The International and Local nexus in Sports; will the twain ever meet!
View(s):Impending sacking of the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL), on the advice of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is a very timely article for this essay, even as we usher in the general elections and the advent of a new government.
The general public has one resounding aspiration; get rid of the garbage that has sullied our nation and left a stench that sweeps over the Indian Ocean to the world beyond. If an association as reputed as the NOCSL can stoop to such low levels then there is very little left for us to succour.
The ramblings of our beloved nation is quite clear and the President and his team will have a lot to account for and put right. We had, over time, forged a culture of absolute arrogance and fake-ism. From the highest in the land to the minions in the labyrinth of everyday life, bluffing our way around, has become a national skill.
The honourable men who brought a vestige of decency and elegance to our body politic have long gone to their maker or left to what is regarded as better climes. So, only the jokers remain in almost all sports bodies, matching wits with those who manipulate their way to parliament and then choose to stay there till kingdom come. It took a brash young man from Tambuttegama to rally a maligned party with a doubtful heritage, instil the cry for change and ask the sugar daddies to go away and be done once and for all.
Such a clarion call needs to also herald in our sporting arena. The cabinet must comprise a figure who is capable of a transformational change, aligned to the desperate national appeal that is blowing through our land. Enough is enough is the lament and a few indicative appointments seem to suggest that we may turn the corner. This is not to say that all is hunky-dory.
So, that the President must bring to the covenant, a no-nonsense approach that leaves no room for charlatans. Let men of merit be given a chance to bring about that change. Let it also show that there is no room for backstage theatrics that keeps unfulfilled offices and plans in place. We all know that positions in high office are a rash of season tickets to a world of fun and games; it’s normally, not the other way around.
The NOCSL is a classic example. Why the President is now panting to set the record straight, having waited so long, is a question worth asking. All in the edifices of the institution know that the incumbent Secretary General (SG) ran it like a fiefdom. The trick in the book is the treacherous ability to keep the vote bank intact over many a term. So much so, that it appears the President was helpless. Holding that office in a vice grip the SG strangled all opposition and adroitly kept alive a group of men and women under the thumb of absolute authority; no dissent was tolerated. An age old sage is conferred the dubious honour of organising and conducting all IOC and local training workshops, as if there was no other sports management expert available in this cozy corner of paradise.
What defeats good sense is how it is possible to keep the international bodies sympathetic to your cause? Simple, it is. Sri Lanka as well as the world’s mightiest nations, all have one vote in these world bodies. And so the man who brandishes the vote card, is the great conjuror. You sidle up to these masters of destiny and inveigle them in a travesty of make believe, that it is you and you only that matters in this island.
Football did that in style over two decades and continues to demonstrate the feisty footwork that keeps the big guns of FIFA nicely entwined to the nonsense at home. ICC (International Cricket Council) is not far off the tangent and WR (World Rugby) or AR (Asia Rugby) have collapsed the scrum so many times that you wonder how a line out of worthy administrators can ever emerge. All other mainstream sports have their work cut out and efforts over the years to limit the years in office has been side tracked by a merry-go-round that spins unashamedly.
Now that a Digital Governance Model appears to be the panacea for all evil, we shall resort to our perennial call for automation of Sports Management at the highest national level.
A digital storeroom that carries all mandatory sports info and annual plans and results will bring to the surface what’s going on behind the scenes. It can also show how we fair among other nations and regions, putting us in our place and showing us what we can and could aspire too. This kind of transparency will help only the most outstanding associations, teams and sportsmen and sportswomen to perform and prosper. It will also show the government and those at the Ministry of Sports as to how to employ its money and resources. It will without doubt limit the skullduggery that pervades our sports and destroys the real talent in our land.