Football Administration mired in incompetence and lacks vision!
The elected FFSL Executive Committee members, probably the only time they stood in unison after being elected in July
In our last feature we addressed the FFSL Constitution and the adverse effect it has on the sport. What adds insult to injury is when, on top of a delinquent and unstable foundation, you have an incompetent administrative framework that cannot differentiate a job from a jaunt. In fact, it is not surprising that a ST headline reported that,Sri Lanka’s Football coffers risk running dry!
Let us examine the fundamental reasons for such a debacle. It is in the structure of International Football that FIFA (and by extension AFC), works via the national associations to manage Football affairs on a global scale. In turn, it takes care of its Member Associations (MA) by annual grants linked to mandatory requirements in the conduct of local Football. In this international vortex, every nation enjoys equal privilege, irrespective of its stature. Therefore, top international MA’s like Germany have one vote as does Sri Lanka, even though it languishes at the bottom of world rankings.
For Sri Lanka, it can be argued that this single vote remains the bane of its existence. We even produced a FIFA ExCo member, while the sport slumped from early 2000. With the advent of a Management Committee came a world of fantasy, where handouts from FIFA and AFC passed down to a whole slew of hangers-on, maintained a pretense of ‘business as usual’. Pomp and pageantry on a scale that matched big international Football fanfare were organised and the Sri Lankan Footballer made to believe that we were on our way to the next World Cup. What else can one imagine, when the FIFA President was ushered into the Colombo Hilton on a baby elephant and, in recent times, given a reception at another 5-Star that would have made even the German FA cringe!
As such funds are available, the need to generate own funds and introduce a professional management system takes a back seat. The administration emerges from an electoral process and top of the annual agenda of successive ExCo’s have been the lottery of foreign travel. Who goes when and where is dictated by powers that be and FIFA-AFC playing free flowing Football, appoints local nominees to international committees. One recent FFSL appointee to the AFC Media Committee is a classic example of misplaced allegiance.
The ExCo that is elected to office must prepare a budget that mirrors precisely what it is planning to achieve; the Vision-Mission ethos! So, if you are ranked 190, it would be foolhardy to aspire even for Asian honours at this stage. What would be realistic is to focus on South Asia and attempt to make our mark there. Instead, what we see is a relentless mismatch between Vision and Budget! Such an approach will of course diminish the glamour of international travel; KL and around the world via Zurich! Tied to the FIFA-AFC programme, the FFSL follows. The result is a performance totally out of sync with our reality.
For many years, every successive administration produced a cut and paste deficit budget and fancy annual programme that, after its presentation to bedazzled delegates, never gets off the drawing boards. The year normally unfolds with the Annual Competitions and the National Team Commitments that qualify the MA to remain in FIFA-AFC. The League and Knock-out competitions are the bedrock of the National Football Calendar. Thankfully, this year too, the DCL has taken off, even if late in the day, and will soon follow the FA Cup, whose sponsor of the last few years is no more! DCL is the premier national competition drawn from the top clubs in Sri Lanka. It is from this competition that National Players emerge. Grateful though Football and the public must be to Dialog, for continuing this longstanding sponsorship, it is a fact the FFSL has to subsidise the event with funds from the FIFA-AFC melting pot, where else! As a result, teams cannot be paid and the standard of this premier event from a pure Football standpoint remains stagnant. The show goes on and one must sympathise with FFSL in this valiant effort.
From a diehard administrative perspective, other depts of the FFSL hardly get a move on. While a semblance of professional management has been attempted, the brunt of the work lies with the various standing committees and its Chairmen. The more important ones are Finance, Technical, Competitions, International, Regional Development, Marketing, Media, Women’s, Youth and other aspects including Player Status, Medical and Legal. All are run presumably by ExCo members in an honorary capacity, though some are buttressed by FFSL Directors, for the more high profile depts. It must be acknowledged that competencies in all these depts are sadly lacking. These so called depts, report to the ExCo and Council, but the process is superficial and conducted with poor results. Recent records of our National Teams tell the story of Sri Lanka going from bad to worse; a collective incompetence, one Football wag called it. A visit to Football House which is still the jewel in the crown, underlines the state of the game, with its façade of despair and neglect very evident nowadays!
Of special note was the role of the CEO supplanted in 2002. The position became an institution in itself, with a disastrous backlash that undermined the traditional positions of President and Secretary. Cleverly, the present administration has not filled that pivotal role and for good reason too. In this context, the aborted FIFA Performance Programme was the most significant initiative taken to correct the anomalies of Sri Lanka Football, but it was not destined to see the light of day. So the caravan moves on and a beleaguered FFSL is down on its knees, pleading for the annual grants, while the funds spirited away remain elusive. A report that a FIFA-AFC team is due soon in this grim period, is merciful, but to who they speak will make a difference.