Sri Lankan Football needs a revamp!
Development and performance in any sports is measured by on field performance, result is what matters; officials of the Football Federation and the former Minister of Sports under the Rajapaksa regime can give enough excuses for the double debacle that befell our National team. Those in the football fraternity are no fools to accept lame excuses which are penned and aired in the media. The fate that both, our men and the women’s football teams played in different venues cannot be shoved under the carpet.
It is quite amusing indeed that such adventures are no concern to our men and those in the authority of sports. Only very few individuals raise their voice on behalf of the country. No remedies are sort instead, no postmortem with the technical heads are held, no experts are called to advice instead, as usual failures’ in a typical Sri Lankan style are cast upon on the past and the bandwagon moves.
Fortunately, Sri Lankans got the opportunity to play the first leg at home in the pre qualifying round for the next world cup. Instead of fielding a stronger team, with a better game plan to win the game, the experts in the FFSL chose to take advantage under the humid condition that prevailed that whole week.
Thus, the game was arranged to play at 03.00 pm with the spectator stands almost empty compared to the capacity. The visitors were exposed to frying conditions in order to make them extremely uncomfortable. The temperatures of Bhutan is little lesser than what is at Nuwara Eliya. Despite the odds, they put up a better game plan tied up with skill and speed. Though Bhutan played defensive football to hold our attack they with the ever ending endurance throughout the 90 minutes managed with one lonely attacker. This speedstar did the honours for the visitors. It became evident that even the gods could not stomach such an evil plan and at the end of the day we lost to Bhutan 1/ 0 and In the 2nd leg played in Bhutan, we lost by 2/1. This is the first time in the history that we have lost to them. Perhaps last year in the SAFF Championship held in Bangladesh it is worthy to note that our lions outclassed them by 5 goals to 2 in a splendid performance.
In another episode our ladies football team was slaughtered with 16 goals by Myanmar and none against; a rugby score to say the least. Without licking their wounds and atoning for these sins, the national team flew to participate in the pre Olympic qualifiers. There again the UAE outclassed us 4/0, Yemen thrashed us to 5/0 and Tajikistan by 5/1. For the Sri Lankans, it is M. Zaruwan who scored the solitary goal. Unfortunately, this player was kept on the bench for the match against Bhutan. Zaruwan is playing professional in Seychelles and being sponsored by a prominent football administrator and lover of the game. When one analyze the performance of our National team for the last two years we are fast running out of fuel. In the SAFF Championship we lost to Afghanistan 3/0, lost to Maldives 10/0. In Bangabandu Tournament we lost, 10/0, Bangladesh 1/0, lost to Malaysia 2/0, Friendly matches with Bangladesh lost 1/0 and drew the other 1/1, Invitation Tournament in Jordan we lost to Pakistan 3/0, lost to Jordan 4/0 and in a friendly match with Jordan we lost both the games by 3/2 and 4/0.
Following these debacles the present Senior Office bearers of the FFSL including the former Vice President, Chairman of the Technical Committee and the ex Technical Director said in a media briefing held recently, that the cause for this rapid decline despite foreign coach coaching along with 03 other local coaches, is due to the autocratic attitude, lethargy and lack of knowledge of the hierarchy. It is also alleged that the development plan given to the President is thrown into the wastepaper basket.
For the first time in the FFSL history, the former Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage was seriously present almost at every meeting of the FFSL to intimidate any opposition shown at the meeting. Many capable office bearers also lost their foreign postings for not towing the line of the incumbent. These attitudes and political manipulation for selfish reasons has finally destroyed the game completely as evident today.