Rodrigo, De Silva accuse FSL of financial misdeeds

By Susil Premalal

Former Football Sri Lanka (FSL) President Ranjith Rodrigo and Anura de Silva accused the incumbent FSL President of having allegedly misused funds without any transparency allocated by FIFA for the development of the game in the country.

They blame the current FSL administration headed by President Umar Jaswar for the withdrawal of Rs. 554 million without proper approval from the Executive Committee.

The current Senior Vice-President Rodrigo and the Immediate Past President de Silva made these observations while addressing a media briefing under the theme “Football Crisis in Sri Lanka” held at the Nippon Hotel in Colombo last Thursday.

The two former FSL heavyweights stressed that FIFA funds are mainly for the development of the game in that country, but the current FSL President has allegedly misused the funds without proper transparency.

They further accused the current FSL administration of being a “one-man-show” as the President has acted on his own without the due approval of the Executive Committee on several occasions.

They also said that they have brought this issue to the Sports Ministry but, so far, the authorities have failed to take the necessary action.

They also blamed the present FSL administration for not conducting some of the leading tournaments, including the Senior Inter League, Junior Inter League, FA Cup, Division One, Division Two, and Division Three Tournaments, Women’s Football, and Schools Football.

Rodrigo and de Silva questioned how Sri Lankan football could improve without conducting these national tournaments and were not surprised to see the country drop in the FIFA Rankings to 207.

They also accused the current FSL administration of extending their official term by misleading the Sports Ministry.
They stressed that at one stage they were rivals with Dr. Manil Fernando, but now all three have joined hands with the hope of reviving football in Sri Lanka. 

However, the fraction is still undecided on whether de Silva, Rodrigo, Sunil Senaweera, or Dr. Fernando will contest in the upcoming FSL elections.