A National Sports Policy – Sans transparency!

This is the fifth article in the Daily FT’s fortnightly series titled ‘Business of Sports,’ focusing on the back office of the various sports administered and played in this country. Readers are invited to share their views and express their opinion via email to [email protected] on the features carried in this column so that a greater public participation in sports matters can surface and be debated for the benefit of all

Recent newspapers carried the draft of a National Sports Policy (NSP), calling for public views and comments. That in itself was laudable to say the least, because it allows for discussion and a broad spectrum of participation, if nothing else.

If the Commonwealth Games bid is one reason for this spectacular initiative, then so be it, because it is a definite start and a jog in the right direction. The noble thought of creating a national sports culture to be a partner (and if one may add) and strong catalyst in the development of the national economy, then, the ideal is worth the careful preponderance of all, especially those directly engaged in national sports, never mind on which side of the divide they may be!

Timing

The promulgation of a NSP comes at an interesting if not critical time in our sporting history. All the major sports in the country are in the doldrums even if we cling to the aura of being a world leader in cricket.

The pre-tour hype of beating a weak Aussie contingent in our own backyard was swept aside as the visitors clinically took our disjointed team to the cleaners. Our athletes have come home empty-handed from recent international meets while our football and rugby teams have been clobbered out of sight at all levels of the game.

Some outstanding achievements which gave us a brief euphoric moment have been rendered bereft due to drug-related penalties and its attendant disgrace. So the caravan has been summarily subject to a lackadaisical and whimsical attitude by our sports mandarins whose primary aim appears to be personal glory rather than commensurate results for all the labours of the national effort.

Order of the day

At home, each sports body meandering in its own pitiful way with a rabid politicisation in every arena has all but removed the vestiges of decent sportsmanship as recent displays on rugby venues and basketball courts have evidenced.

Wining at all costs with blatant thuggery has been the order of the day and the dictum that might is right, given its head by the powers that be, shamelessly demean the very spirit in which sports flourish.

Poignantly enough, the Minister of Sports did a headstand when he censured Sanga for his now famous address at Lords. So where does the basic tenet of fair play emerge from, when the highest in the land stoop so low as to take a bold statement out of context and make it seem as if a crime was perpetrated? This is a frightening message for all exponents of the game and a lopsided warning to any sportsman who dares to question the legitimacy of his sport!

Sports oligarchs

It is in this context that the Ministry of Sports has dared to launch a NSP and whatever its shortcomings, it behooves us as a nation to embrace it wholeheartedly. A recent columnist elaborated on the desultory role of sports oligarchs whose overriding aim is to stay in office for as long as they possibly can, never mind the outcomes.

In India, its Minister of Sports had drawn fire from all quarters for daring to introduce legislation with the explicit purpose of creating transparency, accountability and good governance, words that are an anathema to the sports oligarch. For him, the end justifies the means and to that end he manipulates his longevity with characteristic aplomb.

The classic syndrome is that when a team loses, blame the players and when it wins, steal the limelight! The extension of this sleight of hand is the mantra of the mafia that extends well beyond our shores.

In these claustrophobic ivory towers reside likeminded denizens who orchestrate the long-term durability of their domicile. In our part of the world they go from national to Asian and then to the world body with a panache that would put Tiger to shame. The examples are numerous and are not worth repeated.

Transparency

And so what must a NSP achieve above all? Transparency, period! Without that elusive quality, no NSP can give credence to the paper on which it is written. Even now we have a monolithic Sports Law that is both obscure and redundant. A new NSP can easily go in that direction weighted down by bureaucratic subterfuge. Such a NSP will not serve its purpose.

As proposed in this column at the very outset, a sports IT portal where each sport is mandated to publish its plan and related information will, it was argued, go a long way in creating that measure of transparency and accountability, without which an exercise in futility is all but imminent.

A new beginning

Our nation stands on the threshold of great advances to come in all areas of endeavour. Having won a hard-earned war, it now faces the daunting challenge of forces eager to mute that victory and keep us pegged to the floor. But we can triumph and rise above the petty, narrow-minded machinations of adversaries by making sports our cornerstone.

It can mirror the aspiration of a nation that rewards merit and nurtures the pangs of the human spirit. It can demonstrate that victory is a humbling experience and that the greater good is served when those who have lost will live to strive another day. That can be the vision of a National Sports Policy as it heralds for its people, a new beginning!