Sport, the great equaliser that none can beat
View(s):However, good you may appear to be, there comes a time where even the best must bow out gracefully. Not so in this case, where grand larceny has been the order of the day, as the NOC President himself knows very well. For long, one wondered why the President tolerated such deceit, but it is all too obvious that a mafia ruled the NOC to the degree that the President felt insecure in his own capacity.
The new Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage and his Deputy Sugath Thilakaratne, have a huge challenge to muster
However, with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) putting its foot down hard and the local Ethics Committee prevailing in its disclosures, the die was cast and the Machiavellian team has had to go. Of course the dilemma is now in court, as is often the case.
While the NOC comprising of delegates of National Sports Associations (NSAs) must carry the brunt of this debacle, it may be appropriate for the NOC to also take a look internally among its staff cadres. It is common knowledge that one prominent staff member who is facing litigation remains on active duty, as if there was nothing amiss, while the doyen of its management programmes who worked hand in glove with the General Secretary, continues in office regardless of the subterfuge that prevailed.
The principles that are imprinted in the Olympic Charter have been grossly violated with the prime consideration of staying in office, come what may. We are told that you must practice what you preach, but succession planning is not applicable to the preacher and thus the caravan moves on. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its subsidiary bodies offer many scholarships and grants each year, but more often than not, it is the NOC staff members and their henchman who are beneficiaries, deftly leaving out many deserving candidates.
In this context, it is pleasing to read that the IOC and OCA have made it crystal clear that good governance and transparency shall be the watchwords of the future. President Suresh Subramaniam is on record that he will leave no stone unturned to oversee that the NOC turns the corner and takes its rightful place in sports management and development in this country. He must in fact work closely with the Minister of Sports (MoS) to ring in a new paradigm of change for the better. With the MoS signaling that a renewed Sports Act is on the cards, the time is right for these two premier sports institutions to collaborate as we have often suggested.
The National Sports Council (NSC) must also play a leading role, for in its ranks are very knowledgeable and influential personages. Previous bodies have all but failed, since they were largely advisory. Some ministers of the past have thought that they must open the innings or kickoff themselves, when they did not merit even a place on the bench. Therefore, sanity and good sense must prevail when such matters that have a long term impact are debated and deliberated for the benefit of sportspersons.
Any decent administrator will tell you that it is the athlete that must receive pride of place in all our endeavours. It is their sweat and toil that are the hallmarks of what champions and made of. No amount of skullduggery in the inner sanctums of sports bodies, can redeem that inane value of the dedicated athlete.
National Sports Associations (the so called Federations) must come under close and constant examination. From top down, starting with the NOC, terms of office must be regulated and compulsory succession brought to bear on the organisations. This must be a culture that all must adopt in sports systems throughout the country, so that the best people are given an opportunity to participate and contribute.
In the NOC itself, each year many excellent candidates pass out as Advanced Level Sports Administrators in programmes conducted under IOC mandates. But hardly any of them are engaged in the federations, the NOC or the MoS or the NSC. Thus the upheaval at NOC may still produce a silver lining across the sports firmament and bring about the inclusivity that helps equalise sport and its very performance.