last few years, lays the blame squarely on the previous administration, while the Immediate Past President also sang the same song. None should forget that, both these two individuals served the previous administration and they were part and parcel of what they speak foul about.

The IPP was the Treasurer and Finance Committee Chairman, while the incumbent President was the Deputy CEO and later became CEO. With the change, many thought the turnaround in Football had finally come. What is sad to note and, what shocks even close-knit Ex. Co. officials of the FFSL and the Football fraternity is that, the same game plan goes around in better style, played even much better than it was. Presently, the reins of power is firmly in the hands of the IPP who rules the FFSL as he pleases. The ExCo is left impotent, and even military and police top brass are unwilling to blow the whistle on what has become a totalitarian administration. The President was the well paid CEO as the articles states; he now holds an honorary position.

His election was orchestrated by the IPP, due to a few changes in the Sports Act, haphazardly brought in by the then Minister. What emerged is a replay of the classic past syndrome, where Presidents and Secretaries were put in place by the power-broker and then led by the nose. The present situation is no better, with the President in the IPP’s pocket, merely sitting on the chair as a proxy, while the Secretary is sidelined by a ploy that elevates the Deputy Secretary to CEO, cleverly exploiting a manipulative constitutional clause that allocates more power to the CEO, than to the Secretary. So back to the future; the triumvirate will now run the FFSL for all purposes with a moribund ExCo paying lip service and rubber stamping what the FFSL controller wants.

Need more to be said? The Sports Minister will be reluctant to intervene in any way. FIFA and AFC will play by the rules and let democracy prevail. The popular tyrant gets the kiss that perpetuates the ridiculous indifference that SLF receives. And so, no wonder and sooner, we will go beyond the grave that Channa digs!