The Ministry or the Misery of Sport?

This is the 10th 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

Oftentimes you hear of the Ministry of Sports (MOS) talking tough about individual sportsmen or sports bodies, taking them to task for misdemeanours, mishaps, misdeeds, poor performance, the more serious mismanagement or pure and simple corruption!

That is a fair responsibility one may argue, though the onus for supervision of its affairs should primarily fall on the relevant sports body and its overrated bosses. So what is the MOS doing fishing in murky waters that are undoubtedly its territory though not necessarily its strict preserve?

Too little, too late

Recently, we read about the Ministry of Crab launched by two of Sri Lanka’s celebrated cricketers. That name would have fitted the MOS better where it often makes its presence felt when it is too little, too late. When it eventually does, its tentacles also seem to stifle the sport more than release the energy through transparent and timely interventions.

There are examples aplenty, but cricket itself offers enough evidence of gross and prolonged interference while on the other hand apathy at its worst lets some sports run aground like in the case of football, where our National Team had their noses rubbed into the ground at the recent SAFF Championship in Delhi.  

The Minister recently took Cricket National Coach Geoff Marsh to task for not paying attention to a Sri Lankan game while it was in progress; distracted by his own son’s antics with the Aussie team elsewhere!

Touché, one may say, but what is the big deal here for the Minister to publicise this very schoolteacher-like diligence imposed on Mr. Marsh? No attempt is made here to whitewash the benign coach but surely the Minister has much more onerous duties to perform without taking over the role of the Board CEO or his own Ministry Secretary!

Murky crisis

For example, the murky crisis befallen cricket where our gladiators are now flexing their muscles without the nourishment of their meal tickets is indeed appalling. How Sooriyawewa impinged on the good fortunes of cricket needs no amplification, with the Minister now sitting outside the Treasury with a begging bowl in order to meet salaries of his wards about to face the fury of an African winter!

The world is watching Sir, and naturally a recent BBC interview took cudgels with the Minister for politicising the sport by even taking over its venues. The Minister was at pains to explain that they were merely assigning the maintenance of the grounds to the armed forces purely to assist the Cricket Administration and assured all viewers that no intent of a Government manacle would apply to cricket.

Lame as it sounded, one can only hope that once the pending election process is complete and a new administration is in place, the Minister and his intermediaries will leave the gentleman’s sport to deliver on its promises without looking over their shoulder and instructing what shot to play!  

A veritable quagmire

COPE has very correctly and precisely labelled cricket as a veritable quagmire brought about by gross interference and unadulterated corrupt practice. COPE has not coped with a scan of other sports; understandably there are more pressing issues and institutions to examine.

But the Minister, why is he so sanguine about these misfiring sports bodies going about their business with a studied indifference, bringing the country to disgrace by sheer crass performances unnoticed day after day?

Instead cricket and Commonwealth Games and Sooriyawewa take his precious time, obviously goaded by the powers that be. Timely advice from the Speaker to spare the farmers of Sooriyawewa came as a wake-up call that all must heed and not allow sports among all things to hurt the very social fabric that binds our nation!

Sports Policy

The crux of the matter perhaps rests with the organisation that is the MOS itself. The Minister is known as a tough-talking youthful personality who has the guts to call a spade a spade. Most will remember the election battle he fought with his own party men to secure his electorate of Nawalapitiya.

So what stops him from performing true to form now that he is in the box seat? One clue may be found in the precincts of the Ministry apparatus itself. We will return so very briefly to the Sports Policy document that was published in September and now hopefully ready to be adopted and put into practice!

That is a good starting point, but no policy, however sanctified it may be, can bring forth results, unless it is backed by a technocratic administrative framework that is ready and willing to implement the programme of work such a policy demands and requires.

Good governance

So let’s take a peek at what this really entails! The Ministry will need knowledgeable officers within its ranks to oversee the sports bodies and ensure they adhere and deliver on the policy objectives.

This column has clamoured relentlessly for good governance and argued that good governance can be realised through a process of transparent management best demonstrated by a web portal accessible to the public. A deafening silence is all that is heard and the cavalcade trundles along! What is envisaged is that the officers assigned to each sport comment on their charge in a quarterly review which the public can respond to. That will eliminate the crafty and proprietary approach displayed by many prima donnas who believe that without their outdated theories, life cannot go on.

It is time that the Minister overhauls the machinery within his own factory before he takes to task the several institutions and sports bodies under his watch. Only then will the Ministry serve its purpose; otherwise it will remain a misery to all sportsmen and sportswomen as well as the sporting public at large!