Leagues should be strengthened for football to prosper

by Ranjan Anandappa

Football: The newly elected president of the Football Federation Of Sri Lanka Hurley Silveira firmly believes that a strong football league should be the key for the development of the game in Sri Lanka and stressed the importance of regular visits to all the leagues.

He will give top priority to these visits in agenda, and look into their shortcomings along with the league cordinators.

Silveira, with a strong soccer background, being a nephew of late Sri Lanka soccerite Lawrence Fernando, was unanimously elected at the last FFSL AGM as the football chief for two years, and he is committed to uplift the standard of soccer in the country.

He is also keen in re-introducing the one time popular Pentangular Tournament that featured teams from India mainly, Kerala, Andra Pradesh, Chennai and Mysore next year, so that the present generation could profit from it. There are 42 active leagues in the country which is the 'live wire' for football which provides the base for the game.

The Federation looks into the smooth functioning of these leagues which should provide the spark for development. The league and the juniors should go hand in hand with a coordinator appointed for every league in between.