Former national captain says national players are idle without tournaments and he is being paid a salary for doing nothing:
The standard of football in Sri Lanka is in the doldrums in recent years largely due to the mismanagement by top officials of Football Sri Lanka (FSL), according to former Sri Lanka captain Mohamad Amanullah.
“At one time Sri Lanka was ranked 95 but now we have dropped down to 207, even below the Republic of Maldives whom we used to beat during the early days. Our players used to walk with our heads held high but now we have to look down,” noted Amanulla who is the head coach of the Sri Lanka under-23 squad.
“The squad is idle without any training schedules and does not have a permanent ground in good condition. This has left them without any practices to be fit for future fixtures. We have no strength trainer now and the players are simply wasting away their talent,” said Amanulla.
He blamed the heavy losses Sri Lanka suffered in internationals to the short-sighted planning of the football administrators.
“In the good old days we used to play at least 40 matches per year but now not even ten matches are played. We do not even have that many tournaments to look out for. Players do not have boots either. They do not get even Rs. 1000/= per day when they are out in the field. The Super League does not even exist now, why? There is no calendar of events now. The players have not played in a tournament for the last three months. We do not even have a women’s team now. No progress is made despite several pleas made by officials of clubs and Leagues,” said Amanulla at a media briefing on Monday.
“I do not wish to be paid for doing nothing. There must be a concrete change in the system and conduct tournaments regularly throughout the year. Other countries conduct tournaments for at least ten months a year. If our heads at FSL do not put the system on the correct path they must give way to someone who will bring football back to our past glory,” said Amanulla.