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| Sunday, 19 March 2006 |
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Jothi ... a half-century of dedicated service to football by Leslie Fernando It is a unique achievement for a person to get involved in sports administration for a long period of 50 years. Jothi Mallawarachchi a former Ananda College soccerite and President of Sunny Mount Sports Club, the oldest football club established in 1930 in the country, has set a record in this sport and yet continues to promote the game. Jothi, as he is popularly known in football circles, has been associated with Sunny Mount SC from the age of 15 when he lived at Barber Street closer to the club. Before assuming the Presidency, he was the Treasurer of the club for two decades. Jothi took over the Presidency of Sunny Mount SC from M. C. M. Nawaz in 1970 and has been the President ever since. He has been a prominent figure in local soccer circles. He was the Treasurer of the Board of Control for Football in Sri Lanka under F. A. Yaseen's presidency, President of Colombo Football League for four successive years, Secretary City Football League, Vice-President City Football League. Jothi is a football administrator of high repute. Having held various positions in the football scene for over 50 years, he continues to be involved in the promotion of soccer. He has not achieved much success as a player, but as a sports administrator he has reached the apex. While he was in Sunny Mount SC team then President Nawas must have had the intuition that administration was in his blood. Jothi has gone as the manager of Sri Lanka soccer teams several times. He was also the manager of Colombo Football League teams to India, Maldives and Pakistan. He has served in almost all committees of the FFSL, Colombo FL, City FL. Jothi worked as an accountant for 25 years at UTA French Airlines and his bosses have helped him to get free air tickets to several countries to watch Sri Lanka footballers in action. When asked what contributed to his success in soccer, Jothi said: "first my parents and then my school background are mainly responsible for moulding me into what I am. They taught me to be honest, believe in what I do, be willing to learn and strive towards the goal I want to achieve. With these principles firmly instilled in me, I could never think in the negative". Considering his service rendered to soccer, late President R. Premadasa honoured Jothi with a post of All-Island J.P. which post he declined to accept. While he was the President of Colombo FL, Manilal Fernando then President FFSL offered him a post of vice-president, that too he politely refused to accept. He never accepted the allowance due to him as the Treasurer of Colombo FL and even allowances paid to the council representatives of the FFSL for attending the council meetings. Although he had represented FFSL in several tournaments abroad as manager or assistant manager, he was never a recipient of a blazer issued by FFSL but borrowed from either G. A. K. Abeysekera or Chrysantha Perera. Jothi lamented that our national team's performances were on the decline. First the players should have discipline. The FFSL should instruct the players and top officials of the clubs to respect the referees. The reason is by not respecting the referees, locally, these players are bound to make silly offences and then are shown the yellow and red cards in international matches. Discipline should be the top priority. To improve the standard of football, the FFSL should have a close rapport with the Education Ministry to formulate at least five-year programmes to improve the standard of football in the schools. Jothi is grateful to M. G. M. Nawaz, F. A. Yaseen, G. A. K. Abeysekera, M. Ahmed (Lathu Bhai), S. K. Gunawardena, M. D. Fernando, M. H. Yusoof for the influence and guidance he had received from them to carry on with administrative work. He respects Manilal Fernando, Vice-President AFC as a good leader and top
promoter of football in the country. |
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