Friday Sep 20, 2024
Friday Sep 20, 2024
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Submission of nomination papers for the upcoming Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) elections was held at its Headquarters on Saturday. Here Vice-Presidential (VP) candidate Ranjith Rodrigo (third from left) placing the docs in the stipulated box with Jaswar Umar (Presidential candidate) and Dr. Manil Fernando (the other VP candidate) looks on.
Ducsitha Sumathipala
By Althaf Nawaz
An ideal opportunity of lifting the ban imposed by FIFA and to restart football in Sri Lanka went begging after a candidate representing seven leagues announced his participation in the race for the top chair of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) election to be held on 29 September at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo.
On Saturday nominations were received at the Football headquarters in Colombo for election of 13 office bearers. A total of 58 leagues vouched their support to former President Jaswar Umar and his team of officials at the upcoming election, while Ducsitha Sumathipala representing Anuradhapura Football League came out and announced that he is ready to compete against the former President and his team at the upcoming elections.
If not for this challenge it would have been a one-horse race and FFSL could have immediately embarked on the process of lifting the ban while engaging in the formalities of preparing the National Football team for the World Cup qualifying round match against Yemen to be held on 12 and 19 October on home and away basis. This challenge will only delay the whole process of lifting the ban, which everybody was looking forward to with great anticipation, to see the tiny Indian Ocean is back in business with the world’s most popular game.
These 58 leagues out of 65 signed and confirmed their support and their representatives were present when nominations were submitted last Saturday. With an active membership drive of 65 league’s, the FFSL was given the nod to proceed with the election after all concerned parties, including the Sports Ministry, agreed on a common platform to withdraw the case filed at the Court of Appeal (COA) and hold the elections in compliance with the World Governing Body FIFA guidelines.
Subsequently, at the Special General Meeting held on the 14 August all these leagues announced their stance on the elections which is very crucial if Sri Lanka is to be bailed out from the suspension which is almost now in effect for the eight consecutive month.
Wennappuwa, Wattala, Dehiwala/Mount Lavinia, Deniyaya, Nationalised Services Soccer Association, Polgahawela and Anuradhapura Football Association are the seven leagues which have nominated 13 members. As per reliable sources five leagues out of these have fielded 2 representatives each to this said list of office bearers, while Sri Lanka Schools - which doesn’t have voting rights – too, have pledged their support. Furthermore, according to Jaswar’s camp, a Dehiwala/Mount Lavinia member has sent a letter to them stating that even though they signed nomination papers for Sumathipala, they will support Jaswar at the upcoming election. Moreover, some interesting twist is likely to occur within the next few days once the Election Committee announces the final list of officials on both sides enabling them to file an objection.
The other notable point is that none of the leagues from North, East, Central provinces and majority of the Southern Province have not pledged their support to Sumathipala who boasts of a certain victory.
Two former heavyweights in the football arena, the Negombo Football League President Ranjith Rodrigo and the Kalutara Football league President Dr. Manil Fernando are on board in Jaswar’s camp as Vice Presidents.
