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| Sunday, 12 January 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Ex - soccerite Francis raps administration The standard of football in the country is going down daily. It is a pity that this game, labelled the poor man's game, has been allowed to hit rock bottom. This is a fact that though interested parties who revel in kick-backs and trips abroad will not agree for various reasons and will want the present administration to go on. Much has to be done to resurrect the game and bring it to Asian level so that the not so affluent class can hope to have at least worthwhile competitions at Asian level? A former national player N.A.B.Francis who represented Jaffna District Football team and a product of Jaffna Central who is here on a short holiday made this comment. Francis who hit the net at International Tournaments represented Sri Lanka and later migrated to Canada. He also represented the Playground Football League. Francis added that the concerned authorities should raise the standard of football in the schools and pay more attention to the once nursery of Sri Lanka football -the Playgrounds. Gone are the days in soccer when the Sri Lanka team was mainly composed of players who grew up in city playgrounds. This was a comment made by one of our former national players who is here on a short holiday. The FFSL should draw up a highly systematic an effective programme for development an give priority to harnessing all the talent that could be tapped for the national cause. It is of no use having "Big Football Houses" which cost millions of rupees. Most of the schools have playgrounds of their own and an organised system in sports activities. The Municipal Playgrounds(Colombo) used to produce almost all our legendary stars of yesteryear. It was from these nurseries that one could see an unpredictable number of stars who could bloom and blossom out, be they rich or poor. The former "star" continued "The schools have certainly been neglected because the scientific approach to higher development has been shown to them. What one sees today is a downward trend. In fact he stressed "We are going down. We are developing downwards! It is time the Football Federation of Sri Lanka put a stop to this and made a honest effort to look up" |
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