The freedom of sports

This is the 14th 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

Last Saturday, Sri Lanka celebrated its 64th year of independence as a sovereign nation amidst the usual pageantry that took the President, Government leaders and a grateful public to the historic kingdom of Anuradhapura, the seat from which the great King Dutugemunu launched his epic battle against the formidable Elara.

We have heard the tale of lore where a benevolent king honoured the vanquished Dravidian fighter, demonstrating that the winner does not take all and wallow in his victory; instead he honours the protagonist shares the victory with his kinsman and the people at large.

One wonders whether this exemplary conduct of a Sinhala king is lost on the kingmakers of today; more so in the annals and arenas of sport where a marked partiality seems to overwhelm all that is pristine in the very character of sports as we have been brought up and reared to understand and applaud.

New culture of servility

In stark contrast, what one sees day after day in today’s cauldron of high octane rivalry is an absolute disregard for fair-play and a sporting spirit. Instead, all sportsmen and sportswomen and that must embrace the body politic of our nation, are compelled to bow to a new culture of servility which spells the dogma: play with us, play our game or be damned!

How else does one elucidate the crass disregard for good sense and sublime honour when one views with disdain the recent happenings across the congenial sports spectrum of our land? Propagating what appears to be a pseudo culture of vested interests that does not brook any other opinion let alone any opposition is the way to go it seems; our way or the highway has become the constant refrain.

Cricket

Cricket as is our fate to behold takes centre stage once again. People who could hardly field even at deep fine leg are making decisions that even an Alan Dar would not make without consulting the third umpire with its battery of sophisticated gadgetry!

Even before our late captain had jumped for joy with his colleagues after two memorable run chasers in South Africa, the gong seemed to have gone, heralding the return of a past hero tasked to rekindle our fortunes. And in a show of sickening bravado, a foreign coach who had just begun to size up his resources was unceremoniously dumped.

That was just the foreplay we all know, because in rapid succession came the recall of a selector we just cannot seem do without and a fine cricketer though he was, not a man for futures of any sort, whether petroleum or cricket!

Whatever the reasons for these delusions, the caravan moves on with the SLC President sugar coating what must be a bitter pill to swallow for the quaint privilege of filling a much-coveted chair! Add to the din, the cacophony of the south paw who claims that the entire team did not support the skipper. Sadly a swashbuckling hero of our times prone to poor shot selection these days; simply not cricket as the sage will say!

Shame on the sport

More than one scribe has derided these suspicious trysts as a shame on the sport, let alone the country. While no one will dispute that a sports minister is duty bound to see that the sporting stock of a nation flourishes and the sports law amply provides for adequate supervision and corrective action where necessary, it is also the responsibility of the incumbent to deal with the board room and not the dressing room.

Belligerence is not the most-sought-after character of a leader and as one wag put it succinctly, the thuggery enacted in electorates have no place in the hallowed corridors of cricket where men of stature, such as Michael Tissera, Ranjan Madugalle, Sidath Wettimuny, and an icon of late, Kumar Sangakkara, have stamped their class in no uncertain terms. That they remain outside the administration is a great loss to cricket and its ardent fans.

The Indian team is floundering with successive overseas tours gone awry and while the pundits of the sub continent are waxing eloquent, the BCCI and by extension the Indian Sports Minister have studiously kept their own counsel, no doubt working behind the scenes to fashion a collage they will surely need for the future!

Other sports

While preoccupied at the crease chasing dot balls, the Minister has all but disregarded the decadence that has enveloped several other sports in the country. Football must notably take pride of place in this regard for after waving a few yellow cards, the Minister it is rumoured has agreed to keep goal for the time being allowing the FFSL President a third term. Some confidence that or is it just brotherly love!

While on the one hand he bashes an elected body (that diabolically is to his credit), on the other hand, he chooses to buttress a weak and misguided organisation that does not know whether it is kicking aimlessly or simply making poor passes!

A former Sri Lankan Skipper and National Coach made an impassioned plea once again requesting the Minister to examine football ills and overhaul the administration, offering many a thought-provoking agenda.

But your guess is as good as mine; it will remain mothballed until the day of reckoning comes. Any football watcher will tell you that the FFSL is a house divided, with the President engrossed over the National Team while its omnipotent Chairman firmly holds on to the reigns and the coffers.

In rugby circles, an anointed son has finally taken charge, but a renowned sports columnist made a rather acerbic comment on the fortunes of rugby, intricately identifying a pattern that’s fast becoming endemic in every sport. Be in our camp if you must lead and so the new SLRFU President having patiently waited for his turn is now in the thick of the maul. Will he have the balls to put his foot down is what the columnist is asking bluntly, or will he merely do the bidding of his masters; a forward pass if there was one!

Small mercies

Fortuitously, there are small mercies in this paradise of ours. All sports associations clamour, as it is become fashionable now, to start them young and thus the determinant, that junior school-based sports must be given a sound footing.

Thus, the Sports for Everyone Program organised by the Ministry of Sports (MOS) in tandem with that of Youth Affairs and Education, is a welcome step in the right direction.

This sports development program targeting Grade Six students in six sports – rugby, netball, volleyball, athletics, gymnastics and football – is a sound conceptual platform that emphasises fitness over competitiveness. An initial workshop has already set this program in motion and while there is room for comment, progress has been made. Some argue that swimming should have been included over gymnastics, but these are matters that can be resolved as the program moves into top gear.

De-politicisation of sport

The MOS took out a recent advertisement to acclaim a bright future for sports; that is indeed the prayer of every citizen, not only its sports fans.

Its glossary of endeavours is indeed impressive and one cannot decry the overall intent and vision that pervades the MOS mandate.

One salient feature that does not make the cut however is the de-politicisation of sport. This is an aspect in which the MOS has failed miserably where even the good work it does is subjugated by the undercurrent of undue influence and manipulation that seems to overpower our national sports in general.

If this is a misconception, the MOS must take pains to demonstrate publicly that this is not the case. One way of doing this is to provide the freedom for each National Sports Association (NSA) to perform its function based on a set of objectives, an endorsed plan and an approved budget each year.

Marshalling such an approach through its battery of MOS officials is a responsible way and taking decisive action when a NSA does not deliver on its plan is a fair and transparent recourse.

Freedom of sports

Even while the MOD is focusing on golf courses, raising an interesting question in a column titled ‘Is golf an authorised military activity?’, the President in his imitable style gave ample direction in his address at the launch of the Deyata Kirula exhibition. He stressed that the city and the village must merge bringing prosperity to all. After 64 years of independence and a hard-fought war, the time for economic freedom must now become a goal for our people, he intoned.

What he and his Government will no doubt bear in mind is that all freedoms enhance the wellbeing and development of its people and sport is not the last place to begin that thrust.

Sport is what provides the very essence of endeavour and a level playing field that the Government must create will bring out the champions from the hinterland into the cities and beyond. Therefore, as much as every Government agency must ensure that the independence we enjoy must translate into the freedom to perform without malaise and political servitude, the freedom of sports must be enshrined at every level of development, from the primary school to the pinnacle of international competition, if we are to become a champion nation. If for that reason alone, then the freedom of sports like all other freedoms must be safeguarded, encouraged and nourished!