Top officials of the world football governing body FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are almost akin to powerful political figures as they hob knob with heads of states.
The high-profile visit of FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the Prime Minister’s Trophy tournament hosted in Colombo in November showed the world that everything is hunky-dory with football in Sri Lanka. Infantino heaped praised on the Sri Lankan football leadership under the presidency of Jaswar Umar for the “courage, passion and commitment” to embrace change for future generations.
But the reality on the ground is far from the grandiose proclamations Sri Lanka’s football chief spelled out in his vision to ‘restart football’ which sounds hollow in retrospect. He is now running Football Sri Lanka (FSL) like his personal fiefdom paying scant regard to regulations, failing to enact a new constitution as required, indulging in wasteful expenditure and unashamedly politicising the sport for his survival, according to the football fraternity.
Although Sri Lanka fared creditably at the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian qualifiers and the SAFF Cup in Maldives, the domestic game has suffered with the first ever semi-professional Super League being truncated while there are no signs of FSL staging the FA Cup or Champions League in the near future. Instead, an inter-provincial competition is taking place with the creation of new teams contrary to FIFA objectives. Meanwhile, the four-nation tournament did little to improve Sri Lanka’s ranking of 204 since it was played outside the FIFA window with another six-nation extravaganza coming up.
Meanwhile, the FSL president has been globe-trotting like the foreign minister of the country while there is no tangible sign of grassroots development programmes despite having a European Pro Licence coach as Technical Director. Although it is too early to pass judgement since Jaswar assumed office in June, he is duty-bound to answer questions raised by sections of the disgruntled membership comprising 64 leagues around the country because FSL elections are due by May 31. But the manner in which the Special General Meeting was conducted in December has added grist to the mill that the FSL has become a one-man show.
GENTLEMAN
Jaswar’s rival at the last elections Dr Manil Fernando like a thorough gentleman accepted the verdict without a protest after losing by a wafer-thin margin in a bitterly fought contest for the FSL presidency. “I did my own reflection and own analysis as to what happened and why I lost by six votes which means basically one league. One league voting against Jaswar, it would have been a tie. With one more extra person voting he would have lost by one vote. Basically the difference is four votes though I lost by six,” he said.
“The difference between me and Jaswar is I am not a politician. That was my mistake. That will probably be my mistake in the future as well because I don’t want to change. I am not a politician. I don’t like to tell people what they like to hear just to get elected and I don’t want to give false promises and not deliver because my legacy of what I come from, I don’t want to tarnish that image and in the end become a ‘borukaraya’ (conman) and go out of football,” said the genial medical doctor.
“I’d rather not do anything. I’d rather wait outside and do what I can. In the end what I feel is, this is the problem in Sri Lanka and globally as well. We sometimes tend to believe what we hear and what is portrayed and what is given. People will either believe me or will believe Jaswar. I felt that more people at that time believed Jaswar,” Fernando said.
“Also, I felt that there was some influence. It is quite obvious when you look at how football is being run right now. You can see what the influence would have been. I didn’t influence anybody or use anybody else’s name. I just gave what I was planning to do and hoped that people would support me. Ninety (90) people supported me. I feel now a majority of the other 96 who voted for Jaswar, also feel they should have believed me instead of Jaswar,” said Dr Fernando breaking his silence.
SURGEON
“The last election was held just for a period of one year. My intention was not to cooperate or to hinder him. I did not want to contest the way elections were held. I did not want to tarnish the image of football. I did not want to do that. I am not that petty,” said Dr Fernando, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon.
“I wanted Jaswar to be able to implement his vision of what he wanted to do. If he effectively and efficiently implements and football becomes successful, good for him and good for football,” he said.
However, he was appalled at the manner in which the sport was being administered.
“What we needed fundamentally was for the whole organisation to change, from administration down to the whole structure. I feel that has not been done,” said Dr Fernando, the former head of FSL’s medical committee.
“I feel that the same people are doing the same jobs in the same way they did it before. It is just that Jaswar is protecting them now. Earlier they may have not had the same protection. Now Jaswar is calling the shots as a one-man sort of show and protecting the people who are working under him. I don’t think they are the most efficient lot who are working. Relationship with the Press, relationship with the other stakeholders I don’t think is happening correctly,” said Dr Fernando in an explosive interview with the ‘Sunday Observer’.
CONSTITUTION
He slammed the FSL for not amending the Constitution as agreed earlier.
“We are under the Constitution of our country. We have laws that govern and we have to abide by them. Similarly the Constitution in the football federation needs to be amended. It needs to be modernised. It needs to come in line with FIFA,” he said.
“The idea was initially within a few months to enact the new Constitution. Up to now nothing has been done. As the President of the Kalutara District Football League and as a member of the (FSL) Council, we have been told that it is happening. But we have not been sent a draft. I’m in the dark as much as you despite being a part of the organisation,” said Dr Fernando.
ACCOUNTS
He accused the FSL of passing the accounts “illegally” and stifling dissent at the last meeting.
“We have not had any management accounts submitted since February last year. The accounts were passed illegally because they did not give adequate notice. I didn’t want to canvas all the leagues and say vote against the accounts. I just gave my opinion. I said you have not given adequate notice because as per the Sport Law you have to give two weeks notice. As per our (FSL) Constitution you have to give 30 days notice,” he explained.
“I am not trying to say there were frauds but they didn’t give adequate time for the membership to go through the accounts. And for the whole of last year they have not submitted any accounts to the Council. I don’t know whether they have submitted to the ExCo but definitely not to the Council,” said Dr Fernando who raised preliminary objections but was not given a hearing.
“It was held online via zoom technology but he (Jaswar) electronically prevented all of us from talking. Nobody was allowed to talk. Everybody was muted,” he said.
CONGRESS
The SGM was a continuation of the election congress since only elections were held during the AGM (Annual General Meeting).
“The Minister gave an authorisation to have the election congress and within one month have the other part electronically. They didn’t have within one month. They were not bothered. When December came they got worried that if the accounts and all had not been passed, they would not get the funding from FIFA,” he said.
“My argument was that when the SGM is a continuation of the election congress, everybody who participated in that election congress has to be given an opportunity to participate. But they prevented certain leagues from even coming,” he said.
“All the 64 leagues are like an advisory body. Once the ExCo makes the decisions, it needs to be ratified at the Council. But none of those have been brought to the Council to be ratified. We haven’t seen the accounts for the whole of last year. I personally don’t know how much was spent for the Prime Minister’s trophy. To whom the money paid to. Whether there was any conflict of interest to the people who were paid. Who approved it. Was there a budget to start with,” he queried.
TRANSPARENCY
Dr Fernando finds it unethical to see the FSL president also chairing the Finance Committee leading to a lack of transparency.
“Everything is held by one person. It is a question mark whether there is actual transparency or not. I am not making any allegations. It’s just that it doesn’t look right. If I was president, I wouldn’t have been Finance Committee chairman. I would not get involved in the finances,” said Dr Fernando, a professional to his finger tips.
“In my field I know my limitations. I know what I can do and what I can’t do. I have a knowledge of football having played in school. Then I was involved in football as a doctor and served in the (FSL) executive committee. But I don’t think I know what somebody in the marketing field would know. I won’t be able to do it on my own,” he admitted.
He was surprised to note that the Competitions Committee chairman was not a part of the FSL ExCo. “The medical committee can be outside. We are professionals and give professional advice. But things like the technical committee, women’s, have to be a part of the ExCo. Whether these committees are functioning we don’t know because when they take decisions at committee level it has to come to the ExCo and then later it has to come to the Council. That process hasn’t happened,” he said.
CRITERIA
He debunked claims that the 1995 Sri Lanka team which won an international trophy were rewarded for the first time.
“This 1995 team when they won were felicitated by my father (Manilal Fernando) at the Galadari. They were taken on an open air bus all over the place. They were given at that time Rs 25,000 each. It was done. It’s just that nobody made a big noise about it,” he said, also questioning the criteria followed in giving awards recently.
“This was done within about five or six days. Nobody really knew what the methodology was. I am on the medical committee in AFC (Asian Football Confederation). In the AFC awards, there are AFC medical awards also for best junior doctor, best senior doctor and a lifetime achievement award in medicine. Now for that we have a sub-committee called AFC medical awards committee under our medical committee. I am a member of that sub-committee as well,” he said explaining the process of selections.
“Our recommendations will go to the executive committee. That is how the award is given. Even if we don’t have all these committees functioning, they should at least have an awards committee,” he said.
“It was a good show but you have the outside looking very nice but inside is rotten. We don’t have grass roots. We don’t have youth. We don’t have women’s football,” he pointed out.
Although the Prime Minister’s Trophy tournament served to showcase the skills of the national team, he questioned the timing of it.
“How many points did we get for playing this tournament outside the FIFA calendar? We beat certain teams but our rank didn’t change. When you are organising these tournaments it should happen during a FIFA window. Otherwise it is just like having a tournament in the village,” he said.
POSITIVES
Dr Fernando also questioned the logic of retaining Amir Alagic as Technical Director (TD) if he has failed to deliver as head coach although there have been some positive developments since his arrival.
“He is one of the first coaches in Sri Lanka who said ‘I need this nutrition analyst, catapult system’. All that came because he said he needed it whereas I feel most of the other coaches, they like to secure what remuneration they are going to get. I can do everything is the attitude most of them had and therefore the team didn’t benefit.
“Here he built a team. The problem that I saw was that people management and his interpersonal skills were not very good. Because of that certain aspects of the team suffered,” he said.
“So if you think he is a failure, he can’t be a TD. Again I don’t have a personal issue with Amir. What I told him was TD ‘what have you done? How many coaching programmes have you held? What is the refresher course you have held for the coaches? Show me the grassroots development programme’. When you say TD, it’s grassroot development, youth development, women’s football, under-19, 17, 15, national teams, coach education, etc. He had a blueprint but you have to see something being done,” he said.
The bottom line Dr Fernando feels is football in Sri Lanka has become a ‘one-man show’.
“It’s a one-man show. It’s one show at a time,” he said.
“When you are doing four-nation, it’s only four-nation, everything else in football stops. Nothing else is happening in the FSL,” he said.
Dr Fernando also questioned the justification behind having a provincial tournament spending exorbitant sums with the aim of selecting new talent.
“Clubs have been paying their players for the last one and half years. FSL doesn’t care because they are not the one taking the burden. It’s not fair. If those players are not paid, if those clubs don’t exist in the Super League and Champions League, we won’t have football in Sri Lanka. Simple as that,” he said.
“It is a waste of money. In the end you will not find any new players. If you find more than 10 new players I will be the most surprised. They may find one or two new ones. Even those one or two won’t be at a level good enough to play for the senior national squad,” he felt.
“Ultimately this is public money. There is a responsibility by people running it to run it transparently and responsibly. Use the money in the most effective way. Not to push yourself up or your image up or to put somebody else’s image up. In the end what you need is football to develop,” he said.
He found flaws in the concept of the ongoing provincial tournament.
“When I spoke to the minister (Namal Rajapaksa) when I was contesting, he had an idea of having a regional tournament like the LPL (Lanka Premier League). He wanted a franchise-based model with private companies or entities owning these teams and more money to be pumped into those clubs. Again FIFA wouldn’t endorse it (provincial tournament) because FIFA doesn’t want you to create new clubs. FIFA wants the existing clubs to be developed. You can’t just parachute clubs,” he explained.
“Super League is accepted because it was from the existing clubs that we made the semi-professional league,” he added.
CONTEST
Asked whether he would contest for the FSL presidency at upcoming elections, he replied: “A lot of people want me to contest again. I am listening to all of them. Giving them time and talking.”
“I never thought I was going to lose. I lost on the last day. More people signed my nominations than for him. I am disappointed in the sense I feel I lost an opportunity to do something good for Sri Lanka. I have no regrets. Whether we could have done certain things differently is a question mark. When I met all my core team, the people who contested with me together with me, my whole team withdrew. If my whole team contested, I believe that one or two may have got elected,” he said.
His passion for the sport has not changed and wants to see Sri Lanka football on a higher pedestal.
“I still see a better future for football in Sri Lanka. I feel that we can do much better than what we are doing right now. If I do become the president, my focus will be on Sri Lanka. Not on AFC, FIFA or going on trips. Ofcourse we need all their help. I think just being president of Sri Lanka football they will help me. I don’t need to be going to all these countries and watching all these matches. Somebody else can do that and I can focus on what’s happening here,” he said.