Football: We have COPE, but scope and hope
View(s):With the parliamentary COPE committee revealing a few disturbing vibes about the state of affairs of Lankan Football, the Sunday Times inquired from a few insiders about the situation at hand.
Sunil Senaweera
(Secretary Gampola Football League and Former International Match Commissioner)
“The game of football in Sri Lanka has deteriorated day by day. Though present officials say, they will not commit the same mistakes made by previous officials in the administration, it has been observed they keep repeating the same mistakes. It is alleged that during the time of Manilal Fernando, they formed a pseudo Football Management Committee just to hold on to power and relegated the real FFSL to the level of mere puppets. Now the same situation looks to be repeated, in a different manner. Now within the FFSL, there are others who cling on to power while the real heads are mere puppets. Presently the game of football in Sri Lanka runs according to the whims and fancies of Ranjith Rodrigo. Rodrigo is presently the Chairman of three main sub committees — finance, media and international relations. According to the Sports Law any person can hold the Chairmanship in two sub committees positions — not three. In the game of football, the number one place is for the player. And then number two is coach and three is referee.
But presently the rulers of this country has given the first place to the football officials in turn expecting them to do favours. They have not put any attention to the players, coaches and referees respectively. Today the present administration has no obstacles to proceed with their work. Their hands are not tied and they can operate freely. But we cannot see any football development plan at all. Recently the FFSL appointed a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with a hefty salary. In the past FFSL mentioned this is an unwanted expense, but now they follow the same path to appoint their kith and kin. Also FFSL appointed a person for the post of Media and Marketing Director. His monthly salary is Rupees One and half lakhs. So far the appointed Media and Marketing Director has not brought any sponsors.
Also his handling of media is totally unacceptable and not professional. To all the officials like this, their salaries are paid by the FIFA and AFC. Though FIFA and AFC pump millions of US dollars to develop local football clubs here, the money is not properly utilized at all. The best example that can be highlighted is, in the division I tournament, three clubs withdrew due to cash strapped situation. The sorry state of our football can be assessed, when we are presently ranked 193 out of 205 football playing countries according to latest FIFA rankings as at August 11th this year. Last year we were no better when ranked 194th, the lowest in our football history. But 18-years back Sri Lankan football standards was higher when we were ranked 122nd by FIFA. In the South Asian region Afghanistan is ranked 150th, India 152nd, Maldives 174th, Bangladesh 183nd, Nepal 188th, Bhutan 192nd and Pakistan 194th.”
Ranjith Rodrigo
(Former President, Football Federation of Sri Lanka 2013-2014 and Media, Financial and International Affairs Sub Committee Chairman)
“Yes.we faced the COPE sub committee. We went to face the issues such as financial irregularities committed not in my tenure or the present administration. These irregularities were done before the 2013 period. We replied to the COPE sub committee in a successful manner. When the COPE sub committee report come up then we can see who are the wrong doers. The complaints that received to the COPE sub committee was pertaining to the irregularities in years 2002-2012. The people who are responsible for this situation are Bodhi Liyanage, Thilina Panditharatne , Gamini Randeniya, Hurley Silveira and Sarath Weerasekera. They were then Presidents of FFSL during that period. Myself and Anura Silva got elected as Presidents after 2012. We specifically explained to the COPE sub committee that we are not responsible for the irregularities.
We further explained them that there are more financial irregularities such as misappropriation of Tsunami, FIFA and AFC funds. These funds have been transacted to personal saving accounts. We requested from the COPE sub committee to inquire on these matters as well. The COPE sub committee also inquired from us on our short term and long term program’s. And also how FIFA and AFC funds are utilized to develop the game of football. And also our plans to develop school football and the progress of local football. On the post of CEO at FFSL. Anura Silva was the previous CEO. Once he became the President , that responsibilities was handed down to the Secretary. But due to Secretary failing with his duties we decided to create that post again. Hence we decided to appoint assistant secretary administration as the new CEO.
According to the constitution of FFSL, any person can become the chairman of two sub committees. I was the chairman of three sub committees mainly due to act in a efficient manner. There are 14 subcommittees in the FFSL. But out of it only four subcommittees- media, financial international affairs and competition act in a very efficient manner. The other 10 subcommittees are basically inefficient. The mere reason is members facing traveling issues as they are based in the outstation. We cannot give traveling expenses to them. We have done a tremendous service to Sri Lankan football. Our main goal is to be the number one football team in South Asia by 2022. During my administration and present administration led by Anura Silva, there are no financial irregularities. We will never follow the footsteps of our predecessors.”
Anura de Silva
(President, Football Federation of Sri Lanka)
“The COPE committee, called upon the management of FFSL as we are the present administrators. On the complaint made to the COPE on financial irregularities and many other wrong doings, it applies to our predecessors who were the administrators of the game from years 2002-2012 and they have to take the total responsibility. We are not responsible and there are no charges against us on financial irregularities. The money we receive from FIFA and AFC carefully managed by us. To develop the game of football fully in Sri Lanka, we need Rupees 300 million annually. But we only receive a sum of Rupees 110 million only from FIFA and AFC. The remaining money we have to find from the local sponsors. Presently we have informed our principal sponsors Cargills on this matter and to give their support to future development projects as well. Unlike other nations we never get full government backing for football.
In the recent South Asian Games (SAG) in India, we received Rupees 5-6 million and we spent it maintain the SAG football pool. The COPE committee questioned us on development of school football. We pointed out that we cannot directly get involved but need the backing of Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Education respectively. But we submitted our plans to the COPE on future projects to develop local football. We have a six year plan to uplift the game to the next level. We expect in year 2022 to become as the South Asian football champions and to maintain the number one position. Though we are ranked 193 in FIFA, the other South Asian countries too have dropped their rankings in the last 20 years. Take India who were ranked 100 in year 1993 is dropped to 152 this year. Also we were ranked 126 in 1997, but unfortunately we are dropped down to 193. Though India took giant strides in football in the recent past was mainly due to Government support. But in our case it was totally the opposite. The financial irregularities occurred not during our times but during the time of our predecessors. But in audit reports these financial irregularities continuously accumulates.”
Rohitha Fernando
(President, Wennappuwa Football League and former Technical Committee Chairman, FFSL)
” The Football in Sri Lanka is zero. After the new management took office at FFSL, 16 foot- ball clubs were shut down. They seem to be taking decisions with the intention of not developing the game– there is no quality. There is an incident when two clubs — Don Bosco and Saunders committed the same offence, the two clubs received two different interpretations of the law. There is no welfare plan for former and present national players. The best example is E.B. Channa, the former national captain.
He has no proper job. To make a living he work as a laborer at the Dadella cemetery in Galle. The present management accused their predecessors, who were heading the FFSL before 2012 for financial irregularities and many other wrong doings. But now it is very sad to see present set of management committing the same wrong doings. What they do is making foreign trips. To find out the irregularities of the present management, one COPE committee is not sufficient, it may need ten”.