What is football professionalism?
I have read in recent articles a view that the introduction of professional football will help achieve technical excellence in this particular discipline, to do well in the international circuit. Well, I do not think so for obvious reasons. A professional means in simple language one who has mastered the skills in his chosen field. He certainly offers a higher degree of excellence than that of an amateur. In sports this difference is very conspicuous, with the performing standards infinitely higher in the case of a professional. Basically the performing standard of a sport must necessarily be of an extremely high order with players of quality generally in abundance, to make the professional circuit work. It is elementary to know that people pay without reservation for quality and not for the average or the ordinary. Football unfortunately, in our land is far from quality or worse now, in terms of technique, skills and tactics. Even in the fundamentals, such as speed, strength and stamina, of course with the ball, we have a long way to go.
For the sake of debate let us accept the introduction of professional to local football and objectively see how it will work. Structurally we must have at least ten professional clubs to begin with. A professional club as elsewhere in the world is a sort of a firm or company, where share holders have pumped in money for every detailed expenditure, such as salaries and tax, payments for coaches, trainers, physiotherapist, players and facilities for both training and competition, players kits, food and medi- cine to name a few basics. How do we repay the investment? Isn’t it from the gate monies? Will our people pack the stadiums or the grounds regularly to watch mediocre performances? Even if millions of rupees are thrown into the game, how on earth will our football reach a degree of technical excellence? Playing day in and out with average players does not push up performing standards. One may get a little hardened and experienced but the technical mediocrity in his play shall continue to plague him as skills and technique cannot be mastered at maturity, but only at the junior stage.
On the other hand if this country could have in plenty Peter Ranasinghes, Mahinda Aluvihares, Hassimdeens, Andrew Fernandos, Synons, Azeezs, Premadasas, Os- sens to name a few of those brilliant players that would have held their own against the best in Asia. No doubt some form of semi professionalism initially would have helped our cause. Why have we failed to produce such stars in the past few decades? Our school soccer base is totally weak.
We are not producing adequate quality players and added to this misery our play-grounds football is far from what it was.
Draw a sensible technical development programme through the schools spread in the island. Teach them the basic skills from the tender ages of 10 year, 12 years to 14 years in particular, it is in these age groups that future stars are born and brought up. The mere arrangement of annual tournaments is certainly not the answer, but training in technique, skills and basic tactics is what is really vital. It will augur well for the future of football in this country if our entire emphasis is laid on the development of schools football than even remotely think of turning professional.
Professionals come into their circuit after the peak of their career and make the process work satisfactory. It needs a constant flow of quality players from the top drawer not form the bottom. Professional football is certainly not the answer, but a complete and total reconstruction of our school football with constant care and coaching the young ones. When the seeds of proper and systematic training of school kids are sewn, you can rest assured of a technically healthy and vibrant level of foot- ball in the country. We have lived enough on with and fiction so far, it’s fact of life that in each sphere of human activity men of some standing must plan and direct the course of action. Schools football is in dire need of such quality men it is the holy and sacred duty that the national body meet and discuss the promotion and development of football with the highest levels in the Ministry of sports and Ministry of education and to request of them to appoint officers of a reasonable stature and standing who can command respect with authority, so essential to plan and push up any sport for that matter. Sad and unfortunate as it could be, every major sport barring cricket in our country is as weak as dead wood far below Asian standards, not because we do not possess talent, but because we have denied our kids and the youth a correct and conducive base from which a healthy growth is assured.
Kids football, junior and youth football are fore runners for national and international football unless this is accepted we are doomed.
It is not too late to correct ourselves and go strongly and seriously for school football. If we can produce skillful kids at football, by 18 years they will turn out to be brilliant products and our national standards will match the best in Asia. Let us think of professional football when there is a qualitative change in our performing levels, else it will be mediocrity scramble at best which we witness now.