Open letter on soccer to the minister
View(s):My letter published in the Sunday Times Readers Forum of the 12 October 2014 has captured the attention of many football enthusiasts who called me to say how much they regret the state of affairs in Football in Sri Lanka. While the local authorities are continuing to be blind on the occurrences, what is much more regrettable is that FIFA unwittingly or perhaps knowingly, are fuelling this unbridled autocratic regime which to put it mildly, is a one man show backed by a few opportunistic lackeys.
Some of the present issues that caught my attention demands action to put the house in order for the sake of the country by both the Ministry of Sports and FIFA.
The Sunday Times has decided to dedicate this column to its readers so that they can comment about contents in our sports columns and features and also write their own thoughts on various sports with letters to the editor.Their views however are not necessarily those of the newspaper.
At present most decisions are pushed through at joint meetings with the Council. A expressway drawn for the convenience of the hierarchy. This is technically a flawed process leaving room for gross abuse and misadministration. The Council is coerced by irresponsible funding and foreign jaunts under the pretext of football education and development. We all know that most Clubs and Leagues in Sri Lanka do not even have a ground or club house to call their own. Still some of the leagues play football on paper than in the ground.
The Ex-Co, Finance, Marketing, Technical and Youth Committees hardly meet. We hear that the Finance Committee headed by a former respected banker is directed to at every turn, so much so that most proceedings and decisions are manipulated and pushed through on the whims of the boss. The Marketing Committee lead by a top marketing personality has been severely compromised and Cargills the main sponsor is exploited without a proper meaningful development plan. The Technical Committee and Youth Committees do not function; here again its duties are also dictated by the President.
It has become a common knowledge that the Secretary General has no say in many of the matters at the football house and the VP’s without exception have been unceremoniously sidelined. One Senior VP is now blowing the whistle asking the president to play the game according to the rules. He has also openly raised valid issues for the sake of the game against the President but is totally ignored.
The Performance Program has also been hijacked by the President and decisions made without any reference to the Special Committee, the Ex Co and the Council.
The FFSL faces several legal cases and has spent around or over Rs. six million defending the charges framed in court, without seeking remedy by following the rules and resolving issues in a diplomatic manner. It is common knowledge that some of the media is amply compensated for carrying news articles and features against the opponents without any reference to the Media Committee or the Ex Co. In a democracy, one is innocent until proven guilty. Just blowing foul is unethical.
Competitions are carried out like never before in the past to showcase that everything is in order, but these competitions have no proper planning or build up designed to achieve national standards and aspirations. While a foreign National Coach is now in place, we may see in the future the poor results of that effort. Losing 3 – 1 against Seychelles is just a start.
The Football Centers are all run down and the few that are functioning are a drain on FFSL coffers with hardly any revenue generated. Now, we hear of a new center in Kandy for obvious reasons and the Pedris Park artificial turf will remain as a panacea for all the football evil that is taking place.
Constant bickering with the Sri Lanka Schools Association has killed school football. A carnival invitation tournament backed by Cargills showcased what can be done but it did not present the enormous potential of Schools Football in the provinces.
A Professional League is talked about and when it happens, there will be no prizes for guessing how the FFSL will manipulate the process through the Ex Co and the Council; exploiting poor players will be the game. Any knowledgeable person will accept that no Professional League will survive unless there is a great demand for the game. Artificial infusion is not solid long term and the brakes may be applied midway!
It is regretted that any dissidence shown by football officials is attributed to influence or machinations of the former Football boss. In the process these officials and their advice is rejected or ignored. The Constitution is violated blatantly and the support of the Ministry of Sports liberally obtained to steamroll the agenda of the incumbent while the game is further falling into the doldrums.
The FFSL President we saw on social media was an invitee to the Brazil vs Japan friendly held in Singapore recently. The all expense paid trip on the invitation of Japan FA is no surprise with FIFA elections on the cards next year. The charitable contributions that FFSL keeps receiving from other FA’s are all part of that circus. It is therefore not difficult to imagine that FIFA bounty is also an obvious endeavor to please the FFSL President and seek his vote at the forthcoming FIFA Congress in 2015.
The FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke came and went and no doubt did his job on behalf of his boss. He did not take the time to meet the Leagues and understand how Sri Lanka Football works or does not work. For instance, all the funds pumped in by FIFA for the Football Centers are based on self beneficial spurious agreements with local authorities. So would he encourage more before the FFSL sorts out the present mess? Unlikely, because FIFA has plenty of funds and what Sri Lanka gets is a drop in the ocean. Like his predecessors the incessant travels of the FFSL President needs to be documented. This is the bane of all our leaders in sport. They are more concerned with the International Stage than the affairs and performance of their own Country. Therein lays the rub but who sees and who cares? The state of Sri Lanka Football is not a concern to these people. We saw enough of that in the past too and what we see today is a replay of that classic syndrome. The current FFSL President will in time fade into the dismal history of our recent past but what the football public bemoans is the sad plight of a once popular sport in this island nation as I said earlier falling into the fire from the frying pan.
Our fervent plea to FIFA is don’t sacrifice Sri Lanka on the altar of FIFA’s grand design. We are in the doldrums with a world ranking of 175 or thereabouts. What we need is close supervision and a diligent governance policy that will ensure little room for the mandarins to leave the pitch and play games in the boardroom.
A.H.S.M. Uvais. J.P.
Former: Football
Referee/Coach/Administrator,
Secretary: Ref.Com. FFSL/SLFRA/CDFRA/COL. F.L., AFC Match Commissioner/
Referees Assessor