We spoke of decadence in sports, did not think NOC would take the lead!
The Sunday Times last week pondered about the decadence that pervades sport and the moral high ground that the Minister of Sports (MoS) was championing, though not with the finesse it requires. However, even before the print had dried, we learnt last week, that a probe was underway by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Committee, about a possible tryst that our own National Olympic Committee (NOC) Secretary General was supposed to have had with a banned IOC official, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, in a Bangkok hotel.
Our reputation in sports has taken a beating with International Cricket Council (ICC), World Rugby (WR) and FIFA, football’s global body, all putting us under the sword in recent times. Locally, too we have had to take several sports associations to task for misdemeanors and outright skullduggery, with the Sports Minister having his hands full and dirty, taking an inordinate amount of flak for sins committed by those in positions of responsibility. We will concede that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. So hold your breath until IOC makes its findings known.
Several years ago, we had an high profile ban issued by FIFA on Sri Lanka’s football supremo Manilal Fernando, who served on that prestigious Executive Committee, but was found wanting by its Ethics Committee for his role and cavort with the then powerful FIFA Vice President Bin Hamman. The grandmaster Joseph Sepp Blatter himself was later thrown out by FIFA. So, for all purposes, these unethical shenanigans are not the preserve of our sports mandarins; thy happen everywhere, one might say.
But to cut to the chase, we need to reject these pantomimes in our paradise island. Enough is enough, it must be said, in a land that is rampant with corruption in all sectors. The world is watching us and whatever advances we make are being judiciously examined by people who remain suspicious of our intentions. In this latest romp, NOC President Suresh Subramaniam was also at hand in the environs of the Bangkok hotel, but feigns ignorance of what was going on. He is a well-regarded but is prone to see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, which is a simple expression of self-denial. Earlier this year, the Minister of Sports enquired from him about at an event held in Maharagama, as to why NOC notably interfered in the rugby bans imposed on Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR). Without batting an eyelid, he merely denied any knowledge, as if that NOC action was purely a prerogative of the venerable Secretary General, Maxwell de Silva.
The Sports Act must be brought to bear on this latest escapade by the NOC Secretary General. At a minimum he must withdraw or be suspended by the MoS, until the IOC enquiry is completed and the gentleman is exonerated. This kind of subterfuge by high officials has a direct bearing on the legitimacy of the local organisation and the many affiliates and sportsmen and sportswomen who are a part of the system. NOC President Subramaniam must demand that his Secretary General takes leave of absence in order to separate the organisation from the individual. The Asian Games is upon us and a clear line of reporting to people of integrity is important, if Sri Lanka’s reputational damage is to be contained.
In the long term, the role of NOC in the context of the local Sports Law needs to be re-examined. We have all respected the principle that Sports Organisations must be independent of government oversight and interference. We have also promoted the idea that the MoS and NOC must work as one entity to reduce the ambivalence of political pussyfooting, but what is obvious given this latest ‘nadagama’ (drama) is that the NOC must self-regulate in order to establish the credibility it sorely deserves. How can it oversee the work of Olympism and its influence on National Sports Associations, if its house is not in order?
It recently concluded what it vaingloriously calls its Strategic Plan. The Secretary General brought his own Major General to that task, though for the public consumption, the octogenarian had severally expressed retirement at its many forums. Is that a declaration of bankruptcy? Does the Strategic Plan dwell on succession planning in an avowed manner, is anybody’s guess. Time to move on is what a reputed sports analyst mildly asserted when confronted with this sad story. The stable needs a major overhaul, or decadence will persist and ruin what has been achieved.