Sri Lanka Football – Is it on its last legs?
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This column has long championed the cause of football in this country, especially after the FIFA suspension that came into effect last January 2023, a good six months ago. Since then, what we have sadly witnessed is a string of poor and deceitful passes that has all but assigned this sport to the dustbin of history.
How callous this medley of subterfuge has been is too painful to recount. We have already missed participation in the ongoing SAFF Tournament and is now destined to miss the World Cup Qualifiers that will begin shortly.
No one appears to accept responsibility for this strange quirk of fate that has befallen football. What is bandied about is the specter of corruption in the sport, as if to say that all other sports are lily white and the country at large is above such predilections.
We all know the reputation of our paradise isle in this respect and the sad state of affairs that is now highlighted by a diffident DDR (Domestic Debt Restructuring) that threatens to bring the man in the street to his knees.
If in fact, corruption is the bane of football, let the Ministry of Sports (MoS) assign the various charges to the individuals concerned and deal with that malady.
In fact, it has now a dossier that is being carted around and was supposed to be submitted to FIFA. One doubts if FIFA deals with hearsay, which is what the Kusala Sarojini Weerawardene report is all about, knowledgeable sources claim.
The Hon. Minister of Sport was supposed to visit FIFA Head Quarters in Zurich on June 26 according to news reports. The minister is supposed to have travelled to Iran to resolve issues related to the International Gymnastics Federation, before flying to Zurich according to these reports. Quite a globetrotting odyssey, jet setting to solve problems of so many sports in this country — athletics, cricket, rugby, football, gymnastics and netball — may we now add wushu. Observers tell us this is an absolute waste of time.
In the case of football, it was very clear. It had primarily to do with ‘Statues’ that FIFA wanted amended, in order to fall in line with a worldwide synchronisation. It was the MoS that messed it up, having more or less agreed with FIFA and then turning that understanding on its head. It then accommodated a transitional administration through a series of mollycoddles, before installing a President who as we are told, is detained in remand custody.
What is intriguing, is that neither the MoS nor FIFA has announced the meeting the Hon. Minister of Sports is said to have had in Zurich. Many sources are now of the view that this meeting did not take place in the first instance. Therefore, it is important that the MoS and the ‘State’ put the record straight and clear any misconceptions. FIFA should do the same, unless of course surreptitious informal meetings are underway. One football charlatan claims that he in fact orchestrated this meeting. This kind of stratagems will not take us anywhere but what is obvious is that the football administrators in our blessed isle, don’t seem to be able to come together in a sincere united manner, in order to meet all the unwarranted passes that come their way.
They have not seen it fit to convene a Special General Meeting and take the bull by the horns. Instead they are squabbling among themselves. Meanwhile, the MoS which oversees the FFSL, would have had to conduct the Annual Audit and Annual General Meeting, which would have addressed any corruption issues, if there were any. Interesting to learn, if any of those initiatives have taken place.
One football wag in a city park, popular for its football following, said quite succinctly, ‘papanduwath rate wage’ (football is similar to the country). Therein lies the trauma of football and many other sports as well. The wushu President stated that its national players are prevented from participating in an international campaign, putting it down to jealousy. That is the plight of our national sports, it appears.
His Excellency, the President, is preoccupied with critical matters of state, that it is almost embarrassing to badger him about a simpler matter for which there is an entire ministry. So, if good sense prevails, all a minister has got to do, is invite the main proponents of that sport and engage in a positive discussion, aimed at belling the cat. Dragging the dead body till kingdom come will not help and will only draw Sri Lanka into a quagmire of shame. So, many young footballers suffer, while the solution is at our doorstep. Or really, is football on its last legs?