The Sri Lanka U19 Football team will be touring Baotou, China for the 43rd Asian School Football Boys U19 Championship without a Coach and Physio.
This tournament comes under the purview of the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association(SSFA) and with the team leaving tomorrow(Saturday) for China are yet to appoint members for the above mentioned positions but has included around seven SSFA members in a strange twist of irony.
The squad had been initially selected by the selectors of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and trained under former Sri Lanka national player SumithWalpola for the 2016 AFC U19 Qualifiers which will be held in Bangladesh from September 28th to 6th October. Since these crops of selected players are the best in the country the same squad was chosen to represent the country in the Asian Schools Championship.
“I am really worried as to how these players will cope without a coach and more importantly without a physiotherapist. Players are used to my command and tactics so they will miss that aspect. Further, unlike other international tournaments recovery time is less and the importance of a physio will be higher. Our main goalkeeper is coming from an injury so he needs to be looked after while a few needs to be monitored closely,” a hugely concerned SumithWalpola told ThePapare.com.
“If these guys lose badly or get injured and comeback to Sri Lanka, I have just a couple of weeks to rehabilitate their mind and body to get them ready for the AFC U19 Qualifiers.” He went onto say.
It is understood that the Schools Federation officials had not even considered filling the two positions but had taken steps to include officials who are not necessary for the tournament further emphasizing what schools sports bodies had be using such tournaments as a holiday trip for their own benefit.
Furthermore one of the most experienced and prolific goal scorers Danushka Madushanka from Hewavitharana Maha Vidyalaya, Rajagiriya will not be touring due to financial difficulties. Madushanka is also representing Champions League club Colombo FC where his goal secured the club their first major FA Cup and was named as the most valuable player of the tournament.
“It is sad to hear the Schools Football officials haven’t taken any steps to financially support these kids where most of them come from poor families. Especially Madushanka, who is in form and has scored in the ongoing Champions League, tussling with the best of Sri Lanka,” Walpola added.
ThePapare.com tried to contact the secretary of Schools Football Association, Sarath Ratnaweera on the fact that a son of a high ranking Schools Football official was included into the squad at the last minute, but he was unavailable for comment.
The Sports Minister should strictly look into these matters and eradicate such practices if sports in Sri Lanka are to achieve recognition.
The tournament will be held from August 30 to September 9.
