Sumathipala blames Election and Appeal Committees for biased decision

 Ducshitha Sumathipala (centre) whose nomination was  rejected along with those of three others for the Football Sri Lanka office bearers at the media briefing  yesterday along with some of his  team members 

Football Sri Lanka elections

By Althaf Nawaz

Ducshitha Sumathipala, the rival candidate who put forward his team for the Football Sri Lanka (FSL) elections, yesterday blamed both the Election and Appeal Committees for their biased decision that has deprived four of them from contesting the elections to be held on 29 September.

At a press conference held yesterday, Ducshitha said he is also a victim after the Elections and Appeal Committees dismissed his nomination for failing to meet the stipulated criteria. "I firmly say both the Election and Appeal Committees were pretty biased and all their decisions were pre-determined. It has occurred as per rival camp’s agenda, which is very disturbing and annoying to all of us," said Ducshitha.

Elaborating the reasons why he and four others nominations were rejected at the outset, Ducshitha said later one was accepted after making an appeal. According to him, he says it was all a well-planned strategy executed against them.

"If they are genuine, they could have accepted the challenge as gentlemen without blocking our camp. On the day of the handing over of nominations, it proved the behaviour of Jaswar who announced the disqualified list shown in the television clips which was a high-handed thing. How can a candidate do this? This shows that they are very influential and have set the platform at their discretion. Can we accept this under any circumstances?"

"We as a team are ready to face any challenge and will overcome all obstacles initiated against us. My team consists of people who dribbled the football from the grassroots to National level. What about my rival camp? How many have played the game? I invited them for a match between both camps but they just ignored me. I know they are not geared enough," he further added.

Ducshitha explained the legal aspects of his team’s rejection, which he says is unfair by any means. He has written to AFC and FIFA seeking justice.

"Without disrupting the election process, we have written to AFC and FIFA about the injustice that occurred to us. We hope they will intervene and give us a favourable reply while guiding us how to overcome this situation. So, we will wait until then. There were other avenues for us to seek justice, but we never intended to bypass the protocols. We are very optimistic that the Asian and the World Governing bodies will grant justice for us to make sure our whole team can participate in the elections at our full strength,” disclosed Ducshitha.

He was pretty confident of winning the elections on the 29th with the support of 36 leagues who have confirmed their support. He lamented that when he began his campaign he was alone, and gradually he got 7 and now have built up the momentum to secure the support of over 30 leagues.

"Initially I was alone three months back, but worked hard to get the support of other leagues, which now stands at 36. I have shown my vision to develop the game and not to live by the game. Football in Sri Lanka is on the throes of death surrounded by corrupt administrators. That's why they seek various avenues to barge into power and hang on to it. For instance, see my rival camp. The guys who lambasted Jaswar have joined hands with him. This shows that something is seriously wrong somewhere. The football loving fraternity knows what's happened so far this year. FIFA didn't ban us but it was Jaswar who initiated the ban on us. Nevertheless, we have a strong team backing us and our motto is to lift the standard of the game to great heights while climbing up in the rankings, which is at present at the lowest ebb," concluded Ducshitha.