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| Sunday, 1 May 2005 |
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Straight talk by Lal Gunesekera Tug-o-war between Minister and Thilanga makes SLC laughing stock! The international community and cricket enthusiasts in Sri Lanka are amused at the fiasco now on between the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. Jeevan Kumaratunga, and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). A question arises now... who administers the game in the country? Is it the Interim Committee appointed by Minister Kumaratunga or SLC headed by Thilanga Sumathipala? In my opinion, no one seems to be in total control and this comedy yet continues. Even at the Ministry of Youth Affairs ad Sports, there seems to be a division among its top rungers. What a funny state of affairs the administration of cricket in this country has fallen into-all due to the pig-headedness of a few individuals! Since Minister Kumaratunga took the drastic decision of suspending SLC, citing "financial mismanagement", the game of cricket in this country has become a laughing stock. All this, because of one man, and that is the controversial Thilanga Sumathipala. There are several court cases pending and the latest move by Minister Kumaratunga to keep out Sumathipala from holding office at SLC or have anything to do with the game is the gazette notification of April 21 with a new amendment to the Sports Law to ban any person connected with the gambling industry from holding any office in any sports controlling body. In short, Minister Kumaratunga does not want Sumathipala involved in cricket at all and Sumathipala is not a person to give in without a fight. Sumathipala, whose family business is bookmaking (English and Australian horse racing) and publication of the Sporting Star, a daily horse racing paper, as well as publication of national newspapers and owners of a chain of Chinese restaurants, denies that he is involved in the gaming industry, which is supposed to be run by his elder brother, Jagath. Even the International Cricket Council (ICC) are conducting an inquiry to find out whether Thilanga Sumathipala is involved in the gambling industry or not. The Secretary of SLC, Ravin Wickremaratne, has filed a writ application in the Court of Appeal in an attempt to halt the Gazette notification issued by Minister Kumaratunga. However, SLC, too are also in the process of preventing any person, not only involved in the gambling industry, but also tobacco and liquor industries too from the administration of the game. These are to be presented and discussed at next week's Executive Committee meeting before been ratified at an extra-ordinary general meeting of SLC. What I just cannot understand is the actions of Minister Kumaratunga to amend the Sports Law at this particular juncture regarding the gambling industry etc, and not making any attempt to amend the Sports Law brougth in by the late K. B. Ratnayake when he was the Minister of Sports in the 1970s. Amendment to this were suggested by the Sidath Sri Nandalochana Committee several years back as well as by Saman Amarasinghe, an appointee of Minister Kumaratunga himself, who heads the National Sports Council (NSC) quite recently. What has happened to these reports Mr. Minister? and why wasn't any action taken to implement these recommendations when they were made? Come, Come Mr. Minister, your actions now, smack of your intentions. As stated earlier, it's a shame whats happening to our cricket administration. Sumathipala says that SLC are negotiating with John Dyson for a renewal of his contract as coach of the Sri Lanka team, while Jayantha Dharmadasa, who heads the Interim Committee appointed by Minister Kumaratunga says that Dyson is unpopular with the players and that they (the Interim Committee) are not even considering renewing Dyson's contract. He says that the CEO of SLC, Duleep Mendis, has told him (Dharmadasa) that 75 per cent of the cricketers do not like Dyson. A few former Australian Test cricketers of repute are in contention for Dyson's post, while the Secretary of the Interim Committee, Triphone Mirando, was in London and held talks with a few Englishmen too. The Tournament Committee of SLC headed by Roshan Abeysinghe held discussions with club captains last week where a three-year plan for domestic cricket was spelled out. The clubs accepted SLC (which is the elected body) of their full support, and in turn, SLC had promised to provide Rs. 1.8 million to each of the 16 clubs in the Premier League and Rs. 800,000 for each of the 24 clubs in the Saravanamuthu Trophy Tournament. Besides these two tournaments, SLC, will also continue to conduct the Under-23 and Inter-Provincial events too. The Interim Committee too has plans to conduct these tournaments as well. Who will conduct these domestic tournaments now is left to be seen. What a mess! Public apology demanded The Executive Committee of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) has demanded a public apology from Mrs. Lourdes Jayasekera, the national coach of about three months, who was "sacked" from her post in February for "leaking" information to the media and various other allegations. Mrs. Jayasekera is away in the Maldive Islands and it will be interesting to see whether she will oblige as demanded. I also understand that Saman Amarasinghe, Chairman of the National Sports Council, too is making every attempt to settle the issue. The national pool that was training under Mrs. Jayasekera too was dissolved with the Asian Championship scheduled for April in Singapore was postponed for September due to the Boxing Day tsunami. Trials were held later to pick the national pool again, but a few senior players boycotted them. The NFSL is also without a President since Mrs. Shiranthi Rajapakse, wife of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, withdrew her nomination on the day of the annual general meeting itself in March. I understand that there are two contenders for this post which is to be filled on May 5. They are the popular Tamara Dhamakirthi Herath and Trixie Nanayakkara. Morally wrong Sri Lanka's Under-14 tennis team to Australia later this month has raised a hornets nest with the son of the chief selector too been picked. A former national champion and Davis Cup veteran, Arjun Fernando, who is the chief selector, should have 'stood down' and not attended this particular selection committee meeting where his son Aravind was picked. It was morally wrong, although set criteria etc, would have been correct. However, I certainly do not agree that the selectors should resign just because of this incident. I can well remember the 1960s when two selectors picked themselves for a cricket tour of England, and the Sports Minister during that period, the late V. A. Sugathadasa, immediately put a stop to the tour. Remember Anoma? Remember Anoma Sooriyaarachchi, one of Sri Lanka's top women's sprinters who was given a raw deal by authorities in her own country? Well, I have some news for her detractors. Anoma has just completed a successful indoor athletic season in England, having lowered her personal best in the 60 metres on three occassions and winning two out of four top meets. She is coached by Great Britain athlete, Gwyn Williams, at the University of Wales Athletic Centre in Cardiff. She trains with an elite group of international athletes and her winter training has paid dividents. At the Birmingham Games in February, Anoma, won her heat, semi-final and final in the 60 metres. Three week's later at Sheffield's Indoor Athletic Arena, she represented Cardiff in the inaugural UK Athletics between North London, South London, Bristol and Oxford where she won the 60 metres, equalling her personal best of 7.52 seconds. After her successes at indoor meets, Anoma, now has her sights fixed firmly on the outdoor season where she intends to improve her status as an international athlete. Anoma has represented Sri Lanka at the World Championships at Edmonton, Canada in 2001, Commonwealth Games at Manchester, England in 2002 as well as the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea also in 2002. |
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