Questions and eyebrows have been raised on whether it is really necessary for ten officials to form a backstage for a football team that needs only 11 players on the field as they accompany the lost cause of a 23-member Sri Lanka tour party that will take on Turkmenistan in a FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying match to be played in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on November 19.
The Sri Lanka team will be participating in the second league of qualifiers and so far the team has lost all their qualifying matches they have played.
Out of the ten officials, only the Manager, coach and team doctor would have been more than sufficient to do the needful to the players according to team sources and experts.
But the scenario only speaks of the total mess in Sri Lanka sports, especially football which has hit the dumps. The ten officials are M. Rameez (head of delegates), Sunil Senaweera, (manager), Mohamed Nizam Packeerali, (head coach), Sampath Bandara (GK trainer), Abdul Barsith Muhiseen (physio), Sanjaya Silva (assist. coach), Asoka Ravindra (team official), Hewage Buddika (team doctor), Mohamed Pakeer Fahim (kit man), Aravinth Balendran (media officer)