Why football is second class!
Legal luminary and ardent spor ts administrat o r Panduka Keerthinanda shared a discourse on the Integrity of Sports in the Sunday Times last weekend amplifying the edict that politics and sports should not mix. Another news item stated that the new Sports Minister had vowed to keep sports away from politics; perhaps the muddle should be other way around, KEEP POLITICS AWAY FROM SPORTS! The Minister, another legal luminary, is reported to have said that he would not wish to dissolve sports bodies elected legally. If compelled to appoint interim committees, he would select suitable officers from former officials, it is qualified. Fair enough one might say, even if Mirissa was an aberration he should have avoided like a plague.
Subhani Hassimdeen, a former national football captain and administrator also took to the Sunday Times columns to make another earnest plea. He asked the painful question, is our football a second class citizen. KornerKick has over the last ten months or so repeatedly made the point that elected officials don’t always ensure the integrity of a sport.
Numerous representations made to the former sports minister fell on deaf ears and the caravan that was assembled at the last football elections meanders on its aimless journey. Patchwork organisation and a serious lack of administrative capacity has derailed Sri Lanka Football and left it in the hands of a pitiful group of football merchants whose main agenda is to live off the sport. No small wonder it is rumored that a former football big chief summoned some members of the Ex Co to a city hotel to discuss the fate of our national team preparing for the SAFF tournament. If that is the level of bankruptcy in
Football House, then even second class would be a luxury that will have to be endured!
One does not know about the new sports minister’s sports prowess but there is no doubt that he will bring a no-nonsense approach to sports management as demonstrated by the recent sacking of the director general. Even if it appears to be unfair, tough action is required to underline the need that sports organisation needs to be revamped. The quality of administrators at the ministry of sports requires a major overhaul and the secretary must be charged with that task. No half measures! This column has repeatedly called for an accountable desk for every approved sport. It shall be incumbent on that Officer to keep the ADG/DG and the secretary, fully informed of the state of a particular sport. These reports should be based on approved master plans and budgets and explanations called for major deviations as done in good management models. For better transparency, a MOS website can monitor the progress quarterly so that the public are abreast of their particular sport. Instead, we have a murky idea of what transpires and all hell breaks loose when a national team returns to the island thoroughly beaten with below par performances.
Football must accept the ultimate anti-accolade in this instance for the simple reason that it is backed heavily by the foremost sport organisation in the world. With the backing of FIFA & AFC, there is very little that one cannot do, but successive administrations have taken football to the cleaners and amassed wealth of their own. FIFA & AFC too have played the political card in maintaining allegiance for selfish reasons, than critically weighing the outcomes of their investments. As often stated, the equality of the Sri Lankan vote with that of any premier football nation such as Germany or Brazil means that Sri Lanka carries as much weight at an international election, even though it languishes in the FIFA ranking at # 200. As a result, serious setbacks like the heist of Rs.25m from within the portals of Football House itself, drags on without any resolution!
A matter of grave amusement is the club registration process that has been imposed by AFC. No doubt this is an excellent attempt to develop football standards but the abject impracticality begs for an iota of wisdom in its implementation. While one may concede that the intentions of AFC are laudable, the towkays in KL should know only too well that not even our national team possesses these credentials, let alone the Premier Clubs!
Please consider the demands of a recent communiqué from FFSL to its premier clubs! FFSL is requesting the Clubs to submit: 1) Annual Budget; 2) Ownership Declaration; 3) Player Agreements; 4) Player Medical Reports; 5) Medical Declaration; 6) Credential Documentation; 7) Youth Team
Apparently, some clubs have already complied and uploaded the information. Now that will surpass a Houdini act that even the great Maradona would not execute in his heyday! So who is fooling whom?
This is where the integrity of the sport must surface and come true if it is to succeed. This is also where the MOS & FIFA/AFC must work in tandem to address the real issues before it applies an international template to a struggling MA such as Sri Lanka. Second class is OK but we will have no class, if we continue to fool ourselves!