Youth Football faces extinction by official Indifference, Infighting!
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Coaching programmes happen around the country, but do they serve the real purpose?
Every Football pundit will tell you that the future of the sport lies with the Youth. And there it ends! With a lot of hot air and little else influencing what all those in the sport know is a veritable death trap,Youth Football is compounded by the indifference and infighting of officials from the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association (SLSFA) and the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), as well as the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Sports (MoS).
To cut to the quick, let us examine some recent results in the Under (U)-15, U-16 and U-19 Age Category Competitions in the Asian Region. The writing is on the wall, with egg on the face and not much else to show.
Our National Youth Teams are often invited to participate and make up the numbers so as to keep their hosts happy and contented. But in that process Sri Lanka faces instant exposure and underlines the sad story that our Football Administration is at an abysmal stage of its existence; something that has been in the making over the last few years under different leaderships.
It is very clear to sports enthusiasts and practitioners that Youth Sports including Football rests solely with the Schools; unlike in developed nations that boasts of youth academies. Thus the Schools Associations and the Parent Bodies, the National Associations with International Affiliations, have a symbiotic relationship in fostering and nurturing the sport. To that equation enters the two Ministries, MoE & MoS. If these potentates don’t work in harmony or at least cooperate at a national level, the sport is bound to suffer, something that is manifest in Football no matter how hunky dory everything appears to be made to look in the media.
As it stands now, the SLSFA and the FFSL both run competitions for youth that go on and on, without clarity or seasonality, rolling over from year to year, barely meeting basic standards. One exception is the SAMAPOSHA tournament driven by a sponsor who, by sheer determination, has been able to bring the SLSFA and FFSL to work together. The annual SLSFA tournaments run under the aegis of the MoE is a pure waste of time. What must be done, and some efforts have been made, is that the U-13, U-15, U-17 & U-19 tournaments are all played in a set period of say 6 months, taking into account exams and other educational priorities. Into that framework must be factored the responsibilities of the two entities, SLSFA and FFSL, with an apex committee driving the process from start to finish. The FFSL must clearly provide the technical inputs and pursue a clear cut agreement that both the Schools and Youth National Teams for these Age Groups are derived from these tournaments. It will be also possible to create National Academies from this super-structure, if the parties concerned can put their differences aside and work together. This is where the two Ministers (MoE & MoS) who both hail from the Kurunegala District, must create and sustain.
Some will hasten to suggest this is a pipe dream, especially in a scenario where funds are hard to come by! Quite the opposite is true. Most sponsors support well organised activities. They want to see that the funds provided go to advance the sport and bring a positive rub-off on the company and its brands. Milo, Eveready, CEAT and Kotmale, at different times, brought that commitment to Football, but withdrew when they realised the FFSL and its affiliate SLSFA were not playing ball. The latter was a part of the most lucrative sponsorship ever brought to Football, but the FFSL fell by the wayside and betrayed the trust placed in them. The SLSFA and its omnipotent parent, the MOE, never realised the full benefit of what was on offer, and failed to deliver.
So, how does Youth Football march on, on its last legs so to speak! Fortunately, a few diehard Football icons still believe the sport they love must be kept alive. The Saunders SC youth programme is in the forefront of this effort, with National Coach Sumith Walpola conducting it more as an act of love than anything else. Jaffna still remains a last post for the game. There are a few others making sporadic efforts and ad-hoc events. But what is lacking is a cohesive force that drives Youth Football; the FFSL Youth Programme Committee only a faded nameplate.
Inevitably, the youth are moving to other disciplines; sports that will give them a place in the sun and hopefully, a purse when it matters. Those others simply enjoy the lure of the game and share its beauty while they can. For the FFSL mandarins, riding camels in the dessert and wasting funds that come their way, also happens to be part of the game.
Next Kornerkick on Dec.3 will zoom in on Football Marketing!