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| Sunday, 18 December 2005 |
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Straight Talk by Lal Gunesekera Mollycoddling of soccerites MUST STOP, proper investigation needed! Time for singing hosannas about our soccer is over. Finish, kaput. What a disgrace it was with the country's soccer hitting rock bottom, even failing to enter the final-round of the eight-nation 4th South Asian Federation Gold Cup Championship in Karachi, Pakistan. Our standards have been deteriorating over the years. You could have seen it coming, although many just seemed to brush it away and sing hosannas about the game and its administrators. Now, it's high time to stop this nonsense and take stock of what exactly happened in Karachi and make an attempt to put things in order. Sri Lanka went and lost to Pakistan (0-1), Maldive Islands (0-2) and even to Afghanistan (1-2) - a country that had played no soccer for the past five years due to Taliban rule, no domestic tournaments at all, no proper ground and even no proper meals for their players. The only advantage that the Afghans had was a German soccer coach and a 100-day training camp in Berlin prior to the Gold Cup tournament. Remember that it was Sri Lankans who went to the Maldives and coached their soccer sides. People like the late Neville Abeygunawardene, P. D. Sirisena and Sumith Walpola were some of them. Now, the Maldivians can hold their heads high in our region. I cannot for one, remember Sri Lanka ever beating the Maldivians. Then, going and losing to the Afghans - what a shame. What happened to all the training that went into preparing this side to Pakistan? They were taken to Thailand and even India for match practice. Even a residential camp was held by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL). A lot of money was involved. What happened in the end? It has all gone down the drain! On the subject of money, FIFA (the world governing body for soccer) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have been pumping in a lot of money to the FFSL over the years - mainly for "development" purposes. It seems to me that all this money has gone to waste. There is no point having a fabulous headquarters like the Football House etc if results cannot be shown. Who is responsible for this sad state of affairs? Mr. Manilal Fernando, you speak a lot of "development", so where is this "development". Come, come Mr. Fernando, please sit down with your administrators, discuss what has exactly gone wrong and find a solution. You have a responsibility. Perhaps you will be able to go down memory lane when the FFSL without much money conducted Pentangular and Quadrangular tournaments with Indian State sides. We may have lost some games, but certainly we were not disgraced. The Playground movement of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) under the late B. A. Jayasinghe and even D. H. de Silva, produced top soccerites who went on to represent the country with distinction. The CMC even produced top players in Cricket, Basketball, Netball and even Carrom and Table Tennis. What has happened to this Playground movement now? Please talk to the authorities and re-activate sports in the CMC. If this happens, I am sure that sports will benefit. Please don't mollycoddle our soccerities. Sri Lanka's national coach, Sampath Perera, who took over duties only last year (2004) from a Brazilian, has gone on record to say that it was unbelievable the way our side performed in Karachi. He has said that our players did not play football with even rowdism creeping in with players shown the "red" and "yellow" cards in games. Perera has even contemplated resigning and says that changes have to be made in the team. He recommends nine players be removed, and new blood brought in. Heads must roll, but who are they going to be? Continuing with the way our players performed in Karachi, will only make us a laughing stock. Found guilty, but.... What action does the Sri Lanka Athletic Association (SLAA) contemplate taking against its treasurer, H. W. Nimalasiri, who has been found guilty together with its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Karunaratne Samarasinghe, by the finance committee headed by Ashley de Abrew, in not following correct procedures laid down in purchasing the 41 air tickets for the Sri Lanka contingent for the Asian Championships staged in South Korea? The Finance Committee (funnily even included Nimalasiri himself) inquired into various allegations, but I understand that the report was submitted to the former SLAA chief Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils, but has not yet reached the hands of the SLAA Secretary Prema Pinnawela. Minister Tennakoon resigned and Derwin Perera was elected to head this body at a special general meeting recently. What steps will the SLAA take to get this report from Minister Tennakoon? This report states that tenders were called for with George Steuarts quoting Rs. 57,700 per ticket, while Hemas had quoted Rs. 61,200. Then, without even considering the lowest tender by George Steuarts air tickets were purchased from Hemas with Karunaratne Samarasinghe authorising it. Nimalasiri as treasurer, was alleged to have paid the full amount for the tickets and purchased them a few days before the Sri Lankan contingent left for South Korea. They (Samarasinghe and Nimalasiri) had not got the approval from the Finance Committee as stipulated in the SLAA constitution. A similar transaction had taken place by the duo when a team left for China too. Procedures were not followed. The Finance committee wanted both Samarasinghe and Nimalasiri to answer the charges made against them, but letters cannot be sent as this report is yet with Minister Janaka Bandara Tennekoon. What will happen now? The members of the Finance Committee had resigned from their posts from November 3. Oh my God! What on earth is the newly elected President of the SLAA, Derwin Perera up to? He seems to have got his wires crossed. Nimalsiri, the person responsible for the inability of Sri Lanka being represented at the World Junior Athletic Championship in Morocco, and the now famous air ticket deal to South Korea, has now been appointed as manager of the country's athletic team for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia in March next year (2006). What happened to the inquiry to find out what exactly happened and who was responsible for the Morocco incident? Come on Derwin and the SLAA, please shed some light. Veterans sidelined Where are the Sri Lankan veterans who brought glory and honour to our country, perhaps over 30 to 40 years back-long before Sri Lanka started playing Test cricket? Some of them were brought in as match referees during Mohan de Silva's elected administration at SLC on an initiative of Aravinda de Silva, who was vice-President at that time. These veterans officiated in the Premier tournaments. Now what has happened? They have been sidelined as the Cricket Committee of SLC thinks it's a waste of money. They are given only the semi-finals and finals of major tournaments with players of recent times brought in as Match Referees. I think it's an injustice to these veterans, some of whom find it difficult to meet their daily expenses and look after their families. The allowance some of them get as talent scouts is totally insufficient, and I suggest that if they are to be kept out, they be given a 'handsome purse' and then retire them. Not consulted Sri Lanka's cricket captain Marvan Atapattu had denied that he was consulted about Sanath Jayasuriya been dropped for the current Test series with India by the selectors. The chief selector, Lalith Kaluperuma, says that he had consulted the team management regarding Jayasuriya. Whom are we to believe? In the first Instance, Jayasuriya, should not have been selected for the One-Day Internationals with India. He had a shoulder injury and should have been made to take a rest and recover fully. Who was responsible? Obviously it's the selectors. They alone must take the blame. It will be interesting to see what the Chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC), Saman Amarasinghe, a close aide of Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Jeevan Kumaratunga, has to say in his report after inquiring into the whole matter on the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapakse. The selectors also blundered when they picked Jehan Mubarak to replace the injured Kapugedera on the current tour of India. Mubarak had not made any worthwhile impression in recent times and the selectors should have sent Russel Arnold to replace the injured Kapugedera. |
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