| Nepali Football Continues to Stagnant
Whether we open football academies or revive Martyr's league or whatsoever, I have to sadly declare that Nepali football will not change or rebound. What we need most is a healthy environment and a common platform where all parties are prepared to bury their differences and work collectively. Commentary by Shushil Thapa.
Nepal's patchy performances at the South Asian Federation Football Championship (SAFFC) in Bangladesh followed by the Olympic qualifying round in Kathmandu has brought more agony to football buffs in the country.
Adding insult to injury our FIFA ranking has taken another tumble much to our consternation. Hard to believe that Pakistan has overtaken us in the ranking and we find ourselves only several notches above Bhutan who recently came out from a long hibernation. Should we continue to slide down at the present pace we might end up becoming the worst football playing nation in South Asia. Hopefully my prediction did not surprise or shock you. At least I am not. Surely those familiar with the ins and outs of Nepali football should feel the same.
Looking at the present scenario there is really nothing much to cheer and write about. By and large the domestic football landscape remains barren with nothing dramatic and significant happening. Instead pessimism continues to cast its ugly shadow. Little has changed in the bureaucratic and jaundiced mentality of the self claimed football mandarins accountable for the state of football. The dirty ongoing tug-of-war between different factions for control of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) in fact has put football development on hold, over the years.
More scary is the fact that these groups are determined to unseat one another be it by any means. ANFA's cash cow status has lured ambitious persons who wish to make the most out of it. Out of the desire they make every effort to get into the ring. Once they make entry into the arena they do anything to achieve their goals, sidelining football development. Unfortunately this has been the order of the day to date.
How late it might be I would like to draw readers attention by raising the issue of over aged players. Remember the Vietnam fiasco in which Nepal was disgraced and punished by FIFA for fielding over age players. It was a classic case of negligence, ignorance and stupidity on the part of ANFA. Undaunted by the incident ANFA shamelessly came very close to repeat the mistake at the Olympic Qualifiers early this year. Had it not been the last minute adjustment made in the team line up the end result would have been disastrous for youth footballers and the nation.
ANFA, obviously was guilty of including overage players for the selection camp and listing them in the final squad for the tournament. This speaks volumes of ANFA's "damn care attitude" which in fact is steadily destroying football. How could a vital issue like over age players go unnoticed when we had been caught cheating for the same mistake in the past? I strongly believe that ANFA intentionally chose the course of destruction to achieve a decent result to boost their sagging image regardless of the outcome.
Little fuss was made over the issue by home sports journos who preferred silence for fear of losing privileges bestowed on them by ANFA. This kind of defensive journalism only helps arbitrators become more dominate and powerful.
ANFA President Ganesh Thapa started his innings on a positive note but since then has been on the down side. His contributions have been eclipsed by his supposedly involvement in ANFA 's financial misappropriation, undemocratic style of work which in fact has largely diminished his image and credibility. We have seen him resist and crush opponents with the support of FIFA and AFC who are solidly behind him. The world knows how undemocratically he got himself and his cronies reelected.
I have no hesitation to say that a majority of officials running the present ANFA are opportunists, frequently changing sides. Long as these people continue to dictate terms and their differences with various factions persist the script will remain more or less the same. Whether we open football academies or revive Martyr's league or whatsoever, I have to sadly declare that Nepali football will not change or rebound. What we need most is a healthy environment and a common platform where all parties are prepared to bury their differences and work collectively. Having said so, however, the big question is, is it achievable? Being an optimist, my answeris yes.
Sushil Thapa, a sports writer, currently resides in the U.S.