Football: FFSL's friendly internationals to kick-start the game's resurgence

The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) plans to give the National team at least 10 international fixtures, mostly friendly games, before December 2017, to boost its rankings and take the game forward, according to Chairman- FFSL Media & Finance Committee, Ranjith Rodrigo. 

Last Sunday (9), Sri Lanka lost 0-4 to Cambodia, its 128th loss in its 201st international. 

Having won just 42 international games to date, Sri Lanka is currently placed 193 in the FIFA Rankings and 213 in the ELO Rankings. 

Rodrigo said the way forward for Sri Lanka is only by playing internationals, at least friendly games, to help the current breed of players change their playing mode from domestic to international by giving them more exposure. 

"It's not an easy task to perform on the field as many may believe, predict or assess. We know that our players haven't played any internationals since January 15 this year, but then, we have to kick-start from somewhere and make sure we progress from there. Anyone can criticise Sri Lanka's performance against Cambodia but, the players didn't do that bad. It's all about changing their style. They have been playing a lot of domestic Football, hence playing against an international side after 10 months is very different. If we progress by playing at least one international a month, then we will begin to challenge and start winning," Rodrigo stated.
 
In 2015, Sri Lanka played 7 games and won only against Nepal by 1-0, on December 23 in the SAFF Championship. 

Prior to that, Sri Lanka played against Malaysia on January 29 and Bangladesh on February 2, and lost 0-2 and 0-1 respectively. 

On March 12 and 17 in a home and away series against Bhutan in the 2018 World Cup Qualifier Round 1, Sri Lanka lost 0-1 and 1-2. 

Again in the SAFF Championship, the Lankans lost to India 0-2 and Afghanistan 0-5. 

Starting off this year on January 8, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka 4-2, and 5 days later lost to Nepal 1-0. 

Sri Lanka's only win this year was against Felda United Malaysia by 2-1 on January 15.

Since then, until October 9, the Sri Lankans had a drought of international games. 

Sri Lanka's forthcoming official international assignment will be at the Solidarity Cup in Malaysia in November, where they are drawn to play against Laos, Mongolia and Macau. 

The planned 10 games will continue from there. 

"If you look at Sri Lanka's Cricket history before gaining Test status, we hardly had any international games. Even if there were, the results were not great. But during the era of gaining Test status and afterwards, things started to change gradually. Now Sri Lanka is a force to be reckoned with in world Cricket. The status of Sri Lanka Football cannot be changed just like that but, if we move on by playing regularly against other nations, we will start to show progress," Rodrigo added. 

Some of the key areas where Football lags, compared with other lucrative sports such as Cricket and Rugby, according to Rodrigo, is the lack of a proper venue to host international games. 

While Cricket and Rugby enjoy the privilege of hosting any international game or series at any given time, Football does not have a proper location, at least a common venue. 

"Until recently, it was the Sugathadasa Stadium, but now, it's not in proper condition to host any event. Even the Racecourse ground, though they call it a venue of international standard, it is nowhere near FIFA requirements, when it comes to security and seating. We have other venues not owned by the FFSL, but we renovate them through long term lease plans, just like repairing a rented house which never comes under our authority. We have made many requests and appeals to relevant authorities, but to no avail," Rodrigo lamented. 

Some other reasons Rodrigo pointed out that hinders Football in Sri Lanka is the lacklustre contribution from schools, the school Football section, the unwillingness of certain former players and officials and monopoly and sabotage by some parties with vested interests. 

"If you seriously observe the gap between school and club standard from an administrator's point of view, it's a serious matter that needs to be addressed urgently. It does not affect only Football, it haunts all sports in this country, be it Cricket, Rugby, Athletics et al. The Ministries of Sports and Education must sit together with the parent body and clear things out. After all, the school sections are affiliates of the main body. It's because a handful of schools with other agendas that keep creating unending troubles and confusion. If the higher officials take stern measures to curb all shortcomings, confusions and misunderstandings, Sri Lanka as a nation will be the ultimate winner," he emphasised, while further elaborating on the behaviour of certain former players and officials. 

As he revealed, the FFSL is yet to receive its annual grant from FIFA due to a legal snag, which withheld obtaining the approved Accounts report from the Auditor General. 

Finally, the FFSL managed to overcome the situation and send the Accounts report to FIFA, to reach them in March. 

Moreover, by 2013, Sri Lanka was not in the good books of FIFA, AFC and a majority of countries from the Asian region, namely Japan, Korea, Thailand, India and Qatar. 

Rodrigo said the situation has changed now. 

The same scenario was affecting the domestic tournaments then, with private firms not coming forward to sponsor the game, resulting in a sudden stoppage of premier tournaments conducted by the FFSL. 

"In recent years, and even today, the day-to-day operations of the FFSL are hampered by activities carried out by certain individuals. The FFSL had a number of legal battles, which is now down to below 5. It's an activity initiated by a certain section of Sri Lanka Football, to spoil the tenures of those who came to power after 2013. I am dealing with two legal battles, both claiming billions of rupees as damages from me, mainly because I'm the FFSL President, changing its administrative structure and getting rid of corruption. Until 2013, the FFSL President and Secretary had no places to sit and work or, host anyone officially, because the whole thing was controlled by one or two individuals. But I changed the entire set up, brought democracy and gave everyone an equal opportunity to contribute to the game. We are grateful to companies like Cargills and Dialog." 

With many impediments around them, Rodrigo, who runs an Accountancy firm, used his personal contacts and abilities to keep the game afloat and, at times, by doling out on competitions and programmes. 

Appeals to most of the former players to help Junior and Youth development projects, have gone unresponsive. 

Eventually, he had to intervene and organise a tournament among Leagues for 2 Junior categories, in which 64 out of 74 Leagues took part. 

Rodrigo offered Rs 50,000 to each League to conduct the tournament, where some have completed while others are ongoing. 

After 2013, the FFSL under Rodrigo initiated the now successful Kotmale Chox Under-19, to attract more schools, mainly the elite who are not serious about Football. 

He stressed the show must go on, despite the never-ending rifts in Football. 

"There are certain former players who claim to be top-level players, but are failures when it comes to administration and coaching. People have abilities and capacities at different levels, and they must understand their own value. But, what most of them do is criticise the FFSL's initiatives, just because they have to criticise. They do not come out with a productive or workable action plan. When they are given opportunities, most of them prefer a ceremonial appointment with all perks. Finally, when it's proven they do not fit the system, they back-stab. It's fine to criticise constructively, for the FFSL to correct its mistakes, the game to progress or, to help the development of youth. But it's clear they have other agendas. We understand it all very well and our intention is to contribute to the game when we are able," Rodrigo stated. 

Surrounded by dark clouds, without proper shelter within reach and with invisible hands disrupting, Football still stagnates at the point it has been for decades. 

What the FFSL, headed by Anura de Silva, must be anticipating is at least a silver lining in the darkness, so they could break free and look ahead to bigger and better openings. 

The arrangement of friendly internationals for Sri Lanka, even if they lose them all, is one such initiative.