New Sports Regulations cometh in the night, Alleluia!
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The Sports Minister and his team may have a challenging time ahead, with the sudden changes of the country's Sports Act not serving the true purpose as many national associations argue. - File pic
There is no doubt that our sports firmament needs to be overhauled by the bootlaces given the travails in most of the premier sports organisations in the country. Some regulations are therefore worthwhile and may be well meaning, but as this government wants to do, there appears to be a tendency to impose a political will over the people, come what may.
We cannot forget how a fertiliser ban on hapless farmers boomeranged, eventually bringing down a President. So, why tamper with it if it aren’t broke is the question, unless of course you want to penalise opponents, and in the melee bring down others too.
Fundamentally, it would have behooved the Minister of Sports to consider these changes through a widespread consultative process. That would have brought to the surface the many ills pervading sports and the mind boggling maneuvers to remain in power at any cost and do nothing beneficial. The ministry has dealt with that overarching tendency, but in the process he has not hesitated to throw the baby with the bathwater.
Of course, his close advisors would have encouraged him to do what most ministers love to do; reserve for himself the right to give special approval in exceptional circumstances, a very convenient ploy to favour those to whom he would want to bestow his kindness, for reasons one may never know. There is plenty of precedents is that surreal theatre of play.
What many in sports circles are anticipating is a witch hunt against the current Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) administration. Say what you must, but SLC has a self-sufficient kitty, pays its dues, supports worthy causes and produces an healthy balance sheet, even while they enjoy the perks of office, replete with foreign jaunts and box office bounties that are the envy of the less privileged. It is no secret that one influential deity of cricket yore is eyeing the honey pot and woe unto any who gets in his way.
If this was not enough reason, the Ministry went after the Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) chief, who is battling it out in relentless scrums to stay in the game. So far, he has worked the line well enough to stay in contention and sought refuge in the high courts to win the lineout and continue to drive the pack. Football is another sordid affair which even the FIFA World Cup in Qatar did not do enough to dispel the coming contest and a bruising battle in the New Year.
The ministry was only dissuaded from appointing an Interim Administration, perhaps in order to appease FIFA and not let a ban come into play. But it must accept grave responsibility for allowing the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) to run amok and create a monster who has all but devoured the sport and taken down with him any vestige of grandeur and performance it was capable of delivering.
Many other sports are in constant struggles, beneath a placid surface. But the Ministry remains a prisoner of its own making. Its reliance on investigative committees and unending reports, never see the light of day. So, do not be surprised that the new Sports Regulations is sure to come under attack and legal action, some legitimate and some deflective, from the National Associations under the guise of being independent entities. The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC) also cannot be happy with the new regulations that are hanging like a dark cloud over them. These two premier sports legislative bodies are not in sync and whether the NOC will accept such diktat from the ministry is a no brainer.
All these bouts of frenzy does not auger well for national sports in this country. Simple direct solutions on many matters are left to fester and grow into disastrous proportions. The politicisation that creeps like a cancer, pervades our sports administration. Kissing goes by favour is the modus operandi that defines governance in our sports milieu, top down.
Thus skill, hard work and fair play takes a backseat. This column has repeatedly and it shall do so one last time this year, pleaded for a Sports Web Portal that encapsulates the annual plans of all National Associations, all 66 of them. That will take the mickey out of spurious cosmetic plans that are touted to maintain a semblance of propriety required to foster that long suffering malady; endless bandwagons, foreign jaunts and more popularly in the future, touring sports refugees.
Unregulated Season’s Greetings to all. May 2023 bring some sanity. Alleluia!