Is our National Sports trapped in murky waters of politics?
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SLC was 'the' godsent savious to Ministry of Sports and the CWG 2022 contigent with their thumping financial contributions, but suddenly a fallout, caused by reasons better known to those involved, the cricket board is in the bad books of the country's highest sports echelon
A recent column in a popular daily newspaper speaks of the Sri Lanka Paradox. As a country long admired in South Asia for its progressive social and economic indicators, recent trends have all but nullified its pretense of good governance. The need for accountability of public office thus rears its ugly head, and national sports is no exception.
While, no paucity of talent is evident in every square mile compared to its neighbours, the shameful exploitation of sports by successive administrations leaves one bedraggled and downbeat, when a serious assessment of what ails our sports is made!
Right now as we ponder, there is a cabinet in the making with all the attendant horse trading one can conjure. So, one is asked to hold your breath until the new titans are announced. No sooner you attempt a sigh, will follow a retinue of state conjurors. The cavalcade of district officials will follow and in tandem, another changing of the guard will come to pass. For a small isle with a galaxy of god given attributes, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean has undergone bouts of painful lapidary that has resulted in gross disfigurement of this nation.
The incumbent Minister of Sports (MoS), the charming personality he is, took office with not so much as a tom-tom beat as the new government struggled to put its stamp on running the country. Impressively, he skipped the natural compulsion to buzz off to the Commonwealth Games (CWG).
Instead, he spun around and appointed a fresh National Sports Council (NSC) and appointed as its chief, no less a personage than our boy wonder who brought us the glory of the ICC Cricket World Cup. No longer a boy, the now rotund former minister returned from hibernation to assist the MoS as he claimed, reconfigure our sports firmament. As a first step of course, he went to bat for cricket, claiming that the mandarins of SLC had surreptitiously relocated the tournament in the Emirates for their own benefit.
Not for a moment did the MoS stop to think it over and understand that an event of this nature has multiple commercial considerations, but was quick to join his erstwhile Chairman in casting wild aspersions that has attracted a lawsuit. SLC for all its machinations, run a tight well-ordered organisation that has undertaken a series of sports and social responsibilities. On top of that it has produced a string of resurgent red and white ball teams that hold its own on the international stage. If nothing else, it offers Sri Lankans, something to cheer about in these despondent times. So, why should the hero of yesteryear get a toothache for nothing, except to sport a vindictive square cut at a National Federation (NF) that is minding its business quite well.
This onslaught on SLC comes after the fiasco a few months ago, when the crown prince during his tenure as MoS, locked horns with Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) and all but appointed an interim administration for rugby. Our lads, it must be said, played their hearts out in Birmingham, but we all know that rugby at this level is not for the faint-hearted and we have miles to go before we come to terms with that class of competition.
What the MoS must focus on is that kind of challenge, not create unwanted rucks for a sport striving to get its act together. While the SLR is still scrumming down to sort out its affairs, the MoS appoints a legal luminary in sports legislation, who happens to be also the counsel for SLR; surely a conflict of interest, if there is one!
Meanwhile, the FFSL is gyrating at a pace that defies comprehension. The Ministry of Sports it is known, has made several reminders that the AGM must be held before August 31. It seems that the Football Chief is dismissive of such regulations much to the chagrin of the football community. Representations made to ministry big wigs have gone a begging so far, as it has happened before too!
Breaking News reports suggest that tickets to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar have been bought on FFSL funds for the powers that be. History is repeating itself, as the blessed trinity of former Presidents battling the lone ranger at Football House, wrote this script years ago! Amazingly, the media is abuzz that the FIFA President backs our man in the goal mouth and those following this tenuous gamesmanship point out that in an election year, all moves are possible. What is necessary is that the MoS and FIFA lock horns to establish a Normalisation Committee to revamp the sport, introduce the new constitution and regenerate a fresh administration.
These are only some examples of what rankles our sports. It is learnt that there are over 60 sports disciplines that the MoS must contend with. What the Minister and his team must focus on, is how best our National Sports should be managed. A cursory walk around the ministry edifice will reveal the labyrinth of foxholes contained in the renovated offices at Reid Avenue; the paper work alone overwhelms you!
With monotonous regularity, the MoS summons the NFs to the Duncan White auditorium and regales you with grandiose schemes but such illusions have passed its used before date. What is desired or promised rarely happens, and eventually one reverts to the recurrent dead-end of form filling and back room antics. When needed, a witch hunt is initiated by the masters, as it happens time and again before a semblance of sanity prevails. It is hoped that the ministry secretary, a seasoned sportsman, will be allowed to pedal his wares!
News front pages these days are full of debt-restructure in this land of ours. While we are at it, perhaps it is time to undertake a sports-restructure too. Sports must not be sullied in the murky waters of politics. Like oil and water, they do not mix!