Football is a sport that is played and watched by millions of people. It is accessible to people from all walks of life, so it brings people together.
Fitness & Sports believes Sri Lanka has the potential to field a strong national side in the future. We are pleased to present the interview with the President of Sri Lanka Football Anura De Silva who speaks about his relationship with the sport and his vision to take Sri Lanka Football to great heights.
F&S: Tell us about your journey in Football? How old were you when you first took up the sport and your achievements?
AD: I touched the ball at the age of 5 along with my two elder brothers. We all were sportsmen. I was a student at St. Benedict’s College, Colombo where I started my football career. At the age of 12 I was selected to the Under 14 squad of the College team. Here I started playing seriously. I went on to represent all teams of the College from Under 14 to Under 20. So during my career as a school boy I represented Sri Lanka Schools in 1980 and toured to Thailand for the 6th Asian Schools Championships. In 1981 I was selected for the FA Board Presidents Eleven where I represented Sri Lanka in the All India Football Championship held in India. The next year I was selected to the Senior National Team where I represented the country from 1983 till 1992. In 1989, I was appointed Vice-Captain of the Sri Lanka team and in 1991 I was appointed as the Captain of the team. I captained for two years and gave up playing for the country due to work commitments. I continued to represent the Old Bens Sports Club, which was a Premier League Club at that time, until 1995. I have represented the club for 17 years. We have become champions in many tournaments conducted by the board which includes Bristol League in 1988, FA Cup in 1995 etc. That was my football career. After leaving school I joined the private sector and worked my way up in sales and marketing roles. I briefly left the country and returned in 2007 when I met the hierarchy of the Sri Lanka Football Federation. They invited me to join the Federation. I joined the Football Federation in 2008 as Director of Admin & Operations. In 2009 I became the Deputy CEO of the Federation. From 2009 till 2013 I was the Deputy CEO and was promoted to the position of CEO in 2014. I resigned from the position in 2015 to contest at FFSL elections.
F&S: What is it about Football that makes it so appealing to the masses?
AD: Football is a wonderful sport. It can create a great atmosphere. That is why it is played by 209 member countries. I do not see such an immense participation in any other sport. Football is not an expensive sport at all. More than 75% of the member countries of FIFA treat football as their number 1 sport. Football is easy to play and the game involves a lot of passion for both the players and the spectators. It is a game that involves the mind as well as physical fitness. You have to maintain fitness and agility as well as use your mind. It fosters fast decision making and brings everybody together as it is a team game. It is so popular that even when people do not have a football they use any object they can find to be used as a ball.
F&S: Do you see potential in Sri Lanka for the sport of Football to really catch root and become a dominant force in the international arena?
AD: That is the challenge we have and the challenge I personally want to take. Because I have played the game for so many years I know the facilities we had, the facilities we have, and what more facilities we need. I want to take it to a higher level. I believe we can become a dominant force. Nothing is impossible. We need to come up with a new strategy to implement for the future. I personally feel that we have neither grown nor sustained the sport and the fan base what we had. I can remember at the age of 12 or 13 when the leading clubs were playing at the Sugathadasa Stadium, for that matter we had about 14 or 15 leading clubs. If I wanted to witness a match I had to be there one hour before the match to stand in the line to buy my ticket and enter the stadium. We had a packed stadium. We have lost that momentum we had forty years ago. For any sport a fan base is vital to develop the sport. With a good fan base, the players will be motivated to display their best football. Also with a better fan base more sponsors will come. The quality of the players and a large fan base are related. So it is developing both the players as well as the fan base. If we can develop both then the sport will surely grow.
F&S: Do you see the young children in the rural areas of the country as a major talent pool to be groomed for the future?
AD: Yes, if you take cricket for example, a few years back the country was represented by players from a few leading Colombo schools. But cricket became a dominant force and is played by most schools throughout the island. Today the national team consists of many players from outstation schools. Similarly in the sport of football there is talent everywhere. I have noticed that football is very strong especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country. I have been to Jaffna around twenty times after the war ended. I was in Velvetithurai three months ago attending a match. They started the match at 8.30pm with lights so the match went on till 12 midnight. We had more than 6,000 people watching two clubs play. These were not dominant clubs, one from Jaffna and one from Mannar, who came to the finals. They conducted a club tournament for the Northern Province. I was there along with the Head of Diplomatic Mission of India for Jaffna. There was a massive crowd. The football they played was very good. From the very inception Jaffna always had strong football. Football is treated as the number 1 sport in Jaffna. It is their life, their passion. So we need to support them and groom them better. We have just completed a Training Facility 3 km from Jaffna town, and the Jaffna Football League takes care of this center at present. We also have a facility in Mannar, in Kalmunai and in total we have around 11 such facilities around the country. After the Tsunami disaster in 2004, we received a substantial grant through FIFA for rehabilitation projects and this money was invested to construct these facilities. It was the intention of FIFA to use football to develop people who were affected by the tsunami.
F&S: What is your vision for Football development?
AD: I took office from 1st June 2015. Our term is two years. That itself is a challenge to develop football in this short time period. We can develop a strategy that will grow the sport for the future. I personally want to see football flourish in Sri Lanka. It does not have to be during my term, but if I can put the proper system in place that will ensure its development for the future, I will be happy. The first step we took was having a discussion with the Sports Ministry and the Education Ministry. The Education Ministry is vital for the development of any sport in Sri Lanka because the breeding base for sports is in schools. There is a challenge, due to parents pushing their children only for their academic pursuits and neglecting the importance of sports as means to build a child’s character and his physical prowess. I believe this is not the way forward and that an education system should address the full developmental needs of the child.
The first goal is to get the football apparatus in order that will be sustainable for the future. We are currently doing grass roots football programmes for children between the ages of 6 to 12 years. We want to give the children a liking for the sport. We are emphasizing less on techniques and instead getting them accustomed to the football and to the game. Once they reach the age of 12 then we have programmes that work on their techniques like passing, dribbling etc. We are planning to establish five regional training centres. I am having discussions with the Japan Football Association. They have dispatched a senior coach to Sri Lanka on a six-year term where he will handle the young development programmes. I intend to appoint the Japanese coaches as head of these training centres. We will then recruit local coaches on a full time basis. We expect our local coaches to become full time coaches. They will work directly with the children and the parents to motivate children. At these facilities we intend to teach more than football and let kids learn IT skills and the English Language as well, to ensure the child has an all-round skill set that will be valuable in the future. Football has to be grown from the grassroots upwards.
F&S: How important is the support of the sports ministry and the private sector to developing football:
AD: The new minister, the Hon Dayasiri Jayasekera, invited us for discussions with him and I see that as a very positive step in the way forward. This shows his interest in developing the sport. The Sports Ministry plays a significant role. This depends on the individual minister. Our current minister has demanded a five-year programme from us which we will submit to him. These are all positive developments.
The private sector can provide employment for players which will be a great help to the sport. Sponsorships also play a key role in developing football. For us, the Football Federation, we are fortunate as we get annual grants from FIFA as well the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). $250,000 from FIFA and $250,000 from AFC per annum. Both these institutes have introduced criteria on how we invest and use these grants to develop the sport. There is no provision in those grants to look after the national teams. So
we manage with our sponsorships. We have a very good partnership with Cargills Ceylon Plc that sponsors our national team. I am confident our relationship will really enhance and develop football. We also have Samaposha that sponsors the Junior and Schools Under 15 programmes. Samaposha is a subsidiary of Ceylon Biscuits Limited. Dialog is the main sponsor for our Premier League where we have 22 teams playing annually for the league championships. It is the synergy between the Sports Ministry, FIFA, AFC and our sponsors that will grow and develop football.
F&S: Do you think it is vital that we get down good international football coaches?
AD: We had many international coaches here. In fact last year we had a coach from Serbia for our national team. During his time we lost to Bhutan for the first time in history. Bhutan was the lowest FIFA ranking team at the time.. We have had so many foreign coaches; we have had Brazilian coaches, Korean coaches etc. They did their best but our team did not climb up. For this reason we must, I emphasize again, that we must first look at and develop our school structure. A player should come through the school structure and the development programmes into the national team. I do believe that a foreign coach is needed not only for the national team but also at the grass root level to develop the children into good footballers who will be absorbed into the national team. There first should be a long term development plan that should be sustainable, irrespective of Football Federation hierarchy changes. This will ensure a strong National side in the future.
F&S: What are the key areas we need to focus on in Sri Lanka Football?
AD: I have also told this to the Hon Minister of Sports. We need to have triangular synergy with the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Education and the Football Federation. Our programmes should be coordinated to achieve the same goal. Football should be developed first at the school level; a good footballer is groomed from a young age. When the footballer turns 18 or 19 we should have a system to absorb them into the club system and then into the national side. We should ensure that there is financial security for the players when they become senior players for there to be a good future for Football in Sri Lanka.
F&S: How important do you see nutrition and strength training to the overall development of the footballer?
AD: This is a very important factor and it is where the ministry can support us. The Sports Medicine Unit can provide us with the facilities to analyze the health of our players, provide a good nutritional plan and access to nutritious food and supplements, at an affordable cost. We need to educate players at a young age about nutrition. For example, some young footballers do not like to drink fresh milk therefore we need to educate them about the nutritious value of fresh milk and of other food first. We have a good training complex for our national team at Beddagana which also includes a gymnasium. Football is a physical game so strength training along with nutrition is vital to the overall development of the footballer. As the game gets more physical the importance of strength training grows.
F&S.Who was your favourite footballer when you were a youngster?
AD: I used to watch a programme called Football Made in Germany which showcased the Bundesliga (German Football League). My favourite player was Paul Breitner. He played the midfield just like me. This programme was the only source to watch international football at that time and we were eager to watch these matches on TV.
F&S: What are your goals for Sri Lanka Football during your tenure? And how do you plan to achieve them?
AD: I initially want to prosper at the South Asian regional level. There are 8 countries in this region so if we can become a formidable side here that would be the first step. We need time for this transformation and this would take least five years to get into a proper platform. Football is globally the most popular sport and there are 209 countries who contest for a single cup which is the FIFA World Cup held every four years. The game has progressed from strength to strength over the years. Every national team works with a professional approach and with a solid foundation at the grassroots and the junior level development programmes. This is where we fall behind. We need cooperation and assistance from both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sports to work towards a common goal. The breeding base is at the school level and if we fail there, we fail at the elite level. We will do our best to grow football at the school level.
Football is a great game for anyone from any society to play. To play football you need to have good physical condition, stamina and a good brain to work as a team in order to prosper. We need players of this caliber and who are dedicated to the game to move forward. I appeal to all stakeholders of the game, players, parents and well-wishers to rally around us and help us take this game to the next level, where we can be proud of our national football team. We can do this with the support from everyone.
As a strategy, we intend to start with five Regional Training Centers in the country at selected locations with full time coaches and instructors engaged with training programmes to produce skillful players for the future. Once we accomplish this mission, I’m sure we will have good players at these centres and we can then gradually improve the quality of football in Sri Lanka.
F&S: What is your message to the young footballers who dream of becoming the stars of tomorrow?
AD: As a former player, a former Captain and the President of Sri Lanka Football, my message is to get more players to play football. I will ensure there is a future in football, so play football! A few weeks ago I spoke to a gentleman from the British Council who is a supporter of the Premier League club, Everton FC. I told him the best thing you can do to support Sri Lanka Football is to get at least a couple of our players to the Everton Football Academy and groom them to be absorbed by Everton. My dream is to see our footballers play in the English Premier League or at a similar level in Europe. Football is rising all over the world and it will be the same in Sri Lanka. Football is a great game that uses your physical skill and your brain at the same time. It is a sport that involves a lot of passion. So play football and help take our country to higher levels.
