Football – moving the goalposts!

At long last the Football Federation of Sri Lanka will go into an election to pick its new Executive Committee. This is a result of the 02+02 year limitation of office which precludes the incumbent President and many of the football veterans in the business. While the election should bring a breath of fresh air into a sport that has been long mired in controversy and abject performance, what transpires is not necessarily a change for the better.

Two renowned football national captains of the past are in the running for President fielding two opposing teams that promises to be a bruising battle for control. Not a bad development indeed with fancy manifestos, intense campaigning, multiple promises and fresh alignments, all moves that can and should bring some hope to a beleaguered sport. 

However, what in actual fact that is taking place may be far from the expectation of football enthusiasts from across the island. For behind these opposing teams are the puppet masters orchestrating an agenda that may not ring in the desired changes and rather take it from the frying pan to the fire. 

Knowledgeable football fans know that the run up to the elections has been a hard road with Football dragged across a legal quagmire and played out in court houses rather than in the dwindling football fields across the country. Every trick in the book has been resorted to with vote buying converted into a fine art. 

Football Leagues who are the vote banks for the FFSL have all been pressured to support the many candidates put forward and loyalties have changed hands in many devious ways. And so it is in this somewhat deranged way that the end game will be played out at the Sports Ministry Auditorium on Saturday.

In the meantime, there has been a clamor from a well-meaning football public to bring about an Interim Committee to allow some respite and reconciliation to a game badgered by warring factions. A damming Audit Report from the AG and a forensic audit conducted by FIFA point out to widespread irregularities that must be investigated and resolved. It is a qualified opinion that believes an Interim Committee can deal with these matters dispassionately and pave the way for a more enlightened organisation of the future. 

Furthermore, apart from administrative flaws and plain skullduggery, Sri Lanka National Teams have faltered in recent internationals losing to Asian minnows such as Maldives, Myanmar and Bhutan underlining the abysmal depths to which the technical standard of the sport has descended. 

As a result, the sport has not found favor with commercial sponsors and relies solely on FIFA and AFC handouts for survival. This flow of funds has not been adroitly employed if the many Football Centers are anything to go by. Only Dialog and the recent partnership with Cargills have significantly offered some redress to the FFSL. Cargills in particular made a pledge to assist the revival of the sport and admirably takes a long term view of this development. Poor management over the years has affected this expected resurgence. 

The outgoing administration, it must be said, has tried valiantly to put the house in order with the support of FIFA and AFC and did make some progress over the last two years, but has been greatly affected due to debilitating legal challenges that have cost the FFSL close to Rs. 10 m.

Any new administration will need to face this challenge squarely. It simply cannot go on in the face of irresponsible legal interventions nor can it progress smoothly in the spotlight of prolonged financial investigations. The FFSL lacks management expertise something FIFA has addressed and will seek to remedy. 

A new FIFA model constitution is also on the cards and will need alignment with the Sports Law. The technical department demands a major overhaul with an important study and proposal gathering dust. The National Team management begs for football expertise and an intimate knowledge of Asian if not International standards. And critically, the Junior Program involving the schools must kick-in. No systematic effort has been made in this regard, with popularity for the sport declining alarmingly in premier schools across the country.

The Minister of Sports is no doubt aware of these concerns. Several representations have been made by Football enthusiasts pleading for his intervention. One can understand the Hon. Minister’s reluctance to take punitive action given the objectionable stance of International Governing Bodies and its local counterparts. But there is a case to be made and in the case of Football, the MOS needs to work in tandem with a Normalisation Process expounded by FIFA to effect the desired improvements.  It is in our common interest that urgent action is taken to ensure that Football is not relegated to the dustbin of local sports.

Moving the goalposts may therefore be hardly the solution. Fundamentally, all football lovers and exponents must unite for the common good of the sport, a plea that has gone unheeded for too long!

(The writer is a veteran football administrator, current Ex Co member and a former FFSL Secretary General of two separate terms. He represented St. Joseph’s College in football and went on to play for Old Joes and Ratnam SC and Junior National Teams.  He has initiated many FIFA and AFC programs notably the Performance Program for FFSL and was instrumental in securing the landmark Cargills partnership with a National Football Development program, apart from being a much sought after football management advisor. Trevor is also a respected marketing personality having served MNCs; Nestle in Sri Lanka and several overseas markets in senior positions and following his return to Sri Lanka, as Director/CEO of the local Exxonmobil operation. He now runs a boutique consultancy, Talisman Enterprises, and has undertaken specific assignments with Hayleys Consumer, Jetwing Hotels and the Expolanka Group, among many other reputed companies.)