Reduction of teams and tourneys will bring out the best

By Leslie Fernando

Football: "Football in Sri Lanka is at a low level. The Football Federation of Sri Lanka should take a firm stand to build up the lost image. The FFSL should concentrate in raising the standard of football in the schools. The schools are the pioneering and breeding ground for the national footballers of tomorrow," said 75-year-old Joseph Fernando who was a tower of strength for the CR and FC, Ratnam SC, Army, Combined Services, Kotahena Rangers SC, Sunrise SC, Colombo Municipality and Ceylon teams in the fifties.

'Josa', as he was popularly known, said that the FFSL should tie-up their energies and pool the knowledge and the resources at the disposal of the Ministry of Education to produce a dynamic program for the development of the game.

The FFSL administration may be good with a big team of officials, but they should get rid of inefficient officials who are wasting a lot of money.

'Josa' said that the FFSL is sound with lot of funds coming in from FIFA and AFC. But the hidden fact is that the finances come directly to a high-ranking officials of the FFSL from the world body and AFC. My plea is that money should be spent on development of Sri Lanka Football.

Players talented

Football is a game played by a majority who come from poor homes. But, the fact is that they have immense talent.

I acknowledge the good work that is being done by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka for the participants and the game. Don't stop at this.

Give the players all the encouragement and help them to further develop their skills and put Sri Lanka's soccer second to none, said M. A. Ameer, a versatile player who excelled in the fullback position for Zahira, Colombo Municipality, Fisheries Corporation, Saunders SC and Sri Lanka.

My proposals and advice to the administrators and players: The FFSL should arrange more matches locally and internationally for the soccerites thereby letting them gain more experience.

Then the coaches will study the weakness of the players and correct them. The players should keep fit and maintain that fitness then they could prove their standard to the selectors.

I have seen footballers stay till late at night with their friends. But remember, eight hours sleep is necessary for the players.

Players lack skill

The present day soccerites lack responsibility and skill, this is the reason why the standard of football has deteriorated, said U. L. Nihal, the versatile midfielder who has represented Havelock Playground, Gill Garment, Lake House SC, Saunders SC and Sri Lanka.

Most of the players are now interested in playing for money for different clubs. They are not interested to aspire for national honours. There is not much talent also. This is due to lack of availability of knowledgeable coaches.

The present day players are offered everything. Gone are the days where we had to find our own way in travelling, boots, food etc. Yet, with many hardships the players put up splendid performances.

"When I think of the type of talent there is in the pool these days, I cannot help going back to the days when selection itself was a nightmare because so many players were available for single given position," said Nihal who is presently coaching his own club Premier SC, Thimbirigasyaya.

Dedication necessary

To improve the standard of football in the country, the administrators, coaches and players should show more dedication and devotion to the game. Furthermore there should be systematic and proper football development programme, said S. J. Lucas Fernando, popularly known as 'Lukma' who was a goal creator and goal-getter for Sunny Mount SC and Sri Lanka.

Lucas who has played for the club for nearly 27 years and against nine foreign teams for Sri Lanka, said that there is no proper team work and no individual brilliance amongst the players.

We lack players to create goals and shoot goals. The players lack the style and the great skills.

For example, those days a corner-kick means a certain goal.

The coaches' responsibility should be to aim at something definite. It cannot be a matter of following certain well-known routine practices which are put to use with hope of success.

Therefore, it is necessary that the coaches go about their task on a set purpose at every session. These sessions should necessarily include mainly the essentials that the players do and achieve said Lucas who scored 527 goals in 341 matches played during his football career.

Sound advice

M. Zainulabdeen - one of Sri Lanka's soccer greats is of the opinion that to improve football in Sri Lanka, the Football Federation of Sri Lanka, as first step should minimise the number of playing clubs and reduce the tournaments so as to give the clubs concerned the encouragement to play against each other.

This way the best will be pitted against each other. This way the game will definitely take a turn for the better, said M. Zainulabdeen one of Sri Lanka's soccer greats who has represented famous Victory SC and Sri Lanka. He excelled in the midfield and forward line.

Our players should play many international matches to gain more experience. Once a school team goes abroad for a tournament and return, their performances should be evaluated and follow-up action taken, keeping the players in training pools to further strengthen their skills and style of play. The FFSL should take correct steps in selecting foreign coaches. Sri Lanka should have won the Gold at the soccer tournament of the 10th South Asian Games if the Korean coach adopted the correct techniques amongst the Sri Lanka players. Pakistan players were taller than our players but our players were more often seen getting involved in high passing, lobbing rather than engaging in ground passing. This is one of the lapses of the coach in the final. If a coach failed to deliver the results, he should be removed. I think a foreign coach is not a must. We have past good players who could help our soccerites to achieve success.