Ceylon Today Editorial

Is Financial dependency dragging down sports?

31 December 2016

A soccer veteran cum promoter recently said in the course of an interview on TV that he was "very saddened" by the negative course of the game in the country.

"What" he postulated, was happening to the game in Sri Lanka ? Making reference to a comment in the print media he added that the entire ambiance of the game was like that of a funeral house wake. Opinions fop men such as this need to be taken seriously . This game that was once held in high esteem has bottomed out in the virtual graveyard of sports, bottomed out into almost nothing resembling its former dynamic vitality. What's worse is that there seems to be absolutely no initiative emerging from the administrators who are quite content to twiddling their thumbs and playing musical chairs with the fate of the game. Plum positions in the Sri Lanka Football Federation hierarchy seem to be bearing no visible fruit either on or off the playing field or on the national football radar screens. Let's take a quick look at the carnage.

There seems to be quite some concern about soccer being played in the island. Once known as the sport of the poor, it has today been adopted as a preferred sport by those in very affluent circumstances while they also seem to be getting quite a handsome financial return for their 'involvement' in the sport. They are obviously well looked after by the World Body for soccer, FIFA. FIFA has been in the limelight these days for notoriously dubious actions relating to various deals that have been made in connection with elections of officials and selection of venues for major tournaments as well as from broadcasting ' benefits'. And the dollar conversion value vis a vis the Lanka rupee is becoming more attractive by the day too !! So very attractive that it stimulates vested interests more than the CSE.

FIFA as the world body for soccer draws in a lot of income from determining the course of the Soccer World Cup and all that it entails from start to the final whistle. It is estimated to draw in an amazing $ 5.7 billion plus windfall for those in the game. That excludes other avenues of related incomes derived from interest payments, gains in foreign exchange fluctuations and so on. FIFA has been investigated for corruption by authorities in the US and Switzerland. Many senior officials have been accused with involvement in these allegations of bribery and sundry kickbacks running into over US$ 100 million.

According to reports after the 2014 World Cup each of the national associations was given two million dollars with American associations getting the major share of around $ 137 million. We in Sri Lanka wonder how and why these officials who get elected to such national bodies hang on, for long periods of time! We now know why !

Anyone who gains access into such 'dreams come true situations' naturally thrive on them. They follow the game played by their world body and emulate those strategies. Money is the main thing that ensures longevity to such hopeful 'sports-men' who by all appearances seem to be well taken care of as seen from the above description. In fact, sports and perks are inseparable in Sri Lanka and no one is interested in putting a stop to it, but, adversely to sports, are willing to accept it and also exploit it.

FIFA has set the example and they can afford it, but, associations in countries like Sri Lanka cannot afford to follow FIFA. The Sri Lankan authorities have to take care of the game for is that not the main reason for the existence of such management and promotional bodies in sports? Alas ! They do not seem to be doing their job in the proper manner according to some concerned veterans.

Veterans are of the opinion that it was the 1960s and '70s when the game was thriving without any political interference, though there were many politicians who were supporting its development at national level. There were clubs that ran their affairs based especially on the game, within their financial means. Even at the school level most urban and suburban based schools played the game at a high standard.

There was the schools team representing the country that played against Malaysia and other Asian school teams. There are of course more schools involved today, but hardly worthy of the efforts put into the cause. This is because many promising soccer stars quit school and do not pursue the game any further.

But, the doom set in with the wrong moves of the Sports Ministry which grabbed authority in the game with a Sports Act which was not there earlier. For reasons best known to them, there may have been the thinking that they were doing the spending for a major portion of the development of sports and had the authority over it more than anyone else. All they did was to get sports too involved in the slow moving huge government machine. This would have caused authorities of clubs, who were short of money for expenses, to deviate from their responsibilities of the sports development aspect obliging to work for crumbs.

Unlike cricket and rugby national bodies in the country that have the backing of sponsors, today many, including soccer, federations are dependent on the ministry to provide them funds. The reason for this is their inadequate financial position which will not attract any sponsor to provide them any backing; although most sponsors back events under these same federations that have the patronage of the sports ministry.

Especially soccer, as seen from above, gets the usual backing of the world body. We saw it when the head of FIFA was in Sri Lanka how money was given to develop the women's game in the country. It is actually the responsibility of the local federation to be accountable for these funds received and spent. If these responsibilities are not being shouldered with a sense of responsibility there is no way that one can expect soccer to rise to a position of due prominence in the country.

Daily News Editorial

The Globe: The year that was

31 December 2016

Globally, the biggest surprise of 2016 was the victory of business mogul Donald Trump at the US Presidential Election. Although opponent Hillary Clinton, who came within a hair’s breadth of becoming the first woman President in US history, won the popular vote, Trump carried the Electoral College vote. With Trump already making many controversial statements on Twitter, 2017 is already off to an unpredictable start.

The other biggest global upheaval was the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) following the result of a referendum on “Brexit”. The terms of the divorce are still mired in controversy, so it will take a few years for this to actually happen. Nevertheless, Brexit has already disrupted the British and even the global economy.

Amidst the misery of war in many parts of the world, there was good news for peace in the form of a peace deal between the FARC Colombian rebels and the Government in August. While the first accord was rejected by voters, a second, slightly changed version was approved by the country’s congress.

While 2016 was a bad year for women aspiring for power, it was equally bad for women already in power, as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South Korean President Park Geun-hye found out. Rousseff was impeached and to add insult to injury, her successor formed an all-male Cabinet. Park faced the same fate, but South Korea’s Constitutional Court is still reviewing the National Assembly’s decision to oust her. Brazil and South Korea, the ninth and eleventh largest economies in the world, cannot afford political instability. This is especially applicable to South Korea, whose northern neighbour has been conducting regular nuclear and missile tests.

Turkey was in turmoil following an Army-led coup attempt aimed at ousting President Recept Tayyip Ergodan on July 15. Turks responded to an appeal by Ergodan to rally in his support and the coup fizzled out, making him stronger. A subsequent purge saw action against nearly 100,000 officials in both military and civil agencies of the Government.

Elections were held in many countries around the world, but the Philippine Presidential Election was the second most interesting one after that of the US. Rodrigo Duterte won the Presidency in May and has immediately changed the way Manila does business. His vigilante campaign against drug pushers and addicts has drawn mixed reactions, but many Filipinos are more worried about his announced threat of “separation” from the US. After all, the two countries have been allies for a long time.

There was bad news all around from the world’s war zones, including Syria and Afghanistan. Syria, a battleground for Syrian Forces, local militias, ISIS and foreign forces saw the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in several decades as refugees scrambled to reach European shores and died in their hundreds. The pictures of shell-shocked, injured children have moved hearts around the world, but even after the fall of Aleppo the conflict, which has already claimed half a million lives, shows no sign of abating.

ISIS led or inspired terrorism continued to be a serious threat to world peace. The year saw major terror attacks in Nice, Berlin, Pakistan, Belgium, USA and Bangladesh. The world must come together to wipe out ISIS terror and according to the latest reports, thousands of their cadres have perished in the fighting in Syria.

The passing away of Fidel Castro in Cuba marked the end of an era. His brother Raul, who has promised not to embrace capitalism, has taken many steps to liberalize sectors that were “closed” during Fidel’s era. Significantly, US-based airlines began direct scheduled flights to Havana and other Cuban cities following the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Even as Cuba-US ties are growing, the US is increasingly at odds with Israel, one of its strongest allies. The ties reached a new low following the US abstention on a UNSC vote on Israeli settlements and Secretary of State John Kerry’s firm “no alternative” call for a two-state solution on Wednesday. Israel is hoping for better times under strongly pro-Israel Trump. The release of Panama Papers, which revealed how the wealthy, including corrupt politicians, hide their money in offshore accounts caused a stir worldwide and led to demands for any ill-gotten gains to be repatriated.

It was a bad year for the movie, literature, sports and music worlds, with several legends passing away. The year came to a close with the loss of singer George Michael and actress Carrie Fisher of Star Wars fame. Her mother and actress Debbie Reynolds (of “Singing in the Rain” fame) also passed away. David Bowie, Prince, Alan Rickman, Harper Lee, Nancy Reagan, Muhammed Ali, Michael Cimino, Gene Wilder, Arnold Palmer, Leonard Cohen, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Richard Adams were among the others who bid farewell. But it was not all about sadness – the inimitable Bob Dylan was left speechless after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. As Dylan says, “the times they are a changin” and what will be the surprises in store for 2017?

The Island Editorial

If wishes were Tigers ...

31 December 2016

 

UNP MP Vijayakala Maheswaran has stirred up a hornets’ nest by saying at a recent public meeting that if LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been alive he would have been fit to be the Prime Minister. If wishes were Tigers some politicians like Vijayakala would ride them!

Robert Knox famously said the Sinhala farmer was fit enough to be the king after mud was washed off him. Opinion is divided on what Knox really meant. This saying is popularly thought to be a glowing tribute he paid to the ancient farming community, but some historians argue that it was a snide remark Knox cleverly used to deride the king by contemptuously claiming that anyone, even a farmer, could replace the monarch. We don’t know whether UNP MP Maheswaran also sought to scorn the incumbent PM cum her party leader by claiming that even a school dropout turned terrorist could have done his job!

It may be recalled that the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, when he was the Prime Minister in the JRJ government, sought to ridicule the then Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel, on whom he used to heap scorn at every turn by claiming that even a taxi driver could present a budget in Parliament. Some people, especially politicians, cast put-downs and ridicule their colleagues and superiors as if to the manner born. So, the UNP had better ask its MP Maheswaran whether she has sought to lionize the dead Tiger chief or to ridicule her political boss or to do both.

Vijayakala has come in for severe flak for crying up the dead terrorist leader. But, time was when Prabhakaran was treated like a Prime Minister to all intents and purposes. At a media briefing in the Vanni, the late LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham, in answer to a query, declared that Prabhakaran was both President and Prime Minister in the areas under LTTE control at that time. The then UNP-led UNF government also treated Prabhakaran as if he had been the leader of a parallel government and many a western diplomat used to tug his forelock to the Tiger leader at their clandestine meetings in the Vanni jungles. The Norwegians audaciously addressed LTTE leaders respectfully as ‘your excellencies’ in public.

It is being claimed in some quarters that Prabhakaran, because of his heinous crimes, would never have been able to come out of the jungle even if he had succeeded in carving out a separate state. But, in reality, he had no such problem. President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered him the entire Northern Province for a period of ten years without elections! He never lacked international recognition either in spite of bans on his outfit in some countries. India used its military muscle to save him in 1987 while the Sri Lanka army was zeroing in on him. Western diplomats were falling over themselves to press the flesh with him in the Vanni. Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon, tells us in his book, Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy, that the US was planning to rescue Prabhakaran towards the final stages of the Vanni offensive. The UK and France rushed their foreign ministers David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner respectively all the way here in a bid to save him but in vain. Sweden also sought to send its foreign minister, but he was denied a visa.

Had Prabhakaran succeeded in establishing Eelam and handed over the Trincomalee harbour to a western power, he would have been not only recognised but also protected by the western bloc, which unflinchingly pampered homicidal maniacs such as Idi Amin, Bokassa and Papa Doc until those savages became too embarrassing for it to defend.

The TNA, whose leaders are now championing human rights, had no qualms about declaring Prabhakaran, who did not have representation even in a local government institution, the sole representative of the Tamils. Had the Norwegian crafted ceasefire (backed by the US, the UK and other EU states) between the UNP-led UNF government and the LTTE lasted a few more years it would have led to the division of this country the way the Machakos Protocol (with the US, the UK and Norway as observer states) facilitated the secession of South Sudan.

Anyone who commemorates dead terrorists and/or wishes Prabhakaran were alive as the Prime Minister has no moral right to protest against human rights violations such as violent suppression of dissent, political killings, high-profile assassinations, massacres, child abductions, extortion and forced labour.